从印绶鸟看王世充的政治伦理

On the Religious Ethics of Wang Shichong from the Perspective of Ribbon-bearing Bird

史书记载,王世充在登基称帝前曾“罗取杂鸟,书帛系其颈,自言符命而散放之”。其中的帛系杂鸟即琐罗亚斯德教中的吉祥鸟,亦即印绶鸟在中国的本土化,从而依据宗教知识可推知他信奉祆教。据《隋书》《旧唐书》,在其政治生命中,王世充还利用过巫术、周公,欣喜于道士为其鼎代预言的图谶,尊奉法家的政治伦理机制,如此种种皆表明他的宗教信仰颇杂糅而实用,其宗教上的实用主义是为其政治生命服务的,因此王世充庞杂的宗教伦理体系实质上是政治伦理。王世充的生命政治记忆证明了民族身份专以文化论的局限性。

According to historical records,before Wang Shichong ascended the throne and became emperor,he once“caught some birds and tied their necks with silk ribbons,claiming to be a sign from heaven that he was ordered to be emperor,and released those birds”.The ribbon-bearing birds mentioned here are the auspicious birds in Zoroastrianism,also the indigenized Indian ribbon birds in China.Based on this and combined with religious knowledge,we can infer that Wang Shichong believed in Zoroastrianism.According to Book of Sui History and Old Book of Tang History,in his political life,Wang Shichong took advantage of witchcraft and Zhou Gong,rejoiced at the Taoist divination,and adopted the political mechanism of the utilitarianism,showing that his religious beliefs were quite complicated and practical.Therefore,his religious ethics is essentially political ethics.