Wenxin Diao Long Dictionary

Author: Zhou Zhenfu
Publisher:
Publication Date: 2004-02-01
Features: Liu Xie's The Heart of the Dragon was completed around the third and fourth years of Emperor Ming of Qi (496-497). At that time, Liu Xie relied heavily on the Buddhist monk Seng You at Dinglin Temple, and his literary theories were not highly regarded. He sought the approval of the literary giant Shen Yue, who read The Heart of the Dragon and greatly admired it, calling it "deeply grasping the essence of literature" (Biography of Liu Xie in the Liang Shu). Shen Yue's high regard for the book was largely due to his appreciation of the chapter on Sound Rhythm. However, Shen Yue believed that "one must vary the tones of 'gong' and 'yu' and alternate the rhythms," and that "only when one truly understands this principle can one speak of literature" (Discourse on Xie Lingyun in the Song Shu). But Liu Xie's discussion of Sound Rhythm did not yet belong to the "core of literature," and its significance was not recognized by Shen Yue, who could not truly evaluate it. Later, Liu Xie became the East Palace Communicator of Emperor Xiao Tong of Liang, the Prince of Zhao Ming. The Prince was fond of literature and deeply admired Liu Xie (Biography of Liu Xie). However, Xiao Tong considered the classics, Confucian texts, and histories to be non-literary, and thus could not appreciate Liu Xie's inclusion of them in his literary discussions. By the early Tang Dynasty, the limitation of Xiao Tong's view that classics, Confucian texts, and histories were non-literary no longer existed. Liu Zhi in the Preface to the Shitong wrote: "When literary scholars compose, their styles are not uniform, just as sweetness and bitterness are different flavors, and red and white are different colors. Later generations followed suit but lacked a comprehensive understanding. Some criticized and others picked faults, which led to Liu Xie's The Heart of the Dragon." He recognized Liu Xie's comprehensive understanding. When the classical prose movement rose in the Tang Dynasty, it opposed parallel prose. Liu Xie advocated parallel prose and was not highly regarded by classical prose scholars. By the late Tang Dynasty, the debate between classical and parallel prose had become more moderate. Lu Gui Meng wrote in his Letter to Wang Li Zhi: "Liu Xie's eloquence shines, reaching from high to low, from the Song and Qi dynasties to the Xuanyang and Yiyi. He establishes the foundation to question, driving grand theories to narrow paths." He saw Liu Xie's establishment of the foundation and driving of grand theories, but his understanding was still limited. When Ouyang Xiu launched a new classical prose movement, The Heart of the Dragon was again overlooked. Huang Tingjian wrote in his Letters from Shanshui: "Did you read Liu Xie's The Heart of the Dragon and Liu Zhi's Shitong? Though their discussions are not extremely high, they criticize the ancients and highlight the faults of Chinese literature, which cannot be ignored." He only appreciated the part that criticized the ancients and the faults of Chinese literature, showing a narrow perspective. It wasn't until the Qing Dynasty that Zhang Xuecheng in The Treatise on Historical and Literary Methods called The Heart of the Dragon "grand in scope and thorough in consideration." In The Treatise on Collation and Rectification, he called it "original in conception and expressive of the Dao's mystery." Tan Xian in Diary of Fu Tang wrote: "Contemporaneously, The Poetic Critiques yield to its ability; later, The Shitong loses its brilliance. The study of literature is rare, with few equals. Its grand purpose lies in expounding the sage's teachings and classics, where all discourses converge and all mysteries turn toward it." He proposed that "the study of literature is rare, with few equals," arguing from the perspective of literary theory, which recognized the value of The Heart of the Dragon and was outstanding. However, reducing it to "expounding the sage's teachings and classics" was still insufficient. Lin Qian and Chen Fengjin, in the preface to their Collation of the Yuan Zhizheng Edition of The Heart of the Dragon, stated that it had achieved the status of a "prestigious discipline," not only being widely valued and studied in China but also having full translations in Korean, Japanese, English, Italian, and German, truly making its way into the world. "The study of The Heart of the Dragon" has become a new discipline in literary theory. This necessitates the compilation of a Dictionary of The Heart of the Dragon to serve as a reference for readers. To study The Heart of the Dragon, one must first consider editions and collation. Shanghai Kaiping Publishing House published Mr. Fan Wenlan's Annotations to The Heart of the Dragon, where in the chapter on "Mourning and Eulogizing," Fan notes that the Prince of Ruyang is unrecorded. Mr. Zhang Xichen, based on the Taiping Yuluan (Volume 596) quoted from The Heart of the Dragon in the Song Edition, cited the Later Han Shu as saying the Prince of Ruyang was Liu Guang, the daughter of Emperor Xiaodi of the Later Han, as an example of the importance of collation. The General Catalogue of the Four Treasuries listed two editions of The Heart of the Dragon: one from the imperial collection and one annotated by Huang Shu Lin, pointing out its errors. Neither of these is the earliest edition of The Heart of the Dragon in China; the earliest is the Yuan Zhizheng Edition. Now, using the Yuan Zhizheng Edition as the base, Lin Qian and Chen Fengjin will collate it with the Dunhuang fragments of The Heart of the Dragon and the quotations from The Taiping Yuluan in the Song Edition, and also consult Mr. Yang Mingzhao's Collation and Annotations of The Heart of the Dragon and Mr. Zhan Jing's Explanations of The Heart of the Dragon. This way, for editions and collation, we have the earliest Yuan Zhizheng Edition, Dunhuang fragments and quotations from the Taiping Yuluan, as well as references to various collations, providing scholars with comprehensive references. The chapter "Explanations of Difficult Characters and Sentences" in this book differs from simple character explanations and includes annotations on allusions in sentences. The annotations are characterized by drawing on the notes of twelve scholars, including Mei Qingsheng, Huang Shu Lin, Fan Wenlan, and Yang Mingzhao, combining their notes while preserving their unique insights, thus saving readers the effort of searching. For example, in the chapter "General Techniques," Fan's annotations were not detailed. Mr. Yang Mingzhao's collation and annotations were based on the Shuayue chapter of the Shuayuan, which supplemented the missing parts of Fan's annotations. Also, in the chapter on "Letters," it is stated that "Zhao Zhi's narration of separation was the passion of a young man." According to Zhou's annotations, "Zhao Zhi" was corrected to "Lü An," correcting an error in the Wenxuan and The Heart of the Dragon, and completing what was missing in previous annotations. This truly demonstrates the benefit of compiling the views of many scholars.