Méngzhāi jí 蒙齋集
Collection of the Méng-zhāi Studio by 袁甫 (撰)
About the work
Méngzhāi jí 蒙齋集 in 20 juǎn is the biéjí of Yuán Fǔ 袁甫 (zì Guǎngwēi 廣微, hào Méngzhāi 蒙齋), a Southern Sòng moral-philosophical official from Yínxiàn 鄞縣 (modern Níngbō). Yuán was the son of Yuán Xiè 袁燮, jìnshì in Jiādìng 7 (1214), and rose to lìbù shìláng, guózǐ jìjiǔ, acting bīngbù shàngshū; shì (posthumous title) Zhèngsù 正肅. The collection is a recovery from Yǒnglè dàdiǎn — the original 40-juǎn recension recorded by Jiāo Hóng 焦竑’s Guóshǐ jīngjí zhì 國史經籍志 had been lost after the Míng. It is dominated by zòushū (memorial) literature, jīngyán jiǎngyì (lecture-court commentary), edicts, and prefaces. The catalog records date ‘1214’ — i.e., the start of Yuán Fǔ’s official career; the collection necessarily post-dates that.
Tiyao
The minister-editors respectfully report. Méngzhāi jí by Yuán Fǔ of the Sòng. Fǔ’s zì was Guǎngwēi, a man of Yínxiàn. He was the son of Yuán Xiè 燮, Vice-Minister of Rites. He passed jìnshì in Jiādìng 7 [1214], rose through office to Vice-Minister of Personnel and concurrent Guózǐ jìjiǔ, then acting Minister of War; was awarded posthumous shǎofù; his shì was Zhèngsù 正肅. His career is given in the Sòngshǐ biography. Jiāo Hóng’s 焦竑 Guóshǐ jīngjí zhì records that Fǔ’s Méngzhāi jí in its original recension was 40 juǎn; transmitted copies have become extremely rare since the Míng. In recent times Lǐ Yèsì 李鄴嗣 and others, in compiling Yǒngshàng qíjiù shī 甬上耆舊詩, sought widely but were unable to find Fǔ’s collection — they were able only to extract pieces from various sources. The work has been lost for a long time.
Fǔ inherited his family’s learning, deeply versed in the classical-canonical disciplines; the language by which he expounded the Way was always able to grasp its essential content. In every office where he served, he diligently devoted himself to advancing benefits and removing harms — every memorial of his could be substantiated by what was actually carried out. His various bian-mín (people-benefit) memorials submitted while at Huīzhōu remain even today the basis on which the people rely. He differs entirely from the empty-talk faction.
When matters of major court import arose, his upright and unambiguous direct exposition was particularly to-the-point on the most pressing issues. When Shǐ Sōngzhī 史嵩之 proposed to ally with the Mongols to attack the Jīn, Fǔ resolutely opposed it, and said that Sōngzhī was reckless and untrustworthy — he nearly suffered grave [retaliation]. He further forcibly impeached Shǐ Míyuǎn’s monopolization of authority, and exhorted Lǐzōng to take the imperial reins (qiángāng) firmly into his own hands. This was even more difficult speech to utter.
Although his memorials are not all preserved today, what survives of his zhāzǐ is still abundant — all of them keenly criticizing those in power, robust and uncompromising. He may be called a loyal-and-direct (zhōnggěng) gentleman.
His other prose and poetry — for the most part clear, lucid, going straight to the point of lǐ (principle), satisfying-to-mind, not bothering with cosmetic or ornamental words — has both substance and use, and always answers to the Way. Truly he can be said to have not failed his learning.
The Yuán family — grandfather, father, son — transmitted Confucian learning across three generations, with their family classical scholarship clearly distinguished, mutually rivalling. Their reputations are of course already on prominent display in the histories. Yet the surviving editions of their works had been buried (yīnmò) for several hundred years. Now we are fortunate to live in an age that gathers the lost; Fǔ’s grandfather, the one called Wén [i.e., Yuán Xiè’s father Yuán Wén 袁文], whose Wèngyǒu xiánpíng 甕牖閒評 was already collected and printed; Fǔ’s father Xiè’s Jiézhāi jí 絜齋集 KR4d0288 together with his Máoshī jiǎngyì 毛詩講義 KR1h0049 both received imperial verse-praise and adornment of the literary garden. Now Fǔ’s complete collection has further been able to be set in order and made into a proper book, brought into completeness — entirely thanks to the imperial dynasty’s exalting and extending the surviving documents of antiquity, illuminating their long-hidden brilliance, gathering even from worm-eaten remnants and bringing them simultaneously to view. From these — and from his moral self-cultivation and discipline — we may consult and confirm; the writings transmitted, the man too is much to be valued. Qiánlóng 47 [1782], 4th month, respectfully collated. Chief Compiler-Officials Jì Yún 紀昀, Lù Xīxióng 陸錫熊, Sūn Shìyì 孫士毅. General Editor: Lù Fèichí 陸費墀.
Abstract
Méngzhāi jí is reconstructed from Yǒnglè dàdiǎn by the Sìkù editors at 20 juǎn, less than half the 40 juǎn originally recorded by Jiāo Hóng (late 16th century). Yuán Fǔ’s jìnshì was 1214; he was active politically into the Chúnyòu era under Lǐzōng. The collection’s terminus ante quem is approximately his death — Lǐ Bǐngrán’s article and CBDB place this around 1254 (no fixed CBDB death-year, but his last datable activity is in the early 1250s). The dating bracket therefore: 1214 to ca. 1254, the bracket of his composition activity.
Yuán Fǔ is conventionally placed in the Sìmíng xuépài 四明學派 lineage of Lù Jiǔyuān 陸九淵 transmitted through Yáng Jiǎn 楊簡 to Yuán Xiè 袁燮 (Fǔ’s father) and to Yuán Fǔ himself — i.e. the third-generation xīnxué 心學 transmission at Yínxiàn. The Sìkù editors accordingly emphasize his “moral-philosophical substance” and his unwillingness to engage in ornamental prose; the contrast with his political contemporaries is implicit.
The collection’s principal historical value is its preservation of memorials concerning two political crises: Yuán Fǔ’s opposition to Shǐ Sōngzhī’s 1233 proposal to ally with the Mongols against the Jīn (the LiánMéng mièJīn policy that proved catastrophic), and his impeachments of Shǐ Míyuǎn’s clique. The Sìkù editors specifically commend Yuán’s bian-mín (popular-benefit) memorials from his Huīzhōu tenure, observing that the policies he initiated remained in operation in the late 18th century. The poetry and incidental prose are described by the editors as “clear, lucid, principled” — fitting the xīnxué aesthetic of plain unornamented expression.
Translations and research
- 何忠禮. 南宋政治史. Beijing: 人民出版社, 2008. Discusses Yuán Fǔ in the context of the late-Sòng anti-Shǐ-Mí-yuǎn opposition.
- 黃宗羲. 宋元學案, juǎn 75 (Yuán-shì xué-àn). The standard biographical-philosophical placement of the Yuán-family Sì-míng learning.
- 張瑞濤. 2010. “袁甫《蒙齋集》研究.” Master’s thesis, 浙江工業大學.
- Quán Sòng wén 全宋文 (Sìchuān: Bāshǔ shūshè / Shanghai: Shanghai císhū) collects Yuán Fǔ’s prose comprehensively from this and related sources.
Other points of interest
The 提要’s reference to Yuán Fǔ’s grandfather as “Wén” 文 is a slight infelicity: Yuán Wén 袁文 (1119–1190) was Yuán Fǔ’s paternal grandfather, with the Wèngyǒu xiánpíng 甕牖閒評 still extant — the Sìkù editors recovered it as well. The chain Yuán Wén → Yuán Xiè 燮 → Yuán Fǔ is the foundation of the Yínxiàn Yuán-family classical-textual scholarship.