“白贲无咎”本义考——“以白为饰”与“饰极反素”之辨

Original Meaning of “Baibenwujiu”——Distinction between Plain Decoration and Over-Decorated Plain and Blank

对于《周易·贲》卦上九爻"白贲无咎"的爻辞,后世注家多释之为"饰终反素"的至美,以至成为影响我国古代美学观念发展的重要命题。但是细味《周易》原文,其对"白贲"的占断仅为"无咎",并非上吉,令人不免生出疑窦。本文即从这一矛盾出发,通过梳理各家观点、分析"白贲补过"之说、辨别"白贲""素履"之义、解读与"白贲"相关的论述,来探寻该爻辞的本义,得出"白贲"的含义当为"以白为饰",而"饰极反素"则更可能是后人的误读和演绎而非爻辞原意的结论。

Divinatory remarks for＂baibenwujiu＂of Hexagram Bi in I Ching was explained by annotators of later generations as the notion that the result of over-decoration tends to plain and blank. It has become an important proposition which influenced aesthetic concepts in ancient China. But by close reading I Ching, suspicion arises inevitably because non-punishment is by no means auspiciousness.Starting from this paradoxical point, this article tries to find out the original meaning of the remarks for the divinatory symbol by summing up the views of different schools, analyzing the explanations of＂Baibenwujiu＂, distinguishing the meaning of ＂baibenwujiu＂, and expounding the related discourses about ＂baiben＂. The conclusion is that ＂baiben＂means to decorate with white color, and the extreme decoration turns out to be plain. Scholars of later generations misunderstood this and reached the conclusions other than the original meaning of the remarks.