Huainanzi
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The Huainanzi (淮南子; pinyin Huáinánzǐ, Wade-Giles Huai-nan Tzu; literally "The Masters/Philosophers of Huainan") is a 2nd century BCE Chinese philosophical classic from the Han dynasty that blends Daoist, Confucianist, and Legalist concepts, including theories such as Yin-Yang and the Five Phases. It was written under the patronage of Liu An, King of Huainan, a legendarily prodigious author. The text, also known as the Huainan honglie 淮南鸿烈 ("The Great Brilliance of Huainan"), is a collection of essays that resulted from literary and philosophical debates between Liu and guests at his court, in particular the scholars known as the Eight Immortals of Huainan.
The book
The date of composition for the Huainanzi is more certain than for most early Chinese texts. Both the Book of Han and Records of the Grand Historian record that when Liu An paid a state visit to his nephew the Emperor Wu of Han in 139 BCE, he presented a copy of his "recently completed" book in twenty-one chapters.
The Huainanzi is an eclectic compilation of chapters or essays that range across topics of mythology, history, astronomy, philosophy, science, metaphysics, nature, and politics. It discusses many pre-Han schools of thought (especially Huang-Lao Daoism), and contains more than 800 quotations from Chinese classics. The textual diversity is apparent from the chapter titles (tr. Le Blanc, 1985, 15-16):
01 原道訓 Yuandao Searching out Tao 02 俶真訓 Chuzhen Beginning of Reality 03 天文訓 Tianwen Patterns of Heaven 04 墬形訓 Zhuixing Forms of Earth 05 時則訓 Shize Seasonal Regulations 06 覽冥訓 Lanming Peering into the Obscure 07 精神訓 Jingshen Seminal Breath and Spirit 08 本經訓 Benjing Fundamental Norm 09 主術訓 Zhushu Craft of the Ruler 10 繆稱訓 Miucheng On Erroneous Designations 11 齊俗訓 Qisu Placing Customs on a Par 12 道應訓 Daoying Responses of Tao 13 氾論訓 Fanlun A Compendious Essay 14 詮言訓 Quanyan An Explanatory Discourse 15 兵略訓 Binglue On Military Strategy 16 說山訓 Shuoshan Discourse on Mountains 17 說林訓 Shuolin Discourse on Forests 18 人間訓 Renjian In the World of Man 19 脩務訓 Youwu Necessity of Training 20 泰族訓 Taizu Grand Reunion 21 要略 Yaolue Outline of the Essentials
Some of the earliest recorded Chinese cosmology is found in the Huainanzi, for instance:
(1) There was "the beginning:" (2) there was a beginning of an anteriority to this beginning: (3) there was a beginning of an anteriority even before the beginning of this anteriority. (4) There was "the existence." (5) There was "the non-existence." (6) There was "not yet a beginning of non-existence." (7) There was "not yet a beginning of the not yet beginning of non-existence." (chap. 2, tr. Morgan, 1934, 31)
Translations
The Huainanzi has never been completely translated into English. Besides Evan Morgan's free translation of eight chapters (1, 2, 7, 8, 12, 13, 15, and 19) and John Major's scholarly analysis of three (3, 4, and 5); the only published translations are of individual chapters: 1 by Frederic Balfour, 6 by Charles Le Blanc, 9 by Roger Ames, and 11 by Benjamin Wallacker.
References
- Ames, Roger T. (1983).The Art of Rulership: A Study of Ancient Chinese Political Thought. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. ISBN 0791420620
- Balfour, Frederic H. (1884). Taoist Texts: Ethical, Political, and Speculative. London: Trubner. ISBN 1597521752.
- Le Blanc, Charles. (1985). Huai-nan Tzu: Philosophical Synthesis in Early Han Thought: The Idea of Resonance (Kan-Ying) With a Translation and Analysis of Chapter Six. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press. ISBN 9622091792.
- Major, John S. (1993). Heaven and Earth in Early Han Thought: Chapters Three, Four, and Five of the Huainanzi. Albany: SUNY Press. ISBN 0791415864.
- Morgan, Evan S. (1934). Tao, the Great Luminant: Essays from the Huai Nan Tzu. Shanghai: Kelly and Walsh. ASIN: B00085Y8CI.
- Roth, Harold. (1992). The Textual History of the Huai-nan Tzu. Ann Arbor: AAS Monograph Series. ISBN 0924304065.
- Wallacker, Benjamin E. (1962). The Huai-nan-tzu, Book Eleven: Behavior, Culture and the Cosmos. New Haven: American Oriental Society. ASIN: B0007DSHAA.
External links
- [淮南子], original text in Chinese
- [Tao, the Great Luminant], Morgan's translation
- [Huainan-zi], Sanderson Beck's article
- [Huainanzi], Chinaknowledge article
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