“立则”与“开道”:宋初行卷古文的两种倾向

“Establishing political principles”and“becoming a saint”:two tendencies in ancient prose writing of candidates’volumes in the early Song Dynasty

宋初的行卷古文存在“立则”和“开道”两种倾向。前者以王禹偁等人为代表,他们的古文多以“六经”为准的,试图为君臣定制定行为准则,展现出欲为帝王师的姿态。后者以柳开、张扶等为代表,试图希望以古文言说天地之道及仁义礼智信等“儒行”,继而使自己的古文获得与“六经”同等的地位甚至超越“六经”,达到成为“圣人”的目的。张扶等士子抱有“言天地之理不当使人易度易揣测”的想法,力图以古涩之语生成深奥的意义。把握这两种倾向,对于今人窥视当时的文坛以及理解“传道明心”等古文理论有着一定的意义。

In the early Song Dynasty,there were two tendencies,namely“establishing political principles”and“becoming a saint”,in ancient prose writings of candidates’volumes.The former was represented by Wang Yucheng,whose ancient prose writings were mostly based on the“Six Classics”.He tried to set rules for Chinese monarchs and ministers and showed the attitude of wanting to be the monarch’s teacher.The latter,represented by Liu Kai and Zhang Fu,tried to expound not only the Confucian way but also the behavior which was in line with Confucian norms.Their purpose was to give their ancient prose writings the same status of the“Six Classics”and even surpass them,so that they themselves can become saints.In Zhangfu’s opinion,authors should use the classical and inscrutable language to generate profound implications because the language used to expound the Confucian way should not be readily comprehensible.Grasping these two tendencies will help us further understand the connotation of some literary theories such as“transmitting the Confucian way and clearifying the heart”at that time.