Instructions of Zhao Zhenji (1508–1576) to the County Governor of Dazu on the Confucian Canons, the Way, and the Four Omissions

This article presents the fi rst Russian translation and a philosophical analysis of “Notes on the Chambers of Canon Veneration in the School of Confucian Scholars of Dazu County” (Dazu-xian ruxue zunjing ge ji 大足縣儒學尊經閣記) by Zhao Zhenji 趙貞吉 (1508–1576), a prominent Ming dynasty statesman and an understudied philosopher. The text records a dialogue between Zhao and Dong Ji, the magistrate of Dazu County in Sichuan Province, on the occasion of the Chambers’ inauguration at the local Confucian school. In his discourse, Zhao articulates his views on the role of the Confucian canons in the world and Confucius’s intentions in their compilation, while introducing the concept of wei 未 (“not yet”) – the inaccessibility of understanding Confucius’s thought – and “four omissions” (si shi四失) associated with it, namely: excessive breadth (bo 博), leading to confusion (luan 亂); heterodoxy (yi 異), leading to fragmentation (san 散); verbosity, leading to impropriety (jian 僭); and excessive concision, leading to absurdity (dan 誕). The study concludes that the “Notes” align with orthodox Confucian ideology, displaying intolerance toward non-Confucian teachings while exhibiting minimal infl uence from the Taizhou school’s typical humanism, pragmatism, and populist tendencies. Additionally, the article suggests that the text may have been composed at the request of local authorities and identifi es and explicates numerous allusions to classical Chinese philosophical works. This article presents the fi rst Russian translation and a philosophical analysis of “Notes on the Chambers of Canon Veneration in the School of Confucian Scholars of Dazu County” (Dazu-xian ruxue zunjing ge ji 大足縣儒學尊經閣記) by Zhao Zhenji 趙貞吉 (1508–1576), a prominent Ming dynasty statesman and an understudied philosopher. The text records a dialogue between Zhao and Dong Ji, the magistrate of Dazu County in Sichuan Province, on the occasion of the Chambers’ inauguration at the local Confucian school. In his discourse, Zhao articulates his views on the role of the Confucian canons in the world and Confucius’s intentions in their compilation, while introducing the concept of wei 未 (“not yet”) – the inaccessibility of understanding Confucius’s thought – and “four omissions” (si shi四失) associated with it, namely: excessive breadth (bo 博), leading to confusion (luan 亂); heterodoxy (yi 異), leading to fragmentation (san 散); verbosity, leading to impropriety (jian 僭); and excessive concision, leading to absurdity (dan 誕). The study concludes that the “Notes” align with orthodox Confucian ideology, displaying intolerance toward non-Confucian teachings while exhibiting minimal infl uence from the Taizhou school’s typical humanism, pragmatism, and populist tendencies. Additionally, the article suggests that the text may have been composed at the request of local authorities and identifi es and explicates numerous allusions to classical Chinese philosophical works.