论“观物”与“观无”——儒学与现象学的一种融通

On Seeing Things and Seeing Nothing:A Comparison Between Confucianism and Phenomenology

在汉语所表达的中国人的思想中,显而易见,我们的一切“观念”,皆出于“观”:观念是“念”,念出于“观”。然而在中国思想中,“观”有两层不同的意义:一是“观物”,是有所观之观;二是“观无”,是无所观之观。观物之所观者,或者是形而下的存在者、“万物”,或者是形而上的存在者、“道之为物”,故有所观;而观无之所观者,则是存在本身,是“无物”、“无”,故无所观。而在儒家,这种“无物”的存在本身,就是作为大本大源的生活情感,尤其是爱的情感;而观无作为无所观之观,实质上是一种生活领悟。这样的生活情感、生活领悟,是先行于任何存在者、任何物的“事情本身”。

It is obvious that in Chinese thoughts all ＇ideas＇ come from ＇Seeing＇： idea is from ＇Thinking＇ （Nian） and thinking comes from ＇Seeing＇ （Guan）. However, in Chinese thoughts, ＇Seeing＇ covers two different meanings： one is Seeing of Things, which has the seen, and the other is Seeing of Nothing, which has not the seen. Seeing of Things has the seen because what is seen is metaphysical Being （das Seiende） or physical beings （Seiendes） ; while Seeing of Nothing has not the seen because what is seen is being or ＇to be＇ （Sein） itself, in which there is not anything. According to Confucianism, the ＇to be＇ （Sein） itself is the emotion of life, especially love, which is the source of all. Then Seeing of Nothing is a comprehension of life in essence. The emotion and comprehension of life is called ＇ the thing itself＇ （Sache selbt）, which goes ahead of any being or anything.