Abstract
Although Shan Tao, Ruan Ji, Xiang Xiu, Liu Ling, Ji Kang, Ruan Xian, and Wang Rong were historical figures, their identity as a group of like-minded iconoclasts who flouted Confucian ideology and norms of behavior has been questioned in modern scholarship. Even their epithet Zhulin qixian (The Seven Worthies of the Bamboo Grove), as some scholars argued, was retrospectively coined. This chapter argues that not only were the Seven Worthies historical figures in the third century, but they were also famously known by their epithet in their own time. Further, the political significance of their domicile in Shanyang District is explained. Yet the Seven Worthies were not a homogenous group because their political aspirations and philosophical inclinations were quite diverse and dissimilar, as the analysis of the philosophical thinking of Ruan Ji, Ji Kang, and Xiang Xiu in this chapter demonstrates.
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Notes
- 1.
According to Li Daoyuan’s 酈道元 (d. 527) Shujing zhu 水經注 (Commentary on the Water Classic), the Seven Worthies reputedly gathered at Ji Kang’s 嵇康 (223–262) country estate in the foothills of the Taihang 太行 range, some 8 km southeast of Bailu shan 白鹿山 (White Deer Mountain). And Guo Yuansheng’s 郭緣生 (fl. fifth century) Shu zheng ji 述征記 (Account of Conquests), cited by Li, says that there was a bamboo grove in Ji Kang’s estate (Li 1990: 180–181). This, I believe, is the basis of the standard English translation of the epithet Zhulin qixian as the Seven Worthies/Sages of the Bamboo Grove. But “the bamboo grove” should be understood collectively because there must have been more than one bamboo grove in the district of Shanyang 山陽, and the Seven Worthies’ outings need not be confined to Ji Kang’s relatively small estate. It should be noted that Guo was also quoted twice in the tenth-century encyclopedia Taiping yulan 太平御覽 (The Emperor’s Mirror from the Taiping Era) to have said in the Shu zheng ji that Ji Kang’s former estate was located about seven kilometers northeast of the prefecture city of Shanyang (i.e., Zhuolu cheng 濁鹿城). Guo reported that the estate had then become a wild field full of bamboos, and for that reason local people claimed that it used to be Ji Kang’s estate (Ouyang 1983: 1144; Li 1992: 1006, 4403). The two locations given for Ji Kang’s estate by Li Daoyuan and Guo Yuansheng do not match. Xiang Xiu向秀, one of the Seven Worthies, had actually stayed in Shanyang with Ji Kang and his close friend Lü An 呂安 (d. 262). While on his trip back to Shanyang after his two friends were executed, he composed his “Si jiu fu” 思舊賦 (“Rhapsody on Recalling Old Friends”) upon hearing somebody playing the flute near Ji Kang’s home. In the rhapsody he mentioned he had passed by the corner of the city (chengyu 城隅) on his visit to the former home of his two old friends (Knechtges 1996: 163). Thus Guo’s account is probably more reliable in this regard because Ji Kang’s estate should be located inside the prefecture city. Van Gulik believed, on the authority of John C. Ferguson, that zhulin is a “geographical term” but this claim, in the best of my knowledge, cannot be substantiated. The term in all extant sources where it appears is only a regular noun (van Gulik 1941: 1, n.1).
- 2.
All translations are mine unless stated otherwise after the original source.
- 3.
- 4.
- 5.
Han Geping holds a similar view, but he further distinguishes two different images of the Seven Worthies popular among different gentry classes in the early fourth century. See Han 2003: 2.25–31. The two tomb murals discovered in Nanjing, dated to the fifth century, which depict the Seven Worthies and a famed recluse from a much earlier time who excelled in playing the zither may also betray a projected image of the seven men in the minds of the gentry class in early medieval China (Spiro 1990)
- 6.
Sun Sheng’s Spring and Autumn Annals of Jin was mentioned in his biography in the Jin shu 晉書 (History of the Jin Dynasty) and also listed in the bibliographical sections in the official histories until the Song dynasty (960–1279). Yu Yi’s work of the same title was not mentioned anywhere until its excerpts were included in Tao Zongyi’s 陶宗儀 (1329– ca.1412) massive collectanea Shuo fu 説郛 (Territories of Narrative Accounts). The citation in question is included in Tang Qiu’s 湯球 (1804–1881) redaction of Sun Sheng’s Spring and Autumn Annals of Jin but not found in Tao’s excerpts.
- 7.
Fang et al. 1982: 82.2148.
- 8.
- 9.
Ji Kang’s handsome appearance and endearing manner is highlighted in contemporary accounts (Henricks 1976: 177–182), and his charisma is most powerfully attested to by the fact that thousands of students at the Imperial Academy pleaded for his release when he was falsely accused and sentenced to death. In fact, Zhong Hui 鍾會 (225–264), the very person who fabricated the charge, was also fascinated by Ji Kang and took the trouble of paying him a visit. When he was refused a friendly welcome, the insult prompted Zhong Hui to frame Ji Kang for a deadly political offense.
- 10.
Legend has it that the two famous recluses Xu You 許由 and Chao Fu 巢父 stayed away from politics and hid themselves in Mount Ji.
- 11.
Perhaps Ji Kang’s intense interest in arguing that one’s residence could influence the maintenance of one’s life can be better understood in light of such a peculiar political circumstance.
- 12.
Ji Kang merits an entry in Fabrizio Pregadio’s Encyclopedia of Taoism (2008: 1085–86), but Ruan Ji and Xiang Xiu do not presumably because the former did not contribute much to Daoist philosophy while the latter is little known in the West.
- 13.
- 14.
Li Zhouhan 李周翰 (fl. early eighth century) glosses yinyin as “profound and quiet” (shenjing 深靜) (Li et al. 1987: 339).
- 15.
Li Zhouhan says that because the virtue of the zither is essentially clear and far-reaching, “its beauty is ineffable” (難説其美) (Li et al. 1987: 339). It should be pointed out that Wang Rong, who claimed to have associated with Ji Kang for twenty years, also adopted his notions of qing (pure) and yuan (far-reaching) in evaluating people’s reasoning skills (Yu 1983: 22; Mather 1976: 11). And this means the currency of the two notions must have gained considerable currency even in Ji Kang’s time.
- 16.
The idea of he (harmony) is also mentioned in the “Qiwulun” 齊物論 chapter (On Equalizing Things) of the Zhuangzi. No later than the Eastern Jin, Wang Xun 王珣 (350–401) already adopted Ji Kang’s characterization of the zither. In his “Qin zan” 琴贊 (In Praise of the Zither), he said, “Silent is the zither of harmony, which is perfect and profound. Like a clear breeze, it passes through the woods, clear and crisp” (穆穆和琴, 至至愔愔, 如彼清風, 泠焉經林) (Ouyang 1983: 784).
- 17.
Dai Mingyang emends 情 as 清. I follow the traditional reading. And insofar as the ontological virtue of the zither is concerned, Ji Kang’s view found sympathetic ears no later than the Eastern Jin. In his “Qin zan” 琴讚 (In Praise of the Zither), Yin Zhongkan 殷仲堪 (?–399) said, “With the five sounds not being manifest, who can articulate the Great Patterned Note? The Perfect Man is good at expression and he articulates it eloquently in the elegant zither. The sound is produced by movement and its aspirations are profound by virtue of its vacuity” (五聲不彰, 孰表大音? 至人善寄, 暢之雅琴。聲由動發, 趣以虚深). (Ouyang 1983: 784).
- 18.
In his essay “Nan Yang sheng lun” 難養生論 (Refutation of “Essay on Nourishing Life”) that attempted to refute Ji Kang’s “Yang sheng lun,” Xiang Xiu seems to see Confucianism and Daoism as incompatible, and thus it might be a work from his young age. Perhaps it is no coincidence that it only survives in Ji Kang’s corpus as a refutation of his essay (Dai 1962: 161–67).
- 19.
The three graphs 無物也 are missing in Zhang Zhan’s quotation but without them the text does not make sense here. Moreover, in the next segment on transformation in the commentary is structurally parallel to this segment on birth, the same three graphs are present. Thus, the missing graphs should not be added back.
- 20.
The last line is my translation.
- 21.
Xie Lingyun 謝靈運 (385–433) already noted that Xiang Xiu “integrated Confucianism and Daoism into one holism” (以儒道為壹) (Shi 1970: 20.9B).
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Lo, Y.K. (2015). The Seven Worthies of the Bamboo Grove. In: Liu, X. (eds) Dao Companion to Daoist Philosophy. Dao Companions to Chinese Philosophy, vol 6. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-2927-0_18
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