Quotations from Zhuangzi in Tangut Literature

Abstract

Eleven quotations from Zhuangzi are found in a Tangut compilation and a Tangut translation work, in which five paragraphs prove to be missing contents of the current edition. The compilation is well accomplished, but the translation, similar to some Dunhuang manuscripts in their contents, is a shoddy work with lots of interpolations or even misunderstandings of the Chinese classics. The Taoist works, including Zhuangzi, were spread in a very limited scope in Xixia, causing a fact that nobody was familiar with it, except a few higher intellectuals serving the Emperor.

Full Text

1. Introduction

As one of the most famous Taoist monuments spreading in China, the current text of Zhuangzi 莊子 with 33 chapters¹ is an abridged edition by Guo Xiang 郭象 (252–312). According to the 30th volume of Hanshu 漢書, besides the current edition there existed an ancient text with 52 chapters² which was lost no later than the Northern Song dynasty. Since the 13th c. on, many scholars have been engaged in collecting missing paragraphs or even missing sentences in order to replenish the primal contents,³ but all of their works were based on orthodox classics rather than folk literature. The aim of the present paper is to point out that there are also some quotations from Zhuangzi in the Tangut materials and a few of them may be regarded as missing sentences from Guo Xiang’s edition.

The Chinese word Zhuangzi 莊子 is written as tśiow tsә  in Tangut transcription which was transcribed into Russian “Чжо-цзы” in the catalogue compiled by Gorbacheva and Kychanov,⁴ showing that some fragments of Zhuangzi preserved in Tangut translation were not recognized in the early stage of Tangut studies, otherwise it should be transcribed as “Чжуан-цзы”.⁵ An analytic collection of these quotations will show the spreading scope of Zhuangzi in Xixia and the Tanguts’ understanding of the Chinese classics.

2. Tangut materials about Zhuangzi

As known so far, the Tanguts did not translate the whole texts of any Taoist works including Zhuangzi, but quoted a few paragraphs or sentences in their compilation and translation literature. There are two printing editions incidentally referring Zhuangzi, both of them were found in Khara-khoto ruins by Kozlov expedition and now are preserved in the Institute of Oriental Manuscripts RAS. At the end of the 20th c., the facsimiles of the texts were published in Ecang Heishuicheng wenxian 俄藏黑水城文獻 (Heishuicheng manuscript collected in Russia, further on — EHW) by Shanghai Chinese Classics Publishing House.

An unidentified xylograph catalogued by Gorbacheva and Kychanov⁶ was later tentatively entitled Jingshi zachao 經史雜抄 (Varied Copying from Classics and Histories) by compilers of EHW.⁷ Huang Yanjun⁸ correctly pointed out that it is actually a Tangut translation from a certain Chinese primary reader much similar to the manuscript Xinji wenci jiujing chao 新集文詞九經抄 (Newly Collected Aphorisms Copied from the Nine Classics, further on — XWJ) and Wenci jiaolin 文詞教林 (Bundle of Educational Aphorisms, further on — WJ) excavated from Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang, though its Chinese original has not been found until nowadays. In the fragments available, there are 228 short aphorisms collected from Chinese classics no later than the Late Tang era, including eight ones initiated by the phrase tśiow tsә dạ  (Zhuangzi said).⁹ It is noticeable that the Tangut version comes from a very shoddy Chinese collection merely based on folk proverbs and the compiler’s own memory without collating orthodox classics.¹⁰

Another moveable type printing entitled tśhja dźjɨ śio  (A compilation of Virtue), generally called Dexing Ji 德行集¹¹ or 德行記,¹² was compiled by Cao Daole at the end of the 12th c. in order to teach the young Emperor Huanzong how to become a sage monarch. The fundamental materials of the compilation come from traditional Chinese classics, but none of the sources accompanying the text are annotated.¹³ This is one of the excellent works in Xixia, because Cao Daole, its compiler and translator, was a senior intellectual in the Xixia government, who showed his extensive reading and accurate comprehension of Chinese originals in the compilation.

3. Quotations directly from the original

The direct translational quotations of Zhuangzi can be found only in Dexing ji.The paragraph below tells a monarch how to distinguish a worthy official from an unworthy one:

.¹⁴

[When the monarchs of the previous dynasty tested a person, they dispatched him far away to test his loyalty, dispatched him nearby to test his respect, dispatched him variously to test his ability, asked him suddenly to test his aspiration, made him a near-term appointment to test his credibility, delegated him wealth to test his benevolence, told him the crisis to test his integrity, made him drunken to test his character,¹⁵ left him with women to test his amorousness. Passing the nine tests, the unworthy person would come to light.]

This paragraph comes from the chapter 32, Lie Yukou 列御寇:¹⁶

故君子遠使之而觀其忠, 近使之而觀其敬, 煩使之而觀其能, 卒然問焉而觀其知, 急與之期而觀其信, 委之以財而觀其仁, 告之以危而觀其節, 醉之以酒而觀其則, 雜之以處而觀其色. 九徵至, 不肖人得矣。

[Therefore, the monarchs dispatch him far away to see his loyalty, dispatch him nearby to see his respect, dispatch him repeatedly to see his ability, asked him suddenly to see his intelligence, gave him a near-term appointment to see his credibility, delegated him wealth to see his benevolence, told him the crisis to see his integrity, made him drunken to see his incline, let him stay with women to see his amorousness. Passing the nine observations, the unworthy person will be learned.]

Twenty years ago,¹⁷ I failed in tracing the source of the following short quotation:

.¹⁸

[The monarchs of the previous dynasty reckoned gains in the achievement of populace, imputed losses on the fault of themselves; reckoned correctness in the achievement of populace, imputed perversion on the fault of themselves.]

Now we believe that it comes from the chapter 24, Zeyang 則陽:

古之君人者, 以得為在民, 以失為在已; 以正為在民, 以枉為在已。

[The monarchs of the previous dynasty reckoned gains in the populace, imputed losses on themselves; reckoned correctness in the populace, imputed perversion on themselves.]

Besides a few Tangut words unequal to the Chinese original caused by translation technique, it is obvious that Cao Daole excerpted and translated the above paragraphs directly following the current edition of Zhuangzi without modification.

4. Translation slightly revised

On the contrary, both the anonymous translator and original compiler of Jingshi zachao were not so familiar with Chinese classics, even they did not collate the relevant original texts so as to provide a more correct Tangut version. The following example shows that the Tangut translator transposed the sequence of two sentences in original:¹⁹

.²⁰

[Zhuangzi said: A crow shows black by itself without dyeing, a crane shows white by itself without scouring.]

This paragraph, a metaphor for the sufficiency to keep the natural character, must have been a revised version from chapter 14 of Zhuangzi, Tianyun 天運:

鵠不日浴而白, 烏不日黔而黑。

[A crane shows white without scouring every day, a crow shows black without dyeing every day.]

Another example may be identified with a famous aphorism from the chapter 6, Dazongshi 大宗師, saying that life is an irrevocable natural process, so that one should face it calmly:

大塊載我以形, 勞我以生, 佚我以老, 息我以死, 故善吾生者, 乃所以善吾死也。

[The universe brings me into existence, makes me tired with survival, makes me relax with oldness, makes me restful with death, therefore being kind to my survival is just the reason for being kind to my death.]

The corresponding Tangut version shows a simplified adaptation of the original:

.²¹

[Zhuangzi said: It is temporarily tiring when survival, it is temporarily restful after death. Nothing is delighted about birth, nothing is distressed about death.]

It seems that the last two sentences in the Tangut version are not from the original text of Zhuangzi, but an explanation or revision made by a later compiler, for we see that the statement may also be found in XWJC and WJ.²²

5. Mistaken sources

The following two quotations in Jingshi zachao cannot be traced to Zhuangzi, but to other Chinese compositions else:

²³

[Zhuangzi said: When somebody is kind to me, I am also kind to him; when somebody is unkind to me, I am still kind to him. If I am not unkind to anybody, will anybody be unkind to me?]

Actually, the first part of this quotation derives from chapter 9 of Hanshi Waizhuan 韓詩外傳, and the original compiler mistakenly wrote the name Zilu as Zhuangzi and radically changed the meaning of the last sentence into “being kind to the others”:

子路曰: 人善我, 我亦善之; 人不善我, 我不善之。

[Zilu said: When somebody is kind to me, I am also kind to him; when somebody is unkind to me, I am unkind to him.]

The Chinese source of the whole quotation may be found in both XWJC and WJ, in which the last sentence²⁴ seems to be a note added by the Chinese compiler.

Another quotation with a wrong source is given below, which tells the monarchs how to order their common people:

²⁵

[Zhuangzi said: If ordering people timely, people will not feel tired though overworked; if ordering people morally, people will not raise grievances until death.]

Actually, this quotation derives from chapter Jinxin shang 盡心上 of Mengzi, and the original compiler mistakenly wrote the name Mengzi (Mencius) as Zhuangzi and slightly changed the meaning of the original:

孟子曰: 以佚道使民, 雖勞不怨; 以生道殺民, 雖死不怨殺者。

[Mencius said: To order people with a way of comfort, people will not feel resentful though overworked; to order people with a way of surviving, people will not resent the murderer though dying.]

The Chinese source of the quotation may be traced to both XWJC and WJ as the quotation from Mengzi.²⁶

6. Missing sentences of current edition

A few quotations cannot be traced to any traditional classics, but are only recorded in Dunhuang folk literature or even untraceable. The paragraph below includes parables that an inferior person cannot be entrusted with significant responsibility:

 ²⁷

[Zhuangzi said: Timber of wattle cannot be used as beams, arrow shafts cannot grow within wormwoods. Someone said: Decayed wood cannot be used, decayed grain cannot be seeded. How can a finch be the assistant of a phoenix though it is nimble enough?]

The first half of the above paragraph can be only found in XWJC § 271 (Zheng 1989: 254) with approximately the same meaning, except the word dasha 大廈 (mansion) which is changed to Tangut ljị  (arrow):

莊子曰: 荆莘之材, 不堪棟樑; 蓬蒿之中, 必無大廈。

[Zhuangzi said: Timber of wattle cannot be used as beams, there are not mansions in wormwoods].

Tangut ·jɨ  is a syntactic marker to remind the ending of a direct speech when necessary, which shows that the following speech after “someone said” is not the original text of Zhuangzi, but someone’s commentary on the previous statement.

In the following paragraph, pursuing wealth is compared to sharpening a knife:

 ²⁸

[Zhuangzi said: One pursues a knife sharp in repairing it, but a sharpened knife may cut himself; one is never satisfied in pursuit of wealth, but abundant wealth will hurt himself. To pursue boundless wealth by limited life, boundless wealth is unending, but limited life soon ended here.]

The above paragraph comes from XWJC § 337 with the same meaning:²⁹

莊子云: 磨刀恨不利, 刀利傷人指; 求財恨不多, 財多還害己。

[Zhuangzi said: One repairs a knife being afraid that it is not sharp enough, but a sharp knife may cut his fingers; one pursues wealth being afraid that it is not enough, but abundant wealth will hurt himself.]

This was closely followed by another paragraph which seems to be a commentary added by the Chinese compiler. It is noticeable that in another primary reader from Dunhuang, Biancai Jiajiao 辯才家教, These two paragraphs are also sequentially arranged:³⁰

³¹

[Then he said: Wealth cannot be gained without perverting the official business, pursuit of wealth will destroy oneself. In case one’s life was destroye, what is the use of wealth?]

The last two examples also cannot be traced to any Chinese materials:

³²

[Zhuangzi said: If grains and treasures are always possessed at home, there is no worry to be hungry in natural disasters. If laws are carried out without slacking, the state will not be destroyed in man-made calamities].

³³

[Zhuangzi said: Do not focus on wealth, for it can destroy human; leave away from amorousness, for it will destroy the body.]

In the richest collection of missing sentences of Zhuangzi available,³⁴ none of the above quotations with similar meaning can be traced. This fact leads us to estimate that they are newly found missing statements of Guo Xiang’s edition and there might have been a prime edition spread in the Gansu Corridor at the Later Tang times. It should be noted that the words “wealth” (Chin. cai 財) and “amorousness” (Chin. se 色) are mentioned repeatedly in the above quotations, which is the subject rarely discussed by Zhuangzi. We might believe that those statements were annotations of a certain compiler who was influenced by folk aphorisms with Buddhist characteristics. Needless to say, it is an overwhelming disadvantage that many Zhuangzi commentaries in the collections of later philologists are confused with the original texts.

7. More information of Zhuangzi spreading in Xixia

There are only two Chinese fragments, Nanhua zhenjing 南華真經 and Lü guanwen jin Zhuangzi waipian yi 呂觀文進莊子外篇義, that were identified in the Kozlov collection from Khara-khoto,³⁵ Unexpectedly, both proved to be xylographs from the Song dynasty instead of Xixia,³⁶ indicating the Taoist books, even their Chinese edition, was not widely spread in Xixia.

The word “Taoism/Taoist” is called gju tsjir  in Tangut, literally meaning “religion of relief”. As recorded in volume 11 of Tangut Tiansheng Code, a trainee who intended to be a formal Taoist during the official examination had to prove that he was familiar with 13 Taoist texts,³⁷ but Zhuangzi and Laozi were not included there. Considering all the Taoist texts catalogued in Tiansheng Code entitled in Chinese phonetic transcription, we believe that the population of Chinese Taoists in Xixia was far more numerous than Tangut. Though the Xixia government set up a special organ to manage Taoist affairs, gju tsjir tśhja ·iow rjar  (Department of the Merits of Taoism), which seems to be established under the background of Buddhism, the Xixia royal family did not need its religious service, except its management over the domestic Taoists who were regarded as unconventional monks.³⁸ It is beyond doubt that the propagation of Taoism was not well-known as Buddhism in Xixia, especially its principal monuments Zhuangzi and Laozi in the later times.

Under such a cultural environment, none of the inhabitants in Xixia were aware of Zhuangzi, except a few higher intellectuals such as Cao Daole, who was strongly affected by the Chinese literature. The Taoist works, represented by Zhuangzi, were spread only in a very limited circle in Xixia.

Abbreviations

EHW: Ecang Heishuicheng Wenxian 俄藏黑水城文獻 (Heishuicheng manuscript collected in Russia). Eluosi Kexueyuan Dongfang Yanjiusuo Shengbidebao Fensuo 俄羅斯科學院東方研究所聖彼得堡分所, Zhongguo Shehui Kexueyuan Minzu Yanjiusuo 中國社會科學院民族研究所, Shanghai Guji Chubanshe 上海古籍出版社 ed., vol. 11. Shanghai: Shanghai Chinese Classics Publishing House, 1999.

WJ: Wenci jiaolin 文詞教林. P. 2612.

XWJC: Xinji wenci jiujing chao 新集文詞九經抄. P. 3990, 3368, 3169, 3469, 3615.

[1] The most excellent edition of Zhuangzi was annotated by Guo Qingfan 郭慶藩 (1844–1896), cf. Zhuangzi jishi 莊子集釋 (Collected Explanations of Zhuangzi), Beijing: Zhonghua Book Company, 1961, later printing 1892, 2006, 2013, 2016.

² 漢書•藝文志: 莊子五十二篇.

³ The work was started by Wang Yinglin’s (1223–1296) Kunxue jiwen 困學紀聞 (juan 10). The most abundant achievement, (Wang 1988: 1383–1414) collected 176 statements, but a few of them seem to be later commentaries rather than the original texts.

⁴ Gorbacheva & Kyshanov 1963: 36.

⁵ We believe that Kychanov read Zhuangzi in his later life, for he found perfectly that the story line of the Tangut version Altar Reconciliation of Confucius came from chapter Yufu 漁父 of Zhuangzi (Kychanov 2000: 13).

⁶ Gorbacheva & Kyshanov 1963: 35–36.

⁷ EHW 199: 117–132.

⁸ Huang 2009.

 [9] Besides Zhuangzi, there are also traditional classics such as Zhouyi 周易, Shangshu 尚書, Shijing 詩經, Liji 禮記, Zuozhuan 左傳, Xiaojing 孝經, philosophical work such as Xunzi
荀子, Laozi 老子, folk reader such as Taigong Jiajiao 太公家教.

¹⁰ Nie 2002a.

¹¹ EHW: 142–153.

¹² Gorbacheva & Kychanov 1963: 59–60.

¹³ Besides Zhuangzi, there are also quotations from orthodox classics such as Shangshu
尚書, Liji 禮記, Xiaojing 孝經, philosophical work such as Dadai Liji 大戴禮記, Kongzi jiayu 孔子家語, Xunzi 荀子, Fayan 法言, Xinlun 新論, Laozi 老子, and some historical works by Sima Guang 司馬光. See (Nie 2002b) for the detailed study on the whole text, in which only three quotations are not traceable.

¹⁴ EHW 1999: 151.

¹⁵ Tangut tsjir  (personal character) seems to be a misunderstanding of ze 則 in Chinese text, which means here “incline, be tilt” (= ce 側), describing people who cannot sit stably after drinking too much liqueur, i.e., lost himself intoxicatedly.

¹⁶ Nie 2002b: 144–145.

¹⁷ Nie 2002b: 141–142.

¹⁸ EHW 1999: 148.

¹⁹ It seems that Tanguts used to transpose the sequence of sentences in lots of their translation works (Peng 2011).

²⁰ EHW 1999: 122.

²¹ EHW 1999: 119.

²² XWJC § 79: 勞我以生, 休我之[以]死. 生兮何足喜, 死兮何足悲 (Zheng 1989: 202). Also see WJ § 60: 勞我以生, 息我以死. 生兮何足喜, 死兮何足憂 (Zheng 1989: 65). Both the statements mean “it makes me tired with survival, it makes me restful with death. Nothing is delighted about birth, nothing is distressed about death”.

²³ EHW 1999: 117.

²⁴ Chinese original of XWJC § 210 and WJ § 180: 我既於人無惡, 誰能於我惡乎? (Zheng 1989: 238–239).

²⁵ EHW 1999: 126.

²⁶ XWJC § 251: 莊子云: 若以逸道使, 人雖勞而不怨; 若以生道殺, 而人至死不怨. WJ § 94: 若以佚道使人, 雖勞不倦; 若以生道使人, 雖死不怨 (Zheng 1989: 248).

²⁷ EHW 1999: 123.

²⁸ EHW 1999: 129.

²⁹ (Zheng 1989: 267) point out that this quotation also appears in Dunhuang manuscript Mingxin Baojian 明心寶鑑 (chapter Cunxin 存心).

³⁰ Chinese original: 磨刀恨不利, 刀利傷人指; 求財恨不多, 財多還害己. 不枉法, 不得財; 若枉法, 禍必來 (Zheng & Zhu 2002: 391). But Zhuangzi was not mentioned as source there.

³¹ EHW 1999: 129.

³² EHW 1999: 129.

³³ EHW 1999: 129.

³⁴ Wang 1988: 1383–1414.

³⁵ Pelliot 1914.

³⁶ Men’shikov 1984: 30–31.

³⁷ Kychanov 1989: 161.

³⁸ Nie 2018.