“生者可以死,死者可以生”何以可能?——论《牡丹亭》之“情”

How to Make It Possible that“the Living Can Be Dead and the Dead Can Be Born”?——On the“Emotion”in the Peony Pavilion

汤显祖在《牡丹亭》中提出了"至情"("情至")理论。他论述"至情"的内在逻辑在于:首先是去蔽,即强调"至情"不是什么——不是通常意义上的"理",即压抑"情"的宋明理学之理、世俗常理和达观之理,也不是通常意义上的"欲",以及由此而产生的个体私情、偏情和虚情;其次,通过去蔽,汤显祖所谓的"至情"的含义便得以显现,即"至情"是什么——它是理、欲、情的游戏,其核心是作为给予的爱,以及由爱而生成的真正的生命的出场和亮相。正是由于真正生命的出场,所以"死者可以生",反之,正是由于真正生命的被扼杀,所以"生者可以死"。

Tang Xianzu puts forward the theory of ＂Zhi Qing＂ or ＂Qing Zhi＂ in the Peony Pavilion and demonstrates the inherent logic of ＂Zhi Qing＂, which at first is to uncover, namely, to em- phasize that ＂Zhi Qing＂ is neither the ＂sense＂ in its usual sense--the sense of Neo-Confucianism in the Song and Ming Dynasties, the secular and philosophical sense, nor the ＂desire＂ in its usual sense and the individual, partial and hypocritical emotion produced by it and which is then to show the meaning of the so-called ＂Zhi Qing＂ by Tang Xianzu that ＂Zhi Qing＂ is the game of sense, desire and emotion, whose essence is to offer love and the presence of real life produced by love. It＇s because of the presence of real life that ＂the dead can be born＂ while it＇s because of the lost of real life that ＂the living can be dead＂.