虚气与尽性——试论张载的生死观

Xu, Qi and Jin Xing: A Discussion on Zhang Zai’s View of Life and Death

生死问题是张载哲学的核心问题之一。朱子批评张载生死观有佛教"还元返本"的嫌疑,主要是因为两人生死观念的理论前提不同。朱子从理气二分的角度来思考生死,而张载的出发点则是虚气关系。对张载而言,人的生死根本上是气的聚散往复,气的永恒运动将人从"灭尽无余"的死亡忧愁中拉扯回来。此外,在实践层面,张载提出"尽性"的观点,要求人毕生沉浸于一种坚实的修身实践中,以实现"性"与"命"的合一为最终的目标,从而使人在面对死亡这一终极命运时,能够真实地显示出豁达的态度。

Life and death is one of the core issues of Zhang Zai’s philosophy.Zhuzi criticized Zhang Zai’s view of life and death as Buddhism’s"returning essence to the original",but this was actually due to their different theoretical premises.Zhuzi thought about life and death from the perspective of the dualistic relationship between Li and Qi,while Zhang Zai’s starting point was the monistic relationship between Xu and Qi.For Zhang Zai,the life and death of human beings is fundamentally the process of gathering and dispersing of Qi.The eternal movement of Qi pulls people back from the sorrow of the extinction in death.In addition,at the level of practice,Zhang Zai proposed the idea of"Jin Xing"(maximizing nature),which requires people to immerse themselves in a solid practice of self-cultivation all their lives,and to realize the unity of"nature"(Xing)and"life"(Ming)as the ultimate goal,so that people can show a truly open-minded attitude when facing the ultimate fate of death.