RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1961 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/vd6724704 Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong Branch RASHKB and author 68 Vol 1 (1961) ISSN 1991-7295 BUDDHIST SOURCES OF THE NOVEL FENG-SHEN YEN-I : LIU TS'UN-YAN. PH.D. INTRODUCTION The Feng-shên Yen-i, or 'Investiture of the Gods,' is a long novel consisting of 100 chapters. Its authorship had long been unknown, until in 1931 Prof. Sun K'ai-ti discovered in the Japanese Cabinet Library a Ming edition of this novel labelled "compiled (pien-chi) by Hsu Chung-lin, styled Chung-shan I-sou." Many scholars therefore concluded that Hsü Chung-lin was the author. For instance, Lu Hsün in his A Brief History of Chinese Fiction (Chung-kuo Hsiao-shuo Shih-lüeh) mentioned Hsü as the author, though he added that he had not seen the original preface and therefore could not ascertain the date of the novel. This attribution of authorship is not reliable, for in Ming times the term "compiling” (pien-chi) was rather freely used, and sometimes booksellers would reprint a book with slight additions and alterations and label it as being "compiled" by a new writer. In view of this, from 1935 to 1956, I tried to find out the true author of this novel, and my researches led me to the conclusion that the author or compiler of the novel was in fact Lu Hsi-hsing (1520-1601?), a Taoist priest of the Chia Ching period. Like the Hsi-yu-chi ("Pilgrimage to the West", also known to Western readers as "Monkey"), the Fêng-shên Yen-i is a work of fiction dealing with the supernatural. It was produced during the time when Chinese fiction was evolving from the prompt-books (hua-pên) of story-tellers to long novels. Its plot is based on the historical events related to the defeat of King 1 There is no English translation of this novel. The German translation by Wilhelm Grube and Herbert Mueller, Die Metamorphosen der Götter (2 vols., Leiden, Brill, 1912) contains only chapters 1-46. Chapters 47-100 have been summarized by Mueller. The novel is mentioned in E. T. C. Werner, Myths and Legends of China (London, 1934) and in Sir J. C. Coyajee, Cults and Legends of Ancient Iran and China (Bombay, 1935). 2 Chung-kuo Hsiao-shuo Shih-lüeh, Ch. 18, p. 176 (1953); also the English translation entitled A Brief History of Chinese Fiction by Yang Hsien-yi and Gladys Yang, p. 220 (1959). 3 Details of my evidence and arguments are contained in my unpublished thesis, "The Authorship of the Feng-shen Yen-i", a copy of which is in the library of the School of Oriental and African Studies, London University. 4 Cf. James J. Y. Liu, "The Knight Errant in Chinese Literature", in this volume, pp. 30-41. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1987 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522 109 MCKENZIE, Herbert 29.1.1876 MCMULLEN, Jacob 28.7.1937 George Houghton MCPHERSON, Alex 28.7.1905 MCPHERSON, Buddy 19.9.1938 Aeneas Cameron MCPHERSON, Peter 13.11.1935 MADISON, Geoffrey 22.11.1936 MAHONEY, Cyril 9.2.1845 MALCOLM, Alexander 24.5.1932 James Cook MANIHAN, Alfred 17.7.1938 MANN, Ludwig 28.3.1892 MANRIQUE, Alonso 17.3.1908 MARCUSSON, Paul Not known Lallace MARTIN, J (infant child of) MASON, John Robert MATHEWS, Abraham Peter Everhard MESKE, Karl 1.5.1903 MARTIN, Paul Curt 19.7.1904 Not known MASON, John Jr 11.11.1924 29.8.1903 MENHORN, Max 30.12.1906 5.3.1915 MEYER, Ernesto 5.1903 MEYERBREI, Jean 17.8.1915 MILAS, Leonides 30.6.1962 MITCHELL, James 29.1.1922 MITCHELL, Mary 2.3.1921 MOREHOUSE, Harry W 19.1.1886 MORRIS, Heten 27.5.1944 MOREHOUSE, Oscar F 9.11.1885 MORRISON, Raymond 5.6.1958 Margaret Arthur MUELLER, Heinrich 18.10.1913 MULLEN, G H 27.11.1936 MUNRO, John 1.2.1941 MURRAY, Samuel 12.10.1924 NELLE, John Edw. 29.7.1914 NEUMARK, Walter 2.9.1922 Fritz NEWCOMBE, Mahalla 19.7.1919 NEWTON, A Cochrance 28.4.1942 NICHOLSON, Charles 24.2.1912 NORDMANN, Maria 24.5.1875 Stewart Schwab de NUSSBAUM, Gottlieb 17.1.1900 NYSSENS, George 12.4.1893 OAKEY, Francis 17.11.1880 OGILVIE, John 2.11.1882 OLSEN + Not known OPPEL, Gustav 11.11.1875 OSWALD, James 27.11.1865 OTT, Theodor 26.3.1886 PACKSCHICK, Otto 13.2.1915 PALOMO, Emilio 6.8.1964 PANTELL, H 17.6.1916 PATRICK, David Jean 24.3.1896 PAUKERT, Karl 20.6.1914 PEACOCK, Charles 31.1.1945 Samuel PERRY, Robert 8.1898 PETERSEN, Johnny 30.10.1915 PETTY OFFICER from USS "Richmond” 24.12.1879 PEACET, Emile 8.10.1877 PIDERIT, Karl 16.6.1922 PIERCE, Joseph 19.2.1879 PINFORD, Frederick S 6.1951 PITCHER, Samuel C 31.1.1895 PLAZA, Dominga 30.6.1963 PLITTS, W 3.9.1882 PLUMB, William W 21.7.1902 POLLARD, Reginald Lucas 25.7.1889 POLLARD, Thomas 9.8.1889 POLLITZ, Fernando Sydney 7.1902 POND, Oriana 11.7.1869 PORTE, J Marius 14.1.1866 PRALL, Joseph Apsley 10.4.1905 PREHN, Heinrich Otto Friedr. Ludwig 24.12.1878 PRESTON, SC 14.3.1932 PRESTONJEE, J 25.11.1959 PRING, Reginald D 15.11.1938 PURKISS, Garnett Gladstone 8.12.1966 RAE, Alexander 16.9.1884 RALPH, John 18.9.1908 RALSTONE, Robert 10.2.1945 RASCH, Mrs Herta 9.2.1945 ================================================================================