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FXXP / ToC  
31. Record of a Crude Dwelling
- shang mode, standard tuning: 5 6 1 2 3 5 6 played as 1 2 4 5 6 1 2 		陋室銘
Loushi Ming1

Loushi Ming in FXXP is a short song using as lyrics a poem by Liu Yuxi (772 - 842).2 This is the earliest of at least 12 handbooks that include this title.3 All versions I have been able to examine use the same lyrics. However, although the fact of setting these lyrics to music has given all the melodies a structural similarity, the early melodies are all quite different.

The version here has no preface. The preface in the ca. 1609 version tells a short story about Liu Yuxi.

Not complete.

 
Original preface4

None

 
One Section
Lyrics by Liu Yuxi5

Mountains are not only about height: they are only famous if immortals live there.
Seas are not only about depth: they only have spirit if a dragon lives in them.
Thus is my simple hut, with only the fragrance of my own virtue.
Green lichen is coming up the steps, the color of grass comes through the neutral window screen.
Talk and laughter have erudition, no ignorant people pass to and fro.
One can play a simple qin, or read the Diamond Sutra.
There is not the jarring sound of common music, no straining over work files.
Nanyang had the cottage of Zhuge Liang, Western Sichuan had the pavilion of Yang Xiong.
Confucius said, If a gentleman lives there, how can it be crude?

 
Footnotes (Shorthand references are explained on a separate page)

1 42549.14 quotes Liu Yuxi's poem and also one of the same title by 崔沔 Cui Mian (673 - 739; Bio/2158) (Return)

2 The poem has been translated by Herbert Giles as My Humble Home. It is included in Minford and Lau, Classical Chinese Literature, Vol. I, p. 1009. (Return)

3 Zha's Guide 15/162/355 has this title in 12 handbooks published as follows,

1539 (II/149)
1585 (IV/339; new melody)
1591 (V/492; related to 1539)
<1609 (VII/191; new melody)
1611 (VII/454; like <1609)
late Ming (IX/463; like <1609)
1738
1739 (facsimile)
1802 (XVII/529; like <1609)
1828
1876
1878.
(Return)

4 (Return)

5 Giles' translation of Liu Yuxi's poem skips the lines about ignorant people and the qin. The original lyrics are:

山不在高，有仙則名。
水不在深，有龍則靈。
斯是陋室，惟吾德馨。
苔痕上階綠，草色入簾青。
談笑有鴻儒，往來無白丁。
可以調素琴，閱金經。
無絲竹之亂耳，無案牘之勞形。
南陽諸葛廬，西蜀子雲亭。
孔子云，君子居之，何陋之有。
(Return)

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