Méihuā bǎi yǒng 梅花百詠
One Hundred Songs on Plum-Blossoms by 馮子振 and 釋明本
About the work
A 1-juǎn paired-poem anthology, plus a 1-juǎn appendix, preserving the famous plum-blossom exchange of c. 1295–1310 between Féng Zǐzhèn (馮子振, 1257-?) of Yōuzhōu — Yuán Jíxián dàizhì and prodigy of bóxué yīngcí (broad-learning and brilliant phrase) — and the eminent Chán master Zhōngfēng Míngběn (釋明本, 1263–1323), Dharma-heir of Gāofēng Yuánmiào. The story: Zhào Mèngfǔ 趙孟頫 was a Dharma-friend of Míngběn. Féng Zǐzhèn had heard of Míngběn but lightly regarded him. On a day Zhào brought Míngběn to visit Féng; Féng produced his One Hundred Plum-Blossom qīyán juéjù; Míngběn read them at a glance and answered each piece in real-time with the brush; then drew out his own Jiǔzì méihuā gē (Nine-Character Plum-Blossom Song) to present to Féng — who then took him as friend. Both sequences are preserved in the main juǎn. The appendix of an additional 100 qīyán lǜshī in the chūn 春 rhyme contains only Míngběn’s harmonising pieces; Féng’s originals have perished. The SKQS editors observe: Míngběn’s Zhōngfēng guǎnglù (the principal Chán-master record) is now thin in print; Féng’s collected works are substantially lost; the Méihuā bǎi yǒng is therefore a principal documentary fragment of both men’s literary output.
Tiyao
Your servants respectfully submit: the Méihuā bǎi yǒng in 1 juǎn with an appendix of 1 juǎn — the harmonising poems (chànghé) of Yuán Féng Zǐzhèn and Chán master Míngběn. Zǐzhèn, zì Hǎisù, Yōuzhōu man, served as Chéngshìláng Jíxián dàizhì, known for bóxué yīngcí in his time. Míngběn, sobriquet Zhōngfēng, of Qiántáng, lived at Yàndàngcūn, layman’s surname Sūn, took the tonsure at Wúshān Shèngshuǐ Sì, obtained the Dharma from Chán master Gāofēng Yuánmiào; repeatedly refused famous-mountain abbacies, hiding-tracks self-released. At that time Zhào Mèngfǔ and Míngběn were close friends. Zǐzhèn looked down on him.
One day Mèngfǔ together with Míngběn went to visit Zǐzhèn. Zǐzhèn brought out the Méihuā bǎi yǒng shī; Míngběn took one look and set his brush running, harmonising piece-for-piece on the spot. Then took out his composed Jiǔzì méihuā gē to show Zǐzhèn. They thereupon became friends. This book records the 100 qīyán juéjù, the immediate-harmonising pieces of that exchange. After that, another set of 100 qīyán lǜshī in the chūn rhyme is appended — but only Míngběn’s harmonising compositions remain; Zǐzhèn’s originals can no longer be found.
The Sòngshǐ Yìwénzhì records Lǐ Sī’s 李綨 Méihuā bǎi yǒng in 1 juǎn, long lost and not transmitted. Zǐzhèn took the renewed initiative — his cáisī (creative thought) runs uninhibited, often striking strange-and-victorious. And Míngběn’s harmonising is itself ornate-and-comprehensive, fit to be called hébì liánguī (paired-jade and joined-jewel).
Now Míngběn’s Zhōngfēng guǎnglù — extant prints are extremely few; and Zǐzhèn’s compositions — only the Yuánwén lèi and similar books reveal one or two; his complete works long-lost without survival. This collection, though a yóuxì zhī zuò (sport-and-play composition), preserves half-a-claw and one-scale, still allowing us to peep into the cliff and outline. The poetry has variant readings between different copies; the Dōnggé méi one piece — Zhōngfēng’s harmonising — was originally missing, but is separately found in the Wéi Déguī 韋德珪 collection.
Our dynasty’s Xià Hóngjī 夏洪基 corrected and re-printed it; substantially well-based. Today we also follow him. Reverently submitted, seventh month of Qiánlóng 43 (1778). Editor-in-Chief Jǐ Yún, Lù Xīxióng, Sūn Shìyì. General Collator Lù Fèichí.
Abstract
Date. Composition c. 1295–1310 (within the overlap of Féng’s c. 1290s court period and Míngběn’s pre-1323 active period). Transmitted text descends through a Yuán print, several Míng prints, and the Qīng Xià Hóngjī corrected edition.
Significance. (1) Documentary fragment of two near-lost authors. Féng Zǐzhèn’s full wénjí is lost; the Méihuā bǎi yǒng is one of three sources for his shī (the others being the Yuánwén lèi KR4h0081 and the QuánYuán shī reconstructions). Míngběn’s yǔlù survives in the Chán Buddhist canon (T48n2026); the Méihuā bǎi yǒng is the principal independent witness to his shī practice.
(2) Chán-poet exchange genre. The genre of jíxí chànghé (on-the-spot harmonising) between cáizǐ layman and gāosēng monk is canonical in the Chinese tradition (cf. Sū Shì and Fóyìn 佛印; Hán Yù and Tàidiān 太顛). The Méihuā bǎi yǒng is one of the most-cited Yuán-period examples and the largest-scale documented case.
(3) Plum-blossom as poetic theme. The work participates in the plum-blossom cult that ran from the Northern Sòng (Lín Bǔ 林逋 Shānyuán xiǎo méi) through the YuánMíngQīng. The hundred-piece scale and the high-genre register (qījué for the original set, qīlǜ for the appendix) elevated plum-blossom poetry to a major sub-genre.
Translations and research
- Maggie Bickford, Ink Plum: The Making of a Chinese Scholar-Painting Genre (Cambridge, 1996) — plum-blossom in literature and painting.
- 楊鎌 Yáng Lián, Yuán-shī shǐ — for Féng Zǐ-zhèn’s place in Yuán poetry.
- Christian Wittern, on Yuán Chán literature.
Other points of interest
The story of the on-the-spot harmonising is a canonical anecdote of Yuán literary-religious culture, frequently retold in late-imperial sources. It exemplifies the high-Yuán pattern in which Chán monks were full participants in the elite literary network, on equal footing with the Imperial Academy literati.
Links
- Wilkinson, Chinese History: A New Manual §31.4.
- ctext