论“下愚”作为一种特殊之恶——《周易程氏传》“革面”义解

"Xiayu"as a Special Kind of Evil:The Meaning of"Gemian"in Zhouyi Chengshi Zhuan

在对《革》卦的解释中,程颐以"下愚"指代一种彻底无法向善转化的特殊之恶,并认为"下愚"的存在并不能否认性之至善。为了说明这个观点,程颐从下愚能"与人同"所表现的共情观念出发,对共情能力之表现与共情能力自身做了区别,认为前者属气而后者属理,进而论证了"下愚"状态下先天性善的基本命题。在此基础上,程颐指出了"小人革面"作为无法转化之恶在现实中向善最大之可能。这种对性善论下特殊之恶的论证与竺道生对一阐提具佛性的论证极为相似,但在程颐处表现出一种更为深刻且更为现实的特征。程颐对"革面"的解释也成为了其人性论研究中一个长久被忽视的重要补充说明。

In his explanation of the hexagram of"Ge",Cheng Yi used the concept of"Xiayu"to refer to a kind of special evil that could not be transformed into the good completely.In order to illustrate this point of view,Cheng Yi,starting from the concept of empathy expressed by"Xiayu"being the same as others,makes a difference between the expression of empathy ability and empathy ability itself,thinks that the former belongs to Qi while the latter belongs to Li,and then demonstrates the basic proposition of innate good under the state of"Xiayu".On this basis,Cheng Yi pointed out that the greatest possibility of"Xiaoren Gemian"as an evil that can’t be transformed is to be good in reality.This kind of demonstration of special evil under the theory of good nature is very similar to Zhu Daosheng’s demonstration of icchāntika in Buddhism,but it shows a more profound and realistic feature in Cheng Yi.Cheng Yi’s explanation of"Gemian"has also become an important supplement to the study of human nature.