Zhang Tingyu preface to Lixing Yuanya

People have said that one can know about benevolence, righteousness, and moral virtue yet not be an expert in music, but you won't hear of skilled musicians who are experts at that. Even the worthy Marquis Wei Ji himself would grow uneasy and lie awake, unsettled by coarse barbarian drumming and casting contemptuous glances at even the vermilion silk strings, waving them away beyond the hall.

I say that although this claim is seemingly right, it is actually wrong. Music communicates directly with life and inner nature. A mere musician may or may not be skilled in it; but one who truly possesses benevolence, righteousness, and virtue has never failed to be attuned to music. Thus (it is said) the gentleman, without special cause, does not let the qin or se leave his side. This is not because paulownia wood merely pleases the ear, but because one’s nature itself cannot be separated from it.

Consider Confucius during this hardships at Chen and Cai: for seven days he went without cooked food, yet when (中文 2) he drummed and sang among Chen and Cai it was no different from chanting at the Apricot Tree Forum. Hence his own person fully embodied the Six Arts. His disciples, too, were clear as drifting clouds and ringing spring winds; in Danfu they were tranquil and harmonious, in Shicheng expansive and flowing.

Who were these people? At moments of separation, could this ever be forgotten? Indeed, there has never been one endowed with benevolence and virtue who was not attuned to music. Benevolence and righteousness are nature itself.

In the pre-heaven state, strings arise from sound; in the post-heaven state, pitches are set upon strings — thus the five pitches arise from Great Sound, elegant and plain, at the very origin of music and of nature.

The Yellow Emperor fashioned the qin and se in order to cultivate body and nature, to return to original authenticity. For this reason, I do not speak much of benevolence and righteousness as doctrines, but devote myself to qin and se. Have I long harbored this intent? Indeed, for a very long time.
(Wuwu year: 1618)

(中文 3) In a remote district by the margins of Baoyang, with little leisure amid county duties, I practiced for three years — yet still did not equal the fluency of children of three or five. Hence the saying: chess advances with difficulty; guests multiply the qin’s confusion. One must neither forget nor force it — here too there is the matter of "fire-timing" (critical timing).

Later, serving at Hangzhou’s customs offices, with authority over timber, I practiced regularly for several months. Traveling to Kuaiji by the Qiantang River, I played the qin as waves calmed and winds softened; mountain colors and oar-sounds struck together in response, vast and resonant, layered and rugged, yet gentle and flowing. Ripples rose and settled, rhythms echoed and vanished, suddenly recalling the flow of time itself. My younger self then awakened: agitation dissolved into this; the mind rested in this; the spirit merged as one with it.

(中文 4) Here the inner mechanism becomes alive. Cheng Lianzi was skilled at moving human feelings — just so. Only then does one know: when the qin attains sound, sound gains articulation; when articulation is gained, harmony issues forth; and harmony that is centered in proper timing accords with innate nature. If it does not accord with nature, it becomes something else entirely.

In our present age, people who play qin (cao man) do not know what nature truly is. They may have sounds but lack inner ordering, following only the ear’s impulse. Taking one part zheng and two parts pipa, they amuse others with formulas. Everyone can recite “one gong, two shang, three jue, four zhi, five yu” — yet by what means are these gathered together? Errors propagate errors, leaving only confusion. As with the twelve pitch-pipes and their rotating standards — each standard generating seven (中文 5) tones, totaling eighty-four; sixty regular modes and twenty-four altered ones — what is commonly transmitted as huangzhong, ruibin, qingshang, qiliang, and so on has never properly established which standard governs. Thus musical principle has long since fallen out of the human world.

I inherited Great Elegance, yet my true nature did not return through doctrine alone, so I turned to paulownia wood of mountain growth.

The 25-string se gave way, and what was not lost was taken up into the qin. The seven-string system was established and inscribed, symbolized by (a melody that caused) paired dark cranes to take off in flight — therein lies what one looks up to and reveres. Shi Kuang grasped the essential intent with only five strings, releasing it in melodies of Yu and Shun, saying, “Consider this.” Thus Southern Breeze and Thinking of Ancestors cannot be imitated. The source (中文 6) lies in the heart; to this day White Snow lies in the hand. What barrier is there that would rule out five or nine strings? This (i.e., that music revolves around a central pitch, gong) was also put forward by Cai Yong, and in the Tang it was adopted by Emperor Taizong as the palace string. When the ruler possesses the One and does not diminish it, he instead adds to it: the Four serve the One, thus raising it to the Nine-Five (sovereign) position — thereby honoring the ruler.

To be honored yet able to descend, to be low yet uphold the honored — this is the constant Way.

As for (doing something) reverent, (certain) qin practitioners would take just a single string and release (i.e., play) it: Ma Mingsheng and Sun Deng, solitary individuals and little associated with others, bound their strings as one, using the one braided with 81 silk threads. From this the five (pitches?) were generated from the unity of huangzhong; thus when struck, all five tones were complete.

An inscription says: “Nine-nine, pure and singular.” Though later generations model them, the ancients dared not claim certainty. (中文 7) Those who trust the ancients must trust sincerely: take up five strings and play them; reduce them to profundity, let clarity intoxicate — the Great Elegance truly resides here.

The qin must begin with five (strings). Played correctly, nine resonances can arise; so with seven (strings?) there is no difference. It surpasses even the resounding bells that circle the rafters. If one string does not align, unite it with the others; at the thirteen markers it becomes clear and bright, like a lone crane’s cry — autumnal, spirit-rousing — transmitted from antiquity. The qin has four forms; its pieces number seventy-two: standard tunings, alternate tunings, fingering methods, and tuning methods. Annotations investigate all their essentials, returning always to clarity, elegance, and restraint — harmonious, moist, and far-reaching — as in Cui Daodu’s discourse on qin principle.

(中文 8) Thus has Lixing Yuanya been compiled.

Alas! Sounds entering the ear from Sangjian or Pu-shang can be analyzed, but principle cannot. Liu Yin understood this man; Jianwen paused here. Did he first play Longxi, or later Yangzhou? Who truly knows? Those who know sound must fully engage the heart; those who know nature do not plug the ears, fence the eyes, empty responsiveness, or block apertures.

False daily striving along paths of grasping corrupts the proper course of life itself — how often did Yu-ling Zhongzi encounter this! As for those who withdraw from worldly dust: they embroider and wear the song, savoring it waking and sleeping. The Zhu-Mu lineage’s one lady, though seven feet tall with whiskered shoulders like a man, is still not equal.

And so, (中文 9) who knows that the principle of the qin communicates directly with mysterious principle? Nourish the Valley Spirit; tame the tiger within. When the tiger is released, descending shang; when the dragon flies, it is only a dream. The inner mechanism and its regulation cannot be fixed — how does this compare with cultivating one’s nature upon the qin at Luofu?

The Yellow Path’s five-thousand-and-forty-eight characters are traced and lodged in a single silk string of Green Qi. I myself am prone to excess fire; Tongjun instructed me with precise medicines. Daily I travel dangerous paths, yet at times I knock upon the door of Gārā-wood recluses — who laugh at me. Whether walking upon a qin terrace or seated in the dark chamber, only the Moon Grotto and Heaven’s Root are known to the ten fingers. Thus the ox knows its trough, wood knows its grain — let others judge me as one who does not understand the qin.

(中文10)
(Sign-off)

Bestowed the Jinshi degree;
Serving by imperial command,
Supervising customs duties in Hangzhou, without charge of waterways;
Urging and coordinating timber from Zhejiang, Zhili, Fujian, and Jiangxi;
Executive Secretary of the Ministry of Works, Bureau of Weights and Measures;
Written by Zhang Tingyu of Guanzhong.

(two seals)
One seal is 張廷玉印 Zhang Tingyu's seal.
The other is 理性元雅 Li Xing Yan Ya, the name of the handbook, suggesting that was also the name of Zhang Tingyu's studio or book collection.

The original Chinese text

¹
理性元雅引

人有言：聞有仁義道德，不嫻于音者矣；未聞曲士能嫻之。盖魏擊賢侯，猶䀫䀫恐臥羯皷傖、白眼朱絃，麾之肆外矣。余謂斯言似也，非也。音樂通乎性命，曲士未必嫻；未有仁義道德而不嫻者。君子無故，琴瑟不離於禦；非桐君娛耳不離，便是性不可離。如孔子如陳蔡，不火食七日而
²
鼓陳蔡，無異吟杏壇，故身通六藝。弟子洞雲[寥寥]，春風鏗鏗；單父愔愔，式城洋洋。何人何也，是離時信乎？未有仁義道德而不嫻者。仁義道德，性也；先天因音生絃，後天因絃奠徽，則五音出。自太音雅淡，音之元性之初；軒轅氏伐琴瑟，以脩身性理，反其天真。以此余不講于仁義、道德，于琴瑟有嫻心焉？久矣哉！戊午（1518）。
³
令保陽之涯，易以縣小暇，而習者三年，尚不如三五兒嫻。所謂棋進難、[瑟]琴生，都問兒無乃勿忘、勿助，此中亦有火候焉。比承之杭[官]權木，使習有數月，往會稽，在錢塘江上，彈琴浪靜風恬，山色櫓聲，相擊應，既霍濩乎，[徉] [ ]復[磊]硌以優；悠湲湲習習，安瀾節響，恍會逝者之如斯，第覺躁與斯乎；[心]與斯閒；神與斯一。
⁴
機與斯活，成連子之善移人情，想如斯。夫乃知琴得音，則節音；得節，則和發；而中節之和，率乎性者也。非性，便做他。不出今世，操縵者不知性為何物；有音無譜，直步耳率，以一分箏，二分琵琶，娛人有譜矣。一宮，二商，三角，四徵，五羽，人能言之，而于何[起] 收？竟訛以傳訛，茫如也。如十二律之均旋，相為宮一，均自為七
⁵
音，總八十四音；正調六十，變調二十四。所訛傳者黃鍾、蕤賓、清商、凄涼數調，亦未登孰為均主。其它併不得上調，法樂理遂久不落人間世矣。余既大雅下，而真性不反命，丘代只山之桐製。二十五絃瑟，另諸失傳者于琴。制七絃銘，以玄鶴雙舞，其仰止。師曠意乎五絃，放之虞舜操，曰：認，是以南風、思親，不可仿。其音
⁶
在其心，至今在白雪在手，何壁之非五九絃？放之蔡中，即唐太宗取宮絃。君有一無少，卻以少加之，四使一尊九五之上，以尊君。則尊而能下，卑而戴尊，有素道焉。曰尊，[琴士] 秦一絃放之，馬明生、孫登、雖孤子寡合，其縆一而編以八十一絲，是五生于黃鍾之一，故鼓則五音皆備。銘曰：九九清奇然，制雖模之，古不敢以
⁷
信古者，自信誠取五絃彈之，損之淵長醉之清愉信大雅在此。琴必以五為始，為正彈之九響，與七無二，更乾劃乎號鐘繞梁者矣。彈之一不合，以諸絃合，以十三徽清亮，若孤鶴唳，秋恍神，女之所授者矣。琴凡四式，曲凡七十有二：本調、別調、指法、調法。研註悉具其要，歸于清麗而淡，和潤而遠，如崔導度之論琴理。
⁸
者斯《理性元雅》之所繇譜哉。於 [噫]，自桑間濮上入耳，不出有析。理劉尹其人，閒止簡文；其人前彈隴西乎，後彈揚州乎？誰其知之？則知音者必盡心，知性者，藉士不墐耳，藩目空機，竇而塞孔。僞日涉攀援之途，以澆性命之正，此於陵仲子幾見哇。于辟纑者，黼佩之歌，寤寐廞焉。祝牧氏一媛，七尺鬚肩丈夫，不若也。又：
⁹
孰知琴理之通玄理乎？養谷神，家伏虎；虎逸降商，龍飛只為夢。子機關調攝不住，何如於羅浮琴上養性？則黃道五千四十八字，畫寄綠綺之一絲。余善病火，桐君授我以刀圭藥物；日覊畏途，而差叩伽羅陀辟纑者笑我也。行乎築琴臺，坐玄室；但月窟天根，十指知乎，則牛盎知木，任議我未知琴者。
¹⁰
賜進士第，承徳卽奉
勅，督理杭州抽分無管河道，催
儹浙直福江木料，工部虞衡
清吏司主事，關中張廷玉撰

Footnotes (Shorthand references are explained on a separate page)

1. Lixing Yuanya Preface
This translation, still in places very tentative, was very much assisted by ChatGPT5.
(Return)

2. Image
Copied from 琴曲集成 Qinqu Jicheng.
(Return)

3. Copied text
The easiest way to compare the text here with the original is to use "view source". There it can be seen that the original text was printed on 10 folio pages with 5+5 lines of text on each page. "View source" will also reveal some bracket-hidden explanations for altered/corrected characters.

Note on the text arrangement:
The original at top right has five pdf pages, each with two folio pages from the original. The Chinese text version, copied below the translation, follows that layout, hence 10 apparent "paragraphs". The Chinese text was copied from the original at right using OCR then edited with the help of ChatGPT5; this has led to quite a few differences between this text and the original. However, the English version is divided into paragraphs based on my understanding of the text >
(Return)

Return to the annotated handbook list or to the Guqin ToC.