Xūzhāi jí 虛齋集
Empty-Studio Collection by 蔡清 (撰)
About the work
The literary collection of Cài Qīng 蔡清 (1453–1508), zì Jièfū 介夫, hào Xūzhāi 虛齋, posthumous shì Wénzhuāng 文莊 (Wànlì), of Jìnjiāng 晉江 (Quánzhōu, Fújiàn) — the founding figure of the Quánzhōu Yì-school (the Fújiàn revival of Zhū Xī orthodoxy in mid Míng Yìxué). 5 juǎn. Cài’s principal exegetical works — Yìjīng méngyǐn (KR1a0092) and Sìshū méngyǐn — are catalogued separately; the Xūzhāi jí preserves the literary leftover. The Sìkù judgement: Cài was the great Fújiàn anti-kōngtán xìngmìng (empty-talk-of-nature-and-destiny) voice of the Chénghuà–Hóngzhì era — dǔshí lìxíng, bù wèi xùngǔ zhīlí suǒ yù (substantial-and-practising, not bound by glossary’s branching distractions). His learning began under zhǔjìng (mastering-quietude) but moved to zhǔxū (mastering-emptiness): tiānxià zhī lǐ, yǐ xū ér rù, yì yǐ xū ér yìng — “the principles of all-under-heaven enter through emptiness and respond through emptiness”.
Tiyao
Xūzhāi jí in 5 juǎn — by Cài Qīng of the Míng. Qīng, zì Jièfū, native of Jìnjiāng. Chénghuà jiǎchén (1484) jìnshì; reached Jiāngxī tíjǔ fùshǐ. By holding-the-right offended Prince Níng Chénháo, who would build a case against him with crime; sick-leaved home. After several months called as Nánjīng Guózǐjiàn jìjiǔ; before reaching it, died. Wàn-lì-era awarded shì Wénzhuāng. Record in Míngshǐ Rúlín zhuàn. Qīng’s early learning was master-quietude, later master-emptiness — said: the principles of all-under-heaven enter through emptiness and respond through emptiness; therefore self-styled Xūzhāi. In the Chénghuà period shìdàfū were many in kōngtán Lǐxué (empty-talk of Principle-Learning); only Qīng dǔshí lìxíng (substantial-and-practising), able to be not bound by xùngǔ zhīlí (annotation’s branching dispersion). The works he composed — Yì méngyǐn, Sìshū méngyǐn and the other books — are all separately catalogued. Míngshǐ yìwén zhì records Qīng’s Xūzhāi wénjí in 5 juǎn, matching the present. Qīng for learning made qiónglǐ (exhausting-principle) master; in life dǔshǒu Zhūzǐ zhī shuō (substantially-held to Master Zhū’s teaching); his Dú Shǔfù cúngǎo sījì (Notes-Reading the Shǔfù Surviving-Drafts) says Zhū and Lù both ancestrally Confucius and Mencius but the ménhù (gates-and-doors) different; yet Lù-school does not fully accord with the Dàzhōng zhìzhèng (the Great-Mean Most-Correct) rule — cannot avoid being a piānān zhī yè (partial-peace enterprise) — its master-purpose can broadly be seen. When he explains the Zhōuyì, on Zhūzǐ’s interpretation where intent has wèiān (not-settled) places, he also much different-same — not making gǒuhé (forced-agreement). This is his understanding’s penetration, with the various Confucians’ jiāogù zhízhì (glue-fixed grip-stagnant) being different; therefore his prose is chúnhòu pǔzhì (pure-and-thick, plain-and-substantial), every word having substance; though not by zǎocǎi (ornamental-colour) appearing-as-strength, the bùbó shūsù (cloth-silk beans-and-grain) words are not what diāowén kèlòu (chiseled-prose engraved-carving) can approach. As for the main biography saying that Qīng at the Lìbù met Wáng Shù asking about timely affairs, Qīng presented two notes, one qǐng zhèn jìgāng (begging to invigorate discipline), one recommending Liú Dàxià and others over thirty — Shù all received-used — examining the texts, none seen in the collection: so when compiled, already had losses, now cannot examine. Compiled and presented in the fifth month of Qiánlóng 42 (1777). Compilers as usual.
Abstract
The Xūzhāi jí is the literary wing of the Sìkù Cài Qīng holdings — the exegetical works (Yìjīng méngyǐn KR1a0092, Sìshū méngyǐn) are elsewhere. The collection’s principal documentary contribution is twofold: first, Cài’s Dú Shǔfù cúngǎo sījì (Private Notes on Reading the Shǔfù Surviving Drafts) — a long anti-Lù-school argument that places Lù Jiǔyuān’s xīnxué as a piānān zhī yè (partial-peace enterprise) not fully aligned with the Dàzhōng zhìzhèng — and second, Cài’s quiet willingness to differ from Zhū Xī’s Zhōuyì běnyì on specific cruxes without forced agreement. The Sìkù judgement dǔshí lìxíng, bù wèi xùngǔ zhīlí suǒ yù — “substantial-and-practising, not bound by glossary’s branching distractions” — is one of the cleanest definitions of the Quánzhōu Yì-school orthodoxy in any tíyào.
The Sìkù explicitly flags that Cài’s two famous Hóngzhì memorials (the zhèn jìgāng memorial and the recommendation of Liú Dàxià 劉大夏 and over thirty others, both accepted by Wáng Shù 王恕) are missing from the collection — one of the cleanest biéjí losses flagged by name in this division.
CBDB id 24579 confirms 1453–1508.
Translations and research
- L. Carrington Goodrich and Chaoying Fang, eds., Dictionary of Ming Biography 1368–1644. New York: Columbia UP, 1976: notice of Cài Qīng.
- Míng shǐ j. 282 (Rú-lín 1) — Cài Qīng biography.
- On-cho Ng, Cheng-Zhu Confucianism in the Early Qing: Li Guangdi (1642–1718) and Qing Learning (Albany: SUNY P., 2001) — for the Quán-zhōu Yì-school line of descent through Lǐ Guāng-dì.
- Wilkinson, Chinese History: A New Manual, §28 (Míng bié-jí) and §31.4 (Míng Lǐ-xué).
Other points of interest
The zhǔjìng → zhǔxū trajectory — Cài’s move from “mastering quietude” to “mastering emptiness” — is one of the cleanest mid-Míng intra-orthodox-Zhū vocabulary moves recorded in a biéjí tíyào, and gave the Quánzhōu Yì-school its name. The fact that Cài was forced out of office by hostility from Prince Níng Chénháo (the rebel of 1519) makes his retirement structurally parallel to Lín Jùn’s (KR4e0135) own anti-Níng-wáng Jiāngyòu posting.