从“吾不与祭如不祭”看孔子的鬼神祭祀思想

Thoughts of Confucius on Sacrifice Reflected from his Words——“If I do not Personally Offer the Sacrifice,it is the Same as not Having Sacrificed at all”

生在鬼神势力式微的春秋时代,孔子本人对鬼神观念有限度的否定,也代表了其对带有极大鬼神色彩的传统巫祀的主动偏离,春秋时代祭祀仪式所具有的巫鬼传统到孔子这里已经有别于以往的鬼神理念。从鬼神到祭祀,从天命到人事,孔子鬼神祭祀视角的不经意转变,实则蕴有儒哲"轻鬼重人"的意味。"吾不与祭如不祭"这一看似简略表明孔子祭祀观念的话语表述,大有春秋时代鬼神观逐步转向,并最终成为另一种固定形式的可能。尽管后世参研者对此解说莫衷一是,但是仍然掩盖不了蕴含于其中的广阔意义。

Born in the Spring and Autumn Period when the power of ghost and god was decaying,Confucius himself had some limited negative attitude toward the traditional witchery ceremony which was greatly colored by ghosts and gods. The concept in the ceremony of sacrifice in the Spring and Autumn Period was different from the previous concept of ghosts and gods. From the worship for ghosts and gods to the sacrifice,from the mandate of heaven to the emphasis of human,Confucius＇ s view of ghosts and gods worship shifted inadvertently,which actually contains the Confucianism concept of ignoring ghosts and emphasizing human. ＂If I do not personally offer the sacrifice,it is the same as not having sacrificed at all＂ briefly shows Confucius＇ s worship concept,which indicates the gradual change of view for ghosts and gods in the Spring and Autumn Period and would eventually become another possible fixed form. Although the later generations and re-searchers have different explanation about this sentence,the broad meaning embedded in it cannot be covered.