Gǔxiǎng jí 谷響集
The Valley-Resonance Collection by 釋善住 (撰)
About the work
A three-juàn poetic collection by the Yuán-period Buddhist monk Shànzhù 善住 (CBDB 30358, lifedates uncertain — fl. late 13th – early 14th c.), zì Wúzhù 無住, biéhào Yúnwū 雲屋 (“Cloud-Chamber”). Once resident at the Bàoēn Temple 報恩寺 of Wújùn 吳郡 (Sūzhōu); much traveled on the Wúsōngjiāng (Sūzhōu region) and connected to the Yuán literary network including Qiú Yuǎn 仇遠 KR4d0447, Bái Tǐng 白珽 KR4d0449, Yú Jí 虞集, and Sòng Wú 宋无 — making Shànzhù one of the principal late-Yuán shīsēng (poet-monks) of the Sūzhōu Buddhist establishment. Internal dating: a Guǐhàisuì yùjū Qiántáng Qiānqǐngsì shùhuái poem (Composed on Settled Residence at Qiántáng Qiānqǐngsì in the guǐhài year — Yīngzōng Zhìzhì 3 = 1323) has the line gāogé gōngshū sānshí nián (“In a high pavilion attacking books for thirty years”) — pushing his book-study start back to 1294, jiǎwǔ (Yuán Shìzǔ Zhìyuán 31 / Yuánzhēn 1) — i.e. 14 years after the Sòng fall. A Zèng yǐnzhě shī (Presenting to a Recluse Poem) has the line duì shí cán Zhōu sù / rèn yī shàng Chǔ lán (“Facing the meal, ashamed of [eating] the Zhōu millet; the sewn garment still has the Chǔ orchid”) — i.e. Shànzhù lived to encounter remaining Sòng yílǎo. The Sìkù editors’ literary judgment: Shànzhù’s poetics declared “diǎnyǎ shǐ chéng Táng jùfǎ / cūháo zhōng yǒu Sòng rén fēng” (“the typical-elegant only becomes Táng sentence-method / the rough-heroic in the end has Sòng-people manner”) — quite refined; the practice however falls back into Sòng Jiānghú / Sìlíng manner. “Xiùgǔ tiānchéng / jué wú shūsǔn zhī qì” (“[His] elegant bone is naturally-formed; entirely without the vegetable-bamboo-shoot vapor [characteristic of monk verse]”); “in his time among the shīsēng [he] surely should rank first.” Composition window: 1294 through 1323+.
Tiyao
[Standard Sìkù tíyào from source, summarized:] Gǔxiǎng jí in three juàn by Yuán monk Shànzhù. Shànzhù, zì Wúzhù, alternative hào Yúnwū. Once resided at the Bàoēn Temple of Wújùn city; coming-and-going on the Wúsōngjiāng — was on mutual-presentation terms with Qiú Yuǎn, Bái Tǐng, Yú Jí, Sòng Wú and others. In the collection’s Guǐhài suì yùjū Qiántáng Qiānqǐngsì shùhuái poem there is the line “gāogé gōngshū sānshí nián” (“in a high pavilion attacking books for thirty years”); from [Yīngzōng’s Zhìzhì 3, guǐhài (1323)] back-counting thirty years is Shìzǔ’s Zhìyuán 31, jiǎwǔ (1294); from the Sòng’s fall [that is] only 14 years.
His Zèng yǐnzhě shī (Presenting-to-a-Recluse Poem) has the line “duì shí cán Zhōu sù / rèn yī shàng Chǔ lán” (“Facing the meal, ashamed of [eating] the Zhōu millet; the sewn-garment still [has the] Chǔ orchid”) — presumably [he] just had reached to see the Sòng’s yílǎo; therefore what [he] composed is rather able [to] not fail [in] jǔhuò (frame and standard).
Observing his “treating of poetry” — he says: “diǎnyǎ shǐ chéng Táng jùfǎ / cūháo zhōng yǒu Sòng rén fēng” (“The typical-and-elegant — only-then becomes Táng sentence-method / the rough-and-heroic in the end has Sòng-people manner”) — [his] establishing-of-meaning [is] extremely not-ordinary. But verifying [it against] his collection-pieces — [we see that he] but works at the recent-style; mostly [his] practice is qīngjùn diāozhuó (clean-handsome carving-and-chiseling) — quite close to the Sìlíng / Jiānghú school — finally not detaching from the Sòng-people’s kējiù (cubby-hole) — his words unavoidably reach into the over-lofty. Yet his xiùgǔ tiānchéng (elegant-bone, naturally-formed) [is] entirely without the shūsǔn zhī qì (vegetable-and-bamboo-shoot vapor); the fine places likewise [are] not easily reached — in his time [among] the shīsēng surely [he] should bend a finger [i.e. rank] first.
Respectfully collated, seventh month of Qiánlóng 45 (1780). Chief-Compiler Officers Jì Yún 紀昀, Lù Xīxióng 陸錫熊, Sūn Shìyì 孫士毅; Chief-Collation Officer Lù Fèichí 陸費墀.
Abstract
Shì Shànzhù (CBDB 30358, lifedates uncertain) is the foremost Yuán-period shīsēng (poet-monk) of the Sūzhōu Buddhist establishment, and his collection — the Gǔxiǎng jí (Valley-Resonance Collection) — is one of the principal preserved Yuán-period monastic poetry corpora. His Wújùn (Sūzhōu) Bàoēnsì residency, his Wúsōngjiāng travels, and his connections to Qiú Yuǎn (with whom Shànzhù was particularly close — Qiú’s KR4d0447 Jīnyuān jí preserves harmonization-poems), Bái Tǐng, Yú Jí, and Sòng Wú — place him at the center of the early-fourteenth-century Sūzhōu literary culture. The collection’s tonal declaration (diǎnyǎ Táng / cūháo Sòng) is a programmatic Yuán-period reactivation of Táng poetic norms against late-Sòng Jiānghú / Sìlíng mannerism. The Sìkù editors find a tension between the declared Táng aspiration and the practiced Sìlíng / Jiānghú realization. Composition window: 1294 through 1323+. CBDB 30358 (lifedates blank). Wilkinson does not single out Shànzhù.
Translations and research
- Liú Yīng-fēn 劉應芬, Yuán-dài shī-sēng yán-jiū 元代詩僧研究 (Tài-běi: Wén-jīn, 2003).
- Quán Yuán shī — collates Shàn-zhù’s verse.
Links
- WYG SKQS V1195.7, p659.
- CBDB person 30358 (Shì Shànzhù)