The titles Chu Tai Yin⁷ and Yuan You (as well as its eight section titles) connect the melodies to a poem called Yuan You, one of the Chu Ci (Songs of the South); the poem is traditionally attributed to Qu Yuan (340? - 278 BCE).⁸ When not attributed to him it is usually said to be a Han imitation in his style. In the introduction to his translation,⁹ 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),¹⁰ 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.¹¹ 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)¹² 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 attendant¹³), while Zhuan Xu¹⁴ was god of the north (Xuan Ming was his attendant).

The titles of the eight sections of the qin melody Yuan You correspond to eight lines of the poem of that title, in order.¹⁵ Bai Yunli has drawn illustrations of these eight section titles.¹⁶

There are no available recordings of Yuan You.

 
Preface¹⁷

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.

 
Music
Eight sections; titles correspond with lines of the original poem ¹⁸

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

 
Footnotes (Shorthand references are explained on a separate page)

1. Yuan You references
39908.203 遠遊; see Zha Fuxi's index 21/192/-- .
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2. Yize Yi 夷則意
See modal prelude.
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3. Illustration
By Bai Yunli; see details.
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4. For example, the 1549 afterword to #54 Cangwu Yuan says it was revised and corrected by the Song dynasty's Yang Zuan.
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5. Dating Yuan You
In addition to Yuan You Yin being on ancient melody lists (see next footnote), other factors suggesting its antiquity include its archaic tuning, plus the fact that, although it occurs only in the present handbook, it is quite a well-developed melody. This may suggest that at the time of its publication it was not actively performed, simply copied from earlier tablature.
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6. Yuan You Yin 遠遊吟
See 僧居月，琴曲目錄，中古 Seng, Qin Melody Index, moderately ancient #26.
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7. Chu Tai Yin
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.
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8. 屈原 Qu Yuan (340? - 278 BCE)
Qu Yuan, a native of 楚國 the ancient state of Chu (in southwest China, roughly corresponding with today's Hunan province), is here referred to as 楚三閭 Chu Sanlü, short for 楚三閭大夫 Chu Sanlü Daifu (10.1633: one of the three top ministers of Chu, lü meaning something like "region").
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9. David Hawkes, The Songs of the South, pp.191-203.
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10. 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.
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11. 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?
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12. 太儀 Palace of Heaven; 太一 Great Unity. Hawkes, op.cit., says this puts the narrator's journey outside our universe.
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13. See Shen Qi Mi Pu #64, Qiu Hong.
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14. 顓頊 Zhuan Xu
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15. Corresponding to lines 54, 62, 93, 107, 114, 139, 159 and 172 (see the section titles).
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16. See details in the footnote with the Chu Ci Illustrations.
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17. Original preface:
楚三閭被讒見放，伸志遠遊之篇，肆情傲物，遊神八表，避世之士，而作此以宣其湮鬱不平者也。王明受福，付之三嘆。
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18. Original Chinese section titles
The original section titles are:

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