廣弘明集 3.24

3.24

The sun and moon are pure and bright, yet without their radiant beams they could not shed their light below; Mount Song and Mount Hua sustain and nurture, yet without wind and clouds they could not suspend their subtle resonance. Great sages are born out of the ordinary, answering their destined times to order the age; thus they rectify and succour prevailing customs and reform the constant human relations. Were it not for the Three Odes and Eight Inscriptions, the classical canons, the Songs, Documents, Rites, and Music, how could they accomplish reverent and majestic achievements, or bring about such vast and boundless transformation? Therefore, when the primeval vastness receded and the Way was lost, Emperor Taihao originated the lines of the trigrams; when the significance of knotted cords became obscure, Sovereign Cangjie first created written characters. From that time forth, traditions were inherited or altered according to appropriateness; when achievements were completed and order was established, each had its bamboo tablets and books. But once the orthodox tradition perished, music collapsed, and rites disintegrated, the ways of the former sages hung precariously like trailing banners. Thus Zhongni sighed, saying: 'The practice of the Great Way and the outstanding men of the Three Dynasties—I, Qiu, did not reach them, but to them my aspirations are set.' Having his aspirations set, he deemed that the ancient texts were still good. Therefore, returning from Wei to Lu, he first established himself as the Uncrowned King. Thereupon he pruned the Songs and Documents, fixed the Rites and Music, arrayed the Five Beginnings in the Spring and Autumn Annals, and gave rise to the Ten Wings in the Way of Changes. When the Master passed away, the subtle words almost ceased; when the seventy disciples likewise perished, the great principles were subsequently compromised. Coming down to the Warring States period, customs differed and governments diverged; the hundred schools competed to arise, and the nine lineages of thought emerged alongside one another. Ying Zheng detested them; hence occurred the catastrophe of burying scholars and burning books. Not until the fourth year of Han Emperor Hui was the statute prohibiting the possession of books first abolished. Thereafter, externally there were the archives of the Minister of Ceremonial, the Grand Astrologer, and the Erudites; internally there were the repositories of the Yan Pavilion, the Guangnei Hall, and the Secret Chamber. A path for presenting books was opened, and officials for copying books were appointed. By the reign of Xiaocheng, rather many texts had been lost; hence he sent the Internuncio Chen Nong to seek out lost books throughout the realm. Liu Xiang, Grandee of the Imperial Household, and his sons Ji and Xin collated the chapters and texts; whenever each chapter was finished, they recorded and submitted it. When Xiang happened to pass away, Emperor Ai commanded Xin to carry on his previous undertaking; thereupon the books kept in the Wenshi Hall were moved into the Tianlu Pavilion. Xin then comprehensively synthesized the various treatises and submitted his Seven Summaries (Qilüe). Under the Later Han, the Orchid Terrace was still the bureau of books; furthermore, in the Dongguan Library and the Renshou Gate, newly recorded compilations were drafted. Ban Gu, Gentleman Collator of Books, and Fu Yi both took charge of the secret archives; Gu then relied on the text of the Seven Summaries to compose the Treatise on Arts and Literature for the Book of Han. Among those who subsequently composed works, Yuan Shansong likewise recorded them in his book. In the Wei and Jin eras, literary texts became increasingly numerous; they were all stored in the three inner and outer pavilions of the Department of the Palace Library. Zheng Mo, Gentleman of the Palace Library under Wei, edited and settled the old texts; contemporary critics described it as 'distinguishing the vermilion from the purple.' Xun Xu, Director of the Palace Library under Jin, composed a new catalogue based on the Wei Zhongjing; although it was divided into more than ten fascicles, he comprehensively distinguished them using four sections. During the disturbances of Emperors Hui and Huai, these books were almost completely lost; in the rustic beginnings on the south of the Yangzi, not one in ten remained. Although they were collected later on, confusion and disorder were extreme. Not until Assistant Editorial Director Li Chong began to edit and correct them: relying on the four-section method of Xun Xu's old catalogue, he swapped the books of the second and third classes (B and C), omitted the individual titles of various treatises, and comprehensively ordered them using Jia, Yi, Bing, and Ding (A, B, C, D). From that time onward, successive generations took this as their model. Under Song, Director of the Palace Library Xie Lingyun and Vice Director Wang Jian, and under Qi, Vice Director Wang Liang and Director Xie Fei, all presented new accessions and further compiled a catalogue called the Seven Records (Qizhi). The collection of lost books from the Central Court grew somewhat wider, yet more than half of what had been lost was still missing. At the end of Qi, the fires of warfare spread to the Secret Pavilion; in the early years of the Liang, the gaps and losses were very numerous. Thereupon Ren Fang, Director of the Palace Library, was commanded to classify and assemble them in person; in addition, diverse books were separately stored within the Wende Hall, and Scholars such as Liu Xiaobiao were ordered to search out and present more. Then, separating texts on calculations and divination (shushu) into a distinct section, they ordered Zu Geng, Court Attendant, to compile their nominal catalogue. Within the Department of the Affairs of State, classic, historic, and miscellaneous books were separately stored, and in the Hualin Garden the sūtras and treatises of the Śākya lineage were brought together. Ever since the rise of literary works south of the Yangzi, none has surpassed the present time. In my youth I, Xiaoxu, loved ancient canons and records, and in maturity never grew weary. Lying ill in leisurely retirement, I have had no worldly distractions around me. As soon as the morning light breaks, the pale yellow bags are unfastened; when the night clepsydra is divided, the book cases are finally closed. Yet I have still been unable to exhaustively investigate the traditions and summaries, or plumb every secret and profound depth. Whenever I open the catalogue and reflect within, I find there are many deficiencies. I have rather been fond of gathering lost and obscure records. For all the mansions of princes, dukes, and officials from Song and Qi onward, if only they had accumulated ancient books, I always thought to obtain their lists and registers. Whatever I encountered, saw, or heard, when collated against the official catalogues, showed many omissions. Thereupon I gathered the various collections together and made a new record. From the domestic scriptures and records down to skills and arts, they are combined into five records, called the Inner Chapters; the external traditions of Buddhism and Daoism each form one record, called the Outer Chapters. Altogether there are seven records, hence it is titled Seven Records (Qilu). In ancient times, Sima Zichang recorded the events of thousands of years; former sages took pity on his diligence, and although he is renowned as a fine historian, there were still reproaches regarding his selections. How much more so when comprehensively synthesizing more than forty thousand fascicles of various books, discussing, investigating, verifying, and determining their central tenets! My talent is ashamed of lacking penetrating discernment; my learning is embarrassed by lacking broad mastery. I have neither the imperial grant of books of Ban Si, nor the Dongguan Library of Huang Xiang. When I wish to look up and inspect something, my private shelves are scarce of scrolls; if doubts and blockages arise, there is no one beside me to enlighten or instruct. Are not the errors and blunders bound to be manifold? I fear that those who blame me in the future—will it not be on account of this catalogue? If there be corrections, I beg to await the noble-minded. In ancient times, when Liu Xiang collated books, he made a record for each, discussing its purport and discerning its errors; as each was completed, he submitted it, and all were appended to the original books. At that time he also separately collected these records, calling it the Separate Records (Bielüe); this is the present-day Bielüe. His son Xin extracted its essential purports and composed the Seven Summaries (Qilüe). One of the chapters was the overall summary of the other six; hence it was named Summary (Cüelüe). Next was the Six Arts Summary; next, the Philosophers Summary; next, the Poetry and Rhapsodies Summary; next, the Military Treatises Summary; next, the Calculations and Divination Summary; next, the Methods and Skills Summary. In Wang Jian's Seven Records (Qizhi), the Six Arts was changed to Classical Canons; next was Philosophers; Poetry and Rhapsodies was changed to Literature; Military Treatises was changed to Martial Texts; Calculations and Divination was changed to Yin-Yang; Methods and Skills was changed to Arts and Techniques. Because Xiang and Xin, though speaking of seven summaries, actually had six branches, he established a section for Charts and Genealogies to complete the number of seven. Outside of this, he also itemized the books missing from the Seven Summaries, the Han Treatise on Arts and Literature, and the Zhongjing catalogue, together with the scriptures of the external realm: Buddhist scriptures and Daoist scriptures each formed a record, which, though following after the Seven Records, were not counted among their number. In the present compilation of the Seven Records, I have deliberated between Wang and Liu. Wang deemed the designation 'Six Arts' insufficient to serve as a banner for the canonical texts, and changed it to 'Classical Canons'; I now follow this. Therefore, the record of Classical Canons is arranged as the first of the Inner Chapters. Both Liu and Wang combined the various histories with the Spring and Autumn Annals. In Liu's time historical works were very few; attaching them to the Spring and Autumn Annals truly suited the precedent. Now the records and biographies of various authors are twice as many as the classical canons; if one still followed this scheme, it would truly be redundant and chaotic. Moreover, in the Seven Summaries, poetry and rhapsodies were not subordinated to the sections of the Six Arts, presumably because those books were already numerous, and thus made into a separate summary. Now, imitating this precedent, I have separated out the various histories, arranging the record of Chronicles and Biographies as the second of the Inner Chapters. The designation 'Philosophers' is the same in both Liu and Wang. Further, Liu had a Military Treatises Summary; Wang, deeming the word 'military' (bing) crude and shallow and the word 'martial/army' (jun) profound and broad, changed 'military' to 'martial'. I venture to think that in antiquity there were expressions such as 'weapons and cuirass' (bingge), 'military operations' (bingrong), 'regulating troops' (zhibing), and 'deploying troops' (yongbing); these are general terms for martial affairs. Therefore I have reverted from 'martial' back to 'military'. Since military books are few and insufficient for a separate record, I now attach them to the philosophers, comprehensively titling them 'Philosophers and Military'. Therefore, the record of Philosophers and Military is arranged as the third of the Inner Chapters. Wang, deeming that the title 'Poetry and Rhapsodies' did not encompass other genres, changed it to 'Literature'. I venture to consider that in recent ages literary compositions are comprehensively called 'anthologies' (ji); changing 'letters' (han) to 'anthologies' (ji) makes the designation especially distinct. Therefore, the record of Literary Anthologies is arranged as the fourth of the Inner Chapters. Wang, deeming that the designation 'Calculations and Divination' (shushu) was suspect of being complicated and miscellaneous, changed it to 'Yin-Yang'. The phrase 'Methods and Skills' (fangji) lacked canonical authority, so he also changed it to 'Arts and Techniques' (yishu). I venture to consider that Yin-Yang is biased toward a single connection and is not as comprehensive as 'Calculations and Divination'; 'Arts and Techniques' confuses the Six Arts with calculations and divination, and does not match the conciseness and clarity of 'Methods and Skills'. Therefore I have reverted to following Liu's system, keeping each to its original name. However, since bedchamber techniques and immortals are already subsumed under the Daoist way of transcendence, while medical classics and formularies are insufficient to establish a separate category, I have combined the titles of techniques and skills (shuji) to name a single record as the fifth of the Inner Chapters. Wang's category of Charts and Genealogies was absent in Liu's Summaries. Although Liu's Calculations and Divination included calendars and genealogies, they differed from today's genealogies. I venture to think that treatises of drawings and paintings should be classified according to what is depicted; therefore, following their titles, each is appended to its original record. As for genealogies, being of the nature of records and notes, they should be correlated with the style of history; therefore they are placed at the end of Chronicles and Biographies. All the above constitute the Inner Chapters.