Sìān jí 俟菴集
The Sì-ān (Hut-of-Waiting) Collection by 李存 (撰)
About the work
A 30-juǎn collected works of Lǐ Cún 李存 (1281–1354), zì Míngyuǎn, gēngzì Zhònggōng. Native of Ānrén (Ráozhōu, Jiāngxī). Disciple of Chén Lìdà 陳立太 in the Lù Jiǔyuān 陸九淵 (Lù-school) tradition. 11 juǎn shī + 19 juǎn wén. Edited posthumously by his son Zhuó 卓. Prefaced by Zōu Jì 鄒濟 (Yǒnglè yǐyǒu 1405); Wēi Sù mùzhì and Yú Jí’s letter to Lǐ Cún appended at the end.
Tiyao
Sìān jí, 30 juǎn. By Lǐ Cún of the Yuán. Cún’s zì Míngyuǎn, gēngzì Zhònggōng, a man of Ānrén. In youth widely read in classical books, fond of writing prose. Later studied under Chén Lìdà of Shàngráo of the Lù Jiǔyuān school; thereupon burnt his prior writings. His discussion of learning: takes shěngchá běnxīn “examining the original mind” as foundation. His discussion of prose says: “What Yáo and Shùn had in words — the Sāndài can leave unspoken. What the Sāndài had in words — Hàn and Táng can leave unspoken. Before the Liùjīng, this principle was hidden in nothing — the former-age sages directly xíngróng it; how could they have added or subtracted?” All these are Lù-school formulations. But Cún’s learning was dúshí (faithful and substantial) — not like the Jīnxī side-line that fell into yuánmiǎo (emptiness-and-remote-abstraction) and lost the original Lù-school principle. So his shīwén are all píngzhèng chúnyǎ (level-correct and pure-elegant), without sharp edges — cuìrán yǒu rúzhě zhī yì (substantially has the yì of a Confucian). The collection edited by his son Zhuó: 11 juǎn shī + 19 juǎn wén. Before is Yǒnglè yǐyǒu (1405) Zōu Jì preface and Wēi Sù mùzhì; at end appended Yú Jí letter. Per Dàoyuán xuégǔ lù, [Yú Jí] has Sòng Lǐ Yànfāng Mǐnxiàn shī xù: “*Recently late-learning small ones do not read meticulously, abuse Lù Zǐjìng’s school to deceive themselves, even wanting to alter the zhāngjù and directly denounce ChéngZhū’s school as wrong — this is also not the truth-seeing of Lù’s school — this is only their chāngkuáng bùxué (frenzied non-learning), using-to-deceive-others. In the Wángzhì this surely will not be tolerated. In Mǐn, since Zhōnglì returned, already there was DàoNán zhī tàn (lament for DàoNán): Zhòngsù, Yuànzhōng, on through Yuánhuì — the lineage is clear and clean, all in Mǐn — cannot but speak out at Yànfāng’s departure. Remove a zānglì (corrupt official), order a bìzhèng (defective government) — not as much as this one matter — zhèngrénxīn (correct the human heart).” His words are biǎnzào (impatient, anxious); facing the Lù school, bùdàitiān (will not share heaven). Yet his letter to Cún is shēn xiāng tuīyī (deeply elevating) — surely not because of his learning but because of his rén — to elevate. Also evident that Yuán rúzhě are dūnpǔ (solid and unpretentious), without sect-rivalry chéngjiàn (preconceptions). Respectfully collated.
Abstract
The Sìān jí preserves the principal monument of orthodox Lù-school Confucianism in the late Yuán — dúshí (faithful and substantial) where the contemporaneous Jīnxī school had drifted into yuánmiǎo. The collection is unusually interesting for the history of Yuán intellectual factionalism: Lǐ Cún was a committed Lù-disciple, and Yú Jí was the principal Yuán-period anti-Lù polemicist (preserved in his Sòng Lǐ Yànfāng preface), but Yú Jí’s surviving letter to Lǐ Cún is warmly respectful — a single concrete case the Sìkù tíyào uses to illustrate Yuán scholarly dūnpǔ (un-sectarian solidness). Composition window: from Lǐ’s earliest preserved compositions (after he burned his pre-Lù early works, c. 1310) to his 1354 death.
Translations and research
- Yáng Lián. 2003. Yuán-shī shǐ.
- Standard references on the Yuán-period Lù-school revival.
Links
- WYG SKQS V1213.5, p597.