Lǚ dì shī jí 呂帝詩集
Collected Verse of the Imperial Lord Lǚ
planchette-attributed verse of 呂洞賓; preface by 韓湘 (Hán Xiāngzǐ as 三山笛史) dated xīnyǒu mid-autumn; title-poem by 柳守元
The poetry component of the Lǚzǔ quán shū compendium, paired with KR5i0049 Wén jí. The collection assembles Lǚzǔ’s traditional and planchette-revealed verse in five juàn, structured by sub-genre: gǔshī, juéjù, lǜshī, cí, qǔ, etc. The base set is the canonical SòngYuán Lǚzǔ poetic corpus (some 250 poems preserved in Yún jí qī qiān 113 and elsewhere, augmented by SòngYuánMíng dramatic and bǎojuàn poetry); the DZJY recension augments this with new mid-Qīng fújī verse from the Liú Tǐshù circle, “a hundredfold what was earlier-collected.”
Prefaces
Preface (Hán Xiāngzǐ as Sānshān díshǐ, dated 辛酉中秋日 — = xīnyǒu mid-autumn, plausibly mid-autumn 1741 or 1801). “The Yì says: ‘Observe the cultural manifestations to transform-and-complete all-under-Heaven.’ Transformation is not without literature manifest. Literature must comprehend the Way to be able to complete-the-transformation… The most-marvellous of literature manifests in poetry, beginning with the Three-Hundred Poems and reaching its full bloom in our Tang. The Tang poets’ authors are like the Ganges sand, but those whose movement combines with the Way and follows-conditions complete-transformation are: every word a golden-needle, even a thousand-hundred-thousand pieces all of one lǜ — that is my master. — My master: from his original beginnings down to today, generation after generation, his heart-source goes straight, with not the slightest change, because the wonder of his poetry is not by the literary that it manifests; the great unifying tradition of the Way is entrusted to my master, his heart’s vow penetrating to the limit; not by the Way it does not appear in literature, and so it manifests by literature in the form of poetry — its purport never originally departs from the original-vow. — His poems are made and to-be-narrated must wait for men, never to be sought from a single piece or a single saying. — My master’s poetry has been transmitted long, the volumes are many, but to spirit-it and bright-it, to meet-and-penetrate-it — has not yet been done. Now the Awakening-Altar having gathered the entire poetry into the collected volume, repeated revision is complete, examination-and-collation has been measured; with this single poetry-collection it now stands as a complete jade-disc — combined with the Quán shū and so it is the great accomplishment. — This is no longer the matter of word-and-rhyme study, nor is it appended at the level of poem-and-text; the student who well-attains-the-master may here seek it. Xiāng is unliterary; today on the great-meeting at the altar I have obtained the complete collection — only this poetry-section let me with these few words verify in the realm of the lofty-and-bright. Xīnyǒu mid-autumn day, disciple Hán Xiāng respectfully wrote.”
Title-poem (Liǔ Shǒuyuán). “The Shū says: ‘Poetry expresses the will; song extends the words.’ Poetry and cí are also of the literature class. Our Imperial Master’s poetry-and-cí — every saying of his concerns the Way’s wonder; if a man can quietly fathom them, every word is golden-elixir, his hand-flower wonder for any man to receive… As to the lofty-perfected of the Dàluótiān: those whose poetry-and-prose together pile up into a volume to leave the world — Bái Zǐqīng (Bái Yùchán)‘s Hǎi qióng jí is the most celebrated — yet his direct-pointing-elixir-method, though most-essence-and-subtle, is what the upper-immortals share; as to making each saying lodge the mystery-mechanism, every wonder transparent, every secret transmitted — for ten-thousand years, only this one Imperial Master. Ah! the cough-and-spit of the Nine Heavens scattering pearls and jade — truly the universal sprinkling of dew-and-rain — and yet what flows in the human world is not even a tenth of a thousandth. This too is the conditions-meeting that have-to-wait. Earlier prints of the Quán shū collected very little poetry, and what was there was much fragmented and not normalised. Now the Awakening-Source dharma-altar has re-edited the Quán shū, broadly gathering from many books and widely searching out the precious-secret… Hóngjiào dìzǐ Liǔ Shǒuyuán xūnmù tí cí.”
Abstract
The poetry component of the Lǚzǔ quán shū compendium, paired with KR5i0049. Composition of the planchette-verse layer is c. 1700–1750; the xīnyǒu mid-autumn preface of Hán Xiāngzǐ corresponds to either 1741 or 1801 (an editorial moment; the printing of the Quán shū is mid-eighteenth century). The Liǔ Shǒuyuán title-poem cross-references Bái Yùchán’s Hǎi qióng jí as the precedent for a major Daoist-immortal poetry-collection.
Translations and research
- For the Lǚ-zǔ traditional poetic corpus see Mori Yuria, “Daozang jiyao and Quanzhen Daoism,” cited at KR5i0003.
- For Bái Yù-chán and the comparison with the Hǎi qióng jí see citations under 白玉蟾 / KR5i0060.
- No critical edition or full translation of the DZJY Lǚ dì shī jí located.
Links
- Kanseki Repository KR5i0050
- Author: 呂洞賓 (託名); preface: 韓湘 (託名).