A research note on the textual formation of the 'Ziyi'.

• Author: Huang, Kuan-Yun
• Position: Essay

This study offers a detailed analysis of an important but neglected passage from the Early Chinese text "Ziyi" [??] (Black robe). Through a careful comparison of the three extant versions of this text--two manuscript versions and a third received version in the canonical [??] (Records of rites)--the study shows that an earlier layer of the "Ziyi" presents an account about the acquisition of knowledge, and such an account is rewritten in a second layer of the text to reflect the different issue of how one should serve one's superiors. This finding has significant implications for understanding the formation of the "Ziyi" and provides a hypothesis that can be tested against other newly excavated manuscripts with received counterparts.

The "Ziyi" [??] (Black robe) has been known throughout history as one of the texts now collected in the ritual compendium Liji. (1) I Thanks to the recent discovery of two manuscript versions of this text--one from a tomb in Guodian [??], Hubei province of southern China, and one of an unknown provenance, now at the Shanghai Museum--the most important question about the "Ziyi" is no longer its Warring States (481-221 B.c.) origins, but, rather, how one should understand the relation among the three extant versions, given that their differences are sometimes quite significant. (2) The present study is an attempt in this regard, offering a detailed analysis of an important passage from the "Ziyi." Through a careful comparison of all three versions of the text, arriving at a specific conclusion about its formation, I will show that an account about the acquisition of knowledge, which characterizes the earliest layer of the "Ziyi," is rewritten in a second layer to reflect a radically different concern, namely, how one should behave vis-a-vis a higher authority. (3)

The "Ziyi" passage appears on slips 37-40 of the Guodian version: (4)

37 ... [??]

38 [??] (5) (6) (7)

39 [??] (8) (9) (10) (11) (12) (13) (14)

40 [??] ...

[??] (15)

The Master said: "The gentleman's words have substance, and his action follows previous institutions. This is why while alive he cannot be deprived of his will and when dead cannot be deprived of his name. Therefore, the gentleman widens his hearing, treating all things evenly and maintaining them; he broadens his vision, treating all things evenly and becoming intimate with them. He refines his knowledge, drawing a general outline and putting it into action. The

"Shijiu" (the cuckoo) says: "The good man, my lord, his fine deportment is invariable." The "Jun Chen" (Lord Chen) says: "In coming and exiting, accord with the considerations of your multitude, so all are in agreement." (16) This can be compared with the received version:

[??] The passage begins with the sentence [??], [??] "The gentleman's words have substance, and his action follows previous institutions," a formulation that is obvously crucial, given what immediately follows: [??] "This is why while alive he cannot be deprived of his will and when dead cannot be deprived of his name." This second statement refers to a task that occupies a person throughout his life and continues even after death. (17) According to the early commentator Zheng Xuan [??] (127-200 A.D.), wu [??] is [??] "attestation of events," while ge [??] as jiufa [??] "previous institutions," and these glosses give a more specific meaning to the otherwise unexplained phrase, junzi yan you wu, xing you ge: the gentleman behaves in such a way that his words are backed up by reality, while his actions follow earlier precedents. Here I believe it is possible to be even more specific than Zheng Xuan about the meaning of the sentence, particularly the meaning of the word ge [??]. That is, while ge could mean jiufa "previous institutions," or the standards set by those institutions, it also has the more basic meaning of recognizing one's place and the ensuing role that one should fulfill, and it is the first step in a process. Here I would emphasize process, for yan you wu, xing you ge does not suggest that one has already reached a certain goal, but that one has identified a goal and is set to work towards it. (18) Such an understanding of the opening sentence of the "Ziyi" passage, as I will demonstrate below, makes it possible for the passage to be read as a coherent whole.

The next part of the "Ziyi" passage has the phrase:

[??] Therefore, the gentleman widens his hearing, treating all things evenly and maintaining them; he broadens his vision, treating all things evenly and becoming intimate with them. He refines his knowledge, drawing a general outline and putting it into action. Here the expression duowen [??] has the meaning of "to widen one's hearing," while duozhi I is explained by Zheng as the following:[??], "This is about interacting broadly with people and loving them widely." It is evident that Zheng takes zhi [??] as "to use one's will" or simply "to will," an understanding echoed in the scholar Kong Yingda's TL, WA (574-648 A.D.) paraphrase: [??] "This is about using the intention of the mind to interact broadly and loving widely." However, there is some indication that Kong also has a second understanding of the word zhi. When offering a summary of the entire passage, Kong suggests the following: [??] "What all of this means is that even though one is widely informed, one should hold onto the essential." In this second statement, the expression wenjian [??] "to be informed" suggests that Kong might be reading zhi as shi [??] "to know." Such an understanding is well supported in Early Chinese texts, as can be seen from the juxtaposition of wen [??] "to hear" and shi "to know" in a passage like Lunyu [??] 7.28:

[??] (19) The Master said, "There are presumably men who innovate without possessing knowledge, but that is not me. I use my ears widely and follow what is good in what I have heard; I use my eyes widely and retain what I have seen in my mind. This constitutes a lower level of knowledge." (20) In two other attestations of the same passage, what appears as shi in the received Lunyu is written zhi [??]. The first is a quotation of the passage by Bars Gu IN (32-92 A.D.) in his comment at the end of Hanshu [??] (The records of the Han) "Gouxu zhi" [??] (The records of the water channels):

[??] (21) Confucius said: "To be widely informed and to retain it in the mind, this constitutes a lower level of knowledge." The second is from a Western Han (206 B.c.-25 A.D.) version of the Lunyu, found in a tomb in Bajiaolang [??], Hebei province (s. 172-173):

[??] (22) The Master said, "There are presumably men who innovate without possessing knowledge, but that is not me. I am widely informed and follow what is good in what I have heard. To be widely informed and to retain it in the mind, this constitutes a lower level of knowledge." These two attestions provide evidence for the interchange of zhi and shi: both mean "to know" or "to retain in the mind." (23)

The passage from Lunyu 7.28 and its various attestations are valuable not only for illustrating the interchange of zhi and shi, but also for their content. In this discussion Confucius distances himself from the position of bu zhi er zuo zhi [??] "innovating without possessing knowledge," and instead shows his preference for knowing by being duowen [??] "widely informed," so he could ze qi shanzhe er cong zhi [??] "follow what is good in what I have heard." (24) Here the expression duowen is exactly what one finds in the "Ziyi," while the word cong [??] "to follow" corresponds to such terms as shou [??] "to maintain" and qin [??] "to become intimate" in that text. This suggests the possibility that just as the Lunyu passage describes Confucius' attitude towards knowledge, perhaps the "Ziyi" passage is an account of how knowledge is acquired.

It is possible to consider another passage from the Lunyu, 15.3:

[??] The (25) Master said, "Ci, do you think that I am the kind of man who learns widely and retains what he has learned in his mind?" "Yes, I do. Is it not so?" "No, I have a single thread binding it all together." In this passage, Confucius begins by describing an attitude towards learning that resembles what he suggests in 7.28: [??]. "to learn widely and retain what one has learned in his mind." With his reply: [??], "Yes, I do; is it not so?" [??]also known as Zigong [??], makes an assumption based on what he knows about his teacher: is it not true that Confucius is this type of person? This is contradicted by what Confucius goes on to say. Rather than trying to know by being well informed, he actually prefers knowing by a single principle.

How should one reconcile the two...