In the winter of 1993, a number of 730 bamboo strips inscribed
with characters were excavated from tomb no. 1 of Guodian site, Jingmen,
Hubei Province. The bamboo strips presumably belong to the late middle
Zhanguo period. A total of Sixteen chapters of anonymous writings of the
pre-Qin period, over half of which have never been seen before, were
inscribed on the bamboo strips. Among them, Tai Yi Sheng Shui (太一生水)
is an important Taoists text; Wu Xing (五行) is not much different
from the one excavated from the Mawangdui site in Hunan Province which
is also entitled Wu Xing (五行), and the two are complementary to each
other; Lumugong Wen Zisi (魯穆公問子思), Qiong Da Yi Shi (窮達以時), Tang
Yu Zhi Dao (唐虞之道), Zhong Xin Zhi Dao (忠信之道), Cheng Zhi Wen Zhi
(成之聞之), Zun De Yi (尊德義), Xing Zi Ming Chu(性自命出), Liu De(六德)
and Yu Cong 1,2,3,4 (語叢一、二、三、四) are works of the Confucianists,
and part of their contents can be cross-referenced to documents handed
down from ancient times, e.g.“Let the will be set on the path of duty;
Let every attainment in what is good be firmly grasped; ”“Let perfect
virtue be accorded with; Let relaxation and enjoyment be found in the
polite arts”in Yu Cong 3 (bamboo strip 15.50; 15.51) can be seen in the
chapter entitled Shu Er (述而)in The Analects of Confucius; writings like
"Free from self-interest, from bigotry and from possessions" and“Free
from egoism and from pre-possessions and peace can be attained”(bamboo
strip 15.64; 15.65) are almost the same as “There were four things from
which Confucius was entirely free: He had no foregone conclusions, no
arbitrary predeterminations, no obstinacy, and no egoism.”in the chapter
entitled Zihan (子罕) in the same book; Laozi (老子) Part A, B & C and Zi
Yi (緇衣) are the earliest manuscripts found to date, and their academic
value is inmeasurable which would certainly have a far reaching impact on
pre-Qin studies.
Bamboo Manuscripts of Chu Tomb of Guodian Site compiled by Jingmen
City Museum was published in book form by Beijing Cultural Relics Press
in May 1998. Since its publication, the book has attracted many scholars
to study. Successful results shall be expected in the near future. On the
other hand, from compiling books such as An Index of the Chu Bamboo
Manuscripts From Baoshan (1993), An Index of the Bamboo Manuscripts From
the Tomb of Marquis Yi of State Zeng (1997),and An Index of the Chu Bamboo
Manuscripts From Wangshan(forthcoming)in recent years have given me insight
into this field. I therefore am determined to compile A Study on the Chu
Bamboo Manuscripts of Guodian,in which three volumes contribute to
Character, Commentary and Research respectively, with special attention
paid to the arrangement of character retrieval. The first volume A
Comprehensive Index of Characters is compiled according to the previously-
used format. Characters of the bamboo manuscripts are individually numbered,
and categorized according to radicals. Variant forms of the same Chinese
characters are grouped under their related radicals. Phonetic loan
characters or homonyms are also listed in examples. To enable readers to
easier understand the full text, I have adopted the original annotations
in Bamboo Manuscripts of Chu Tomb of Guodian Site and have made many
references to the notes by Mr Qiu Xigui. If the original decipherments
are ambiguous, characters would be deciphered again as for Characters
without decipherments would be preliminarily deciphered. In case there are
missing characters, additions based on related sources would be made and
marked with a [ ] in the texts. Characters with the same or similar
pronunciations are marked with a ( ). The bamboo manuscripts have
12,072 characters in total, of which 1,344 are main characters (692 seen
in Shuowenjiezi 說文解字) and 22 combined characters. The preliminary
survey shows that 416 main characters have been seen in An Index of the Chu
Bamboo Manuscripts From Baoshan, 134 in An Index of the Bamboo Manuscripts
From the Tomb of Marquis Yi of State Zeng, 202 in An Index of the Chu
Bamboo Manuscripts From Wangshan, whereas 875 are newly found. Detailed
corresponding materials and related research would be discussed inseparate
essays. There are four parts in the first volume: a radical index, a stroke
index, plates of corresponding original bamboo strips and the decipherments,
and the revised full text of deciperrments arranged by the serial numbers
of the bamboo strips. A Comprehensive Index of Characters in the First
volume of A Study on the Chu Bamboo Manuscripts of Guodian has been
published by Yee Wen Publishing Co. Ltd., Taipei in February 1999. To
facilitate scholars with an easy access to the materials, a revised full
text of decipherments of the Chu bamboo manuscripts of Guodian site has
been loaded into computer.
Furthermore, an electronic retrieval system of the full text has been
established. By typing in a certain character or phrase, a reader will
locate any chapter or bamboo strip from which the character or phrase comes
within seconds. In line with the latest development in document research,
and with a view to promote the Chinese culture, I have, through
cooperating with the Chinese University of Hong Kong Libraries, put onto
internet this electronic version which allows full-text searching at no
cost. All are welcome to search and promote the use of these materials.
Chapters
1. Laozi Part A, B & C (老子甲、乙、丙)
2. Tai Yi Sheng Shui (太一生水)
3. Zi Yi (緇衣)
4. Lumugong Wen Zisi (魯穆公問子思)
5. Qiong Da Yi Shi (窮達以時)
6. Wu Xing (五行)
7. Tang Yu Zhi Dao (唐虞之道)
8. Zhong Xin Zhi Dao (忠信之道)
9. Cheng Zhi Wen Zhi (成之聞之)
10. Zun De Yi (尊德義)
11. Xing Zi Ming Chu (性自命出)
12. Liu De (六德)
13. Yu Cong 1 (語叢一)
14. Yu Cong 2 (語叢二)
15. Yu Cong 3 (語叢三)
16. Yu Cong 4 (語叢四)
|
