Eminent Chinese of the Ch'ing Period/Shên Chin-ssŭ
SHÊN Chin-ssŭ 沈近思 (T. 位山, H. 闇齋, 俟軒), Feb. 22, 1671–1728, Jan. 23, official and philosopher, was the fifth son of a poor farmer of Jên-ho (Hangchow). When he was nine (sui) his father died, and when he was thirteen (sui) an elder brother took him to the famous local monastery, Ling-yin-ssŭ 靈隱寺. There he began his study of Buddhism under the direction of a monk named Chieh-ch'ao Lao-jên 借巢老人 who later sent him to study under Chou Ssŭ-min 周思敏 (H. 魯亭, 1648–1708), a student of both Confucianism and Buddhism. At fifteen, he began his meditations with a view to becoming a Buddhist priest, at the same time studying the Chinese classics, and making the acquaintance of learned scholars. In 1700 he took his chin-shih degree, but before being appointed to an official post he returned to his home and taught, asserting that his scholarship was not adequate to make him of service to the world. In 1706 he was appointed magistrate of Lin-ying, Honan, where he became a greatly beloved official. There he established a free school for illiterate children in the village of Ko-kang 葛崗 (1709), and in 1710 founded the Tzŭ-yang Academy (紫陽書院). He built new granaries, cemeteries for the poor, temples to virtuous persons, repaired the city wall and the graves of ancient worthies, and built a dike at K‘ung-chia-k'ou 孔家口. In 1713 his work became known to Emperor Shêng-tsu who appointed him sub-prefect of Nanning, Kwangsi. Beset by illness, Shên retired in the following year to teach.
In 1720 he was summoned to the capital and appointed steward to the Pên-yü Granary (本裕倉) in Ch'ing-ho, Chihli. But owing to a bandit uprising in Formosa he was sent to the neighbouring province of Fukien to await appointment as prefect. There he wrote four essays, with the collective title 遠慮論 Yüan-lü lun, in which he presented suggestions concerning pacification of the island. In 1723 he was successively appointed a director in the Board of Civil Office, associate-examiner of the metropolitan examination, and later director of the Court of the Imperial Stud, examiner in the provincial examination of Shantung (1724), and director of the metropolitan military examination. In 1726 he was in charge of the provincial examination of Kiangnan (Kiangsu and Anhwei). In the same year, in consequence of the punishment of two officials from his own province, Chekiang (see under Cha Ssŭ-t'ing and Wang Ching-ch'i), he presented a memorial to the throne in which he drew attention to the faults of the people of Chekiang on ten counts. His last posts were: director of the metropolitan examination, junior vice-president of the Board of Civil Office, president of the Censorate, and tutor to the bachelors in the Hanlin Academy (1727). After his death he was canonized as Tuan-k'o 端恪, and made honorary president of the Board of Rites and junior tutor of the Heir Apparent.
As a philosopher Shên Chin-ssŭ was a follower of the Sung Confucianists, particularly Chu Hsi (see under Hu Wei), whom he ranked with Confucius. So devoted was he to Chu's philosophy that he adopted the personal name "Chin-ssŭ", a phrase which appears in the Analects (XIX, 6) and was later used in the title of Chu Hsi's famous work, the 近思錄 Chin-ssŭ lu, completed in 1176. He denounced any who entertained different opinions, and accused Lu Chiu-yüan (see under Li Fu) and Wang Shou-jên (see under Chang Li-hsiang) of departing from the teachings of Confucius. Having abandoned Buddhism for Confucianism, he preached and lived the practical doctrines of the latter, and never again mentioned the former. Shện produced the following works on literature and philosophy: the 陸子遺書 Lu-tzŭ i-shu, 14 chüan (completed 1727), being the annotated literary remains of Lu Lung-chi [q. v.] whom he regarded as the best scholar after the Sung period; the 讀論語隅見錄 Tu Lun-yü yü-chien lu; the 天鑒堂詩文集 T'ien-chien t'ang shih-wên chi; the 眞味詩錄 Chên wei shih lu; and the 勵志雜錄 Li-chih tsa lu, which contains some of his short notes on philosophy. The last item is found, together with his nien-p'u by Shên Yüeh-fu 沈曰富 (1808–1858), in a collection entitled 沈端恪公遺書 Shên Tuan-k'o kung i-shu which was published in 1873.
[1/296/9b; 2/12/49b; 3/67/29a; 7/13/39a; 12/11/35a; Tung-hua lu, K'ang-hsi, 60:6, 27; 臨潁縣續志 Lin-ying hsien hsü-chih (1747) 5/7a; Hangchow fu-chih (1784) 82/18b, (1922), 88/5b, 125/20b; Shên Yüeh-fu, Shên Tuan-k'o kung nien-p'u.]