The Retired Scholar of the Imperial Song Dynasty, Tang Yi, courtesy name Zizheng, is outstanding among men. His talent, his artistry have brought him honorable fame in the capital. Thus Master Li Jianzhong of the Branch Censorate was famed in his day for being excellent at painting (sic) and was greatly admired by scholar-officials, but Zizheng’s brushwork belongs side by side with his, while Master Lin of the Jiangdong region (the great poet of the period, Lin Bu, 967-1028), a man of divine connoisseurship in the wonders of ink, after taking one look at a painting of his exclaimed, "Master Tang’s brushwork becomes more and more powerful as he ages!" The Adviser of the Eastern Palace, Master Cui Zundu was famed in his time for being excellent at playing the qin, being greatly admired by scholar-officials as well, but Zizheng’s sounds harmonize perfectly with those of the master. (I myself,) Fan Zhongyan of Gaoping, studied qin technique and singing with him, and I once sent him a letter, in which I said, "Now that Master Cui has passed away, does not the qin rest here (in your hands)?" (sic)

But aside from these two great talents, the Master also loves Airs and Elegentiae (poetry)....

絲桐徽黃金，     Silk, tong-wood, stops of yellow gold:
本是太古器。     Truly, instrument of high antiquity!
在昔重正聲，     In ancient times, they prized orthodox music:
阜民一氣志。     The people enriched, their spirits all at one.
夫維不去身，     In those days, it was never put aside,
寧為慆淫事。     Nor was it ever used for dissoluteness.
有虞絃南風，     Under Sage Shun its strings played Southern Winds:
孝德亘天地。     Filial Virtue filled all of Heaven and Earth!
子期意流水，     Then Zhong Ziqi set his mind on flowing water:
彼此心一致。     He and Bo Ya — their hearts were harmonized.
陰陽易條鬯，     Yin and Yang — all changes smoothly flowed;
率舞格異類。     In peaceful dance, all creatures followed suit.
聖賢無不能，     Things sages wished to do—none went undone,
制作韙深意。     All regulations followed what is right. （韙：緯？）
惜哉末俗傳，     But then—alas!—degenerate customs came,
惉懘失其粹。     Cacophony drove out sound’s purity!
發指務新切，     People turned towards what was fresh and new,
操美貴可喜。     Cared only that tunes be pleasing to the ear!
鄭衛及桑濮，     Decadent Zheng or Wei, lascivious songs,
哇咬輒我貳。     Crude wailings now confused our suffering ears!
襄曠死已久，     (Master Musicians) Xiang and Kuang died long ago:
誰能捄已墜。     Who can revive the already fallen?
空餘器與名，     All that remains, the instrument, and its name:
天律卒憔悴。     The Heavenly Harmonies?—Finally withered away.
有如東遷至，     It’s like the Zhou, once it had transfered east:
所存但虛位。     What now remained was only an empty name.
余雖學操縵，     Though my studies haven’t gone past learning Caoman,
豈不識真偽。     How could I not know authentic from false?
安得周太師，     How can we get Music Master Zhou
大音教我肄。     To teach us again proficiency in great music?
盡革世所尚，     He’d transform completely what the world esteems today,
追復和之至。     And restore for us the supreme harmony of the past!
匪獨血氣平，     Not only would this calm our blood pressure,
諧調厚政治。     But those harmonious tones would firm up government!
輟曲雅琴歌，     Enough! I end this Song of the Elegant Qin,
感慨非自異。     Passionately hoping for no further alienation.

Such was His Excellency [Fan’s] love for the qin! For the gentleman’s relationship to the qin emerges from deep within, and is given form in sound. If, by listening to the sound, one can return to the [Human] Nature, then it is being done right. Such an approach differs from that of the mere artisan who seeks merely to please listeners with his clever skillfulness. Thus, although Wenzheng Gong was able to play only a few pieces, he truly imbibed profoundly the essence of the instrument. His Way was straight; his talent was comprehensive: he was a gentleman of this Dynasty complete in virtue. His grandson via a paternal male third cousin, Shijing, is quite good indeed at the qin; his personal character is also complete and pristine. He has risen to the office of Assistant Director of the Palace Library.

予觀夫巴陵勝狀，在洞庭一湖。銜遠山，吞長江，浩浩湯湯，橫無際涯，朝暉夕陰，氣象萬千。此則岳陽樓之大觀也，前人之述備矣。然則北通巫峽，南極瀟湘；遷客騷人，多會于此。覽物之情，得無異乎？
The outstanding scenery of Baling is concentrated around Dongting Lake. The lake envelops distant mountains and swallows the Yangzi River. Stretching far and wide, it appears to have no shore. In the morning's sun and evening's shadows, the changing images it presents are innumerable. This is the grand view enjoyed from the top of Yueyang Tower, and it has been fully described by earlier writers. This is also a place that provides access northward to the Wu Gorges region and southward to the Xiaoxiang lands. Banished ministers and poets have often passed through this place. The sentiments they felt as they looked out over this landsacpe, in the midst of their distant journeys, how could they not have been exceptional?

若夫霪雨霏霏，連月不開﹔陰風怒號，濁浪排空﹔日星隱耀，山岳潛形；商旅不行，檣傾楫摧﹔薄暮冥冥，虎嘯猿啼﹔登斯樓也，則有去國懷鄉，憂讒畏譏，滿目蕭然，感極而悲者矣！
When heavy rains soak the land, lasting for months at a time, and dark winds howl angrily, making frothy waves reach to the skies, the sun and stars are no longer visible, and mountain peaks are obscured. Traveling merchants do not go forth, as masts are broken and oars snapped. Late in the day it is already dark, when tigers roar and gibbons cry out. Under such conditions, those who climb this tower, as they leave the capital and long for their homeland, worry about slander and fear vilification. As such a bleak and desolate landscape fills their eyes, they are overcome with emotion and truly dispirited!

至若春和景明，波瀾不驚﹔上下天光，一碧萬頃﹔沙鷗翔集，錦鱗游泳﹔岸芷汀蘭，郁郁青青；而或長煙一空，皓月千里﹔浮光躍金，靜影沉璧；漁歌互答，此樂何極！登斯樓也，則有心曠神怡，寵辱皆忘，把酒臨風，其喜洋洋者矣！
When, however, spring is genial and the landscape bright, waves no longer interrupt travel, the sky and earth are awash with heavenly light, and the cyan-blue of the lake covers ten thousand hectares. Sand gulls circle in the sky, and brocaded fish dart through the waters. Angelica on the shores and thoroughwort on the islets are aromatic and deep green. Sometimes hovering mists completely vanish and bright moonlight fills a thousand miles. Moonbeams are dancing gold upon the rippled water or, when the water is still, the orb appears as a submerged jade disk. As fishermen's songs answer each other, the joy of the scene knows no bounds! Those who climb the tower under such conditions find their hearts put at ease and their spirits rejuvenated. They forget all about political favor and disgrace. As they hold the wine cup facing the breeze, their pleasure is overflowing.

嗟夫！予嘗求古仁人之心，或異二者之為。何哉？不以物喜，不以己悲。居廟堂之高，則憂其民﹔處江湖之遠，則憂其君。是進亦憂，退亦憂，然則何時而樂耶？其必曰：「先天下之憂而憂，後天下之樂而樂」歟！噫！微斯人，吾誰與歸。
Oh! I once investigated the heart of benevolent men of ancient times, and found that it differed from the two states of mind just described. How so? Benevolent men did not find pleasure in external circumstances, nor did they become dispirited over their own personal situations. Whey then occupied lofty positions at the court they were apprehensive about the welfare of the people; and when they resided on the banks of remote rivers and lakes they were apprehensive about the well-being of their ruler. Thus when they experienced official eminence they were apprehensive, and when they suffeed demotion they were also apprehensive. When did they ever know joy? The maxim they lived by was this: "Be the first person to feel apprehension, before anyone else in the empire does; be the last person to feel joy, after everyone else in the empire does." Ah! Expcept for such a man, with whom could I associate?

時六年九月十五日。
Written on the fifteenth day of the ninth (lunar) month of the sixth year (1046 [C.E.])

皇宋處士唐異，字子正人之秀也。之才之藝揭乎清名西京，故留臺李公建中時謂善畫為士大夫之所尚，而 子正之筆實左右焉。江東林君復神於墨妙一見而歎曰唐公之筆老而彌壯。東宫故諭徳崔公遵度時謂善琴為士大夫之所重，而子正之音嘗唱和焉。髙平范仲 淹師其絃歌，嘗貽之書曰「崔公既沒琴不在兹乎」處士二妙之外嗜於風雅。。。。
(Return)

James T.C. Liu, Ou-yang Hsiu: An Eleventh-Century Neo-Confucian (Stanford U. Press), pp. 49-51.

屬逺仕千里，未獲所存。今復選于上京；崔公既沒。琴不在於君乎。君將憐其意授之一二，使得操堯舜之音，遊羲黄之域，其賜也豈不大哉？！又先王之琴傳傳而無窮；上聖之風存乎盛時。其旨也豈不逺矣。誠不敢助南薰之詩以為天下富夀，庶幾宣三樂之情以美生平而可乎？