Yīlǘ jí 醫閭集
Doctor-Lú-Mountain Collection by 賀欽 (撰), 賀士諮 (編)
About the work
The complete record of Hè Qīn 賀欽 (1437–1510), zì Kègōng 克恭, hào Yīlǘ shānrén 醫閭山人 (from Yīwúlǘshān 醫巫閭山 in Liáoníng, of military-household lineage at Yìzhōu wèi 義州衞), compiled by his son Hè Shìzī 賀士諮 from his father’s words, deeds, prose, memorials, and poetry. 9 juǎn: juǎn 1–3 言行錄 (records of words-and-deeds); juǎn 4–7 存稿 (surviving prose); juǎn 8 奏稿 (memorials); juǎn 9 詩稿 (poetry). Hè Qīn was a Báishā (Chén Xiànzhāng) disciple but the Sìkù singles him out as the principal mid-Míng counter-example to the Báishā critique — cuìrán dúwéi chúnzhèng — “essentially alone in being pure-and-correct” — holding zhǔ jìng yǐ shōu fàngxīn (mastering quietude to recover the wandered mind) as a corrective to Chén Xiànzhāng’s tendency toward chán (Buddhist quietism).
Tiyao
Yīlǘ jí in 9 juǎn — by Hè Shìzī of the Míng, compiling his father Hè Qīn’s life-time words-and-deeds and prose-poetry drafts. Qīn, zì Kègōng, ancestrally of Dìnghǎi in Zhè; by military register attached to Yìzhōu wèi in Liáodōng. Qīn rose by Chénghuà bǐngxū (1466) jìnshì; appointed Hùkē jǐshìzhōng; sick-leaved home. Hóngzhì early, summoned as Shǎnxī cānyì; the edict not yet arriving, his mother died; with the fùquè (mourning-completion) reached, did not again emerge. Record in Míngshǐ Rúlín zhuàn. The first three juǎn of the book are 言行錄; juǎn 4–7 are 存稿 (surviving drafts), all miscellaneous prose; juǎn 8 奏稿; juǎn 9 詩稿. When Qīn was jǐshì, hearing Chén Xiànzhāng’s name, he took him as master; on sick-leave returning to his village, dùmén bù chū (shut the gate, did not emerge), only jìnxiū (advancing-cultivation) as his work. His learning did not press bóshè (broad-wandering); he read only the Classics and the Xiǎoxué; aiming at fǎnshēn shíjiàn (turning-back-to-self and substantial-practice). He once said: learning is not in seeking it on high or far, but in mastering quietude to gather in the wandered mind, that is all. Therefore in the collection’s recorded words-and-deeds, all are qièjìn zhēnshí (close-and-near, real-and-true); not of the sort to compare with high xìngmìng talkers. And the memorials he submitted are also tōngdá zhìlǐ (penetrating-and-reaching in governance-principle), evidently to be put into practice. Xiànzhāng’s learning was at the time sometimes accused of being jìn chán (near Chán). Qīn though studied with Xiànzhāng, was xìngqíng dǔshí, xúnxún xiàxué (in disposition substantial, step-by-step practising the lower); his usual discussion of work-by-stages too often pointed at Xiànzhāng’s positions as guògāo (too lofty); qí qìxiàng shū bù xiāngsì — “their breath-images are quite unlike each other”. Among the jiǎngxué group (lecturing-of-learning crowd) he is cuìrán dúwéi chúnzhèng (essentially alone in being pure-and-correct). His prose, though mostly xìnbǐ huīsǎ (writing-as-the-pen-runs, splashed-out), the rényì zhī yán ǎirán kějiàn (humane-righteous words can clearly be seen — abundant); one need not discuss it in terms of gōngzhuō (skill-or-clumsiness). Qīn in youth read books at Yīwúlǘshān, self-styled Yīlǘ shānrén, and used it also to name his collection. Compiled and presented in the eleventh month of Qiánlóng 45 (1780). Compilers as usual.
Abstract
Hè Qīn is the Sìkù-recognised principal Báishā (Chén Xiànzhāng) disciple who became the principal critic of his teacher’s chán-inclined excesses. The editors’ line — qí qìxiàng shū bù xiāngsì (“their breath-images are quite unlike each other”) and cuìrán dúwéi chúnzhèng (“essentially alone in being pure-and-correct”) — places Hè in the Chóngrén / Yúgàn orthodox-Zhū lineage even while formally a Báishā disciple. The yánxínglù form of juǎn 1–3 — explicitly a Lùnyǔ-style record-of-words-and-deeds compiled by a son for a Lǐxué father — is closer to Hú Jūrén (KR4e0144 Hú Wénjìng jí; KR3a0083 Jūyè lù) than to Chén Xiànzhāng, and the Sìkù preservation under biéjí (rather than Rújiā) is conscious.
The five-juan literary tail — cúngǎo (4 juǎn of miscellaneous prose), zòugǎo, shīgǎo — is a minor literary record by biéjí standards. The Sìkù keeps it explicitly on the bù bì yǐ gōngzhuō lùn zhī (“one need not discuss it in terms of skill-or-clumsiness”) principle: the rényì zhī yán (humane-righteous speech) of the man warrants preservation regardless of literary craft. This is one of the yī rén zhòng wén (“weighting prose by the man”) cases in the editorial logic.
The military-household status of Hè (Liáodōng, Yìzhōu wèi) is documentarily unusual for a mid-Míng Lǐxué figure of national reputation — the Sìkù note flags the ancestral migration from Dìnghǎi (Zhèjiāng) without further comment. Hè’s son and editor, Hè Shìzī 賀士諮, otherwise undocumented, must have completed the compilation in the Jiājìng era; the original printing is not extant, the WYG recension following an unattested later impression.
CBDB id 34573 confirms 1437–1510 for Hè Qīn.
Translations and research
- L. Carrington Goodrich and Chaoying Fang, eds., Dictionary of Ming Biography 1368–1644. New York: Columbia UP, 1976: notice of Hè Qīn.
- Míng shǐ j. 282 (Rú-lín 1) — Hè Qīn biography.
- Huáng Zōng-xī, Míng-rú xué-àn j. 6 — Hè Qīn under the Bái-shā xué-àn (and the editorial debate over his place in it).
- Wilkinson, Chinese History: A New Manual, §28 (Míng bié-jí) and §31.4 (Míng Lǐ-xué).
- Jennifer Eichman, A Late Sixteenth-Century Chinese Buddhist Fellowship: Spiritual Ambitions, Intellectual Debates, and Epistolary Connections (Leiden: Brill, 2016) — context for the mid-Míng Bái-shā legacy.
Other points of interest
The Sìkù editors’ decision to flag Hè Qīn as jìnchán-resistant within the Báishā lineage is one of the cleanest pieces of intra-school polemic preserved in the biéjí tíyào tradition — and structurally a rebuttal of Huáng Zōngxī’s Míngrú xuéàn placement of Hè under the Báishā xuéàn. The Yīlǘ jí is therefore not only a biéjí but a documentary site for the ChéngZhū vs. Báishā internal mid-Míng Lǐxué debate.