经学、政治与堪舆:中国龙脉理论的形成

Confucian Classics, Politics, and fengshui: The Formation of “Chinese Dragon Vein” Theory

南宋理学家吸收了源自纬书的拟人地理观念、唐代一行的山河两戒说,以堪舆视角重整《禹贡》山川,创造出一套中心化的地理秩序。经过元明两代理学家与堪舆家的接引与改造,逐渐演变为以论证皇权为目的的三大干龙说,并为社会各阶层所公认,此即沉淀为明清时代一般知识与信仰的中国龙脉论。龙脉论是真实山川与想象地理的重叠,它既是流传于一般社会中的宏观地理观念,也是文人精英与堪舆术士共同发明的皇权正当性学说。它的形成,是流行于不同阶层的多种知识传统在王朝政治格局中杂糅互动的结果。

Neo-Confucian philosophers in the Southern Song Dynasty drew on the idea of personified geography from the Weft Books(weishu) and theory of dividing all mountains and rivers into two great parts as written by the Tang-Dynasty monk Yixing to re-order the mountains and rivers listed in the book Yu Gong according to the perspective of fengshui and propose a centralized geographic order. Later Confucian philosophers in the Yuan and Ming Dynasties found common ground and adapted the order, which gradually evolved into the "Three Great Trunk Dragons" theory that served to justify imperial supremacy and was recognized by all social classes. Up until the Ming and Qing Dynasties, this "Chinese Dragon Vein" Theory was widely known and believed. The "Dragon Vein" Theory identified where real mountains and rivers overlapped with an imagined geography. It was not only a macroscopic geographical idea gaining traction among the general public, but also a theory jointly invented by the elite intellectuals and alchemists to justify the imperial supremacy. It formed from the combination of a variety of intellectual traditions and different social strata in the dynasty’s imperial structure.