Zhong Shuo (中說) · Volume 1

【臣】等謹案中説十卷舊本題隋王通撰唐志文中子中説五卷通考及玉海則作十卷與今本合凡十篇末附序文一篇及杜淹所撰文中子世家一篇通子福畤錄唐太宗與房魏論禮樂事一篇通弟績與陳叔達書一篇又録闗子明事一篇末又有其子福畤所撰王氏家書雜録一篇晁公武郡齋讀書志嘗辨通以開皇四年生李徳林以開皇十一年卒通方八嵗而有徳林請見歸援琴鼓盪之什門人皆沾襟事闗朗以太和丁巳見魏孝文帝至開皇四年通生已相隔一百七年而有問禮於朗事薛道衡以仁夀二年出為襄州總管至煬帝即位始召還又隋書載道衡子収初生即出繼族父儒及長不識本生而有仁夀四年通在長安見道衡道衡語其子収事洪邁容齋隨筆又辨唐書載薛収以大業十三年歸唐而世家有江都難作通有疾召薛収共語事王應麟困學紀聞亦辨唐會要載武徳元年五月始改隋太興殿為太極殿而書中有隋文帝召見太極殿事皆證以史傳牴牾顯然今考通以仁夀四年自長安東歸河汾即不復出故世家亦云大業元年一徵又不至而周公篇內乃雲子遊太樂聞龍舟五更之曲阮逸注曰太樂樂署煬帝將遊江都作此曲隋書職官志曰太常寺有太樂署是通大業末年復至長安矣其依託謬妄亦一明證考楊烱集有王勃集序稱祖父通隋秀才髙第蜀郡司戶書佐蜀王侍讀大業末退講萟於龍門其卒也門人諡之曰文中子烱為其孫作序則記其祖事必不誤杜牧樊川集首有其甥裴延翰序亦引文中子曰言文而不極理王道何從而興乎二語亦與今本相合知所謂文中子者實有其人所謂中説者其子福郊福畤等纂述遺言虛相誇飾亦實有其書苐當有唐開國之初明君碩輔不可以虛名動又陸徳明孔頴逹賈公彥諸人老師宿儒佈列館閣亦不可以空談惑故其人其書皆不著於當時而當時亦無斥其妄者至中唐以後漸逺無徴乃稍稍得售其欺耳宋鹹必以為實無其人洪邁必以為其書出阮逸所撰誠為過當講學家或竟以為接孔顏之傳則惑之甚矣據其偽跡炳然誠不足採然大防要不甚悖於理且摹擬聖人之語言自揚防始猶未敢冒其名摹擬聖人之事蹟則自通始乃並其名而僣之後來聚徒講學醸為朋黨以至禍延宗社者通實為之先驅坤之初六履霜堅氷姤之初六繫於金柅録而存之亦足見儒風變古其所由來者漸也乾隆四十六年九月恭校上

Your servants respectfully note: the Zhongshuo (Discourses on the Mean) in ten juan is traditionally attributed to Wang Tong of the Sui dynasty. The Treatise on Literature in the Tang History lists it as Wenzhongzi Zhongshuo in five juan, while the Wenxian Tongkao and the Yuhai give ten juan, which matches the present edition. The whole work has ten chapters, with a preface appended at the end, together with Du Yan's Hereditary House of Wenzhongzi, the account of Emperor Taizong of Tang discussing rites and music with Fang and Wei recorded by Wang's son Wang Fuzhi, a letter from Wang Tong's younger brother Wang Ji to Chen Shuda, a further piece titled Guan Ziming's Affair, and finally Miscellaneous Records of the Wang Family Letters by his son Wang Fuzhi. Chao Gongwu in his Junzhai Dushu Zhi has already pointed out the difficulties: Wang Tong was born in the fourth year of Kaihuang, and Li Delin died in the eleventh year of Kaihuang, when Wang Tong was only eight, yet the book tells of Li Delin coming to seek an audience, of Wang Tong returning to play the ode 'Dang' on the zither, and of his disciples all wetting their robes with tears. Guan Lang had an audience with Emperor Xiaowen of Wei in the dingsi year of Taihe, which is a hundred and seven years before Wang Tong's birth in the fourth year of Kaihuang, yet the book has him asking Guan Lang about rites. Xue Daoheng became Governor of Xiangzhou in the second year of Renshou and was recalled only when Emperor Yang took the throne; moreover the Sui History records that Xue Daoheng's son Xue Shou was adopted by a cousin of his father, Xue Ru, as soon as he was born and in adulthood did not know his own father, yet the book has Wang Tong meeting Xue Daoheng at Chang'an in the fourth year of Renshou and Xue Daoheng speaking of his son Xue Shou. Hong Mai in his Rongzhai Suibi also pointed out that the Tang History records Xue Shou submitting to the Tang in the thirteenth year of Daye, while the Hereditary House has Wang Tong, ill when the Jiangdu disaster occurred, summoning Xue Shou to talk with him. Wang Yinglin in his Kunxue Jiwen also pointed out that the Tang Huiyao records that the Daxing Hall of the Sui was renamed the Taiji Hall only in the fifth month of the first year of Wude, yet the book has Emperor Wen of Sui summoning Wang Tong in the Taiji Hall. When all these are checked against the histories, the contradictions are obvious. On examination: Wang Tong returned east from Chang'an to Hefen in the fourth year of Renshou and never came out again, so the Hereditary House also says that he was summoned once in the first year of Daye and again did not go; yet the Duke of Zhou chapter speaks of Ziyou, the Grand Music Office, hearing the piece 'Dragon Boat at the Fifth Watch'. Ruan Yi's note says the Grand Music Office is the music bureau, and that Emperor Yang composed this piece when he was about to tour Jiangdu. The Treatise on Offices in the Sui History says the Court of Imperial Sacrifices had a Grand Music Office. If so, Wang Tong went to Chang'an again in the last years of Daye. That it rests on false attributions and absurdities is another clear proof. Further, Yang Jiong's collected works contain the Preface to the Collected Works of Wang Bo, which says that his grandfather Wang Tong was a Sui dynasty xiucai of high rank, served as clerk of the Registry of Shu Commandery and tutor to the Prince of Shu, retired in the last years of Daye to teach at Longmen, and after his death was given by his disciples the posthumous title Wenzhongzi. Yang Jiong wrote this as a preface for Wang Bo, so what he records about the grandfather cannot be mistaken. The Fanchuan Collection of Du Mu has at its head a preface by his nephew Pei Yanhan, which also quotes Wenzhongzi as saying, 'If words are elegant but do not reach the principle, how could the kingly way flourish?' These two sentences also match the present edition. From this we know that the man called Wenzhongzi really existed, and that the Zhongshuo, compiled from his remaining words with empty embellishment by his sons Wang Fujiao, Wang Fuzhi and others, also truly existed as a book. But at the very beginning of the Tang dynasty, enlightened rulers and leading ministers were not to be moved by empty reputations, and men such as Lu Deming, Kong Yingda and Jia Gongyan, all teachers and senior scholars arrayed in the academies, were not to be deceived by empty talk. So this man and this book were not prominent at the time, and no one then denounced it as false. After the middle Tang, as the years grew distant and there was no way to verify, this deception gradually found buyers. Song Xian insisted that there was really no such person, and Hong Mai insisted that the book was written by Ruan Yi, both going too far. Some lecturing scholars have even thought that he received the transmission of Confucius and Yan Hui, which is deeply deluded. As to its obvious marks of forgery, it is certainly not worth adopting; yet in its great safeguards (the 'great defenses,' meaning major principles) it does not greatly depart from what is right. Moreover, imitating the sage's words began with Yang Xiong (the source text has 'Yang fang,' where 'fang' is an error for 'xiong'), who still did not dare to borrow the sage's title; imitating the sage's deeds began with Wang Tong, who even usurped the title. Those who later gathered disciples to lecture, bred factions, and brought disaster even to the ancestral altars, had in Wang Tong a true forerunner. The first six of the Kun hexagram speaks of treading on frost, when solid ice is to come, and the first six of the Gou hexagram speaks of being tied to a metal brake. By recording and keeping this book, we can also see how the Confucian tradition changed from its ancient form, and that its origin came about gradually. Respectfully collated and submitted in the ninth month of the forty-sixth year of Qianlong.

周公聖人之治者也后王不能舉則仲尼述之而周公之道明仲尼聖人之備者也後儒不能達則孟軻尊之而仲尼之道明文中子聖人之修者也孟軻之徒歟非諸子流矣蓋萬章公孫丑不能極師之奧盡録其言故孟氏章句略而多闕房杜諸公不能臻師之美大宣其敎故王氏續經抑而不振中説者子之門人對問之書也薛収姚義集而名之唐太宗正觀初精修治具文經武略髙出近古若房杜李魏二溫王陳輩迭為將相實永三百年之業斯門人之功過半矣正觀二年【觀去聲】御史大夫杜淹始序中説及文中子世家未及進用為長孫無忌所抑【長上聲】而淹尋卒故王氏經書散在諸孤之代莫得聞焉二十三年太宗沒子之門人盡矣惟福畤兄弟【福畤文中子幼子畤音止】傳授中説於仲父凝始為十卷今世所傳本文多殘缺誤以杜淹所撰世家為中説之序【杜正觀三年卒今世所傳本乃正觀二十三年序】又福畤於仲父凝得闗子明傳凝因言闗氏卜筮之驗且記房魏與太宗論道之美亦非中説後序也蓋同藏緗帙【緗音相帙直質反】卷目相亂遂誤為序焉逸家藏古編尤得精備亦得十篇實無二序以章詳測文中子世家乃杜淹授與尚書陳叔達編諸隋書而亡矣【叔達依遷史人隋書今亡】闗子明事具於裴睎先賢傳今亦無存故王氏諸孤痛其將墜也因附於中説兩間且曰同志淪殂【殂音徂】帝閽悠邈文中子之敎鬱而不行籲可悲矣此有以知杜淹見抑而續經不傳諸王自悲而遺事必録後人責房魏不能揚師之道亦有由焉夫道之深者固當年不能窮功之逺者必異代而後顯方當聖時人文復古則周孔至治大備得以隆之昔苟卿揚雄二書尚有韓愈柳宗元刪定李軌楊倞【倞其亮反】況文中子非荀揚比也豈學者不能伸之乎是用覃研蘊奧引質同異為之註解以翼斯文夫前聖為後聖之備古文乃今文之脩未有離聖而異驅捐古而近習而能格於治者也皇宋御天下尊儒尚文道大淳矣修王削霸政無雜矣抑又跨唐之盛而使文中之徒遇焉彼韓愈氏力排異端儒之功者也故稱孟子能拒楊墨而功不在禹下孟軻氏儒之道者也故稱顔囘謂與禹稷同道愈不稱文中子其先功而後道歟猶文中子不稱孟軻道存而功在其中矣唐末司空圖嗟功廢道哀乃明文中子聖矣五季經亂逮乎削平則柳仲塗宗之於前孫漢公廣之於後皆雲聖人也然未及盛行其敎噫知天之髙必辯其所以髙也子之道其天乎天道則簡而功密矣門人對問如日星麗焉雖環周萬變不出乎天中今推防揆影庶髣髴其端乎大哉中之為義在易為二五在春秋為權衡在書為皇極在禮為中庸謂乎無形非中也謂乎有象非中也上不蕩於虛無下不局於器用惟變所適惟義所在此中之大略也中説者如是而已李靖問聖人之道子曰無所由亦不至於彼又問彼之説曰彼道之方也必也無至乎魏徵問聖人憂疑子曰天下皆憂疑吾獨不憂疑乎退謂董常曰樂天知命吾何憂窮理盡性吾何疑舉是深趣可以類知焉或有執文昩理以模範論語為病此皮膚之見非心解也逸才微志勤曷究其極中存疑闕庸俟後賢仍其舊篇分為十卷謹序

The Duke of Zhou was the sage who could carry out the way of government. Later kings could not carry out his government, so Confucius recorded it, and only then did the Duke of Zhou's way become clear. Confucius was the sage who was complete. Later Confucians could not penetrate his way, so Mencius honored him, and only then did Confucius' way become clear. Wenzhongzi was the sage who cultivated himself; he should be counted as one of Mencius' kind, no longer of the class of the various masters. But Wan Zhang and Gongsun Chou could not exhaust their teacher's depths or record his words in full, so the chapters and sentences of the Mencius are terse and often incomplete. Fang Xuanling, Du Ruhui and the others could not attain their teacher's complete excellence or widely spread his teaching, so the Wang family's continuation of the classics was suppressed and could not rise. The Zhongshuo is a book of questions and answers among Wenzhongzi's disciples, gathered and titled by Xue Shou and Yao Yi. In the early Zhenguan years of Emperor Taizong of Tang, he devoted himself to putting the instruments of government in order, and his civil and military arts exceeded those of recent times. Men such as Fang Xuanling, Du Ruhui, Li Jing, Wei Zheng, the brothers Wen Daya and Wen Yanbo, Wang Gui and Chen Shuda took turns serving as generals and chancellors and truly laid the foundation of three hundred years, and the disciples' merit in this was more than half. In the second year of Zhenguan [pronunciation note: 'guan' is read in the departing tone], the Censor-in-Chief Du Yan first wrote prefaces for the Zhongshuo and the Hereditary House of Wenzhongzi, but before he could be promoted he was suppressed by Zhangsun Wuji [pronunciation note: 'zhang' is read in the rising tone], and Du Yan died soon after. So the Wang family's writings were scattered in the age of the surviving orphans, and no one could hear them. In the twenty-third year, Emperor Taizong died, and Wenzhongzi's disciples were also all gone. Only Wang Fuzhi and his brother [Fuzhi was Wenzhongzi's youngest son; 'zhi' is pronounced 'zhi'] passed the Zhongshuo to their uncle Wang Ning, and only then was it compiled in ten juan. In the copies handed down in the world today, the text is often incomplete, and the Hereditary House written by Du Yan has been mistaken for the preface of the Zhongshuo [Du Yan died in the third year of Zhenguan, yet the copies in circulation have a preface dated the twenty-third year of Zhenguan]. Moreover, Wang Fuzhi obtained the Biography of Guan Ziming from his uncle Wang Ning, and Wang Ning spoke of the verified divinations of the Guan family and recorded the fine discussion of the Way among Fang Xuanling, Wei Zheng and Emperor Taizong; this too is not a postscript to the Zhongshuo. Probably these texts were kept together in a pale-yellow cloth case [pronunciation note: 'xiang' is read 'xiang', 'zhi' is read 'zhi'], and the order of juan and titles became confused, so they were mistaken for prefaces. I, Ruan Yi, have an ancient edition kept at home that is especially complete, also in ten chapters, and it really does not have those two prefaces. Judging in detail by chapters and sections, the Hereditary House of Wenzhongzi was handed by Du Yan to the Minister Chen Shuda, incorporated into the Sui History, and then lost [Chen Shuda incorporated it into the Sui History following the format of the Records of the Historian and it is now lost]. Guan Ziming's Affair was recorded in Pei Xi's Biographies of Former Worthies, which also no longer exists. So the surviving orphans of the Wang family, pained that these texts were about to fall into oblivion, attached them in two places inside the Zhongshuo, and said: comrades have died [pronunciation note: 'cu' is read 'cu'], the palace gates are distant, and Wenzhongzi's teaching was blocked and could not be carried out. Alas, how sad! From this we can know that when Du Yan was suppressed, the continuation of the classics could not be handed down; that when the Wang family grieved by themselves, the remaining affairs had to be recorded; and that later people's reproach of Fang Xuanling and Wei Zheng for not making their teacher's way known also has its reasons. What is deep in the Way could not be exhausted in its own time; what is far-reaching in merit must appear in another age. In an age of sage brightness, when culture returns to antiquity, then the supreme government of the Duke of Zhou and Confucius will be fully present, and this book can be exalted. In former times, the two books of Xunzi and Yang Xiong had Han Yu and Liu Zongyuan to edit them and Li Gui and Yang Liang to annotate them [pronunciation note: 'liang' is read 'qi liang' as a fanqie]; how much more Wenzhongzi, who cannot be compared with Xunzi and Yang Xiong; can scholars not bring him forward? For this reason I have studied deeply into its hidden meanings, cited and compared its similarities and differences, and written notes on it, to assist this text. The sages of earlier times are the preparation for the sages of later times, and ancient writing is the cultivated form of present writing. No one has ever reached good government by leaving the sages to go another way, abandoning antiquity to suit recent habits. The Great Song rules all under Heaven, honors the Confucians and values letters; its Way is already very pure, and in cultivating the kingly way and cutting back the hegemonic way, its government is already unmixed. Moreover it surpasses the flourishing age of the Tang, allowing Wenzhongzi's school to meet its time. That Han Yu, who fiercely rejected heterodoxies, was a Confucian who rendered service, therefore said that Mencius' ability to resist Yang and Mo was a merit no less than that of Yu the Great. Mencius was a Confucian who attained the Way, therefore said that Yan Hui shared the Way with Yu and Ji. Han Yu did not praise Wenzhongzi, perhaps because he valued merit first and the Way second. As Wenzhongzi did not praise Mencius, so where the Way exists, merit is within it. At the end of the Tang, Sikong Tu, sighing that merit was cast aside and the Way buried, in his grief finally stated plainly that Wenzhongzi was a sage. The Five Dynasties passed through war, and after the land was pacified, Liu Kai, courtesy name Zhongtu, honored him first, and Sun He, courtesy name Hangong, spread his teaching later, both saying that Wenzhongzi was a sage, though his teaching had not yet become widely practiced. Alas! To know how high Heaven is, one must make clear why it is high. Wenzhongzi's Way is perhaps Heaven itself. The Way of Heaven is simple, yet its effects are fine and exact. The disciples' questions and answers are like the sun and stars attached to the sky; though they circle in ten thousand changes, they do not go beyond the center of Heaven. Now by raising the gnomon and measuring the shadow [the source text has 'tui fang kui ying', where 'fang' is probably an error for 'gui'], we may perhaps catch a faint glimpse of its first traces. Great is the meaning of the word 'zhong' (the Mean): in the Book of Changes it is the second and fifth lines, in the Spring and Autumn Annals it is the balance, in the Book of Documents it is the Supreme Ultimate, in the Book of Rites it is the Doctrine of the Mean. To say it has no form is not the Mean; to say it has an image is also not the Mean. Upward it does not wander into emptiness, downward it is not confined to utensils; it only follows what the changes suit and only stops where righteousness lies. This is the outline of the Mean. The Zhongshuo is no more than this. Li Jing asked about the sage's Way, and Wenzhongzi said, 'There is no path to walk and no 'there' to arrive at.' He asked again what 'there' meant, and was told, 'There is the direction of the Way; if one must say, it is arriving nowhere.' Wei Zheng asked about the sage's worries and doubts, and Wenzhongzi said, 'All under Heaven is worried and doubtful; how could I alone be without worry or doubt?' Withdrawing, he said to Dong Chang, 'Delighting in Heaven and knowing fate, what have I to worry about? Exhausting principle and fulfilling nature, what have I to doubt?' From these deep interests, the rest can be inferred. Some who cling to the letter and are ignorant of the meaning take imitation of the Analects as a fault, but this is a view of the skin, not a comprehension of the heart. I, Ruan Yi, have shallow talent and learning but diligent aspiration; how could I investigate to the utmost? Where doubts remain, I have left gaps to wait for worthy men of later times. I have followed the original order of chapters, divided into ten juan. Respectfully prefaced.