Study Of Lieh-tzu Academic History

Lieh-tzu lived in the middle and late Warring States Period, who was one of the Pre-Qin Dynasty Philosophers. Although he had many disciples, they all fall into oblivion. According to the existing literature, Lieh-tzu’s disciples had probably compiled an old Lieh-tzu by collecting his words and deeds, but this work didn’t hand down for a long time because of the wars. In the Han Emperor of Liu Xun, Liu Xiang sorted out all the books which handed down from old times. He arranged Lieh-tzu by collecting twenty articles about Lieh-tzu. Until the end of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, Zhang Zhan had noted Lieh-tzu. Because he could not get integral Lieh-tzu, he had to search the articles about Lieh-tzu and rearrange it. But in the hundreds between after Liu Xiang and before Zhang Zhan, Lieh-tzu seemed to disappear in the world, which is also the main reason that the future generations suspect Lieh-tzu is a pseudograph. Nevertheless, the scholars have gradually noted Lieh-tzu since the Lieh-tzu Notes had spread. The history of Lieh-tzu’s study can divided into seven stages:from the Warring States to Qin and Han Dynasty; Wei and Jin Dynasty; Tang Dynasty; Song, Jin and Yuan Dynasty; Ming Dynasty; Qing Dynasty; The Republic of China. On the whole, the seven stages can be grouped into four periods:From Warring States to Qin and Han Dynasty and Wei and Jin Dynasty is the infancy of Lieh-tzu study. Although Shi-tzu, Chuang-tzu and Lu Shi Chun Qiu all have related records, we can not know the life of Lieh-tzu yet. Because the Han Dynasty had arranged the previous dynasty classics for many times, a large number of documents made public, which provides much side information for the Lieh-tzu study. For example, Huai Nan-tzu and Xin Xu had quoted Lieh-tzu, and the Art and Literature of Han Shu had recorded Lieh-tzu. All these explain Lieh-tzu had handed down in Han Dynasty. Though the Lieh-tzu Notes has still much failings, it generally grasps the gist of Lieh-tzu. The Tang Dynasty and Song, Jin and Yuan Dynasty is the development period of Lieh-tzu study. In the beginning of the Tang Dynasty, there was an abridged edition of Lieh-tzu, such as Liang Dynasty Yu Zhongrong Zi Chao, Tang Dynasty Wei Zheng Qun Shu Zhi Yao all excerpted Lieh-tzu. Especially the transcript of Lieh-tzu from Dunhuang, not only has the Lieh-tzu Notes, but also has new Lieh-tzu notes. These all explain Lieh-tzu was widely spreaded in the Southern and Northern Dynasties and the beginning of Tang Dynasty. The ruler of the Tang Dynasty paid much attention the Taoism, and gradually formed the academic atmosphere of respecting Lao-tzu. And in the period of Li Longji, this atmosphere reached its peak. Lu Zhongxuan had Lieh-tzu Notes eight volume, which used the thought of Lao-tzu to interpret Lieh-tzu and also reflected the trend that Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism has mutual integration. Yin Jingshun’Lieh-tzu Shi Wen is the more complete phonology works. Liu Zongyuan’s Detection of forgeries with Lieh-tzu opens the Lieh-tzu forgeries precedent. The Song Dynasty also respected the Taoism, and the thought of Lao-tzu continued developing in this period. The empire of Song Dynasty Zhao Ji’ Chong Xu Zhi De Zhen Jing Yi Jie is the representative. His ministers Fan Zhixu and Jiang Yu followed Zhao Ji’s view and showed the influence of the thought of Lao-tzu. At the same time, they used the Zhou Yi thought of Song Dynasty to the interpretation of Lieh-tzu, and it became a new trend in Lieh-tzu study. The Jin Dynasty Gao Shouyuan had compiled the notes of Lieh-tzu which named Chong Xu Zhi De Zhen Jing Si Jie, it has higher literature value. It is not only collating Lieh-tzu, but also saving the whole works of Lu Zhongxuan and Fan Zhixu and part of works of Zhao Ji. The rise in the Song Dynasty, Neo-Confucianism deepened the convergence trend of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism in the Tang Dynasty. The Lieh-tzu Kou Yi of Lin Xiyi was used the Neo-Confucianism thought interpret Lieh-tzu. Another feature of Lieh-tzu study is the appearance of many block printed edition. The earliest block printed edition we knew was in AD1007. Since then, the study work of Lieh-tzu has been printed out and promoted the development of Lieh-tzu. The Ming Dynasty and the Qing Dynasty is the prosperity period of Lieh-tzu study. The Lieh-tzu study of Ming Dynasty is mainly reflected in the emergence of a large number of anthologies and the influence of Neo-Confucianism. The imperial Examination System in Ming Dynasty eventually formed a fixed pattern of stereotyped writing disabilities, the literati officialdom need to learn eight-legged essay. Although the eight-legged essay was based on the Confucian classics, the writing required that the candidate is knowledgeable. So the ancient codes and records of Taoism and Buddhism have become their best extracurricular books. At the same time, many series of books, such as Zhu Zi Hui Han and Zhu Zi Pin Jie were selected Lieh-tzu, when it reflects people pay attention on Lieh-tzu. The rise of Neo-Confucianism since the Song Dynasty, which aimed at the Renaissance of Confucianism, learned from Buddhism and Taoism thoughts to make up the lack of Confucian. The Neo-Confucianism scholars of Ming Dynasty what headed to Wang Yangming set up Doctrine of Mind by absorption of Si-Meng school’s view and combination of Taoism’s practicing mode. Zhu Dezhi was Wang Yangming’s disciple, whose Lieh-tzu Tong Yi was the masterpiece that interpreted Lieh-tzu by Neo-Confucianism thoughts. Because of the late Ming Dynasty’s political darkness and the rulers’adoption of a harsh detention policy, the Ming Dynasty scholars headed to Yang Shen gradually transferred their energy to the Textual Criticism by sorting, collation and addendums. The academic tendency adapted to the special political environment of Qing Dynasty and formed the academic textual of the Qing Dynasty between Qian Long and Jia Qing period. Some textual criticism, such as Lu Wenchao, Ren Dachun and Yu Yue had studied Lieh-tzu. But some philologists headed to Huang Pilie have strong effort on collations. Accordingly, block printed edition technology in the Ming and Qing Dynasty has been quite mature and many Lieh-tzu were printed, though, there are some celebrities’collations, such as the Ming Dynasty Gu Chun collated Lieh-tzu in Shi De Tang, the Qing Dynasty Wang Jipei collated Lieh-tzu. The Republic of China is the summary period of Lieh-tzu study. Most of scholars were accepted feudal education, and to some extent on hand down the scholarship of Qing Dynasty. Such as Tao Hongqing, Wang Zhongmin, Wang Shumin and Yang Bojun, who are the Republic of China scholars. They are basically continue the Qing Dynasty Textual Criticism, which focus on rationalist, tectual and rhetoric and binding characteristics of the times system combing Lieh-tzu. But Chen Hexiang, Zhou Bonian and Tang Jinggao used the new punctuation for Lieh-tzu, open the door of the the new era Lieh-tzu research.