卜辞所见商代早期性命学说

Theory of human's nature & mandate in the early Shang Dynasty manifested in the divination characters

商代已有性命学说。卜辞中有“拜生”的记载，“生”即“性”。又有“王生”指商王的性命，《史记·殷本纪》记载商纣王的话：“我生不有命在天。”卜辞中又有“令”，命、令古通，当指天命。卜辞中又有“不既盈”．如同《老子》中的“大盈”，是天之休命。卜辞中又有“自鱼”，读为“自悟”，指反还于人的本性而自我明悟。

This Paper holds that the theory of human's nature & mandate had come into being in the Shang Dynasty. There is a record of 'worshiping life' (拜生) in the divination characters. Here 'life', (生 )refers to 'nature' (性). There is the 'king's life' in the divination characters which refers to the 'king's nature'. Shi Ji the history of the Shang Dynasty records a sentence of King Zhou (the last king of the Shang Dynasty) 'My life is not from the mandate of heaven'.. 'Ling' (令)in the divination characters shauld refers to the mandate of heaven, for 'Ling' was equal to ' Ming' (命, mandate) in ancient times. The divination characters also mentioned:' Bu- ji-ying' (不既盈, literally, non-fullness)as 'De-ying' (大盈, literally, great fullness) refers to being in conformity with the mandate of the heaven. 'Zi-yu' (自鱼) in the divination records should be pronounced 'Zi-wu'(自悟) which means to realize and come back to human's nature.