Bǎizhāi jí 柏齋集
Cypress-Studio Collection by 何瑭 (撰)
About the work
The literary collection of Hé Táng 何瑭 (1474–1543), zì Cuìfū 粹夫, hào Bǎizhāi 柏齋 (variant 栢齋), shì Wéndìng 文定, of Wǔzhì 武陟 (Hénán) — Nánjīng yòu dūyùshǐ, one of the principal mid-Míng orthodox-Zhū géwù (investigate-things) voices against the rising Yángmíngxué in Hénán. 11 juǎn: 10 prose + 1 verse. The collection is paired with Hé’s three other Lǐxué / scientific-classical works — the Bǎizhāi sānshū 柏齋三書 (Yīnyáng, Yuèlǜ, Rúxué guǎnjiàn) printed separately by Zhào Wáng 趙王 — which transmit Hé’s anti-Yáng-míng systematic critique. The Bǎizhāi jí was cut in Jiājìng jǐyǒu (1549) by Zhèng Wáng 鄭王. The principal documentary anchor is the Sòng Zhàn Ruòshuǐ xù 送湛若水序 (Preface for Zhàn Ruòshuǐ at his Departure) — Hé’s foundational statement of his disagreement with Zhàn Ruòshuǐ (湛若水)‘s cúnxīn (preserving-the-heart) approach in favour of gézhì xiān, cúnxīn hòu (investigation-of-things and extension-of-knowing first; preserving-the-heart after).
Tiyao
Bǎizhāi jí in 11 juǎn — by Hé Táng of the Míng. Táng, zì Cuìfū, hào Bǎizhāi, native of Wǔzhì. Hóngzhì rénxū (1502) jìnshì; office reached Nánjīng yòu dūyùshǐ; shì Wéndìng. Táng dǔxíng lìzhì (substantial-practice, encouraging-resolve); his discussion of learning is uniformly gézhì (investigation-of-things) as its base. The collection’s Sòng Zhàn Ruòshuǐ xù says: Gānquán (Zhàn Ruòshuǐ) takes preserving-heart as primary; I take investigating-things and extending-knowing as first; without preserving-heart certainly there is no way to be the gézhì root, but when things are investigated and knowing arrives, then the heart’s substance-and-use grow more complete. His lifetime’s délì (gained-strength) is here. Therefore, while at-his-time the east-and-south scholars mostly ancestrally followed Wáng Shǒurén’s liángzhī speech, Táng alone with gōngxíng (bodily-practice) as master; not by Dàoxué self-naming. Also paid attention to world-affairs — jūnyáo, jūnliáng, discussion-of-troops, several pieces — all able to deeply hit timely-defects. Though his prose is pǔzhì (plain-and-substantial), not jīnjīn (gnawingly-careful) between rule-form-rule-law, yet kǎiqiē xiángmíng, bù zhī bù màn (penetratingly-pressing, full-and-clear; not propping, not vining); still preserves the regulation-and-pattern before Hóngzhì–Zhèngdé; far from the zhīyán chāoshuō (twig-words, stripped-and-suggested) school. The collection: prose 10 juǎn; verse 1 juǎn — Jiājìng jǐyǒu (1549) Zhèng Wáng cut. Also there are Yīnyáng, Yuèlǜ, Rúxué guǎnjiàn — namely Zhào Wáng copying-and-printing for transmission, naming the Bǎizhāi sānshū — separately walks-in-the-world. Compiled and presented in the tenth month of Qiánlóng 42 (1777). Compilers as usual.
Abstract
Hé Táng’s Bǎizhāi jí is one of the cleanest Hénán orthodox-Zhū géwù documentary anchors against the rising Yángmíngxué of the early Jiājìng era. The Sòng Zhàn Ruòshuǐ xù — explicitly addressed to the leader of the Gānquán xuépài (the other principal Lǐxué alternative to Yángmíngxué) — is the locus classicus for Hé’s gézhì xiān, cúnxīn hòu formulation. The Sìkù preservation places Hé alongside Luó Qīnshùn (KR4e0148) and Fāng Liángyǒng (KR4e0145) as the principal mid-Míng Sìkù-canonized anti-Yáng-míng voices, but with a distinctive emphasis: where Luó stays on the xīn / qì / lǐ metaphysical ground, Hé extends into yīnyáng (cosmology) and yuèlǜ (acoustics-and-mathematics) — a géwù extension into what we would now call natural-philosophy. The Bǎizhāi sānshū is one of the cleaner mid-Míng examples of Lǐxué engaging with empirical-cosmological subjects.
The Hénán imperial-cadet patronage of Hé’s writings — the Bǎizhāi jí cut by Zhèng Wáng, the sānshū cut by Zhào Wáng — is one of the cleaner cases in the Míng biéjí tradition of multiple imperial-cadet patrons supporting a single Hénán literary-philosophical figure. This is structurally consistent with the Zhū Chéngyǒng (KR4e0146) Qínjiǎnwáng parallel of the same period.
The political-career anchor: Hé’s jūnyáo (equalised-labour), jūnliáng (equalised-grain), and military memorials — the Sìkù notes — néng shēn zhòng shíbì (able to deeply hit timely-defects). This places Hé in the jīngshì (governing-the-world) Lǐxué tradition alongside Cài Qīng (KR4e0137).
CBDB id 34646 confirms 1474–1543.
Translations and research
- L. Carrington Goodrich and Chaoying Fang, eds., Dictionary of Ming Biography 1368–1644. New York: Columbia UP, 1976: notice of Hé Táng.
- Míng shǐ j. 282 (Rú-lín 1) — Hé Táng biography.
- Huáng Zōng-xī, Míng-rú xué-àn j. 49 — Hé Táng under the Zhū-Mào xué-àn group.
- Willard J. Peterson, The Cambridge History of China, vol. 9 (CUP, 2002), ch. 13 — for the mid-Míng Lǐ-xué against Yáng-míng-xué.
- Wilkinson, Chinese History: A New Manual, §28 (Míng bié-jí) and §31.4 (Míng Lǐ-xué).
Other points of interest
The Bǎizhāi sānshū (Yīnyáng, Yuèlǜ, Rúxué guǎnjiàn) — separately printed by Zhào Wáng — extending Hé’s gézhì programme into cosmology and acoustics is one of the cleaner mid-Míng biéjí + cosmological-philosophical pairings. The fact that Hé’s biéjí and his cosmological sānshū circulate together is a documentary anchor for the natural-philosophical extension of mid-Míng orthodox-Zhū géwù.