Mingde Yin / Kongsheng Jing

The lyrics for the short qin melody Ming De Yin are extracted from the commentary by the neo-Confucian scholar Zhu Xi (1130-1200)⁵ on the Da Xue (Great Learning), attributed to Confucius. Mingde Yin serves as a musical prelude to the longer Kongsheng Jing, the lyrics of which are the canonical text of the Da Xue itself.

There was in the past a tradition of setting philosophical essays to qin melodies.⁶ Not all of these have survived,⁷ but in the qin repertoire there are several other surviving settings of the Da Xue.⁸ However, Ming De Yin and the present Da Xue melody are preserved only in the Sanjiao Tongsheng (1592),⁹ a qin handbook with a melody from each of China's great religions (or ways of thought), Buddhism, Confucianism, and Daoism.

Da Xue is one of the texts collected in the Li Ji (Book of Rites). According to tradition it was written down by one or more of Confucius' disciples. Modern scholarship, however, says they were written several centuries later. In the 12th century Zhu Xi proposed that four ancient texts -- the Great Learning, The Doctrine of the Mean (another chapter of the Book of Rites), the Analects, and Mencius -- represented the core of Confucian philosophy. As a result of Zhu Xi's arguments (but about a century later), these four books became what might be called the core curriculum for people studying for the government exams. The books continued in that role from 1313 until 1905, almost the end of the Qing dynasty.

The lyrics of Mingde Yin (from Zhu Xi's commentary on the Great Learning) are as follows. The original is an essay, not verse; it is arranged here as though it were verse because that is the effect when it is sung.

Zi Chengzi ¹⁰ said,
"The Great Learning is a text bequeathed by the Confucianists,
and when beginning to study, it is the gate through to virtue.
Today we can see how the ancients, in order to study it, proceeded in what sequence,
only because this book has been preserved, along with the Analects and Mencius following it.
Students must begin study from here,
then they will have the best chance to avoid making errors."

The lyrics of Kongsheng Jing, which are the same as the text of the Great Learning (中文), are as follows. Translation is adapted from those by Patrick Moran ¹¹ and Wing-tsit Chan.¹² Once again, the original¹³ is an essay, not verse; it is arranged here as though it were verse because that is the effect when it is sung.

1.
The Way of the Great Learning lies in brightening clear virtue,
in loving the people, and in remaining in the greatest good.
Knowing where to remain,one can then have certainty.
Having certainty one can then be tranquil; being tranquil one can then be at peace.
Being at peace one may then deliberate; having deliberated one can then get it.
Things have roots and branches; affairs have endings and beginnings.
Knowing the sequence of thingswill bring one closer to the Dao.

2.
In antiquity, those desiring to brighten clear virtue
throughout all below Heaven first brought order to their states.
Those desiring to bring order to their states first regulated their own families.
Those desiring to regulate their families first cultivated themselves.
Those desiring to cultivate themselves first rectified their minds.
Those desiring to rectify their hearts first made sincere their thoughts.
Those desiring to make sincere their thoughts first perfected their knowledge
Perfecting knowledge lies in investigating things.

3.
After one has investigated things, knowledge is perfected.
After knowledge is perfected, one's thoughts become sincere.
After one's thoughts become sincere one's heart is rectified.
After one's heart is rectified one's person is cultivated.
After one's person is cultivated, one's family is regulated.
After one's family is regulated, one's state can be brought to order.
After one's state is brought to order, all beneath Heaven becomes peaceful.

4.
From the Son of Heaven all the way down to the common person,
all should take cultivating oneself as fundamental.
For the root to be in disorder but the branches to be orderly: this has never been the case.
For what is substantial to be slighted, or what is slight to be given substance:
this has never happened .

Original Prefaces

None

Music
On my recording 聽錄音 I sing the texts accompanying both pieces

Mingde Yin: One section (text)

1.
harmonics
end
Kong Sheng Jing: Four sections (text) 1.
2.
3.
4. (harmonics)
end

Footnotes (Shorthand references are explained on a separate page)

1. Biyu Diao (碧玉調)
Instructions are "(from standard tuning) raise the 2nd, 5th and 7th strings". Tuning is the same as that of the 1425 姑洗 Guxian mode, not the 1425 Biyu mode or the 1525 Biyu mode.
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2.
14124.572 明德 mingde gives references to the Great Learning (Da Xue).
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3. 7077.250 孔聖 kongsheng: respectful name for Confucius.
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5. 朱熹 Zhu Xi started an academy in Changsha called the 嶽麓書院 Yuelu Academy. With luck, one day I will play this melody there.
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6. Setting philosophical texts to qin music: surviving examples
Surviving examples, in addition to the present one, include Zhuge Liang's Chushi Biao and a 1630 setting from Mozi.
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7. Setting philosophical texts to qin music: not surviving
The Qin Shi Xu biography of Yu Qian says he wrote a qin setting for Da Xue, which he called Sounds of Reading (讀書聲 Du Shu Sheng), and that his main disciple 汪一恆 Wang Yiheng did settings of such essays as 中庸 Zhong Yong, 論語 Lun Yu and 孟子 Mengzi. In fact there is a setting for Zhong Yong published in Japan.
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8. Da Xue text as qin lyrics
The words of the 大學 Da Xue are also set for qin (none of the melodies is related to that of the present Kongsheng Jing) in 大學序 Da Xue Xu (Guide 32/245/477 lists only 1623) and in some versions of 大學章句 Da Xue Zhangju, also called 聖經 Sheng Jing (Guide 25/213/389 lists six handbooks: 1585, 1663/5, <1802, 1875, 1884, 1899).
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9. Tracing Mingde Yin and Kongsheng Jing
Zha Fuxi's Guide 27/---/420 明德引 Mingde Yin and 27/---/421 孔聖經 Kongsheng Jing list only Sanjiao Tongsheng, but see the footnote above.
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10. 子程子 Zi Chengzi: the Chengzi Brothers (compare 程子 and 子程子 Zichengzi)
According to 7072.542 子程子 this refers to 宋程顥程頤兄弟也 the brothers Cheng Hao (25638.274; Wiki) and Cheng Yi (25638.49; Wiki) of the Song dynasty. Giles says Cheng Hao (1032-1085), after an official career, became a tutor to Zhu Xi, while Cheng Yi (1033-1090) also had his long career stifled by his opposition to Wang Anshi. Cheng Hao has been associated with the qin melody Jing Guan Yin.
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11. See Three Smaller Wisdom Books, University Press of America, 1993. The original and Prof. Moran's translation are not divided into numbered sections.
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12. Wing-tsit Chan, A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy, Princeton, 1963.
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13. Original text
The original text of the Great Learning (大學 Da Xue) is as follows (arranged according to the sectioning of the music):

大學之道．在明明德．在親民．在止於至善．知止而後有定．定而後能靜．靜而後能安．安而後能慮．慮而後能得．物有本末．事有終始．知所先後．則近道矣．
古之欲明明德於天下者．先治其國．欲治其國者．先齊其家．欲齊其家者．先修其身．欲修其身者．先正其心．欲正其心者．先誠其意．欲誠其意者．先致其知．致知在格物．
物格而後知至．知至而後意誠．意誠而後心正．心正而後身修．身修而後家齊．家齊而後國治．國治而後天下平．
自天子以至於庶人．壹是皆以修身為本．其本亂而末治者否矣．其所厚者薄．而其所薄者厚．未之有也．

The original text of Ming De Yin and the first line of Kong Sheng Jing, from San Jiao Tong Sheng, are as follows:　
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