中国古代一部开明的治国宪法——《尚书·洪范》解读

A Liberal Constitution of Governance in Ancient China——An Interpretation of Hongfan in Shangshu

《尚书》是中国古代夏商周三代一部政治公文汇编,其中有一篇《洪范》有别于其他所有的篇目,是一部标准的法典。孔传曰:"洪,大。范,法也。言天地之大法。"又曰:"箕子作之。""天地之大法"就是国家的根本大法,现代国家的行政大法通称"宪法"。《洪范》内容是一部标准的国家宪法,行文分为序言、纲目、条文三个层次。序言交待《洪范》产生的时间、地点、原因以及作者。纲目和序言规范国家行政大纲,闪射民主性的光芒,产生于中国古代,是中华文化的一个奇迹。西周建国,周人用革命手段夺取全国政权,急需一部法典来安定社会,组建国家,《洪范》产生于周初这一时代大背景顺理成章。《洪范》后来成为儒家经典,受到历代政治家和思想家的重视,也是经学研究中的重大课题。但是儒化后的《洪范》,没有发扬它的民主性精华,而是层累上层层迷雾,走向民主性的反面,成为与天人感应神学结合的专制集权理论。本文解读还其历史本来面目。

Shangshu is a collection of political documents covering three dynasties of Xia, Shang and Zhou in ancient China, and among these documents, Hongfan as a standard code is different from others. According to Kongzhuan, ＂Hong means greatness and Fan is law. Hongfan expresses the great law of universe＂ and ＂Jizi wrote it＂. ＂The great law of universe＂ means the fundamen- tal law of the nation, which is called ＂constitution＂ in modem times. As a standard national constitution, Hongfan can be divided into three parts ： preface, outline and articles. The preface introduces the time, place and reasons of the production of Hongfan and the author. Outline and articles stipulate the nation＇ s administrative program shining the light of democracy, which is a miracle of Chinese culture because it was written in the ancient times. Hongfan was naturally written at the initial time of Zhou Dynasty due to Zhou urgently needed a code to stabilize the society and established the state after it seized the state power by revolutionary means. Later, Hongfan became the Confucian classics and was paid attention to by politicians and thinkers through the ages and Hongfan be- comes one of great subjects in the study of Confucian classics. However, after being one of Confucian classics, the interpretations of Hongfan didn＇ t develop the spirit of democracy but was covered with layers of mysteries and moved to the opposite side of democracy and eventually became a theory of utilitarianism which combined with the theology of telepathy between Heaven and Man. This inter- pretation reduces Hongfan to its true colors in history.