论汉代《老子注》对自然的诠释

Interpretation of“ziran”by the Three Laozi Annotations in the Han Dynasty

《老子指归》《老子河上公章句》《老子想尔注》等汉代三大《老子注》都对《老子》中的“自然”概念作了诠释。《老子指归》从本体论和生成论层面均突出了“自然”的重要性,突出了道对万物的生化是无意识、无目的的,同时又着重强调道并非主宰万物的实体,万物是自生自成的,这是对西汉中后期流行的天人感应等神学目的论的反动。《老子河上公章句》提出“道性自然”的思想,认为道性自然导致万物自成,也没有说万物是自生的,主要突出“道”的作用,与《老子河上公章句》修道长生的主旨是相关的。《老子想尔注》中的“自然”只是“道”的一个代名词,其实质是有意消解了“自然”的含义以及“自然”在《老子》中的重要作用,而且不再说道的本性是自然,而是将“道”神化,所凸出的是道的至高无上性,《老子想尔注》是完全从宗教角度来诠释《老子》。

Laozi Zhigui,Heshanggong Commentary of Laozi and Xiang-Er Commentary of Laozi all illustrate the concept of“ziran”.The importance of“ziran”is emphasized from the ontology and cosmology level in Laozi Zhigui,which highlights that Dao's creation and evolution of ten thousand things is unconscious and has no purpose and that Dao is not an entity that dominates ten thousand things,and ten thousand things are self-born and self-evolving.This is a reaction to the popular theological teleology such as interactions between heaven and mankind in the mid-late West Han Dynasty.The proposition that the nature of Dao is“ziran”is put forward in the Heshanggong Commentary of Laozi,which mainly highlights the role of Dao and is related with the keynote of longevity.“Ziran”becomes synonymous with Dao in the Xiang-Er Commentary of Laozi,which really dispels the meaning of“ziran”and the important role of“ziran”in Laozi.That the nature of Dao is“ziran”is no longer stated and the supremacy of Dao is underlined in the Xiang-Er Commentary of Laozi,which implies that Laozi is interpreted from a religious perspective in the Xiang-Er Commentary of Laozi.