Gāozǐ yíshū 高子遺書
Bequeathed Writings of Master Gāo by 高攀龍 (撰), 陳龍正 (編)
About the work
The posthumous collected works of Gāo Pānlóng 高攀龍 (1562–1626), the principal Wúxī co-founder (with Gù Xiànchéng KR4e0223 and his brother Gù Yǔnchéng KR4e0224) of the Dōnglín 東林 movement, edited by his disciple Chén Lóngzhèng 陳龍正 (1585–1645) of Jiāshàn 嘉善 and prefaced 1631 (Chóngzhēn xīnwèi). Twelve juǎn divided into twelve categories — yǔ (sayings), zhájì (notebooks), jīngshuō biànzàn (classical-discussions, disputations, eulogies), bèiyí (preparatory rituals), yǔlù (lecture-records), shī (poetry), shū jiē wèn (memorials, communications, queries), shū (letters), xù (prefaces), bēi zhuàn jì pǔ xùn (steles, biographies, records, genealogies, instructions), zhì biǎo zhuàng jìwén (epitaphs, tomb-tablets, conduct-records, sacrificial texts), and tíbá záshū (colophons, miscellaneous writings) — plus one appended juǎn containing his tomb-record, conduct-record, and chronological biography. Gāo’s Zhōuyì yìjiǎn shuō 周易易簡說 (KR1a0106) is catalogued separately under Yì commentaries.
Tiyao
Gāozǐ yíshū in 12 juǎn with one juǎn appendix — by Gāo Pānlóng of the Míng. Pānlóng’s Zhōuyì yìjiǎn shuō is already separately catalogued. Pānlóng issued from the gate of Zhào Nánxīng 趙南星, so his pedigree had a source. His learning takes géwù (investigation-of-things) as primary while harvesting the strong points of both the Zhū and Lù schools; his practice is dǔshí (substantial-and-firm), purely issuing from the upright. Initially he himself edited his lecture-records and prose-pieces into a Jiùzhènglù (Correction-Seeking Record); afterwards his disciple Chén Lóngzhèng of Jiāshàn compiled the present collection, divided into twelve categories: 1. yǔ; 2. zhájì; 3. jīngshuō biànzàn; 4. bèiyí; 5. yǔlù; 6. shī; 7. shū jiē wèn; 8. shū; 9. xù; 10. bēi zhuàn jì pǔ xùn; 11. zhì biǎo zhuàng jìwén; 12. tíbá záshū — with the appendix containing tomb-record, conduct-record, and chronological biography in one juǎn.
His lecture-on-learning language is mostly qiējìn dǔshí (close-and-substantial), expounding what is zhōumì (thoroughly-fine); the poetry-intent is chōngdàn (placid-and-bland), the prose-form qīngqiú (clear-and-vigorous), and both are without the late-Míng habit of xiānguǐ (fine-and-cunning). Although Pānlóng also gathered disciples and lectured on learning, and could not avoid being jiānrǎn (somewhat-stained) by the fashion of the times, his yánqì zhèngxìng (strict-energy and upright-nature) made him zhuórán zìlì (eminently self-standing); he was truly not of the biāobǎng ménhù (banner-flying faction) sort. Therefore his lìcháo dàjié (standing-at-court great-virtue) does not shame the ancients, and his expression-as-prose also does not engage in word-flowers — yet his quality-rank is itself elevated. This indeed is what makes the genuine differ from the false. Compiled and presented in the third month of Qiánlóng 43 (1778). Compilers as usual.
Abstract
The Gāozǐ yíshū is the principal source for Gāo Pānlóng’s philosophical thought and the second cardinal Dōnglín literary collection alongside the Xiǎoxīnzhāi zhájì 小心齋劄記 of Gù Xiànchéng (KR4e0223). Gāo had himself prepared a smaller self-edited compilation under the title Jiùzhènglù 就正錄 (“Correction-Seeking Record”); after his suicide-by-drowning in 1626 (driven to it by the Wèi Zhōngxián 魏忠賢 eunuch faction’s purge of the Dōnglín circle), the editorial task fell to his disciple Chén Lóngzhèng of Jiāshàn, whose preface is dated Chóngzhēn xīnwèi 崇禎辛未 = 1631. Chén’s preface is the locus classicus for the school’s self-positioning: Gāo’s learning is bù shuài xīn ér shuài xìng (does-not-follow-mind but follows-nature), bù zōng zhī ér zōng shàn (does-not-revere-knowing but reveres-good) — a programmatic distinction from the Wáng Yángmíng 王陽明 (KR4e0142) school’s liángzhī doctrine. Chén ranks Gāo with Xuē Xuān 薛瑄 (Wénqīng) and Wáng Yángmíng (Wénchéng), arguing that Gāo wēimiào yú yú Xuē, ér chúnshí wúbì shèng yú Wáng (in subtlety exceeds Xuē, while in purity-and-substance without flaw surpasses Wáng) — the standard Dōnglín self-evaluation that the Sìkù editors reproduce without dispute.
Date bracket: 1626 (Gāo’s death — by which point all original material was complete) to 1631 (Chén Lóngzhèng’s editorial preface and Chóngzhēn first printing). CBDB 30637 confirms Gāo’s lifedates 1562–1626; CBDB 29578 confirms Chén Lóngzhèng’s birth as 1585.
Translations and research
- Míng shǐ j. 243 — Gāo Pān-lóng main biography.
- Heinrich Busch, “The Tung-lin Academy and Its Political and Philosophical Significance,” Monumenta Serica 14 (1949–55): 1–163. The standard Western-language treatment.
- John Meskill, Academies in Ming China: A Historical Essay. Tucson: U of Arizona P, 1982.
- John W. Dardess, Blood and History in China: The Donglin Faction and Its Repression, 1620–1627. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 2002.
- L. Carrington Goodrich and Chaoying Fang, eds., Dictionary of Ming Biography 1368–1644. New York: Columbia UP, 1976: entry on Gāo Pān-lóng.
- Willard J. Peterson, “Confucian Learning in Late Ming Thought,” in The Cambridge History of China, vol. 8 (Cambridge UP, 1998), ch. 12.
- Wilkinson, Chinese History: A New Manual, §28 (Míng bié-jí).
Other points of interest
Chén Lóngzhèng’s preface offers one of the clearest contemporary doctrinal alignments of the Dōnglín school: explicitly rejecting Wáng Yángmíng’s zōng zhī (revere-knowing) program in favor of zōng shàn (revere-good) — i.e., a return to the Zhū Xī géwù paradigm via attention to inherent goodness of nature, with Wáng Shǒurén’s liángzhī re-routed through the Dàxué sequence of investigation. The Sìkù editors single out the collection as evidence that Gāo, though a jiǎngxué (lecture-on-learning) figure, was not of the biāobǎng ménhù (faction-flag-flying) type.