1
劉因，字夢吉，保定容城人。 世為儒家，五世祖琮生敦武校尉、臨洮府錄事判官昉，昉生奉議大夫、中山府錄事俁，俁生秉善，金貞祐中南徙。 其弟國寶，登興定進士第，終奉直大夫、樞密院經歷。 秉善生述，述，因之父也。 歲壬辰，述始北歸，刻意問學，邃性理之說，好長嘯。 中統初，左三部尚書劉肅宣撫真定，辟武邑令，以疾辭歸。 年四十未有子，歎曰：「天果使我無子則已，有子必令讀書。」 因生之夕，述夢神人馬載一兒至其家，曰：「善養之。」 既覺而生，乃名曰駰，字夢驥，後改今名及字。
Liu Yin, whose courtesy name was Mengji, came from Rongcheng in Baoding. The family had been Confucian scholars for generations. Liu Yin's fifth-generation ancestor Cong had a son Fang, who served as Dunwu Company Commander and Assistant Administrative Officer of Lintao Prefecture; Fang's son You held the rank of Grand Master for Discussion of Governance and was record keeper of Zhongshan Prefecture; You's son Bingshan moved the family south during the Jin dynasty's Zhenyou period. His younger brother Guobao passed the jinshi examination in the Xingding era and eventually served as Assistant Director of the Bureau of Military Affairs with the rank of Master for Directing Government. Bingshan had a son named Shu, who was Liu Yin's father. In the renchen year (1232), Shu returned north for the first time, threw himself into learning, mastered Neo-Confucian teachings on nature and principle, and loved to give long whistles. Early in the Zhongtong era, when Liu Su of the Left Three Departments was pacifying Zhending, he appointed Shu magistrate of Wuyi; Shu resigned because of illness and went home. By the age of forty he still had no son. He sighed and said, "If Heaven truly means me to remain childless, so be it; but if I do have a son, I shall certainly have him study the classics." On the night Liu Yin was born, Shu dreamed that a divine figure on horseback brought a child to his door and said, "Nurture him well." When he woke, the child had indeed been born. He was first named Yin with the courtesy name Mengji; later he received his present name and courtesy name.
2
因天資絕人。 三歲識書，日記千百言，過目即成誦，六歲能詩，七歲能屬文，落筆驚人。 甫弱冠，才器超邁，日閱方冊，思得如古人者友之，作《希聖解》。 國子司業硯彌堅教授真定，因從之遊，同舍生皆莫能及。 初為經學，究訓詁疏釋之說，輒歎曰：「聖人精義，殆不止此。」 及得周、程、張、邵、朱、呂之書，一見能發其微，曰：「我固謂當有是也。」 及評其學之所長，而曰：「邵，至大也； 周，至精也； 程，至正也； 朱子，極其大，盡其精，而貫之以正也。」 其高見遠識率類此。 因蚤喪父，事繼母孝，有父、祖喪未葬，投書先友翰林待制楊恕，憐而助之，始克襄事。 因性不苟合，不妄交接，家雖甚貧，非其義，一介不取。 家居教授，師道尊嚴。 弟子造其門者，隨材器教之，皆有成就。 公卿過保定者眾，聞因名，往往來謁，因多遜避，不與相見，不知者或以為傲，弗卹也。 嘗愛諸葛孔明靜以修身之語，表所居曰「靜修」。
Liu Yin's native talent was extraordinary. At three he could read; each day he memorized a thousand words or more, and whatever he glanced at he could recite from memory. At six he wrote poetry; at seven he composed prose, and his writing astonished everyone who saw it. As soon as he came of age, his ability far outstripped his peers. He read historical works every day, longing to find friends among men like the sages of old, and wrote An Explanation of Aspiring to the Sage. When Yan Mijian, Vice Director of the Directorate of Education, was teaching at Zhending, Liu Yin studied under him, and none of his classmates could keep pace with him. He began with classical studies and mastered exegetical commentary, yet he would sigh and say, "The sages' essential meaning surely cannot be confined to this alone." When he came upon the works of Zhou Dunyi, the Cheng brothers, Zhang Zai, Shao Yong, Zhu Xi, and Lü Zuqian, he grasped their subtleties at once and said, "I always knew such teaching must exist." Appraising the strengths of each master's learning, he said, "Shao Yong attained the greatest breadth; Zhou Dunyi reached the utmost refinement; the Cheng brothers reached the utmost rectitude; Zhu Xi carried breadth to its limit, refinement to its fullness, and threaded everything through with rectitude." His penetrating insight and far-reaching judgment were characteristically of this order. Liu Yin lost his father while still young and served his stepmother with filial devotion. His father and grandfather lay unburied; he wrote to his father's old friend Yang Shu, a Hanlin Academician Awaiting Orders, who took pity on him and helped with the expenses, so that he could at last perform the burials. By nature Liu Yin would not compromise lightly or make acquaintances casually. Though his family was very poor, he would not accept even the smallest gift that was not rightfully his. He taught at home, and the dignity of the teacher's role was strictly maintained. Students who came to study with him were instructed according to their individual gifts, and all of them went on to achieve distinction. Many high officials traveling through Baoding heard Liu Yin's name and often came to visit him. He usually declined and avoided meeting them; those who did not know him sometimes took this for arrogance, but he paid no attention. He admired Zhuge Liang's saying about cultivating oneself through stillness and named his residence Quiet Cultivation.
3
不忽木以因學行薦於朝，至元十九年，有詔徵因，擢承德郎、右贊善大夫。 初，裕皇建學宮中，命贊善王恂教近侍子弟，恂卒，乃命因繼之。 未幾，以母疾辭歸。 明年，丁內艱。 二十八年，詔復遣使者，以集賢學士、嘉議大夫徵因，以疾固辭，且上書宰相曰：
Buqa recommended Liu Yin to the court for his scholarship and character. In the nineteenth year of the Zhiyuan era (1282), an imperial edict summoned him, and he was appointed Gentleman for Supporting Virtue and Right Assistant to the Heir Apparent. Earlier the Heir Apparent had established a school within the palace and appointed Wang Xun, Assistant to the Heir Apparent, to instruct the young attendants. When Wang Xun died, Liu Yin was ordered to take his place. Before long he resigned and returned home because his mother had fallen ill. The following year he entered mourning for his mother. In the twenty-eighth year of Zhiyuan (1291), another edict sent envoys to summon him as Academician of the Hall of Gathered Worthies with the rank of Grand Master for Discussion of Governance. He firmly declined on account of illness and also submitted a letter to the chief minister, which read:
4
因自幼讀書，接聞大人君子之餘論，雖他無所得，至如君臣之義，自謂見之甚明。 如以日用近事言之，凡吾人之所以得安居而暇食，以遂其生聚之樂者，是誰之力與？ 皆君上之賜也。 是以凡我有生之民，或給力役，或出知能，亦必各有以自效焉。 此理勢之必然，亙萬古而不可易，而莊周氏所謂無所逃於天地之間者也。 因生四十三年，未嘗效尺寸之力，以報國家養育生成之德，而恩命連至，因尚敢偃蹇不出，貪高尚之名以自媚，以負我國家知遇之恩，而得罪於聖門中庸之教也哉！ 且因之立心，自幼及長，未嘗一日敢為崖岸卓絕、甚高難繼之行，平昔交友，苟有一日之雅者，皆知因之此心也。 但或者得之傳聞，不求其實，止於縱蹟之近似者觀之，是以有高人隱士之目，惟閣下亦知因之未嘗以此自居也。 向者先儲皇以贊善之命來召，即與使者俱行，再奉旨令教學，亦即時應命。 後以老母中風，請還家省視，不幸彌留，竟遭憂制，遂不復出，初豈有意於不仕邪？ 今聖天子選用賢良，一新時政，雖前日隱晦之人，亦將出而仕矣，況因平昔非隱晦者邪！ 況加以不次之寵，處之以優崇之地邪！ 是以形留意往，命與心違，病臥空齋，惶恐待罪。
From childhood I have studied and absorbed whatever I could of the teachings left by great men and gentlemen. I may have gained little else, but regarding the duties of ruler and subject I believe my understanding is quite clear. To put it in terms of everyday life: by whose power is it that we can live in peace, eat at leisure, and enjoy the happiness of family and community? It is entirely the gift of our sovereign above. Therefore every person alive must, whether by labor or by knowledge and ability, find some way to repay that obligation. This is a necessity of principle and circumstance, unchanging through all ages—what Zhuangzi meant when he said there is no escaping it between Heaven and Earth. I have lived forty-three years without rendering even the smallest service to repay the state's grace in nourishing and sustaining my life. Yet favor after favor has arrived, and I still dare hold back and refuse to serve, cherishing a reputation for lofty withdrawal to flatter myself—thus failing the state's kindness and offending against the doctrine of the Mean taught by the sages! Moreover, the mind I have held from childhood to maturity has never for a single day pursued precipitous, peerless conduct that is lofty and hard to emulate. Friends of even one day's standing all know this about me. But some people, hearing only rumors and not seeking the truth, judge me by outward traces that merely resemble withdrawal, and therefore call me a lofty recluse—though Your Excellency knows I have never regarded myself as one. When the late Heir Apparent summoned me as Assistant, I set out at once with the envoy. When I received a second decree to teach, I responded immediately as well. Later, when my aged mother suffered a stroke, I asked to return home to care for her. Unfortunately her illness lingered, and in the end she died; I entered mourning and did not come forth again. Was that truly an intention never to serve? Now the sage Son of Heaven is selecting worthy men and renewing the policies of the age. Even those who were formerly obscure will come forth to serve—how much more should one who was never obscure! And how much more when unmerited favor is heaped upon one and one is placed in an honored and exalted post! Therefore my body and my intent pull in opposite directions; imperial command and my heart are at odds. I lie ill in an empty study, fearful and awaiting judgment.
5
因素有羸疾，自去年喪子，憂患之餘，繼以痁瘧，歷夏及秋，後雖平復，然精神氣血，已非舊矣。 不意今歲五月二十八日，瘧疾復作，至七月初二日，蒸發舊積，腹痛如刺，下血不已。 至八月初，偶起一念，自嘆旁無期功之親，家無紀綱之僕，恐一旦身先朝露，必至累人，遂遣人於容城先人墓側，修營一舍，儻病勢不退，當居處其中以待盡。 遣人之際，未免感傷，由是病勢益增，飲食極減。 至二十一日，使者持恩命至，因初聞之，惶怖無地，不知所措，徐而思之，竊謂供職雖未能扶病而行，而恩命則不敢不扶病而拜。 因又慮，若稍涉遲疑，則不惟臣子之心有所不安，而踪跡高峻，已不近於人情矣。 是以即日拜受，留使者，候病勢稍退，與之俱行。 遷延至今，服療百至，略無一效，乃請使者先行，仍令學生李道恆，納上鋪馬聖旨，待病退，自備氣力以行。 望閣下俯加矜憫，曲為保全。 因實疏遠微賤之臣，與帷幄諸公不同，其進與退，若非難處之事，惟閣下始終成就之。
I have long been frail in constitution. Since last year's loss of my son, grief and worry have been followed by recurrent malaria. Through summer and autumn the attacks subsided, but my spirit and vital energies are no longer what they were. Unexpectedly, on the twenty-eighth day of the fifth month this year the malaria returned. By the second day of the seventh month old accumulations flared up; abdominal pain stabbed like knives, and bloody stools would not stop. By early in the eighth month a thought suddenly arose. I sighed that I had no close kin to perform the mourning rites and no steward to manage the household, fearing that if I should die suddenly I would burden others. I therefore sent men to build a hut beside my ancestors' graves at Rongcheng, so that if the illness did not improve I might live there and await the end. At the moment of sending them off I could not keep from grief, and because of this the illness grew worse and I could scarcely eat. On the twenty-first day the envoy arrived bearing the imperial appointment. When I first heard it I was terrified beyond measure and did not know what to do. Slowly considering the matter, I thought that although I could not travel to my post while ill, I dared not fail to rise and bow to the imperial favor despite my illness. I also feared that the slightest hesitation would not only leave a subject's heart uneasy, but make my conduct appear lofty and remote, no longer close to ordinary human feeling. Therefore that very day I bowed and accepted the appointment, detained the envoy, and waited until my illness should ease somewhat before traveling with him. The delay has continued until now. I have taken medicines by the hundred with scarcely any effect. I therefore asked the envoy to go on ahead and had my student Li Daoheng present the imperial decree concerning relay horses, so that when my illness eases I may gather my strength and travel. I beg Your Excellency to look down with compassion and bend to preserve me. I am truly a remote and humble subject, unlike the ministers within the curtains. Whether I advance or withdraw is not in itself a difficult matter—only Your Excellency can bring it to completion from beginning to end.
6
書上，朝廷不強致，帝聞之，亦曰：「古有所謂不召之臣，其斯人之徒歟！」 三十年夏四月十有六日卒，年四十五。 無子，聞者嗟悼。 延祐中，贈翰林學士、資善大夫、上護軍，追封容城郡公，諡文靖。 歐陽玄嘗贊因畫像曰：「微點之狂，而有沂上風雩之樂； 資由之勇，而無北鄙鼓瑟之聲。 於裕皇之仁，而見不可留之四皓； 以世祖之略，而遇不能致之兩生。 烏乎！ 麒麟鳳凰，固宇內之不常有也，然而一鳴而《六典》作，一出而《春秋》成。 則其志不欲遺世而獨往也明矣，亦將從周公、孔子之後，為往聖繼絕學，為來世開太平者邪！」 論者以為知言。
When the letter was submitted, the court did not press him further. When the Emperor heard of it, he said, "Of old there were the so-called ministers who would not come when summoned—is this such a man?" On the sixteenth day of the fourth month in the thirtieth year of Zhiyuan (1293) he died, aged forty-five. He left no son; all who heard the news sighed in grief. During the Yanyou era he was posthumously appointed Hanlin Academician, Grand Master for Fostering Goodness, and Commander of the Upper Army, enfeoffed as Duke of Rongcheng Commandery, and given the posthumous title Wenjing. Ouyang Xuan once wrote in praise of Liu Yin's portrait: "The ardor of the micro-dot, yet with the joy of bathing at Yi above in the wind and rain; the courage of Zilu, yet without the sound of drumming at the northern frontier. In the Heir Apparent's benevolence one sees the Four Hoary Heads who could not be kept; under the strategic grasp of Emperor Shizu one meets the two scholars who could not be summoned. Alas! The qilin and phoenix are indeed rare under Heaven, yet with one cry the Six Canons were composed, with one emergence the Spring and Autumn was completed. His will not to abandon the world and walk alone is clear enough; he was surely meant to follow the Duke of Zhou and Confucius, continuing the severed learning of past sages and opening an age of great peace for generations to come!" Critics regarded this as words of genuine insight.
7
因所著有《四書精要》三十卷，詩五卷，號《丁亥集》，因所自選。 又有文集十餘卷，及《小學四書語錄》，皆門生故友所錄，惟《易繫辭說》，乃因病中親筆云。
Among Liu Yin's writings are Essential Explications of the Four Books in thirty juan, and five juan of poetry under the title Collected Works of the Dinghai Year, which he selected himself. He also left more than ten juan of collected writings and Recorded Sayings on the Elementary Learning and Four Books, all transcribed by students and old friends; only Explications of the Appended Remarks on the Changes was written in his own hand while he was ill.
8
吳澄，字幼清，撫州崇仁人。 高祖曄，初居咸口裡，當華蓋、臨川二山間，望氣者徐覺言其地當出異人。 澄生前一夕，鄉父老見異氣降其家，鄰媼复夢有物蜿蜓降其舍旁池中，旦以告於人，而澄生。 三歲，穎悟日發，教之古詩，隨口成誦。 五歲，日受千餘言，夜讀書至旦，母憂其過勤，節膏火，不多與，澄候母寢，燃火復誦習。 九歲，從群子弟試鄉校，每中前列。 既長，於《經》、《傳》皆習通之，知用力聖賢之學，嘗舉進士不中。
Wu Cheng, whose courtesy name was Youqing, came from Chongren in Fuzhou. His great-grandfather Ye first settled at Xiankou Village, between Mount Huagai and Mount Linchuan. A geomancer named Xu Jue said the place would produce an extraordinary man. On the night before Wu Cheng was born, village elders saw an unusual vapor descend upon his house. A neighboring old woman dreamed that something coiled descended into the pool beside their dwelling; at dawn she told others, and Cheng was born. At three his keen intelligence unfolded day by day. When taught ancient poetry he could recite it at once. At five he memorized more than a thousand words a day and read until dawn. His mother, fearing he studied too hard, rationed lamp oil and gave him little; Cheng waited until she slept, then lit a lamp and went on reading. At nine he joined the village youths in examinations at the local school and always ranked at the top. As he grew older he mastered the Classics and their commentaries and devoted himself to the learning of sages and worthies. He once took the jinshi examination but did not pass.
9
至元十三年，民初附，盜賊所在蜂起，樂安鄭松，招澄居布水穀，乃著《孝經章句》，校定《易》、《書》、《詩》、《春秋》、《儀禮》及大、小《戴記》。 侍御史程鉅夫，奉詔求賢江南，起澄至京師。 未幾，以母老辭歸。 鉅夫請置澄所著書於國子監，以資學者，朝廷命有司即其家錄上。 元貞初，遊龍興，按察司經歷郝文迎至郡學，日聽講論，錄其問答，凡數千言。 行省掾元明善以文學自負，嘗問澄《易》、《詩》、《書》、《春秋》奧義，歎曰：「與吳先生言，如探淵海。」 遂執子弟禮終其身。 左丞董士選延之於家，親執饋食，曰：「吳先生，天下士也。」 既入朝，薦澄有道，擢應奉翰林文字。 有司敦勸，久之乃至，而代者已至官，澄即日南歸。 未幾，除江西儒學副提舉，居三月，以疾去官。
In the thirteenth year of Zhiyuan (1276), when the people had just submitted to Yuan rule, bandits swarmed everywhere. Zheng Song of Le'an invited Cheng to live at Bushui Valley, where he wrote Explications of the Filial Classic and collated the Changes, Documents, Odes, Spring and Autumn, Rites, and the Record of Rites of the Elder and Younger Dai. Supervising Censor Cheng Jufu, bearing an edict to seek worthy men south of the Yangtze, summoned Wu Cheng to the capital. Before long he resigned and returned home because his mother was elderly. Cheng Jufu asked that Wu Cheng's writings be placed in the Directorate of Education for the use of scholars. The court ordered the relevant office to copy them from his home and present them. At the beginning of the Yuanzhen era he traveled to Longxing. Surveillance Commissioner Hao Wen welcomed him to the prefectural school, where each day he heard his lectures and recorded his questions and answers—several thousand words in all. Branch Secretariat Attendant Yuan Mingshan, proud of his literary accomplishments, once questioned Wu Cheng on the profound meaning of the Changes, Odes, Documents, and Spring and Autumn, and sighed, "Talking with Master Wu is like probing a deep sea." He thereafter treated Wu Cheng with the rites due a master for the rest of his life. Left Assistant Minister Dong Shixuan invited him to his home and personally served him food, saying, "Master Wu is a scholar of the realm." After entering court he recommended Wu Cheng as a man of the Way and had him appointed Hanlin Drafting Attendant for Imperial Orders. The relevant office urged him repeatedly. Only after a long delay did he come, but his replacement had already taken up the post, and Cheng returned south the same day. Before long he was appointed Associate Commissioner of Jiangxi Confucian Schools. After three months he left office because of illness.
10
至大元年，召為國子監丞。 先是，許文正公衡為祭酒，始以《朱子小學》等書授弟子，久之，漸失其舊。 澄至，旦燃燭堂上，諸生以次受業，日昃，退燕居之室，執經問難者，接踵而至。 澄各因其材質，反覆訓誘之，每至夜分，雖寒暑不易也。 皇慶元年，升司業，用程純公《學校奏疏》、胡文定公《六學教法》、朱文公《學校貢舉私議》，約之為教法四條：一曰經學，二曰行實，三曰文藝，四曰治事，未及行。 又嘗為學者言：「朱子於道問學之功居多，而陸子靜以尊德性為主。 問學不本於德性，則其敝必偏於言語訓釋之末，故學必以德性為本，庶幾得之。」 議者遂以澄為陸氏之學，非許氏尊信朱子本意，然亦莫知朱、陸之為何如也。 澄一夕謝去，諸生有不謁告而從之南者。 俄拜集賢直學士，特授奉議大夫，俾乘驛至京師，次真州，疾作，不果行。
In the first year of Zhida (1308) he was summoned as Vice Director of the Directorate of Education. Earlier, when Xu Heng served as Director of Education, he had first used Zhu Xi's Elementary Learning and related books to instruct his disciples; over time this practice gradually lapsed. When Wu Cheng arrived, each morning he lit candles in the lecture hall and taught the students in turn. At sunset he withdrew to his private chamber, and those who came bearing the classics to ask difficult questions followed one after another. Wu Cheng instructed each student according to his gifts, repeatedly guiding and admonishing them, often until midnight, and did not slacken whether in cold or heat. In the first year of Huangqing (1312) he was promoted to Vice Director. Drawing on Cheng Chun's Memorial on Schools, Hu Anguo's Six-Learning Teaching Method, and Zhu Xi's Private Discussion on School Recommendation and Examination, he distilled them into four articles of teaching method: classical learning, conduct, literary accomplishment, and administration of affairs—before they could be put into practice. He also once told his students, "Zhu Xi's achievement lay chiefly in the Way through inquiry and learning, while Lu Xiangshan focused on honoring moral nature. Inquiry and learning not rooted in moral nature will in the end skew toward verbal exegesis and commentary alone; therefore learning must take moral nature as its foundation if one is to attain the Way." Critics thereupon labeled Wu Cheng a follower of Lu Xiangshan's school, not in keeping with Xu Heng's original intent of revering Zhu Xi—yet they also did not truly understand what Zhu and Lu represented. One evening Wu Cheng resigned. Some students, without even asking formal leave, followed him south. Soon he was appointed Academician in Ordinary of the Hall of Gathered Worthies, specially granted the rank of Grand Master for Discussion of Governance, and ordered to travel by relay post to the capital. At Zhenzhou he fell ill and could not continue.
11
泰定元年，初開經筵，首命澄與平章政事張圭、國子祭酒鄧文原為講官。 在至治末，詔作太廟，議者習見同堂異室之制，乃作十三室。 未及遷奉，而國有大故，有司疑於昭穆之次，命集議之。 澄議曰：「世祖混一天下，悉考古制而行之。 古者天子七廟，廟各為宮，太祖居中，左三廟為昭，右三廟為穆，昭穆神主，各以次遞遷，其廟之宮，頗如今之中書六部。 夫省部之設，亦仿金、宋，豈以宗廟敘次而不考古乎！」 有司急於行事，竟如舊次云。 時澄已有去志，會修《英宗實錄》，命總其事。 居數月，《實錄》成，未上，即移疾不出。 中書左丞許師敬奉旨賜宴國史院，仍致朝廷勉留之意，宴罷，即出城登舟去。 中書聞之，遣官驛追，不及而還，言於帝曰：「吳澄，國之名儒，朝之舊德，今請老而歸，不忍重勞之，宜有所褒異。」 詔加資善大夫，仍以金織文綺二及鈔五千貫賜之。
In the first year of Taiding (1324), when the Classics Lecture was first established, Wu Cheng was among the first appointed, together with Grand Councillor Zhang Gui and Director of Education Deng Wenyuan, to serve as lecturers. Late in the Zhizhi era an edict ordered construction of the Imperial Ancestral Temple. The officials, accustomed to the system of a shared hall with separate chambers, therefore built thirteen chambers. Before the spirit tablets could be moved and installed, the state suffered a great calamity. The relevant office was uncertain about the order of zhao and mu shrines and ordered a collective deliberation. Wu Cheng submitted his opinion, saying, "Emperor Shizu unified the realm under Heaven and broadly investigated ancient institutions in implementing them. In antiquity the Son of Heaven maintained seven ancestral temples, each temple its own palace, with the Founding Ancestor in the center, three zhao temples on the left and three mu temples on the right. The spirit tablets of zhao and mu were moved in turn according to rank, and the temple palaces were rather like today's Six Departments of the Central Secretariat. The establishment of ministries and departments likewise follows Jin and Song models—how could one, merely because of ancestral temple ordering, fail to investigate antiquity!" The relevant office, eager to proceed, in the end followed the old arrangement. By then Wu Cheng already intended to resign. It happened that the Veritable Records of Emperor Yingzong were being compiled, and he was ordered to oversee the project. After several months the Veritable Records were completed. Before they could be submitted he pleaded illness and stopped coming to court. Left Assistant Minister of the Secretariat Xu Shijing, by imperial order, gave a banquet at the National History Academy and conveyed the court's wish that he remain. When the banquet ended, he left the city at once and boarded a boat to depart. The Secretariat heard of this and sent an official by relay post to pursue him, but could not overtake him. The official returned and said to the Emperor, "Wu Cheng is a famous Confucian of the realm and an old worthy of the court. Now he asks to retire—I cannot bear to burden him further, and he should receive some special honor." An edict promoted him to Grand Master for Fostering Goodness and bestowed two bolts of gold-woven patterned silk and five thousand strings of paper money.
12
澄身若不勝衣，正坐拱手，氣融神邁，答問亹亹，使人渙若冰釋。 弱冠時，嘗著說曰：「道之大原出於天，神聖繼之，堯、舜而上，道之元也； 堯、舜而下，其亨也； 洙、泗、鄒、魯，其利也； 濂、洛、關、閩，其貞也。 分而言之，上古則羲、黃其元，堯、舜其亨，禹、湯其利，文、武、周公其貞乎！ 中古之統：仲尼其元，顏、曾其亨乎，子思其利，孟子其貞乎！ 近古之統：周子其元，程、張其亨也，朱子其利也，孰為今日之貞乎？ 未之有也。 然則可以終無所歸哉！」 其早以斯文自任如此。 故出登朝署，退歸於家，與郡邑之所經由，士大夫皆迎請執業，而四方之士不憚數千里，躡屩負笈來學山中者，常不下千數百人。 少暇即著書，至將終，猶不置也。 於《易》、《春秋》、《禮記》，各有纂言，盡破傳注穿鑿，以發其蘊，條歸紀敘，精明簡潔，卓然成一家言。 作《學基》、《學統》二篇，使人知學之本與為學之序，尤有得於邵子之學。 校定《皇極經世書》，又校正《老子》、《莊子》、《太玄經》、《樂律》，及《八陣圖》、郭璞《葬書》。
Wu Cheng's frame seemed scarcely able to bear clothing. Sitting upright with joined hands, his spirit was harmonious and his bearing transcendent. In answering questions he was tireless, and listeners felt their doubts melt away like ice in spring. In his youth he once wrote a treatise, saying, "The great origin of the Way comes forth from Heaven, and the sages continue it. Above Yao and Shun lies the Origin of the Way; Below Yao and Shun comes its Flourishing; Zhu, Si, Zou, and Lu represent its Advantage; Lian, Luo, Guan, and Min represent its Steadfastness. Speaking in detail: in high antiquity Fuxi and the Yellow Emperor are the Origin, Yao and Shun the Flourishing, Yu and Tang the Advantage, and King Wen, King Wu, and the Duke of Zhou the Steadfastness! The lineage of middle antiquity: Confucius is the Origin, Yan Hui and Zeng Shen perhaps the Flourishing, Zisi the Advantage, Mencius the Steadfastness! The lineage of recent antiquity: Zhou Dunyi is the Origin, the Cheng brothers and Zhang Zai the Flourishing, Zhu Xi the Advantage—who is today's Steadfastness? There has not yet been such a one. Yet can the Way in the end have nowhere to return!" Thus from early on he took upon himself this charge of civilization. Therefore whether he went forth to hold office at court or withdrew to his home, in every prefecture and county he passed through, scholar-officials welcomed him to teach. Scholars from the four quarters did not shrink from traveling thousands of li, treading in sandals and bearing satchels to study with him in the mountains—often no fewer than a thousand or several hundred at a time. Whenever he had a moment's leisure he wrote books, and even as death approached he did not set them aside. On the Changes, Spring and Autumn, and Record of Rites he composed separate expository works, thoroughly breaking through the forced interpretations of transmitted commentaries to unfold their inner meaning. His arrangements by category and chronology were clear and concise, and he outstandingly formed a school of his own. He wrote the two treatises Foundations of Learning and Succession of Learning, to show people the root of learning and the proper order of pursuing it, drawing especially on Shao Yong's teachings. He collated Shao Yong's Classic of the Supreme Ultimate Governing the Age, and also corrected the Laozi, Zhuangzi, Yang Xiong's Classic of the Supreme Mystery, treatises on music and pitch standards, the Eight-Formation Diagram, and Guo Pu's Book of Burial.
13
初，澄所居草屋數間，程鉅夫題曰草廬，故學者稱之為草廬先生。 天曆三年，朝廷以澄耆老，特命次子京為撫州教授，以便奉養。 明年六月，得疾，有大星墜其舍東北，澄卒，年八十五。 贈江西行省左丞、上護軍，追封臨川郡公，諡文正。
Earlier Wu Cheng lived in a few thatched rooms. Cheng Jufu inscribed the name Thatched Hut over the door, and scholars therefore called him Master Thatched Hut. In the third year of Tianli (1330), because Wu Cheng was elderly, the court specially appointed his second son Jing professor at Fuzhou to facilitate his care. In the sixth month of the following year he fell ill. A great star fell to the northeast of his dwelling, and Wu Cheng died, aged eighty-five. He was posthumously appointed Left Assistant Minister of the Jiangxi Branch Secretariat and Commander of the Upper Army, enfeoffed as Duke of Linchuan Commandery, and given the posthumous title Wenzheng.
14
長子文，終同知柳州路總管府事； 京，終翰林國史院典籍官。 孫當，自有傳。
His eldest son Wen eventually served as Associate Administrator of the Liuzhou Circuit General Administration; Jing eventually served as Archivist of the Hanlin National History Academy. His grandson Dang has his own biography.