Journal paper

Issue No.	Issue 68
Title	The Interpretations of “Gan Gui-Shen” in Confucian Canon Studies and Literature: The Viewpoints of Ouyang Xiu
Author	FUNG, CHI-WANG
Page	33～66
Abstract	Ouyang Xiu repudiated the accounts of miracles and anomalies in the Classic of Poetry. In the second year of Qingli (1042), he set the following question in the jinshi examination, “Can what is said in poem connect with Heaven, Earth, ghosts, and gods?” What would be Ouyang’s answer to this question? This paper examines Ouyang’s writings about “connecting with ghosts and gods” (感鬼神), relates them to the viewpoints of the Song people, which indicates: the “ghosts and gods” Ouyang repudiated are the concept of soul, ghosts and monsters, and the “strange changes” (怪變) which contradict the Way of Heaven and human affairs. However, concerning the notion about “the harmonious connection between the qi (氣) of men and Heaven and Earth”, Ouyang considered that “Heaven, Earth, gods, and men are no different from one another”. Based on the concept of qi ying (氣應), Ouyang agreed that poems can connect with ghosts and gods. Ouyang was clear about the distinction between “a poet’s intention” (詩人之意) and “the will of shengren” (聖人之志): not all poets are shengren, but if “their emotions in response to the ups and downs of life are conveyed in their poems” wholeheartedly, then what is said in their poetry can interact with Heaven, Earth, gods, and humanity. The significance of Ouyang’s interpretation is that he theoretically relates two concepts, which are respectively about the Classic of Poetry and poems in the context of “gan gui-shen”, indicating poems of different themes and about different emotions, written after the Classic of Poetry, can embody the tradition thereof and connect with Heaven, Earth, ghosts, and gods, in condition that they were written with complete sincerity.
Keyword	Ouyang Xiu, Ghosts and Gods, Confucian Canon Studies and Literature, Su Shun-qin, Mei Yao-chen
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