"...Liu is the author of an apologetic collection of five essays entitled Juesi lu..."-- Cf. Standaert, Handbook of Christianity in China, vol. 1, p. 435.

Cover illustration: Bibliotheque National de France. Courant 7172.
本书据法囯囯家图书馆藏本排印.
明末淸初耶稣会思想文献汇编 = An expository collection of the Christian philosophical works between the end of the Ming dynasty and the beginning of the Qing dynasty in China ; 第33册.

Local access dig.pdf. in folder: [Andrew Chung Series].

See full citation: Ad Dudink & Nicolas Standaert, Chinese Christian Texts Database (CCT-Database).

JapSin I, 165.d
Jüesi lu 覺斯錄.
By Liu Ning 劉凝. One juan. Chinese bamboo paper in one volume. No date or place of publication.

The cover bears a label with the title and an inscription in ink: 江西南豐劉凝 (Liu Ning of Nanfeng in Jiangxi). The Latin inscription reads: “Disputatio de rerum | origine, et coeli significatione | a christiano Lieu.”

1. Yuanbenlun 原本論 (On the origin of the universe).
2. Tianzhu yici feichuang zi Xiyu 天主一詞非創自西域 (The term Lord of Heaven is not an invention of Westerners).
3. Bian Tiantong Miyun heshang sanshuo 辨天童密雲和尚三說 (A discussion on the three essays [On Heaven] of the monk Miyun of the Tiantong [monastery]).
4. Bian Tian sanshuo xubian 辨天三說序辨 (A criticism of the preface to the three essays On Heaven).
5. Fusong heshang Sanjiao zhenglun 撫松和尚三教正論 (A discussion on the Sanjiao zhenglun [A sound statement on the three religions: Confucianism, Buddhism and Daoism] of the Buddhist monk Fusong).

Both Miyun and Fusong directed their writings against Christianity. Liu Ning tried to refute them by pointing out their mistakes. For the three essays On Heaven by Miyun, we refer our readers to Jap-Sin I, 155, where we have already spoken about this work.
With regard to the monk Fusong, Liu informs us that his name was Wu [宀+吾, var. 寤] and that he resided in the western part of Jiangxi in a monastery known as the Lianshi’an 蓮石庵. We have not seen the Sanjiao zhenglun, composed by Fusong, but according to Liu, the monk Wu (i.e., Fusong) cited Buddhism as the equal of Confucianism with the intention of giving importance to Buddhism. He then tried to bring in Daoism as a support for his religion and at the end he made himself a defender of his faith. In reality, Liu says, there was nothing new in Wu’s writing; all he did was to take up the arguments of the Buddhist scholar Yu Chunxi 虞淳熙 (zi 德園) and of Yang Guangxian 楊光先. Finally, Liu says that it was fortunate that Western missioners kept coming to China. Their activities helped to revive the teaching of Confucius and Mencius. By doing this they increased the hatred of the Buddhists and Daoists against Christianity and these were trying to fight side by side. However, Liu concluded, the emperor was fully aware of the orthodoxy of the missioners and through his ministers he had declared publicly that Christianity is not a false religion and therefore should not be forbidden.
As for essay no. 4, according to our author the preface to Miyun’s writing was based on the preface found in the Beiyouji 北遊集, a collection published by the Buddhist monk Hongjue 弘覺 (Daomin, see Jap-Sin I, 155). The author of this preface is said to have been the well-known scholar Qian Qianyi 錢謙益 (1582–1664), who signed himself Hongxuetang zhuren 鴻雪堂主人.
The book is written in good literary style, and its vigorous expression shows its author as a strong defender of the faith. Liu Ning (zi 二至) was a native of Nanfeng (Jiangxi). He was a tribute-student (gongsheng 貢生), who later became assistant instructor at the Confucian school of Chongyi 崇義 in the same province. The Siku tiyao cites two of his books: Jili bianlun 稽禮辨論 in one juan and Shiguwen dingben 石鼓文定本 in two juan (SKTY 1:497, 931). The Latin inscription on the cover of Jap-Sin I, 165.d mentions that he was a Christian and, indeed, from the apologetics he wrote he seems to have had a good understanding of the Catholic teaching. At the same time, he showed a wide knowledge of Buddhist teaching; probably he was a convert from Buddhism. Liu Ning wrote a preface to Pedro de la Piñuela’s Bencaobu 本草補 (see Jap-Sin II, 86).

Cf. Courant 7172 (Chüeh-ssu lu).
Source: Albert Chan, S.J., Chinese Books and Documents in the Jesuit Archives in Rome, pp. 218-220.