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Ji Kang

Cao Wei thinker and zither player of the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove, executed under Sima Zhao after refusing office and defending his friend Lu An

Also known as Zi Shuye · Ji Zhongsan

Ji Kang, courtesy name Shuye, came from Zhi county in the state of Qiao, married into the Cao imperial house and held the title grand master of palace leisure. Devoted to Laozi and Zhuangzi, he kept company with Ruan Ji, Shan Tao, Xiang Xiu, Liu Ling, Ruan Xian and Wang Rong, a group later called the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove. When Shan Tao proposed him as his successor in office, he replied with a letter breaking off their friendship. After his friend Lu An was falsely accused by his own brother Lu Xun, Ji Kang spoke in his defense, was slandered by Zhong Hui and put to death with Lu An on Sima Zhao's order. The *Book of Jin* (*Jinshu*) says three thousand students of the Imperial Academy asked in vain to have him as teacher, and that before his death he played the tune 'Guangling San', lamenting that it would now be lost. His essays 'On Nourishing Life' and 'Music Has No Sorrow or Joy' survive.

Life and times

  1. 223 CEBornThree Kingdoms
  2. 240Flourishing of Neo-Daoist ThoughtTook partage 17The Bamboo Grove Sages and metaphysical ontology, sparking individual awakening and literati aesthetic freedom.
  3. 262 CEDied

Works

  1. Literature · Sayings8
    1. Through Boiling Water and FireThree KingdomsIdiom from Ji Kang's Letter Breaking Ties with Shan Juyuan: braving any danger
    2. Mournful Music of a Perishing StateThree KingdomsIdiom quoted in Ji Kang's On Music Having No Sorrow or Joy: the sad music of a dying state
    3. Things Turned Out Against My WishesThree KingdomsIdiom from Ji Kang's Poem of Secret Indignation: plans undone, held in prison
    4. Music Holds No Sorrow or Joy: Ji Kang's ThesisThree KingdomsFamous line from Ji Kang's essay: sorrow and joy lie in the heart, not in the sound
    5. Longing Like Thirst and Hunger: Ji Kang Misses His BrotherThree KingdomsIdiom from Ji Kang's poems to his soldier brother: longing as urgent as thirst and hunger
    6. +3 more
      1. Free of Care When the Heart Is ContentThree KingdomsAphorism from Ji Kang's prison poem: geese that move with the seasons and know no care
      2. Catch the Fish and Forget the TrapThree KingdomsIdiom from the Zhuangzi, echoed by Ji Kang: the trap forgotten once the fish is landed
      3. Swift as Wind, Gone Like LightningThree KingdomsIdiom from Ji Kang's poems for his soldier brother: a rider swift as wind and lightning
  2. Literature · Prose3
    1. Letter Breaking Ties with Shan JuyuanThree KingdomsJi Kang's letter to Shan Tao refusing office under the Sima clan and ending their friendship
    2. Treatise on Nurturing LifeThree KingdomsJi Kang's Wei-era treatise on nourishing life through calm, few desires and bodily care
    3. On Music Having No Sorrow or JoyThree KingdomsJi Kang's debate in eight rounds arguing that music itself holds neither sorrow nor joy
  3. Literature · Poetry2
    1. Four-Character Poems to My Elder Brother the Cultivated Talent on Joining the ArmyThree KingdomsJi Kang's four-character cycle for his brother Ji Xi joining the army, serene and detached
    2. Poem of Dark IndignationThree KingdomsJi Kang's long four-character poem from prison, examining the candour that doomed him

Family tree

  1. Direct kin
    Ji Kang
    Son
    Ji Shao

Connections

  1. Shared events4
    1. Wang Bi226 CE–249 CE
    2. He Yanc. 203 CE–249 CE
    3. Ruan Ji210 CE–263 CE
    4. Xiang Xiuc. 227 CE–c. 272 …
  2. Teachers and students1
    1. Zhao ZhiStudent · Dates unknown; di…

Records

Author of Yangsheng lun and Sheng wu ai le lun

Wei of the Three Kingdoms

The Book of Jin says Ji Kang had loved the Laozi and Zhuangzi since youth, wrote the Yangsheng lun, and composed the Sheng wu ai le lun, which it calls well organised, and that he could write with lofty feeling. He married into the Wei imperial house and was made grand master of the palace.

References (1)

Asked for his zither before execution

Late Wei

The Book of Jin says Ji Kang played the zither and chanted poems for his own pleasure. When he was about to be executed in the eastern market, three thousand students asked to take him as teacher and were refused; he looked at the sun's shadow, asked for his zither and played, and sighed that the Guangling san was now lost. He was forty.

References (1)