《论语·八佾》孔子不欲观禘说之礼制内涵诠释

Interpretation of the Ritual in the Line of“Confucius’s Reluctance of Watching the Grand Ritual Ceremony by the King of Lu”from Bayi of The Analects

《论语》礼制的诠解为古代经师看重,近代论语注本却往往忽略。《论语·八佾》载孔子云:“禘自既灌而往者,吾不欲观之矣。”此句的诠释很能体现礼制在经典解释中的重要性,历代诠解主要有三种:孔安国、邢昺等认为鲁国吉禘举行时间违反礼制;清人认为孔子讥讽当时宗室僭越大禘之礼;郑玄、马融从禘礼内部进行解释。分析三种诠解的方式,结合禘礼的内在仪式与外在历史背景,可以看出,孔子不欲观禘是其对传承周礼、谨遵礼制的坚守,也是对鲁国现实政治的忧虑关切。重视《论语》礼制诠解是解读经典文本、理解孔子圣人之意的关键方法。

Interpreting the connotations of the ritual in The Analects was valued by ancient intellectuals,but is often ignored in modern annotations to The Analects.In Bayi of The Analects,Confucius was quoted as saying,“I could no longer watch the grand ritual ceremony when the King of the state of Lu started pouring wine on the ground as a tribute to the divine.”Interpretation of this line can best reflect the importance of the ritual system in the appreciation the classical work.There are three main interpretations to the ritual in the past dynasties.Kong Anguo,Xing Bing and other scholars believed that the time of the grand ritual ceremony by the King of the state of Lu violated the etiquette system.Scholars in the Qing dynasty believed that Confucius was to ridicule the grand ritual ceremony by the nobles of the Lu State as an arrogation to the supreme King of the Zhou Dynasty.Zheng Xuan and Ma Rong,on the other hand,explained it by analyzing the rules of the ritual system itself.The three different dimensional interpretations,combining with the internal rules of the ritual and the external historical context of the event,all point to the connotation of Confucius’s inheritance and persistence to the ritual system of the Zhou Dynasty,as well as his worry over the political situation of the state of Lu.Appreciating the important roles that The Analects plays in its interpretation to the ritual system is the key to accurate comprehension of this classical work and the intended meaning of Confucius the sage.