天老与黄老考释

An Examination and Interpretation of Tian lao(天老) and Huang lao(黄老)

天老本是战国时代黄帝君臣传说中较为重要的一位,在其时兴起的依托黄帝君臣之名著书的风气中,最初所谓黄老之学中的老,即是天老。但由于老子声名显赫而使之被取代,于是黄老之老转指老子。在从黄老之学至东汉道教兴起过程中,黄帝的声名影响在宗教意识上有弱化的趋势,相反老子的地位影响则一直在上升,直至其取代黄帝而独自成为道教至尊的教主,此后黄老概念则在现实的学术话语中淡出而褪去。

Tian lao（天老）is one of the most important persons in the monarch -subject legend of Yellow Emperor during the Warring States Period. At first, in the Huanglao（黄老） theory, ＂Lao＂ refers to ＂Tianlao＂, who was replaced by Laozi（老子） subsequently for the latter＇s reputation , and thus ＂Lao＂ refers to Laozi in Huanglao theory. During the course from Huanglao theory to the rise of Taoism in Eastern Han Dynasty, the reputation of Huangdi （黄帝） is weakening from view of religion sense, rather, the influence of Laozi has been rising continuously, and eventually Laozi became the hierareh of Taoism replacing Huangdi. The concept of Huanglao faded out of realistic scholarship context henceforth.