Yi-Luo yuanyuan lu 伊洛淵源錄

Yi-Luo yuanyuan lu 伊洛淵源錄 "The origins of the Yi-Luo school", also written 伊雒淵源錄, is a collection of biographies of important Neo-Confucian scholars compiled by the philosopher Zhu Xi 朱熹 (1130-1200). The book is 14-juan long and was finished in 1173. The title of the book is derived from the names of the rivers Yi and Luo, at whose banks the city of Luoyang 洛陽 is located, where most of the early Neo-Confucians lived and their "school of River Luo" (Luoxue 洛學) emerged. The designation is similar to the combination of the rivers Zhu-Si 洙泗 in Qufu 曲阜, where Confucius lived.

Zhu Xi collected obituaries, tomb inscriptions and records of the lives and teachings of Shao Yong 邵雍 (1011-1077), Zhou Dunyi 周敦頤 (1017-1073), Sima Guang 司馬光 (1019-1086), Zhang Zai 張載 (1020-1077), the brothers Cheng Hao 程顥 (1032-1085) and Cheng Yi 程頤 (1033-1107) and their most important disciples. The brothers Cheng and their philosophical ideas figure as the centre of the collection, but in a shape constituting a "genealogy of Neo-Confucianism" (lixue puxi 理學譜系).

Zhu Xi held that the brothers Cheng stood in a tradition going back not just to Confucius and Mengzi 孟子, but also to the Duke of Zhou 周公 and the sage rulers (shengren 聖人) of high antiquity. The wish to perpetuate the teachings of the "saints" is expressed, for instance, in a tomb inscription dedicated to Cheng Hao (Mingdao Xiansheng mubiao 明道先生墓表).

The book was first printed during the Zhizheng reign-period 至正 (1341-1368), then in 1473 by Zhang Zan 張瓚, in 1529, during the Kangxi reign-period 康熙 (1662-1722) by the Baohao Studio 寶誥堂, as part of the series Zhuzi yishu 朱子遺書, and by the Zhigu Studio 志古堂 in Chengdu 成都, Sichuan (an edition published as a facsimile in the series Kongzi wenhua daquan 孔子文化大全). It is part of the series Congshu jicheng chubian 叢書集成初編.

The Ming-period 明 (1368-1644) scholar Xie Duo 謝鐸 (1435-1510) compiled a 6-juan long continuation called Yi-Luo yuanyuan xulu 伊洛淵源續錄. It includes biographies and statements of 21 persons, some of them supplements to the original text, like Luo Congyan 羅從彥 (1072-1135) or Li Tong 李侗 (1093-1163), some being disciples of Zhu Xi, like He Ji 何基 (1188-1268) or Wang Bo 王柏 (1197-1274), and others colleagues of him, like Zhang Shi 張栻 (1133-1180) or Lü Zuqian 呂祖謙 (1137-1181). The Qing-period 清 (1644-1911) master Zhang Boxing 張伯行 (1651-1725) wrote a 20-juan long book with the same title. A manuscript version of Zhang's Zhengyi Studio 正誼堂 has survived. A similar book was compiled by Xue Yingjin 薛應旂, called Kaoting yuanyuan lu 考亭淵源錄.