Lin Jun

Life

He held the statuses of shengyuan and xianggong juren; in the fourteenth year of the Chenghua era he earned the jinshi degree, ranking twenty-seventh in the second class.

His great-grandfather was 林崇, his grandfather 林宗, his father 林元旭, and his mother is listed only as 某氏. His younger brothers were 林侃, 林僖, 林茂竹, 林傅, 林佐, and 林儼; his wife was 方氏, and his sons were 林達 and 林適.

He was appointed a zhushi (主事) in the Shaanxi Division of the Ministry of Justice and promoted to yuanwailang (員外郎) in its Guizhou Division. In office he memorialized the throne to execute the monk Jixiao and punish the court figure Liang Fang; he incurred the emperor's anger, was imprisoned, and was demoted to judge of Yaozhou. He was soon recalled and restored, then transferred to the Nanjing Ministry of Justice.

In the first year of Hongzhi (1488), he became assistant surveillance commissioner in Yunnan; in the fourth year (1491), he was promoted to surveillance commissioner and later transferred to Huguang. He retired on grounds of illness. He was subsequently recalled as provincial administration commissioner of Guangdong, the post also being given as right provincial administration commissioner; an alternative account says that he did not take up the appointment.

Under the Zhengde emperor, he became assistant censor-in-chief, supervised the Cao River command, and was appointed governor of Jiangxi. He was promoted to vice censor-in-chief and transferred to Sichuan, where he suppressed the uprising led by Lan Tingrui and others; in the sixth year of Zhengde (1511) he became censor-in-chief and later retired.

In the sixteenth year of Zhengde (1521), he was recalled as Minister of Works; in the following year (1522), he became Minister of Justice. He was additionally made Grand Protector of the Heir Apparent, although another form gives Junior Protector; he retired again and died in 1527. After his death, he was subjected to a retrospective censure over the rites controversy and stripped of office, restored at the beginning of Longqing, granted the title Junior Guardian, and posthumously named Zhensu.

Writings and poetry

His poetry often followed the models called Shangu and Houshan and contained much obscure diction; it was also judged capable of a tone that rose above vulgarity, with occasional open, spacious passages.

He was credited with a collected corpus of fifty-four juan. Titles associated with him include 見素文集, 見素西征集, 見素詩集, 奏疏（林俊） in seven juan, and 奏疏續集 in twelve juan.

Zhang Mao (章懋) recommended him, and Lin Jun wrote a preface to Zhang Mao's poetry and prose. His collection also preserves letters sent to Li Dongyang (李東陽) and Wang Shouren (王守仁), a reply to Wen Zhengming (文徵明), and a preface he wrote for the poetry and prose of Zheng Yue (鄭岳).