Xùnyǐn jí 巽隱集
Collection of [the Studio of] Xùn-Concealment by 程本立 (撰)
About the work
Xùnyǐn jí 巽隱集 in 4 juǎn (2 juǎn poetry, 2 juǎn prose) is the surviving work of Chéng Běnlì 程本立 (d. 1402), zì Yuándào 原道, hào Xùnyǐn 巽隱 (a Yìjīng-derived studio name from the Xùn trigram), native of Tóngxiāng 桐鄉 (Jiāxīng, Zhèjiāng). Raised by míngjīng in Hóngwǔ 9 (1376) and elevated to Qínfǔ yǐnlǐ shèrén 秦王府引禮舍人; left office for mother-mourning; reappointed Zhōufǔ lǐguān 周府禮官; banished by association to Mǎlóng Tālángdiàn chángguānsī lìmù 馬龍他郎甸長官司吏目 in Yúnnán, where he distinguished himself in the pacification of the Bǎiyí 百夷 (Tai peoples); recalled to Hànlín; rose to yòu qiān dūyùshǐ 右僉都御史; reassigned Jiāngxī ànchá fùshǐ but had not departed when the Yān prince usurped the throne — at which Chéng killed himself in martyrdom for the Jiànwén court. The transmission line is: editor of the original — Chéng’s great-grandson Chéng Shān 程山; first preface (Hóngzhì yǐchǒu, 1505) by Lǐ Tíngwú 李廷梧 of Pútián, then Tóngxiāng zhīxiàn; first printing in early Jiājìng by Wú of Nánxī 南溪吳氏; reprinted by Fàn of Xīyú 西虞范氏; both lost over time. The present recension is the Wànlì yǐchǒu (1577) reconstruction by Púyáng Fēi 濮陽棐, then Tóngxiāng zhīxiàn, who recovered the manuscript from Chéng’s descendant Jiǔzé 九澤 and entrusted the editing to xùndǎo Lǐ Shī 李詩.
Tiyao
Xùnyǐn jí in 4 juǎn — by Chéng Běnlì of the Míng. Běnlì, zì Yuándào, Xùnyǐn being his hào; native of Tóngxiāng. In Hóngwǔ 9 (1376), raised in the míngjīng and elevated to Qínfǔ yǐnlǐ shèrén. Departed for mother-mourning; reappointed Zhōufǔ lǐguān. Implicated in [the Zhōu prince’s] disgrace, banished to Mǎlóng Tālángdiàn chángguānsī lìmù in Yúnnán. Distinguished in pacifying the Bǎiyí. Summoned to Hànlín; rose through office to yòu qiān dūyùshǐ; reassigned Jiāngxī ànchá fùshǐ; before he could set out, met with the Yān prince’s usurpation of the throne, and accordingly killed himself in martyrdom. The events are detailed in his biography in Míng shǐ. The collection is 2 juǎn poetry, 2 juǎn prose, edited by his great-grandson Shān 山. In Hóngzhì yǐchǒu (1505), Lǐ Tíngwú 李廷梧 of Pútián, Tóngxiāng zhīxiàn, prefaced it. In early Jiājìng, Wú of Nánxī 南溪吳氏 cut the printing-blocks; Fàn of Xīyú 西虞范氏 again recut them. After many years all were dispersed and lost. This text is the result of the Wànlì yǐchǒu (1577) acquisition of the manuscript by Púyáng Fēi 濮陽棐, Tóngxiāng zhīxiàn, from his descendant Jiǔzé 九澤, with the editing-and-cutting entrusted to xùndǎo Lǐ Shī 李詩. Běnlì’s prose is diǎnyǎ (canonical-elegant); his poetry is also deep-and-stable, simple-and-vigorous, quite close to Tángyīn (Táng-music). It is not only the [moral] integrity that is worthy of esteem — even considered as literary craft, his place among the early-Míng authors is without shame. Compiled and presented respectfully in the tenth month of Qiánlóng 46 (1781). Chief Compilers: Jì Yún, Lù Xīxióng, Sūn Shìyì. General Editor: Lù Fèichí.
Abstract
Chéng Běnlì is a fourth Jiàn-wén-era martyr in the immediate sequence of this division (KR4e0075–0079). The CBDB id 34451 (no birth year, death 1402) confirms the death date. Birth must precede c. 1357 (to allow Hóngwǔ-9 míngjīng in 1376 — i.e., he was at least 19); a working bracket c. 1350–1402.
The transmission story illustrates the textual fragility of post-1402 Jiàn-wén-loyalist literature: although Chéng’s great-grandson made an early Hóngzhì compilation (1505) and two early-Jiā-jìng printings followed, both were lost, and the WYG recension descends from the Wànlì 1577 reconstruction by the Tóngxiāng magistrate Púyáng Fēi 濮陽棐 — a 175-year transmission gap that nearly broke the line.
The Yúnnán Bǎiyí episode is a notable feature: Chéng’s pacification work in the Mǎlóng circuit (modern Qūjìng / Hónghé area) places him at the southwestern frontier of the Hóngwǔ administration; the political context is the Hóngwǔ-period consolidation of Yúnnán (post-1382 Mù Yīng 沐英 campaigns).
Translations and research
- L. Carrington Goodrich and Chaoying Fang, eds., Dictionary of Ming Biography 1368–1644. New York: Columbia UP, 1976. Notice of Chéng Běn-lì.
- Wilkinson, Chinese History: A New Manual, §28.4 (Míng bié-jí).
- Míng shǐ j. 143 (Liè-zhuàn 31).
Other points of interest
The four-stage transmission (great-grandson 1505 → Wú 1520s? → Fàn ? → Púyáng 1577 reconstruction) is among the more reconstruction-heavy of the Sìkù Míng biéjí histories. The Wànlì 1577 recovery — depending entirely on a manuscript still surviving in the Chéng-family descendant’s hands more than 170 years after the original collection — is a documentary case for the importance of family transmission in early-Míng literary survival.