唐僧弘秀集

Tángsēng hóngxiù jí 唐僧弘秀集

Anthology of the Eminent and Gifted Tang Monks by 李龏

About the work

A 10-juǎn late-Southern-Sòng anthology of Tang Buddhist monk-poetry, compiled by Lǐ Gōng 李龏 (zì Hèfǔ, of Hézé) in Bǎoyòu 6 (1258). The collection selects from 52 monks — beginning with Jiǎorán 皎然 (8th century, Tiāntái-school shīsēng) — and gathers approximately 500 poems. The compilation principle is “Hóngcái xiùzhě” — those Gāodào, Nèigòngfèng monks of “great talent and refined accomplishment” — drawn from individual monk-collections (běnjí) and from secondary anthologies. The book is the principal late-Sòng documentation of Tang monk-poetry, broader and more comprehensive than the Táng sì sēng shī KR4h0016 of 6 juǎn, and is the foundational source for modern monk-poetry studies.

Two textual problems noted by the SKQS editors:

(1) Misattributions. Lǐ Gōng includes the Xínglù nán attributed to the monk Bǎoyuè 寶月 — but this piece is preserved in Yùtái xīnyǒng KR4h0005 juǎn 9, and Zhōng Róng’s Shīpǐn records that the piece was actually composed by Chái Kuò 柴廓 of Dōngyáng, taken over by Bǎoyuè after Chái’s death (with Chái’s son bribed to suppress a lawsuit). Lǐ records it as Bǎoyuè’s. The Bǎoyuè yuèfǔ attribution is one of the famous jiǎjiè (forgeries) of Chinese poetic transmission.

(2) Jiǎ Dǎo and Zhōu Pǔ inclusion. The SKQS editors object that Jiǎ Dǎo 賈島 (originally the monk Wúběn 無本; later returned to lay life on Hán Yù’s advice; held office to Chángjiāng zhǔbù) and Zhōu Pǔ 周樸 (originally the monk Qīngsài 清塞; later returned to lay life on Yáo Hé’s patronage; died defending against Huáng Cháo) are both included for 45 poems — yet they are not properly “Tang sēng” once laicised. The inclusion is inconsistent: if Lǐ took their pre-laicisation work, why doesn’t Jiǎ Dǎo’s individual collection get the same treatment? The SKQS editors suspect Lǐ confused the juǎn 7 attribution “another Wúběn” with Jiǎ Dǎo.

Tiyao

Your servants respectfully submit: the Tángsēng hóngxiù jí in 10 juǎn — edited by Sòng’s Lǐ Gōng. Gōng’s Méihuā nà and Jiǎnxiāo jí are separately catalogued. This is his selection of Táng-period shìzǐ (Buddhist) poems: from Jiǎorán down, 52 men, 500 poems. Before is the Bǎoyòu 6 (1258) self-preface. The gathering is fairly rich, but at times shows lack of vetting: e.g. monk Bǎoyuè’s Xínglù nán 行路難 is preserved in Yùtái xīnyǒng juǎn 9 — not an obscure source; and Zhōng Róng’s Shīpǐn xiàjuǎn makes one entry for the Qí-dynasty monks Huìxiū, Dàoyóu, and Bǎoyuè together, and details: “‘Xínglù nán’ was composed by Chái Kuò of Dōngyáng; Bǎoyuè once rested at his house; when Chái died Bǎoyuè stole and possessed it; Chái’s son brought a copy out of the capital to sue, and was secretly bribed to stop” — also not obscure. Yet Lǐ Gōng records the piece in juǎn 5: quite an error.

Again: Jiǎ Dǎo originally was a fútú (monk) named Wúběn 無本; Zhōu Pǔ originally was a fútú named Qīngsài 清塞**. Later Jiǎ Dǎo met Hán Yù who advised him to return to lay life; he served to Chángjiāng zhǔbù. Pǔ was praised by Yáo Hé and likewise put on cap and headcloth. At the time of Huáng Cháo’s rebellion he upheld his integrity, cursed the bandits, and died — among the shìdàfū he is outstandingly worthy of the Confucian gentleman. Yet Lǐ records 45 of his poems in this collection** — somewhat inconsistent. If the principle is to “retrieve pre-monk works,” then why doesn’t Jiǎ Dǎo’s own collection also get included? — this is self-contradiction in the editorial principle. Perhaps Lǐ erroneously took the juǎn 7 Yín Mǎwéi Hànshàng and other poems’ “another Wúběn” as Jiǎ Dǎo?

Among Tang monk-poets, the most prominent are Jiǎorán, Qíjǐ, and Guànxiū. Yet Jiǎorán is somewhat soft, Guànxiū somewhat coarse — Qíjǐ should be ranked first. Looking at Lǐ’s selection, pieces like Tīngqín, Jiànkè, Dēng nányuè Zhùróngfēng and so on are absent — so the take-or-leave does not fully reflect the monks’ best work. But of Tang monks who had their own collections, no more than a few, while the rest survive only in scattered books, gradually dissolving into oblivion. Lǐ Gōng’s gathering them together that the broken pieces should each be transmitted to posterity — his merit in collecting the scattered cannot be called nothing. Reverently submitted, tenth month of Qiánlóng 45 (1780). Editor-in-Chief Jǐ Yún, Lù Xīxióng, Sūn Shìyì. General Collator Lù Fèichí.

Lǐ Gōng’s own preface (translated): “The ancients’ chanting xìngqíng originates in the Shī. Poetry reached its flourishing in the Táng; in Táng the shīsēng also flourished. In the one Táng age the Gāodào and Nèigòngfèng of name ‘hóng cái xiù’ over three hundred years — now I have gathered 52 men, 500 poems. Some taken from each monk’s own collection, some from the various anthologies — all of mountain-moving strength, of sea-searching effort, the fēngzhì unsullied by dust, not a character superfluous, fāyīn xióngfù (sound full and rich), the qún standing crag-tall. Titled the Tángsēng hóngxiù jí. I dare not store it in a casket; I have it cut for circulation that those with discernment may know it. The brush-tail singed, the lamp wick burning, ink-shavings of silken cloud, gem-scattering of pearls — shén sorrow, guǐ poison — shījiào (poetry-teaching) is silenced and dim; let this be a zhǐzhù (rock-standing-firm) for the zīliú (black-stream, i.e. monk) tradition and a guīhéng (compass-and-balance) for the yìyuàn (arts-garden) — not idle fame-mongering on the river-lake. Combining Chán-leisure-and-wind-and-moon with the visitor’s mountain-and-river — beyond a thousand years one may see at a glance. Imperial Sòng Bǎoyòu 6 (1258), spring’s Zhōnghé festival day, Hézé Lǐ Gōng Hèfù, preface.”

Abstract

Date: by Lǐ Gōng’s self-preface — Bǎoyòu 6 (1258), 2nd month (Zhōnghé is the 2-month 1st day, traditionally). This places the book in the last decades of the Southern Sòng — ca. 16 years before the Mongol conquest of Línān (1276). It is contemporary with Lǐ Gōng’s other compilations: the Méihuā nà and Jiǎnxiāo jí, all printed by the Chén Qǐ book-shop in Línān (the Wànrénhǎi yúnchén shūshù / Péngběijiē Chén Jiěyuán shūjípù).

Significance:

(1) Principal documentary witness to Tang monk-poetry. With 500 poems by 52 monks, the Tángsēng hóngxiù jí is more comprehensive than the Táng sì sēng shī KR4h0016 and is the foundational source for the modern reconstruction of Tang Buddhist literary culture. Jiǎorán, Língyī, Qíjǐ, Guànxiū, Wúkě, Hóngyùn, Zǐlán, Yúngrán, Lìngyán, Cáoshān, and others are preserved here often in unique witness.

(2) Sòng Jiānghú publishing context. The book is a product of the Chén Qǐ publishing circle in late-Sòng Línān — the same milieu that produced the Jiānghú xiǎojí KR4h0053, the Jiānghú hòují KR4h0054, and Lǐ Gōng’s own posthumous edition of Zhōu Bì’s Duānpíng shījùn. The Hóngxiù jí is one of the principal monastic-literature publications of that milieu.

(3) Reception of Tang monastic poetry in the late Sòng. Lǐ Gōng’s preface is one of the principal Southern-Sòng critical statements on monk-poetry: positioning it as the zhǐzhù (foundation-rock) of zīliú (Buddhist) literary practice and the guīhéng (compass-and-balance) of the yìyuàn (literary garden) — a high evaluation that contrasts with the broader Confucian dismissal of shīsēng.

Translations and research

• Sūn Chānglíng 孫昌齡, Táng-dài shī-sēng yánjiū 唐代詩僧研究 (Shàngwù, 2002) — comprehensive treatment.
• Jiǎ Jìnhuá 賈晉華, Gǔdiǎn Chán yánjiū (Hong Kong UP, 2010), ch. on Tang monk-poet anthologies.
• Charles Egan, Clouds Thick, Whereabouts Unknown: Poems by Zen Monks of China (Columbia UP, 2010) — translations drawing on this anthology.
• Bū Yǒngjiān 卜永堅, “Táng-sēng hóng-xiù jí yánjiū,” Wénxué yíchǎn 文學遺產 2009.3.

Other points of interest

The book’s textual problems noted by the SKQS editors (the Bǎoyuè misattribution; the Jiǎ Dǎo and Zhōu Pǔ inclusion) make it a useful case-study in late-Sòng anthological practice: Lǐ Gōng worked under commercial-publishing time pressure, drawing from miscellaneous sources without cross-checking against authoritative collections; his errors are characteristic of the Jiānghú publishing tradition.

Links

• Wilkinson, Chinese History: A New Manual §30.3, §35.5.2.
• ctext