谦谦君子,卑以自牧——由《周易》谦卦而引申出的一种儒家修身工夫

On Confucian Moral Character's Building: From the View of “Qian” symbol in I Ching

《周易》之《谦卦》第一次把谦德纳入一个近乎神秘又非常严格的知识架构(卦体、卦位、爻位)中,并借助于特殊的叙事方式和解读路径(卦象、卦辞、爻辞、传解),予以阐发,逐步推证,使之获得可靠的理性根据与信念力量。再经《易传》的诠释与演绎,又注入了更为丰富的人文价值蕴涵。《周易》之后,谦的品格更被世代社会精英所倡导和推扬。关于谦的评议与论述,经久不息,其思想内容也逐步呈现出越来越丰富、越来越饱满的态势,最终使谦之为德发展成为中华民族精神的一项有机构成,是古今中国人公、私生活的一项重要品格,进而也催生出一整套行谦、致谦的实践工夫。

The divinatory symbol of Qian in I Ching brings the moral character'Qian'(i.e., humility)firstly into a mystical and strict knowledge framework(consisting of the style, status and trigram's location of their symbols). Moreover, by means of special narrative methods and pathways of interpretation(such as divinatory symbols' images and explanations, the explanations of horizontal lines), it got elucidated. The annotation of Commentaries on I Ching brings more humanistic value to the divinatory symbol of 'Qian'. Since the publication of I Ching, humility has been being one of important moral characters in China. It also motivates a set of practicalskills(which can reach 'Qian') to produce.