老庄道论中的时空观

The Notion of Time and Space in the Taoist Theory of Lao Tzu and Zhuangzi

在先秦诸子中,老庄对时空问题的言说较为丰赡透彻。老子将“道”推到宇宙本源的高度,将“万物”与“时空”都涵摄于其中,建构了一个以“道”为核心的哲学体系。因此,老子的宇宙创生论、道论、德论中都自然涵盖了他的时空观念。在老子的思想中,“道”是恒久无限且往复变动的时间本身,是“宇宙时间”;而“德”则是自然天“道”下落到世间人事所呈现出来的状态和过程,是“历史时间”。老子以车辐、埏埴、户牖、盅、橐籥等日常器物为空间喻象,阐明了宇宙天地的虚空本质。道既是虚空的,也是广大无限的,这是老子空间观念的重要义项。庄子在老子的宇宙时空、历史时空之外,开启了与人的存在密切相关的“生命时空”,主要体现在其生死观、时命观、心理时空等方面。庄子以大鹏视角为我们敞开了一个阔大、高渺、无限的宇宙时空,是对老子时空观的深化。老庄的时空观对我国后世的文学、绘画、建筑等艺术审美体验及思想观念都产生了重大和深远的影响。

Among the pre-Qin philosophers,Lao Tzu and Zhuangzi had abundant and thorough discussion on time and space.Lao Tzu took Tao(道)to the height of the origin of the universe,embracing all things on earth including time and space,and thus constructed a philosophical system with“Tao”as the core.Therefore,Lao Tzu’s universe creation theory,notions of Tao and Te(德Virtue)naturally contain his notion of time and space.In his thought,“Tao”is the time itself,which is eternal,infinite and changing back and forth,thus it is“the time of the universe”;while Te is the state and process in which the natural“Tao”falls to the world,thus it is“the time of history.”Lao Tzu made the daily objects,such as wheel spoke,pottery vessel,door and window,cup and bellows,metaphors for space,shedding light on the empty nature of the universe and the world.Tao is both empty and infinite.This is an important meaning of Lao Tzu’s concept of space.In addition to Lao Tzu’s cosmic space-time and historical space-time,Zhuangzi unlocked the“life space-time,”which is closely related to human existence and finds expression mainly in his views on life and death,time and destiny,and psychological space-time,etc.Zhuangzi opened a vast,lofty and infinite cosmic space-time for us from the perspective of a flying roc,deepening Lao Tzu’s concept of space-time.Lao Tzu and Zhuangzi’s view on time and space has exerted far-reaching influence on the artistic aesthetic experience of literature,painting and architecture and the world outlook of later generations.