Mòān jí 默庵集
The Mò-ān (Silent-Hut) Collection by 安熙 (撰)
About the work
The five-juàn collection of Ān Xī 安熙 (CBDB 29005, 1270–1311), zì Jìngzhòng 敬仲, hào Mòān 默庵 (“Silent-Hut”), native of Gǎochéng 藁城 (modern Héběi). The principal Yuán-period second-generation transmitter of Liú Yīn 劉因’s Neo-Confucian teaching — Ān, young, admired Liú Yīn’s reputation and wished to study with him; Liú Yīn was also willing to transmit his learning to Ān, but Liú Yīn died before this could happen. Ān then devoted his lifelong learning to Liú Yīn’s tradition. The student-disciple Sū Tiānjué 蘇天爵 KR4d0523 composed Ān’s xíngzhuàng (preserved in Yuán wénlèi) and gathered his poetry-and-prose into a 10-juàn collection prefaced by Yú Jí 虞集; the present 5-juàn Sìkù base preserves only half of this original.
Tiyao
The Mòān jí, 5 juàn, by Ān Xī of the Yuán. Xī, zì Jìngzhòng, [was] a Gǎochéng man. Young, [he] admired Liú Yīn’s name [and] wished to follow him in study — Yīn also was willing to transmit what he had learned to [Ān] Xī; meeting [Liú] Yīn’s death — [it] did not come-about. Yet what he learned, [Ān] uniformly took [Liú] Yīn as patriarch. His disciple Sū Tiānjué composed Xī’s xíngzhuàng — calling [that when] Zhūzǐ’s Sìshū jízhù first reached the north, Hǔnán Wáng Ruòxū rose-up to dispute it, [and] Chén Tiānxiáng further elucidated his theory; Xī forcefully argued with [Chén]. [Chén] Tiānxiáng thereupon burnt his book. Now [Chén] Tiānxiáng’s book originally is preserved; [so] this burning-it theory, although [it] verges on kuāshì (boasting-and-ornament), yet Xī’s lì chóng Zhūxué (forcefully exalting ZhūXué) is indeed by this seen.
After Xī died, [Sū] Tiānjué gathered his poetry-and-prose, [and] Yú Jí composed the preface. The poetry rather has gédiào (form-and-tone); although it sometimes makes lǐyǔ (principle-language), [it] does not get-mixed-with yǔlù (recorded-sayings vernacular). Only the Dōngrì zhāijū 5 [poems] and the Shòu Lǐwēng bāshí shī do not enter the body-frame. The miscellaneous prose [is] all dǔshí lìxué (sincere-substantial diligent-study) words — yet [it is] injured by píngtà (flat-spread); likely [Ān] originally had no intention of seeking gōng (skillful-craftsmanship). [Sū] Tiānjué’s xíngzhuàng calls the collection 10 juàn; this base preserves only 5 juàn of poetry-and-prose. Perhaps [the] old prose [was] scattered-lost and later persons reassembled-and-edited [it].
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 collected works of Ān Xī (CBDB 29005, 1270–1311), the principal Yuán-period second-generation transmitter of the Liú Yīn 劉因 Neo-Confucian tradition. Ān is the historical pivot in the Héběi Lǐxué transmission: Liú Yīn (1249–1293) → Ān Xī (1270–1311) → Sū Tiānjué (1294–1352, who composed Ān’s xíngzhuàng and the great Yuánwén lèi). The Sìkù editors preserve a striking biographical detail: Ān aggressively defended Zhū Xī’s Sìshū jízhù against the Hǔnán school critic Wáng Ruòxū 王若虛 (the JīnYuán transition Liáo-yáng-school philosopher) and the later attacker Chén Tiānxiáng 陳天祥, allegedly forcing the latter to burn his anti-Zhū book — though the Sìkù editors note that Chén Tiānxiáng’s book in fact still survives. The original collection of 10 juàn prefaced by Yú Jí 虞集 has been reduced by attrition to 5; the surviving prose is dǔshí lìxué (sincere-substantial, diligent-study) in character. The poetry is praised as occasionally philosophical without descending into yǔlù fāngyán vernacular. Composition window: from Ān’s adult literary activity (after c. 1285) through his death in 1311.
Translations and research
- Yuán-shǐ j. 189 (Rú-lín zhuàn 2) gives Ān Xī’s biography.
- Hoyt C. Tillman, Confucian Discourse and Chu Hsi’s Ascendancy — discusses the Liú Yīn / Ān Xī Hé-běi tradition.
Other points of interest
The Liú Yīn → Ān Xī → Sū Tiānjué transmission line is the principal Héběi (northern, non-Jiāng-xī, non-Wù-zhōu) Yuán Neo-Confucian lineage; Sū Tiānjué’s compilation of the Yuán wénlèi is its principal documentary contribution. Ān is the link figure: Liú Yīn’s preferred student-by-intention, Sū Tiānjué’s teacher, transmitter of Liú Yīn’s reclusion-Confucianism into the next generation.
Links
- WYG SKQS V1199.7, p707.
- CBDB person 29005 (Ān Xī)
- Yuánshǐ j. 189