魯齋遺書

Lǔzhāi yíshū 魯齋遺書

The Lǔ-zhāi (Lǔ-Studio) Surviving Writings by 許衡 (撰)

About the work

The 14-juàn collected writings of Xǔ Héng 許衡 (1209–1281; CBDB: well-attested) — zì Zhòngpíng 仲平, hào Lǔzhāi 魯齋 (“Lǔ-Studio”), posthumous shì Wénzhèng 文正, posthumously enfeoffed Wèiguógōng 魏國公. With Wú Chéng 吳澄, one of the two patriarchs of Yuán-period Neo-Confucianism — “in the north Xǔ Héng, in the south Wú Chéng” (per Jiē Xīsī’s Shéndào bēi). The collection’s editorial history: initial gathering by Xǔ’s seventh-generation-descendant son-in-law Hǎo Yàqīng 郝亞卿 (unfinished); completed by the Hénèi jiàoyú Zǎi Tíngjùn 宰廷俊; collated and printed at Biàn in Míng Jiājìng yǐyǒu (1525) by the Shānyīn man Xiāo Míngfèng 蕭鳴鳳. Subsequently re-edited by Yìng Liáng 應良 (sourcing from the Yìng nèihàn Yuánzhōng whom Xiāo encountered at Biàn) — the rearranged base added Xǔ’s Nèifǎ 內法 and his Dàxué / Zhōngyōng zhíjiě 直解. The volume was renamed Lǔzhāi yíshū on the principle that the book is incomplete.

The collection is arranged thus: juàn 1–2 yǔlù (recorded sayings); juàn 3 Xiǎoxué dàyì zhíshuō, Dàxué yàolüè, Dàxué zhíjiě; juàn 4 divided upper/lower: upper Zhōngyōng zhíjiě; lower Dú Yì sīyán, Dú Wénxiàngōng diéshī shuō, and Yīnyáng xiāozhǎng yī piān; juàn 5 zòushū (memorials); juàn 6 upper/lower: upper zázhù (miscellaneous compositions); lower shūzhuàng (letters); juàn 7–8 shī / yuèfǔ; fùlù (appendix) 2 juàn of portraits, decrees, and later inscriptions.

Tiyao

The Lǔzhāi yíshū, 14 juàn, by Xǔ Héng of the Yuán. Héng has the Dú Yì sīyán already catalogued. Initially Héng’s seventh-generation-descendant son-in-law Hǎo Yàqīng gathered his surviving writings, unfinished; the Hénèi jiàoyú Zǎi Tíngjùn continued and completed it. In Jiājìng yǐyǒu (1525), the Shānyīn man Xiāo Míngfèng collated and cut [it] at Biàn. Afterward [there is again] a tíshí (titled inscription) which says:

“Míngfèng was just collating this book when [it] happened that the Yìng nèihàn Yuánzhōng [Yìng Liáng] on a mission passed Biàn — [he] said the old base’s sequence seems to have something not yet appropriate; thereupon [he] re-edited [it] as follows. Continuing, [we] obtained the Nèifǎ and the Dàxué / Zhōngyōng zhíjiě — both have been added. The old base [was] named Lǔzhāi quánshū; secretly considering that the master’s books still have many scattered-and-lost — [we] dare not call [the volume] complete. Therefore [we] changed the name to Yíshū.”

So this base [was] re-edited by Yìng Liáng, and Míngfèng changed the name.

The first 2 juàn are recorded sayings; the third juàn is Xiǎoxué dàyì zhíshuō, Dàxué yàolüè, Dàxué zhíjiě; the fourth juàn divides into upper-and-lower: upper is Zhōngyōng zhíjiě; lower is Dú Yì sīyán, Dú Wénxiàngōng diéshī shuō, and one piece Yīnyáng xiāozhǎng; the fifth juàn is zòushū; the sixth juàn also divides into upper-and-lower: upper is zázhù; lower is shūzhuàng; the seventh-and-eighth juàn are shī and yuèfǔ; the fùlù 2 juàn are portraits-praises, decrees-and-edicts and the like, and later persons’ titled inscriptions.

The book, [having been] gathered by later persons, has no separately-selected basis; [things] like the Dàxué and Zhōngyōng zhíjiě are all books-of-teaching-the-young, with-language seeking-to-be-popular, with-nothing-of-elucidation. [The] Biānnián gēkuò especially is not suitable to be listed in the collection. [They] are all-together cut-for-circulation — not Héng’s original intent. Yet Héng’s lifelong discussion-and-master-ideas also rather depend on this compilation to be preserved. Discarding their tangled-and-confused parts and taking their refined-and-pure essence — [it is] in the reader’s separate-selection. His wénzhāng [has] no-mind for fine-cultivation, yet [is] naturally clear-and-plain, pure-and-correct; his various-form poems also possess style-and-frame — particularly difficult-to-obtain among lecturing scholars.

Respectfully collated, twelfth month of Qiánlóng 46 (1781). 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

The principal literary monument of Xǔ Héng 許衡 (1209–1281), the founding patriarch of Yuán-period institutional Neo-Confucianism (lǐxué) under the Mongol regime. With Wú Chéng 吳澄 (1249–1333), Xǔ defines the two principal scholarly currents of the early-to-mid Yuán — the northern (Xǔ, plain-and-substantial, focused on practical moral-transformation) and the southern (Wú, ornate-and-elegant, focused on textual exegesis). The pairing is canonized in Jiē Xīsī’s Shéndào bēi for Wú Chéng (preserved in KR4d0446): “Heaven sent down True-Confucians — in the north there was Xǔ Héng, in the south there was Wú Chéng — by whom they expanded and broadened the Ultimate Way.”

Xǔ Héng’s role under Khubilai Khan was institutionally foundational: he served as Guózǐjiān jìjiǔ (Director of the Imperial Academy) and architect of the Yuán Confucian curricular system. His Xiǎoxué dàyì zhíshuō, Dàxué yàolüè, Dàxué zhíjiě, Zhōngyōng zhíjiě — all preserved in this collection — are the foundational documents of Yuán institutional pedagogy, building from Zhū Xī’s commentaries to produce a curriculum readable by Mongol-period students unfamiliar with classical Chinese. The Sìkù editors observe that these elementary-pedagogical works were not properly part of Xǔ’s literary collection but were included by the compilers regardless. The corpus is supplemented by the technical Dú Yì sīyán (separately catalogued, KR1a0152).

Transmission: Initial Yuán-period dispersion; gathered by Hǎo Yàqīng (Xǔ’s son-in-law); completed by Zǎi Tíngjùn (Hénèi jiàoyú); printed Biàn 1525 by Xiāo Míngfèng, re-edited by Yìng Liáng. The pre-Jiā-jìng title Lǔzhāi quánshū (Complete Works) was rejected as overstatement; the final title Lǔzhāi yíshū (Surviving Writings) acknowledges incompleteness.

Translations and research

• Yáo Cóng-wú 姚從吾, “Xǔ Héng zài Hū-bì-liè zhèng-zhì-jí yāo zhōng zhī dì-wèi” (1958). Foundational scholarly biography.
• Yuán-shǐ j. 158 (Xǔ Héng biography) — the principal biographical source.
• Hé Yòu-sēn 何佑森, Yuán-dài de Lǐ-xué jiā (essays on Yuán Neo-Confucians).
• John D. Langlois (ed.), China under Mongol Rule (Princeton UP, 1981) — multiple chapters discuss Xǔ Héng.

Other points of interest

The narrow surviving extent of the Lǔzhāi yíshū — 14 juàn — in stark contrast to Wú Chéng’s 100-juàn Wú Wénzhèng jí — exemplifies the Sìkù editors’ characterization of the two figures: Xǔ’s learning was dǔshí yǐ huà rén (sincere-substantial to transform people) while Wú’s was zhùzuò yǐ lì jiào (composition to establish the teaching). The contrasting compositional outputs reflect contrasting Confucian sensibilities.

Links

• WYG SKQS V1198.7, p273.
• Wikipedia, 許衡
• Yuánshǐ j. 158