14 Zhang is quoting chapter 7, section 21 of A Record for Reflection (Jinsilu ). For an English translation of this work, see Wing-tsit Chan, tr., Reflections on Things at Hand (New York: Columbia University Press, 1967).
15 For a translation, see the Introduction, note 30.
16 See chapter 130 of the Records of the Grand Historian.
17 See Sima Qian’s letter to his friend Ren An, Introduction, note 30.
18 These lines are attributed to Wang Chong in the biography of Cai Yong , chapter 90, part 2, of the History of the Later Han Dynasty (Hou Han Shu ).
19 For the “praise and blame” view of history, see my “History, Chinese Theories of,” in Edward Craig, ed., Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy, vol. 4 (London: Routledge, 1998), 446—52.
20 See Mengzi 3B9.
21 These are chapters 28 and 30 of the Records of the Grand Historian. For an English translation, see Watson, Records of the Grand Historian, vol. 2, pp. 13—69 and 79—106.
22 For Emperor Wu, see Essay 2, note 30.
23 For Sima Xiangru, see Essay 5, note 5. His essay on the Feng and Shan Sacrifices was released posthumously and proved critical of some of Emperor Wu’s policies. It is included in chapter 117 of the Records of the Grand Historian. For a translation, see Watson Records of the Grand Historian, vol. 2, pp. 336—41.
24 Huan Kuan (first century B.C.E.) compiled the Discourses on Salt and Iron, a summation of a famous court debate that took place in 81 B.C.E. about the royal monopoly on salt and iron and other economic policies that had been implemented by Emperor Wu. For a partial translation, see Esson M. Gale, tr., Discourses on Salt and Iron: A Debate on State Control of Commerce and Industry in Ancient China, Chapters I—XXVIII (Taipei: Ch’eng-Wen Publishing Company 1967).
25 These are chapters 124 and 129 of the Records of the Grand Historian. For an English translation, see Watson, Records of the Grand Historian, vol. 2, pp. 452—61 and 476—99.
26 For the Six Classical disciplines, see Essay 1, note 78.
27 This is a paraphrase of lines from Zhu Xi’s essay “On Literature.” See (Lunwen, shang ), chapter 139 of The Topically Arranged Sayings of Master Zhu.
28 For the Three Dynasties, see Essay 1, note 43.
29 See Analects 8.8.
Notes to Essay 9
1 For Liu Xie, see Essay 1, note 1.
2 Lu Ji (261—303 C.E.) was a poet of the Jin dynasty (265—420 C.E.). In a prose preface to his “Rhyme-poem on Literature” (Wenfu ) he says, “Whenever I consider the work of a talented scholar . . . I am able to grasp his heart-mind.” For a complete English translation of the Wenfu, see Owen, An Anthology of Chinese Literature, pp. 335—43.
3 For Su Che, see Essay 1, note 99.
4 Drawing upon ideas one finds in the opening chapter of the Zhuangzi, Han Yu wrote in his “Letter in Reply to Li Yi” that “vital energy is like water while words are like things that float upon water. If there is great volume of water, then objects large and small will float. This is the relationship between vital energy and water. If there is an abundance of vital energy then one’s words will be fitting, regardless of whether one’s sentences are long or short or one’s tones high or low.” A complete translation of Han Yu’s letter appears in the Appendix of this volume.
5 Analects 14.5.
6 The Book of Changes, Supplemental Explanation of King Wen on the first hexagram, Qian.
7 Mengzi 2A2.
8 In his “Letter in Reply to Li Yi,” Han Yu wrote, “And so I travel the path of benevolence and righteousness and wander to the source of the Book of Odes and Book of History.” A complete translation of Han Yu’s letter appears in the Appendix of this volume.
9 On the notions of skill, learning, and insight, see the opening lines of Essay 8. Zhang here again is relying on his age of unity ideal to explain why the ancients never had occasion to explain phenomena he finds in critical need of explanation.
10 Zhang here invokes the Confucian golden rule; we need “sympathetic concern” (shu ) for another in order to imaginatively enter into and understand his or her perspective and motivation. See the Introduction, note 12, etc.
11 Chen Shou (233—297 C.E.) was an historian of the Jin dynasty and author of the Record of the Three Kingdoms (Sanguozhi ). This famous work describes the period between 221 and 265, when China was divided into the three competing kingdoms of Wu, Shu, and Wei, the rulers of which each claimed to be the legitimate heir to the prior Han throne. Wei was ruled by Sun Chuan (182—252 C.E.), Shu by Liu Bei (161—223 C.E.), and Wei by the infamous Cao Cao (155—220 C.E.). For a study and partial translation, see James 1. Crump, Jr., Intrigues: Studies of the Chan-kuo ts‘e, (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1964). Zhang’s point is that by putting Wei in the section for members of the hereditary house and Wu and Shu in the supplemental biographies section, Chen Shou presents Cao Cao as the legitimate heir to the Han throne.
12 Xi Zaochi was a famous scholar of the Eastern Jin dynasty (317— 420 C.E.) and author of Chronicles of the Han and Jin Dynasty (Hanjin chunqiu ).
13 Sima Guang (1019—89 C.E.) was an eminent historian, scholar, and high official of the Song dynasty and author of A Comprehensive Mirror for Aid in Government (Zizhi tongjian ). For a brief description of Sima and his work, see the essay by Pulleyblank mentioned in Essay 5, note 11.
14 For Zhu Xi see the Introduction, note 10. He wrote a condensed and highlighted version of Sima Guang’s earlier work called the Outline to A Comprehensive Mirror for Aid in Government (Zizhi tongjian gangmu ).
15 Mengzi 6A6. Compare 2A6, 6A10, etc.
16 Zhang’s point is that such judgments reveal an absence of sympathetic concern and hence a lack of Virtue. For a discussion of such temporal provincialism, see my “Lessons From the Past: Zhang Xuecheng and the Ethical Dimensions of History.”
17 Zhang’s point is that their respective historical contexts led them to describe things in the way that they did. Any accomplished historian or literary connoisseur must be sensitive to such issues in order to appreciate the work of others.
18 China had lost territory to the Xiongnu throughout the Jin dynasty (266— 420 C.E.), including the loss of their capital, Luoyang, in 311. During the Southern Song, much of north China was lost to the Khitan Tartars.
19 The lines inside parentheses are Zhang’s auto-commentary.
20 Compare Mengzi 5B8.
21 Youzi is the honorific form of the name of the disciple You Ruo .One finds several references to him in the Analects, for example 1.2, 1.12, 1.13, etc. Zhang, though, seems to be referring to cases where Youzi was not wholly clear about how to understand something Kongzi said. There is an example of this in the first part of the Tangong chapter of the Book of Rites. For a translation, see Legge, The Li Ki, vol. 1, p. 149.
22 See Analects 12.2 and 15.24.
23 Compare Zhang’s treatment of how one needs a similar kind of sympathetic concern to understand history in Essay 8.
24 See Han Yu’s “Letter in Reply to Li Yi.”
25 See Han Yu’s “Letter in Reply to Li Yi.”
26 For Liu Zongyuan and the letter in which this line appears, see Essay 1, note 99. See also note 5.
27 Zhang’s language here echoes Kongzi’s remark about how to sum up the poems in the Book of Odes. See Analects 2.2
28 See the opening section of Essay 8.
29 Zhang’s language here recalls and seems inspired by the poem “Let me Be Reverent” (Jingzhi ) in the Book of Odes, Mao no. 288. For an English translation, see Legge, The She King, pp. 598—99.
Notes to Essay 10
1 Zuo Mei was a local scholar and friend of Zhang. For more on him and this essay, see Nivison, Life and Thought, p. 112. Nivison identifies the work that Zhang saw as the The Records of the Grand Historian with Critical Annotations (Shiji pingdian ) by Gui Youguang. See note 3 below.
2 This is a common method for highlighting sections or lines of particular interest in a traditional text.
3 For Gui Youguang
(1506—71), see the entry on him in L. Carrington Goodrich and Chaoying Fang, eds., Dictionary of Ming Biography, 1368—1644, Vol. 1 (New York: Columbia University Press, 1976), 759—61.
4 The “transmission of the lamp by the fifth patriarch” refers to the transfer of the lineage of the dharma to Hui Neng, the sixth patriarch of Chan Buddhism. It is described in the Platform Sutra. Lin Lingsu (1076—1120), who established the Divine Empyrean (Shenxiao ) tradition of Daoism, received new revelations, which he passed on to Emperor Huizong (1082—1135). See Livia Kohn, ed., Daoism Handbook, vol. 1 (Leiden: Brill, 2004), 422—43.
5 “Wild fox Chan” refers to unorthodox lineages within Chan Buddhism.
6 Wang Shizhen (1526—90) and Li Panlong (1514—70) were well known for their popular faux-ancient style of writing. For more on their lives and work, see the entries in Goodrich and Fang, Dictionary of Ming Biography, vol. 2, pp. 1399—1405 and vol. 1, pp. 845—47, respectively
7 Paraphrasing a line from Han Yu’s essay “An Explication of Progress in Learning.” Compare the earlier reference to this work, Essay 7, note 7.
8 That is to say, Gui was a master of the eight-legged essay style in the way that Sima Qian was a master of historical writing and Han Yu a master of the ancient prose style.
9 For the “Eight Great Prose Masters of the Tang and Song” see Essay 1, note 99. The five classics were the Book of Changes, Book of Odes, Book of History, Book of Rites, and Spring and Autumn Annals. The Four Books were the Analects, Mengzi, Doctrine of the Mean, and Great Learning.
10 As becomes more clear in the course of this essay, Zhang’s point is that a preoccupation with annotating texts bespeaks a desire to imitate the masters of another time rather than develop one’s own distinctive expression of what is within one’s own heart-mind.
11 “Establishing words” refers to a famous passage in the Commentary of Zuo that talks about three ways to achieve this-worldly immortality. See the Introduction, note 47.
12 Qi Liang’s widow was a famous exemplar of proper grief. For examples, see the Commentary of Zuo, Duke Xiang, 23rd year, in Legge, The Ch’un Ts’ew, p. 504; the Tangong chapter of the Liji (Legge, The Li Ki, vol. 1, pp. 187—88); and Mengzi 6B6. Qu Yuan (c. 340—278 B.C.E.) was a scholar and minister to the King of Chu during the Warring States Period. Under the influence of corrupt officials, the king slandered and eventually banished Qu Yuan. Hearing of the loss of Chu’s capital to the state of Qin, Qu Yuan drowned himself in the Miluo River (located in present-day Hunan province). His death is traditionally commemorated during the Duan Wu or Dragon Boat Festival.
13 Mengzi 2A2.
14 For Cheng Yi’s remark see chapter 6 of The Extant Works of the Cheng (Brothers) from Henan. For Cheng Hao’s remark, see chapter 3 in the same work. Cheng Yi’s remark also appears in chapter 2, section 57 of A Record for Reflection. For an English translation, see Chan, Reflections on Things at Hand, p. 64.
15 Analects 8.4.
16 Analects 15.41.
17 The quote is from Han Yu’s essay “An Explanation of Progress in Learning.” See Essay 7, note 7.
18 Zhang Ji (766–829?) and Huang Fushi (777–835?) were friends of Han Yu.
19 Zuo Si (d. 306 C.E.) was a respected writer of rhyme-prose, well-known for spending a great deal of time on each of his compositions. The work Zhang refers to is his Rhyme-prose on the Three Capitals (Sandufu ).
20 Analects 7.8.
21 For Lu Ji, see Essay 9, note 2. For Lu Xie, see Essay 1, note 1. Zhong Rong (469–518) offers brief evaluations of important poets and schools of poetry in his Grading the Poets (Shipin ).
22 These ideas and images figure in a number of famous poems.
23 For similar ideas, see essays 8 and 9.
24 Compare the story of Wheelwright Pian in chapter 13 of the Zhuangzi. For a translation, see Watson, Complete Works, pp. 152–53. See also Zhang’s essay On Teachers.
25 Zhao Zhixin (1622–1744) was a talented but controversial scholar. For a brief account of his life and work, see Arthur W Hummel, ed., Eminent Chinese of the Ching Period (1644–1912) (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1943–44), 71.
26 This story is recorded in a number of traditional sources (all of which refer to “a man of Song” instead of a man of ying , which is what Zhang’s text has). See, for example, the Imperial Readings of the Taiping Era (Taipingyulan ).
27 See the Great Appendix 1.5.
28 Mengzi 7A15.
Notes to Essay 11
1 See chapter 9 of the Book of Rites. For a translation, see Legge, The Li Ki, vol. 1, p. 380.
2 See chapter 4 of Yang Xiong’s (53 B.C.E.—C.E. 18) Model Sayings (Fayan ). Compare the opening lines of the Great Preface to the Book of Odes. For a translation, see Legge, She King, p. 34.
3 Analects 5.9.
4 See chapter 4 of the Great Learning.
5 The lines inside parentheses are Zhang’s auto-commentary.
6 Mengzi 3A4.
7 Yi Di is traditionally credited with discovering how to ferment wine.
8 Literally, “the people were taught [to raise] silkworms and mulberry trees.” The leaves of the mulberry trees are used to feed the silkworms. It is a commonly held Chinese belief that sericulture and other important cultural skills were discovered by sages and taught to the people. For example, see Mengzi 7A22.
9 Chi You ( ) was the god of war. Zhang depicts him as encouraging the raising of silkworms and the mulberry trees, whose leaves the worms eat, in order to support his love for war.
10 The Great Appendix 1.5.
11 The Explanations of the Hexagrams appendix to the Book of Changes, chapter 1.
12 For this theme, see Essay 3, notes 9 and 10.
13 For the idea that the gentleman hates what seems to be good but is not, see Analects 17.11, 17.16, etc.
14 Zhuangzi, chapter 32. For a translation, see Burton Watson, The Complete Works.
15 For the idea that one should neither fall short nor exceed, see Analects 11.16.
16 The lines inside brackets are Zhang’s auto-commentary. Zhang mentions this general criticism of literature by Cheng Yi in a number of his essays. For the criticism aimed at Xie Liangzuo (1050—1103), see chapter 12 of The Outer Writings of the Cheng (Brothers) from Henan (Henan Chengshi waishu ). Xie was a disciple of the Cheng brothers and founded the Shangji branch of their school, which is named after his native home. The “single thread” refers to Analects 4.15. The idea is that while his teachings are not a tight and integrated system, they all hang together and present a consistent picture.
17 The image is taken from chapter 32 of the Zhuangzi. For a translation, see Burton Watson, The Complete Works, p. 354.
18 Zhang’s point is to criticize the notion that literary style alone can convey the substance of the dao. His comments evoke images and ideas, such as the “empty cart,” from chapter 28 of Zhou Dunyi’s Comprehending the Book of Changes. See Essay 2, note 4.
19 As Zhou Dunyi did before him, Zhang is playing on the multiple senses of wen, which includes at least the following: “literature,” “style,” “decoration,” “culture,” “pattern,” and “elegance.” Compare Analects 5.14 and 14.19.
20 See the Great Appendix 2.10.
21 See the Great Appendix 2.6.
22 See chapter 24, “Charge to Duke Bi” of the Book of History. For a translation, see Legge, The Shoo King, p. 574.
23 See the Book of Odes, Mao no. 254. The translation is from Legge, She King, p. 500.
24 See chapter 1 of the Book of Rites. For a translation, see Legge, The Li Ki, vol. 1. p. 75.
25 Zhang says this line is from the Zuozhuan, but it is a quote from Analects 15.40.
26 Analects 8.4.
27 Quoting Cheng Yi, see Essay 10, note 14.
28 Quoting Luji’s “Rhyme-prose on Literature.” For Luji and this work, see Essay 9, note 2.
29 Quoting Han Yu’s epitaph for Fan Shaoshu in chapter 34 of The Complete Works of Han Yu (Han Changli q
uanji) .
30 “This mind” (cixin or shixin ) is a term of art for Wang Yangming, which he picked up from Mengzi. For examples, see my Ethics in the Confucian Tradition, pp. 72 and 126.
31 Quoting the Commentary of Zuo, see Essay 5, note 15.
32 Analects 7.2.
33 Book of Changes, statement for hexagram 4: “enveloping” (meng ).
34 Analects 17.17.
35 Chapters 19 and 20 of the Daodejing.
36 Analects 7.20.
37 “To work at being broad of learning” is to sacrifice insight for erudition. This is the theme of Zhang’s “Breadth and Economy” (Essay 7 above).
On Ethics and History Page 22