雲峯集

Yúnfēng jí 雲峯集

The Yún-fēng (Cloud-Peak) Collection by 胡炳文 (撰)

About the work

The remnant ten-juàn (catalog “8 juàn”, actual extant: 7 juàn of prose + 1 juàn of poetry + 2 juàn of fùlù) collection of Hú Bǐngwén 胡炳文 (CBDB 34365, 1250–1333), zì Zhònghǔ 仲虎, hào Yúnfēng 雲峯 (“Cloud-Peak”) — the great Yuán-period Hūzhōu (Wùyuán 婺源, Huīzhōu) ZhūXué patriarch whose ZhōuYì běnyì tōngshì 周易本義通釋 is separately catalogued. Hú was a sixth-generation descendant of Zhū Xī’s collateral lineage at Wùyuán; called himself a Wéngōng dōu zǐ (Wéngōng = Zhū Xī’s posthumous shì) — making him one of the most-recognized ZhūXī family-school members of the Yuán. The original collection was 20 juàn; destroyed by warfare during the YuánMíng transition. In Míng Chénghuà, Hú’s seventh- and eighth-generation descendants Hú Yòngguāng 胡用光 and Hú Jùn 胡濬 gathered the scattered remains into the present 10-juàn recension prefaced by Lín Hàn 林瀚.

The recension’s structure (per the Sìkù tíyào and the zǒngmù):

• juàn 1: shū (letters), lùn (essays)
• juàn 2: jì (records)
• juàn 3: xù (prefaces)
• juàn 4: tíbá (colophons), zìshuō (name-explanations)
• juàn 5: bēi (steles), mùzhì (epitaphs), zhuàn (biographies)
• juàn 6: shàngliáng wén (roof-beam dedications), qǐ (announcements)
• juàn 7: zhēn (admonitions), míng (inscriptions), plus 4 fù and 1 gēcí
• juàn 8: shī (poetry) plus 3 cí
• Appendix 2 juàn: biographical materials, xíngshù (career account), and exchange-poems / tíyǒng

Tiyao

The Yúnfēng jí [10 juàn], by Hú Bǐngwén of the Yuán. Bǐngwén has the ZhōuYì běnyì tōngshì already catalogued. According to Lín Hàn’s preface, the collection’s original base was 20 juàn; afterward [it was] destroyed by warfare. In Míng Chénghuà, his seventh-generation descendant [Hú] Yòngguāng [and] eighth-generation descendant [Hú] Jùn thereupon gathered the lost-and-scattered, [and] edited [the collection] as this base. Altogether [comprising] 7 juàn of miscellaneous prose, appended with 4 fù, 1 gēcí; 1 juàn of poetry, appended with 3 cí; fùlù 2 juàn — [containing the standard] biography, xíngshù, and presentation-and-response tíyǒng poetry-and-prose.

[Hú] Bǐngwén’s learning, uniformly takes Zhūzǐ as patriarch; therefore his reply to Chén Lì 陳櫟 letter says: “Our generation dwells [in] Wéngōng’s dōu (capital), having become accustomed to Wéngōng’s books — naturally [it is] a matter of our běnfēn (root-portion).” His composed Cǎotáng xuégǎo xù enumerates-up the previous-era poets with utmost-words [of] vulgar-vilification, saying: “Even-if [a poet] reaches Cáo and Liú, what benefit-to gézhì chéngzhèng? Even-if [a poet] reaches Xiè and Bào, what benefit-to xiūqí zhìpíng?” — likely [his] not entrusting-his-intention to literary [art is here].

Yet his prose-letters then [are] píngzhèng chúnyǎ (level-correct, pure-and-refined), without the practice of Sòng-people’s yǔlù fāngyán (recorded-sayings, vernacular-language) all entering brush-and-ink. His poetry, although mixed-in-with the Jīrǎng jí [Shào Yōng] tradition, like the Zèng Hèān xiàngshì (4-syllable poem), Běisì hūnzhōng, Liàowù wǎnyān, Bài Éyuèwáng mù, Háoguāntíng, Zèng èr Qí shēng — various pieces — all do not lose elegant yùn (rhyme/atmosphere). Indeed his tiānzī (heaven-given disposition) originally was close to cízhāng (literary-craft) — therefore although [his] gate-path [is] different, [his] xìnglíng (nature-and-spirit) at-times appears. As for within his gǔwén, [he] often occasionally [adds in] zǎoshì (carved-ornamentation): like the Sòng Wéngōng wǔshìsūn xù says: “From ancient to today’s-times, [in] anyone’s home, [where is there] no qiūmù (grave-mound)? How [can there] be no cháofěicuì (nesting kingfishers) and wò qílín (lying qílín)?” The letter to Wú Cǎolú 吳草廬 [Wú Chéng] says: “Moss [is] lǜzī shēn (green-rich-deep) and parsley-fragrance not [to be] picked — failing the previous-sages and previous-teachers.” The Huánlǜtíng jì says: “Ruìshèng Wǔgōng, seventy still loved learning; Délín, year just lǜbìn (green-sideburns) — learning should be how?” — discussed by literary-form, all are pòlǜ (broken-rule). Yet judging [against] those who exaggeratedly speak of “carrying-the-Way” without hair-of-decoration — indeed [Hú Bǐngwén] is at-a-distance [from such].

Respectfully collated, eighth month of Qiánlóng 42 (1777). 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 Hú Bǐngwén (1250–1333), the foremost Yuán-period ZhūXué patriarch of the Huīzhōu / Wùyuán region — Zhū Xī’s own native county — and a collateral descendant of the great Sòng patriarch. Hú’s primary work is the ZhōuYì běnyì tōngshì (separately catalogued), an authoritative Zhū-Xī-orthodox commentary on the Yìjīng. The Yúnfēng jí is the literary companion to this Yìjīng scholarship.

The collection’s principal critical position — preserved in the Cǎotáng xuégǎo xù — is a strict Zhū-orthodox dismissal of pre-Sòng poetic and prose traditions: “Even reaching Cáo Zhí, Liú Zhēn — what benefit to gézhì chéngzhèng (investigation-of-things, sincerity-of-thought)? Even reaching Xiè Língyùn, Bào Zhào — what benefit to xiūqí zhìpíng (cultivation-of-self, regulation-of-family, ordering-of-state, pacification-of-world)?” The Sìkù editors find Hú’s literary practice however more accommodating: his prose is píngzhèng chúnyǎ (level-correct, pure-and-refined), free from late-Sòng vernacular-philosophical intrusions; his poetry has occasional xìnglíng (nature-and-spirit) showing through despite its theoretical Shào Yōng / Jīrǎng jí-tradition orientation; his prose occasionally has elegant ornament. Hú is also exchange-correspondent with Chén Lì 陳櫟 KR4d0481 and Wú Chéng 吳澄 — both major Yuán Neo-Confucians — making the Yúnfēng jí a primary source for early-Yuán Jiāngxī / Huīzhōu Neo-Confucian network.

Transmission: original 20-juàn corpus destroyed in YuánMíng transition warfare; the present 10-juàn recension is a Míng Chénghuà compilation by Hú’s 7th- and 8th-generation descendants Hú Yòngguāng and Hú Jùn, prefaced by Lín Hàn. Composition window: from Hú’s adult literary activity (after c. 1280) through his death in 1333.

Translations and research

• Joseph Adler, Reconstructing the Confucian Dao: Zhu Xi’s Appropriation of Zhou Dunyi (2014) — context.
• Yuán-shǐ Rú-lín zhuàn (j. 189) gives Hú Bǐng-wén’s biography.
• Hé Yòu-sēn 何佑森, Yuán-dài de Lǐ-xué jiā — discusses Hú.

Other points of interest

The pairing of the Yúnfēng jí with the ZhōuYì běnyì tōngshì exemplifies how Wùyuán Zhū-orthodox figures consciously aligned themselves with the local-place identity (“we dwell in Wéngōng’s dōu [native place]”) — making Wùyuán a quasi-pilgrimage center for YuánMíng ZhūXué. The seven-and-eight-generation-descendant 1466 compilation by Hú Yòngguāng / Hú Jùn is one of the better-documented Míng-period family-school transmissions of a Yuán scholar’s corpus.

Links

• WYG SKQS V1199.8, p735.
• CBDB person 34365 (Hú Bǐngwén)
• Wikipedia, 胡炳文