Màntáng jí 漫塘集
The Free-Flowing-Pond Collection by 劉宰 (撰)
About the work
Màntáng jí 漫塘集 in 36 juǎn is the biéjí of Liú Zǎi 劉宰 (1166–1239, zì Píngguó 平國, posthumous Wénqīng 文清), of Jīntán 金壇 in Zhènjiāngfǔ (modern Jiāngsū). Jìnshì of Shàoxī 1 (1190); held office to Zhèdōng cāngsī gànguān; resigned in protest of Hán Tuōzhòu’s 1206 Kāixǐ military aggression and retired to his Màntáng (modest pond) at Jīntán for 30 years, refusing repeated court summons. Posthumously honored as Zhí Xiǎnmógé with zhǔguǎn Yùjúguàn; canonized Wénqīng. The original recension was edited posthumously by Wáng Suì 王遂 in Chúnyòu (early 1240s); recovered to the secret-archive (Mìgé) under Lǐzōng but lost in transmission. The Míng Zhèngdé-era Dàxuéshì Jìn Guì 靳貴 copied the Mìgé manuscript and cut it through Wáng Niè 王臬 — that is the textual ancestor of the WYG.
Tiyao
[The standard tíyào, here translated:] The Màntáng wénjí in 36 juǎn was composed by Liú Zǎi of the Sòng. Zǎi’s zì was Píngguó, a man of Jīntán. Jìnshì of Shàoxī 1 (1190); officed to Zhèdōng cāngsī gànguān. When Hán Tuōzhòu used troops in tiǎoxìn (provocation), Zǎi was not pleased to advance-as-official; soon self-withdrew. Píngjū (sat-and-lived) at Màntáng for 30 years. Repeatedly summoned [but] did not go out. Took Zhí Xiǎnmógé, zhǔguǎn Yùjúguàn and died at home. The court praised his integrity; bestowed the posthumous title Wénqīng. His career is recorded in the Sòngshǐ biography. Zǎi’s writings are very many. At the start of Chúnyòu Wáng Suì collected his surviving manuscripts — barely getting four-or-five-tenths — edited-and-fixed [it]; named [it] Qiánjí (front-collection); Lǐzōng received it into the Mìgé; the world thus had no transmission. Míng Zhèngdé period the Dàxuéshì Jìn Guì from the gé copied [it] out and entrusted Wáng Niè to cut [it] in 36 juǎn. Zǎi bǐngxìng (held nature) [was] tiándàn (peaceful-mild); his lifetime had no other taste — for books nothing was unread; although broadly examining commentary, but his self-attainments [are] in the majority. What he composed for wénzhāng [is] chúngǔ zhìzhí (purely-ancient, substantially-direct), not engaged in zǎoshì (algae-coloring), but naturally clear-and-fluent. His Màntáng one fù especially [is] what the world transmits-and-recites. His lecturing-of-learning unifyingly takes ChéngZhū as guide. When [he] was Zhēnzhōu sīfǎ, exactly [the time of] the prohibition-of-officials reading Zhōu and Chéng family books — Zǎi firmly refused to sign the zhuàng [memorial of compliance]. His associates were many of Zhūzǐ’s ménrén (gate-people, disciples), but did not reach to ascend to the gate of Master Zhū. Therefore in the collection he three-times conveys [his] meaning [on this] — also can be seen [in] his orientation’s jiāndǔ (firm-and-deep). Zǎi’s other compositions include Yǔlù in 10 juǎn; now also long lost. Only this collection alone survives. Qiánlóng 42 (1777), 10th month, respectfully collated.
Abstract
Màntáng jí preserves the corpus of one of the most respected late-Southern-Sòng yǐnyì (reclusive) figures. Liú Zǎi’s principled 30-year refusal to serve under Hán Tuōzhòu and during the subsequent Shǐ Míyuǎn period — preserved through repeated court summons that he declined — made him the canonical late-Sòng moral-exemplar of Dàoxué fortitude under political pressure. The Sìkù editors highlight Liú’s act of refusing to sign the zhuàng of compliance with the Qìngyuán-era prohibition of ZhōuChéng books while serving as Zhēnzhōu sīfǎ — one of the few documented acts of bureaucratic resistance to the Qìngyuán dǎngjìn (Faction Banishment of Qìngyuán).
The collection’s transmission is unusually well-documented: original qiánjí edited by Wáng Suì (early Chúnyòu, c. 1241–1245); preserved in the Mìgé under Lǐzōng; copied out and cut by Jìn Guì 靳貴 (1464–1520) and Wáng Niè in the Míng Zhèngdé (1506–1521) period — that recension is the textual ancestor of the WYG. The Màntáng fù (the title-piece, a celebrated rhapsody on Liú’s pond) was Liú’s most-circulated single composition. The dating bracket: 1190 (Liú’s jìnshì) through 1239 (his death year per CBDB id 11800).
Translations and research
- No substantial Western-language monographic literature located.
- Schirokauer, Conrad. 1962. “Neo-Confucians under Attack: The Condemnation of Wei-hsüeh.” Treats the Qìng-yuán dǎng-jìn (Faction Banishment of Qìng-yuán); Liú Zǎi’s resistance is referenced.
Other points of interest
Liú Zǎi’s three repeated mentions in the collection of his never having reached Zhū Xī’s personal mén (gate) — to study with him directly — is one of the more poignant late-Sòng documentations of Dàoxué aspirational identity: Liú considered himself an inheritor of the tradition through Zhū’s disciples but always with the regret of having missed direct discipleship.