“域中有四大”——从“四大”的不同排序看《老子》文本的演进

"Within the Realm There Are Four Portions of Greatness" ——An Analysis on the Evolution of the Text Laozi From the Different Arrangements of the Four Portions of Greatness

《老子》有"域中有四大"之说,但是"四大"的排序却有两种:以"道大"打头;以"天大"打头。本文认为"天大"打头的排序不是抄写之误,而是《老子》文本曾经具有的一种形态,两种排序在《老子》中都有思想根据。但是,传世本都以"道大"打头,说明"道大"的排序最终胜出,取消了"天大"打头的排序。本文考察了汉代的《老子》注本,指出汉代宇宙生成论的影响是其中的重要原因。

It says in Laozi that ＂within the realm there are Four Portions of Greatness＂,but there are two kinds of arrangements for the Four：in all the handed-down documents,it says ＂the Tao is great;Heaven is great;Earth is great;and the（sage） king is also great＂,with the Tao ahead;and in the unearthed ones,i.e.the first division of Guodian Laozi the Han bamboo slips Laozi,with the Heaven in the first place,it says ＂Heaven is great;Earth is great;the Tao is great;and the（sage） king is also great＂.The latter sequence,in my opinion,means a distinct form Laozi once had rather than just a transcription error.And the different sorts both can get their foothold from the thought of Laozi.But in all the handed-down documents,the Tao takes the first place,which shows the former sequence gained its advantage over the latter and supplanted it at last.In this paper,I will investigate the commentaries of Laozi in Han Dynasty,and point out that cosmology had an important effect on the evolution of the text.