Jiànsù jí 見素集
Seeing-Plainness Collection by 林俊 (撰)
About the work
The principal literary collection of Lín Jùn 林俊 (1452–1527), zì Dàiyòng 待用, hào Jiànsù 見素, shì Zhēnsù 貞肅, of Pútián 莆田 (Xīnghuà, Fújiàn) — a Hóng-zhì-era míngchén (worthy minister), Xíngbù shàngshū in late Zhèngdé, who began his career as a junior remonstrant against the quándāng (power-eunuch) Liáng Fāng and was banished, recovered to pacify the Níngwáng rebellion in Jiāngxī, and as Sìchuān governor put down the great Lán Tíngruì / Yán Bēn-er insurrection. The work is in three blocks: Jiànsù jí (prose) 28 juǎn + Zòuyì 奏議 7 juǎn + Xùjí 12 juǎn (catalog total 28; WYG total 47). The 14-juǎn poetry collection (mentioned in Wáng Fènglíng 王鳳靈’s preface to the Xùjí; partially preserved in Zhū Yízūn’s Míngshī zōng as Xīzhēng jí) is no longer present — apparently never re-cut with the prose. The Sìkù judgement: prose is qíjué bóào (strange-precipitous, broad-and-deep), with deliberate self-fashioning; poetry imitates Huáng Tíngjiān and Chén Shīdào of the Jiāngxī school — hence yǐnsè (dim, halting) lines, but qìwèi gūgāo (breath-flavour solitary-and-high), in the end able to yuǎn sú (be far from the vulgar).
Tiyao
Jiànsù jí in 28 juǎn; Zòuyì in 7 juǎn; Xùjí in 12 juǎn — by Lín Jùn of the Míng. Jùn, zì Dàiyòng, hào Jiànsù, native of Pútián. Chénghuà wùxū (1478) jìnshì; through offices to Xíngbù shàngshū; awarded Shàobǎo; shì Zhēnsù. Record in Míngshǐ main biography. Jùn began with a memorial impeaching the quándāng and was banished far; then governing Jiāngyòu, withstood the rebellious fān (Prince Níng); governing west of Shǔ, pacified great bandits. At Xiàozōng’s time was a famous minister. The poetry-and-prose he wrote — Zhāng Xǔ’s preface says Jùn hand-edited himself into a finished collection of 50+ juǎn, still at the time of his retirement. The present collection: prose 28 juǎn, zòuyì 7 juǎn, xùjí poetry-and-prose 12 juǎn — also reaching the post-revival works; and 4 yíshū (left-over memorials) are also appended — so it has gone through later-people’s re-compilation, not Jùn’s self-edited original; therefore the juǎn-count does not match the preface. Jùn made prose tǐcái bù yī (style-and-format not unitary), generally qíjué bóào (strange-and-precipitous, broad-and-deep), with intentional self-fashioning; his poetry sources from Jiāngxī [school] and on the two houses Huáng Tíngjiān and Chén Shīdào especially imitates — hence many yǐnsè (dim-halting) words; but generally qìwèi gūgāo (breath-flavour solitary-and-high), in the end able to be far from the vulgar. Zòuyì divided into Xīcáo, Wàitái, Nèitái, Xīzhēng, Qǐfǔ, Xīnzhèng, Qiūtái six drafts — none not wěiqǔ xiángjǐn (winding-and-detailed), penetrating-and-reaching the affair’s hinge; also enough to see his policy-making had yǒu běn (a root), not merely tuō zhī kōngyán (entrusting to empty words). Again, Wáng Fènglíng’s Xùjí preface says Jùn originally had a 14-juǎn poetry collection; this version has it not. Zhū Yízūn’s Míngshī zōng says Jùn has Xīzhēng jí, selected and recorded 4 pieces; also did not say to have seen the complete collection. Looking at his grandson and ancestor’s bá (colophons) saying this book is re-cut, and the poetry collection is still missing — then at the time the běn was originally not jointly cut; therefore transmission is rather scarce. Now still following the original order, recording it. Compiled and presented in the eighth month of Qiánlóng 42 (1777). Compilers as usual.
Abstract
Lín Jùn is one of the cleanest Hóng-zhì-era xíngbù (Ministry of Justice) careers preserved in the Sìkù. The Jiànsù jí is documentarily structured around three remonstrative crises: first, the young Lín’s impeachment of Liáng Fāng (the Chéng-huà-era quándāng); second, his Jiāngyòu governance against the Níngwáng (Zhū Chénháo) build-up before the 1519 rebellion; third, his Sìchuān governance against the Lán Tíngruì / Yán Bēn-er rising of 1509–1510, one of the largest provincial-suppression campaigns of mid-Míng. The Zòuyì in 7 juǎn — divided into Xīcáo, Wàitái, Nèitái, Xīzhēng, Qǐfǔ, Xīnzhèng, Qiūtái sections corresponding to his successive offices — is the principal documentary record.
The Sìkù judgement on the poetry — Jiāngxī school (Huáng Tíngjiān, Chén Shīdào) imitation, hence yǐnsè but gūgāo — is one of the cleaner Míng biéjí placements of a Jiāngxītǐ poet in the late Hóngzhì era. The absence of the original 14-juǎn poetry collection (preserved partially only in Zhū Yízūn’s anthology as Xīzhēng jí) is a textual loss the Sìkù explicitly mourns.
CBDB id 24554 confirms 1452–1527.
Translations and research
- L. Carrington Goodrich and Chaoying Fang, eds., Dictionary of Ming Biography 1368–1644. New York: Columbia UP, 1976: notice of Lín Jùn.
- Míng shǐ j. 194 — Lín Jùn biography.
- David M. Robinson, Bandits, Eunuchs, and the Son of Heaven: Rebellion and the Economy of Violence in Mid-Ming China (Honolulu: U. Hawaii P., 2001) — context for the Sì-chuān 1509–1510 suppression.
- Wilkinson, Chinese History: A New Manual, §28 (Míng bié-jí) and §27.1 (Míng political history).
Other points of interest
The seven-fold subdivision of the Zòuyì (Xīcáo / Wàitái / Nèitái / Xīzhēng / Qǐfǔ / Xīnzhèng / Qiūtái) corresponding to successive offices — Ministry of Justice clerk, provincial circuit officials, return to court, western campaign, recovery from disgrace, new administration, autumn-tribunal — is one of the cleaner Míng biéjí documentary architectures of a remonstrative career. Each office gets its own memorial-block, allowing direct chronological tracking of Lín’s positions over forty years.