Shū Wénjìng jí 舒文靖集
The Collected Works of Shū Wén-jìng by 舒璘 (撰)
About the work
Shū Wénjìng jí 舒文靖集 in 2 juǎn is the surviving fragmentary recension of the biéjí of Shū Lín 舒璘 (1136–1199, zì Yuánzhì 元質, alternate zì Yuánbīn 元賓, of Fènghuà 奉化 in Míngzhōu), jìnshì of Qiándào 8 (1172), one of the sì xiānshēng of Yǒngshàng (along with 袁燮, 楊簡, and Shěn Huàn 沈煥). Posthumously canonized Wénjìng 文靖 in Chúnyòu (1241–1252), hence the collection’s title. Shū studied first under Zhāng Shì 張栻 when the latter was in the capital, then under Lù Jiǔyuān 陸九淵, Zhū Xī 朱熹, and Lǚ Zǔqiān 呂祖謙 — making him the most catholically-trained member of the Yǒngshàng group, with personal connections to all four major late-Southern-Sòng schools.
Tiyao
The Shū Wénjìng jí in 2 juǎn was composed by Shū Lín of the Sòng. Lín’s zì was Yuánzhì, alternate Yuánbīn, a man of Fènghuà. Supplemented into the Tàixué; when Zhāng Shì held office in the capital, Lín went to follow him; further roving with Lù Jiǔyuān, Master Zhū, Lǚ Zǔqiān, and various others — therefore he had a deep view into the meaning of xìngmìng (nature-and-mandate). Passed the jìnshì examination of Qiándào 8 (1172); first appointed Huīzhōu education-officer; promoted to Zhī Píngyángxiàn; ended at Yízhōu tōngpàn. In Chúnyòu he was specially canonized Wénjìng. His career is preserved in the Sòngshǐ Rúlín zhuàn. Lín in his lifetime never held office at court; therefore the collection contains no memorials. Yet even his ordinary correspondence is invariably rooted in scholarship. The biography says: Lín, while education-officer at Xīnān, composed Shī Lǐ jiǎngjiě, [which the] family transmitted and people studied — from this his learning gradually flourished. Now examining the zhāzǐ in the collection: those addressed to Chén Cāng on the methods of Chángpíng yìcāng, cháyán, and bǎozhǎng — all penetratingly addressing contemporary defects — were all composed during his time as education-officer at Xīnān. Therefore Lín’s record-of-achievement was not only manifest in the schools as the Sòngshǐ states. Further investigating the biography: it says that after Lín’s jìnshì, he was appointed prefectural education-officer twice but did not take up the posts — without specifying which prefectures. Now [we] examine [Shū’s] composition Xiānjūn chéngyì kuàngmíng whose end has the line: “The son Lín, [appointed] dígōng láng, education-officer of Xìnzhōu prefecture-school” — this is one of the two prefectures, which the History lost. Further the biography says Lín, [appointed] Huīzhōu xuéguān, sīyè Wāng Kuí first wished to recommend Lín. Someone said Lín had filled his quota; Kuí said: “My duty is to recommend education-officers. If I drop this man, whom shall I prefer?” In the end he wrote a strong recommendation. Now the collection contains zhāzǐ of thanks to Fù Cáo, Zhāng Shǒu, and Chén Cāng — three persons — for their recommendations; further a thank-letter to Lǐ Tíjǔ — but uniquely there is none to Wāng Kuí; and his letter to Lóu Dàfáng says “the recommendation-document earlier given by Zhāng Shǒu, on receiving your reply [I] only learned of its source”; the letter to Wáng Dàqīng also says “receiving the Lǐshū [Yóuzhàng], the Cáoshǐ Fùzhàng, the Cāngshǐ Chénzhàng’s gracious recommendations — all from elevation-and-promotion gifts” — also without mentioning Kuí’s name. Perhaps this collection still has lost pieces; or perhaps the transmission gives different words — therefore the History and the collection often do not agree. Qiánlóng 46 (1781), 3rd month, respectfully collated.
Abstract
Shū Wénjìng jí is a small but important collection: it preserves the principal prose corpus of Shū Lín, the most theoretically-eclectic member of the Yǒngshàng sì xiānshēng. Its zhāzǐ on Chángpíng (ever-normal) granaries, the yìcāng (charitable granaries), the tea-and-salt monopolies, and the bǎozhǎng (tithing-headman) system — addressed to Chén Cāng (i.e., Chén the cāngshǐ) during Shū’s tenure as Xīnān (Huīzhōu) education-officer — provide rare grounded testimony from the Dàoxué community about the practical operation of late-12th-c. fiscal-and-rural administration. The Sìkù editors note tellingly that the Sòngshǐ biographical claim that Shū’s importance lay in his school-teaching is incomplete: his administrative impact was equally substantive.
The Sìkù editors also identify a textual oddity: the collection’s zhāzǐ of thanks to recommenders include several officials but conspicuously omit Wāng Kuí 汪逵, whom the Sòngshǐ records as Shū’s principal patron at Huīzhōu. This either indicates loss of pieces in transmission or a discrepancy between the Sòngshǐ and the biéjí — a useful textual-critical caveat for biographical research.
The dating bracket: 1172 (Shū’s jìnshì year) through 1199 (his death year per CBDB id 10325). Shū’s lifedates 1136–1199 are firm in CBDB.
Translations and research
- Sòng-Yuán xué-àn 宋元學案 juǎn 76 (廣平定川學案 — covers Shū Lín). Standard traditional reference.
- 何俊. 2008. 《南宋儒學建構》. Shanghai: Renmin. Treats the Yǒng-shàng group as a unit.
- No substantial Western-language secondary literature located on Shū Lín directly.
Other points of interest
The 2-juǎn extent makes this one of the smallest WYG biéjí of any major Lǐxué figure, and the Sìkù editors’ textual-critical observation about the missing Wāng Kuí zhāzǐ — which they leave unresolved — is the single most useful entry-point for tracing the Sòngshǐ Rúlín zhuàn sources for Shū.