Account of Seriousness (su) and Consonance (yong) Hall (Text)

Account of Seriousness (su) and Consonance (yong) Hall

Seriousness and Consonance Hall was named by my late father, the honorary county magistrate. My late father, because our old abode was damp and constricted, relocated to the west of Xian Brook. In the front he built a main gate three bays¹ in width, and next a facing hall² of seven bays. In the middle he built a hall of three bays, with an inserted room of two bays, and a hallway of three bays in length. To the rear, he built the main hall of three bays with an inserted room of two bays. The foundation was laid for the main two-storied hall but the pillars [and thus the roof] were yet erected. The left wing consisted of a two-storied building five bays in length and a single-storied building ten bays in length. The right wing was like this as well. He surrounded all of these with an encircling wall of brick and stone. The construction began in the year bingzi of the Jingtai reign period (1456) but was not completed until the second day at the start of the third month of the renwu year of the Tianshun reign period (1462).

Three peaks rise to its south; two watercourses ring its north. In the front there are the vegetable gardens, behind there are the larger fields. Its scale and form are indeed grand! Yet he named it as above. Does it have no meaning? “Seriousness” (su) means seriousness and reverence—this is how the rites are established. “Consonance” (yong) means consonance and harmony; it is that from which music comes into being. If one can maintain himself with reverence then no matter what one sees, hears, says, or does, he will always be within the norms; he can deal with affairs with harmony then no matter whether he is rising, descending, bowing, or yielding, then everything will fit their natural measure. Extend it from oneself to the family, from the family to the country, and from the country to the world—the achievement of the sages and worthies does not go beyond this. Was not the way my late father inspired us his descendants deep and far-reaching?

In the past Defender-in-Chief Yang³ inspired his descendants by through his purity and his descendants, such as Yang Bing and Yang Qi,⁴ maintained it intact for generations. My late father’s plans for us were not inferior to the Yangs but will there be descendants Bing and Qi? The Book of Poetry says: “Ever think your ancestors, cultivate your virtue.” And it also says: “May your sons and your grandsons never fail to perpetuate it!” I have made so bold as to repeat these words in expectation of our future generations.

Respectfully recorded by his son [Lu] Ge

1. A bay is the distance between two columns and thus refers to the size of a hall.
2. A facing hall (literally “mirror hall”) is the hall opposite the main hall.
3. Defender-in-Chief Yang—Yang Zhen of the Later Han Dynasty (25-220)—was so famous for declining bribery that he never received others in private. When asked to create an estate for his descendants he refused, saying, “To have the posterity regard them as the descendants of a pure official – is this not a grand estate?”
4. Yang Zhen’s son, Yang Bing, also served as Defender-in-Chief and was also famous for his incorruptibility. Great grandson Yang Qi served as Palace Attendant and was famous for his uprightness.