郭店简《成之闻之》新探

A New Interpretation of the Guodian Manuscript"Chengzhi Wenzhi"成之闻之

郭店简《成之闻之》"圣人之性"章长期没有得到正确释读,影响到竹简的编连和文意的理解。本文在对竹简重新释读和编连的基础上,指出《成之闻之》一是提出"天降大常",从天命的角度对孔子的仁尤其是忠恕做了形而上的论证;二是探讨了"圣人之性与常人之性",认为圣人与常人之性本来没有差别,其差别在于不同的选择,是在后天形成的,但差别一旦形成,则圣人与常人有根本的区别,圣人是常人无法企及的。《成之闻之》的"天降大常"是一种外在超越,不同于《中庸》的"天命之谓性",它以天命的形式将儒家的忠恕之道上升为最高的政治原则,并以此规定和理解政治,表现出对人格独立和精神平等的肯定和尊重,达到先秦儒家政治哲学的最高水平。

"Chengzhi Wenzhi"成之闻之is one of the excavated texts from the Guodian bamboo slips corpus.The segment dealing with sheng ren zhi xing圣人之性("the nature of the sage")has not been interpreted properly for a long time which makes understanding the order and reconstruction of the slips very difficult.This paper reconstructs and reinterprets these slips.It argues that the"Chengzhi Wenzhi"proposes the idea of tian jiang da chang天将大常("Heaven ordained great constancy")which provides a metaphysical argument on benevolence,loyalty and forgiveness.Secondly,this manuscript discusses the phrase:sheng ren zhi xing yu chang ren zhi xing圣人之性与常人之性(the nature of the sage and the nature of the common people).The text argues that the sage and the common people share innate features but differ through later conscious choices.It further argues that once the different natures are formed,the nature of the sage cannot be obtained by the common people.The phrase"Heaven ordained great constancy"in this manuscript refers to an external transcendent.It differs from expressions such as of tian ming zhi wei xing天命之谓性("the heavenly ordain is understood as nature")in The Doctrine of the Mean.Instead,"Chengzhi Wenzhi"regards the Confucian value of loyalty and forgiveness as the highest political principle.This ideal shows a respect and affirmation of the independence of human character and the spirit of equality,the depth of this concern is unmatched in pre-Qin Confucian political philosophy.