Annotated Translation of the “Private Household Instructions” [Gia đình tư ngữ 家庭私語] of Bùi Trục 裴軸 (1730-1815)

Abstract

Bùi Trục 裴軸 (1730-1815) was a post-Restoration Lê period Tonkinese scholar-official. The elder cousin of the famous literatus Bùi Bích 裴壁 (1744-1818), he commanded wide respect among his contemporaries for his erudition and moral integrity. Bùi Trục’s “Private Household Instructions” (Gia đình tư ngữ 家庭私語) is a compilation of seventy-three apophthegms in the Song–Yuan–Ming Way Learning tradition included in Đản Trai tạp cảo 亶齋雜藁, a collection of Bùi Trục’s miscellaneous writings. It is notable for being the clearest example of a Way Learning record of sayings (ngữ lục 語錄) compilation in early modern Vietnamese Confucianism. This annotated translation contains a punctuated transcription of the entire Sinitic text of the “Private Household Instructions” alongside an English translation.