Yuan You, its prelude Chu Tai Yin (Dwell at the Source) and their modal preface Yize Yi occur only in Xilutang Qintong, though there is record of Yuan You Yin (Travel Afar Intonation) as an ancient title.² The titles Chu Tai Yin³ and Yuan You (as well as its eight section titles) connect the melodies to a poem traditionally attributed to Qu Yuan (340? - 278 BCE) called Yuan You, included in the Chu Ci (Songs of the South).⁴

The poem Yuan You, when not attributed to Qu Yuan, is usually said to be a Han imitation in his style. In the introduction to his translation,⁵ David Hawkes suggests that this theory has led to a number of misinterpretations of the poem (presumably including the one expressed in preface to the melody, translated below).

In fact, writes Hawkes, the poem is probably an original work, one which Sima Xiangru used as the basis for his poem Da Ren Fu (The Mighty Man),⁶ and a "Taoist's answer to (Qu Yuan's) Li Sao". In Yuan You the narrator, as in Li Sao, travels the heavens visiting various deities or immortals. But instead of ending in despair he finds fulfillment through his arrival at the Source (Tai Chu).

The section titles mention stops on the journey. Wangzi Qiao was a famous immortal who is usually depicted in art riding on a crane while playing the sheng mouth organ.⁷ Following him presumably means, like him, fleeing society and becoming a recluse; asking him about balancing ones basic essence refers to the concept that men can lose this essence while asleep. The Palace of Heaven (Tai Yi)⁸ was the abode of the deity that at the time some considered supreme, Great Unity (Tai Yi). Tai Hao was deity of the Eastern Sky, Ru Shou was the deity of the Western Sky, Huo Di (the Fiery God) was in the south (Zhu Rong was his attendant⁹), while Zhuan Xu¹⁰ was god of the north (Xuan Ming was his attendant).

The eight sections of the qin melody Yuan You correspond to eight lines of the poem, in order.¹¹ Bai Yunli has drawn illustrations of these eight section titles.¹²

There are no available recordings of Yuan You.

 
Preface¹³

When Qu Yuan was slandered and dismissed from office, he expressed his will in his essay Yuan You. He gave rein to his passions and regarded worldly affairs with contempt. In spirit he wandered beyond the physical world. As a gentleman avoiding the world he wrote this to proclaim that he was grief and turmoil. The prince received this blessing, and sighed deeply.

 
Eight sections¹⁴

1. Following Wangzi Qiao for pleasure (l.54)
2. Asking (Wangzi Qiao) about balancing ones basic essence (l.62)
3. Setting off from the Palace of Heaven (l.93)
4. Turning right (in the realm of) Tai Hao (lord of the eastern sky) (l.107)
5. Meeting (Ru Shou) in the western realm (l.114)
6. Going directly (south) to the Fiery God (l.139)
7. The rough (northern) paths of Xuan Ming (l.159)
8. Into the neighborhood of the Great Source (l.172)
   harmonics
   end

 
Footnotes (Shorthand references are explained on a separate page)

1 39908.203; see Zha Fuxi's index 21/192/-- . (Return)

2 遠遊吟; see 僧居月，琴曲目錄，中古 Seng, Qin Melody Index, middle ancient. (Return)

3 處泰 Chu Tai is short for 處泰初 Chu Taichu, as in the last line of Yuan You, 與泰初而為鄰 "went into the area of the Great Beginning." For 泰初 Taichu see 17716.48 "= 太始 great beginning". See also the title of Yuan You Section 8. (Return)

4 The ancient state of Chu was in the southwest of China, roughly corresponding with today's Hunan province. (Return)

5 David Hawkes, The Songs of the South, pp.191-203. (Return)

6 Translated in Stephen Owen, An Anthology of Chinese Literature, pp.181-184 ("The Great One"). When Sima Xiangru was young he lived at the Liang court at what is today 商丘 Shangqiu in eastern Henan province. (Return)

7 For 21295.39 王子喬 Wangzi Qiao see also Xilutang Qintong #96 Yao Tian Sheng He. His biography in Liexian Zhuan (attrib. 1st c. BCE, but perhaps late Han) says he played 笙 sheng. Were the 排簫 paixiao panpipes ever confused with them? (Return)

8 太儀 Palace of Heaven; 太一 Great Unity. Hawkes, op.cit., says this puts the narrator's journey outside our universe. (Return)

9 See Shen Qi Mi Pu #64, Qiu Hong. (Return)

10 顓頊 Zhuan Xu (Return)

11 Corresponding to lines 54, 62, 93, 107, 114, 139, 159 and 172 (see the section titles).

12 See details in the footnote with the Chu Ci Illustrations. (Return)

13 See the original (included here later). (Return)

14 The original Chinese section titles are:

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