Lǚ Dàlín 呂大臨
Style name Yǔshū 與叔. Native of Lántián 藍田 in Jīngzhào fǔ 京兆府 (modern Lántián xiàn in Shǎnxī). Lifedates 1044–1091 (Northern Sòng).
Younger brother of the brothers Lǚ Dàzhōng 呂大忠, Lǚ Dàfáng 呂大防, and Lǚ Dàjūn 呂大鈞 — collectively the so-called Lántián sān Lǚ 藍田三呂 (“Three Lǚ’s of Lántián”) of the Northern-Sòng Guānzhōng 關中 Confucian-revival circle. The youngest and most influential of them as a scholar; the only one canonized in the Sòng shǐ Dào xué zhuàn (juan 427), in the same fascicle as his teachers Zhāng Zài and the Chéng brothers.
Studied first with Zhāng Zài 張載 (張載) at Héngqú; after Zhāng’s death in 1077 transferred to the school of Chéng Yí 程頤 (and to Chéng Hào 程顥, while the elder brother lived). One of the canonical “Four Masters of the Chéng School” (Chéng mén sì xiānshēng 程門四先生) together with Yáng Shí 楊時, Yóu Zuò 游酢, and Xiè Liángzuǒ 謝良佐. His unusual position — bridging the two principal Northern-Sòng Dàoxué schools, Zhāng Zài’s Guānxué and the Chéng brothers’ Luòxué — gives him a distinctive synthesizing role in the formation of Sòng Confucian doctrine.
Surviving works:
- Héngqú xiānshēng xíngzhuàng 橫渠先生行狀 (“Conduct-Account of Master Héngqú”) — the primary biographical witness for Zhāng Zài, appended to the WYG recension of Héngqú Yì shuō (KR1a0014).
- Lǚ shì xiāng yuē 呂氏鄉約 (“The Lǚ-family Compact for Local Society”) — composed jointly with his brothers, the foundational document of SòngMíngQīng village-compact (xiāng yuē 鄉約) practice; promoted by Zhū Xī, by Wáng Yángmíng, and by virtually every later Confucian-reform programme of village governance.
- Kǎo gǔ tú 考古圖 (Charts for Investigating Antiquities, completed 1092) — the foundational illustrated catalogue of Sòng jīnshí xué 金石學 (epigraphy and bronze studies), with rubbings, line-drawings, and analytical commentary on bronze and stone inscriptions.
- Yì lǐ Yì zhuàn 易章句 — his Yì commentary, partially surviving in citations.
- Mèngzǐ jiě 孟子解 — Mèngzǐ commentary, partially surviving.
- Various zhāyī 札議 (memos and policy essays) preserved in the Sòng wén jiàn 宋文鑑 and his collected works Lántián Lǚ Yǔshū wénjí 藍田呂與叔文集.
His Kǎo gǔ tú is the most consequential of his surviving books in modern reception: it is the prototype of all subsequent SòngMíngQīng jīnshí catalogues and the foundational document of pre-modern Chinese antiquarianism.