Confucianism and Confucian Connotation in Ding Shihan's(丁時翰) Four Poetry

丁愚潭先生四詩之儒賢意蘊

Ding Shihan(styled Yutan; 丁時翰, 愚潭) was famous for his four-seven differentiation(四七辨證) on the area of neo-Confucianism. Yet few comments and criticism were made on his poetry, for rarely of which was handed down from generations. Hence there is a mystry on his talent in terms of poetics. Noted by Zhou Dunyi(styled Lianxi; 周敦頤, 濂溪) and Zhuxi(styled Hui'an; 朱熹, 晦庵) in Song Dynasty, most of neo-Confucianism scholars after them were expert at intoning and thus formed the poetic school of "Elegance of Lian-Luo"(濂洛風雅). Therefore, there is also a mystry on how his poetry related to his works of neo-Cunfucianism. During his whole life, Ding never involved himself in politics as an official. He read Confucian classics a lot, and was also proficient in classics of Buddhism and Taoism. In addition, he was fond of travelling in nature. A superfical conclustion is made based on these situation that his thoughts was closely linked with Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism. Therefore, it is worth elaborating whether his thoughts belonged to Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism, and whether he was a pure Confucian( 醇儒) through his whole life.

愚潭先生于理学, 以≪四七辨证≫贡献最大, 由此知名｡ 其诗咏作品, 传世甚少｡ 学者迄今鲜有论述｡ 那么愚潭之于诗学, 其才情如何, 即成疑问｡ 自宋周濂溪至朱晦庵以来, 理学诸儒多能吟咏, 故有"濂洛风雅"一派｡ 愚潭之诗與其理学著作, 究竟具有何种关联, 亦成疑问｡ 愚潭终身不仕, 儒书之外, 又谙熟佛典與仙道, 又性好游观, 凡此种种, 就外表而言, 则似介于儒学與佛,道之间, 那么愚潭先生之立身, 究竟为儒家, 为佛道, 亦颇有探讨价值｡ 其一生学养所归, 是否醇儒, 仍须辨明｡