诗与士人的精神世界 试以王维的生命史和编年诗为例的社会学探索

Poetry and Traditional Scholars’ Spiritual World:A Sociological Exploration of Wang Wei’s Life and His Chronological Poetry

费孝通先生晚年倡导面向“精神世界”的社会学研究,不仅强调了社会学的人文性格,而且指明了回溯和整理传统思想资源以理解人心的意义。古代士人在仕隐之间的进退趋避是精神世界研究的重要课题,盛唐诗人王维可作为重要个案。本文运用“知人论世”的方法,以王维的生命史、编年诗及他与其他诗人的交往为线索,考察其如何在仕隐之间调适精神世界的矛盾冲突。王维通过人际和诗文往来形成的社会交游空间、自然山水空间和灵性佛理空间,构成一个融和自然与人文的“人生圜局”,以寻求精神世界在“入世有为”和“消极退避”之间的平衡,而其精神苦痛也可以从这个圜局的层级变动或缺失中探寻根源。本文认为,把握世风民情、生命史的再现以及理解和体会的功夫,是研究士人精神世界的重要门径。

In his later years,Fei Xiaotong advocated the subject of spiritual world in sociological research.His position emphasized the humanistic aspect of sociology and suggested the importance of understanding our mind through locating the root of our traditional intellectual sources.This study takes Wang Wei,a poet during the peak period of the Tang,as an example typifying the dilemma common to the Chinese literati(Shi)between serving in office and retreating from it.Wang’s life,his poems and his exchanges with fellow poets are discussed against the background of his time and the contradiction in the poet’s spiritual world is explored.Wang’s poems and his personal correspondences reflect the social changes,intellectual trends as well as individual life of his days.They touch spheres of social communication,natural landscape and spiritual Buddhism and Taoism,and all together constitute a life universe that integrates nature and humanity,upon which the spiritual balance between active participation and a life of withdrawal depends.In other words,spiritual sufferings are an indication of the absence of such a life universe.This study also suggests that an appreciation of customs and mores of the time and an ability to relive and understand their life are the key to comprehend the spiritual world of the Chinese traditional scholars.