论所谓昭穆制

On the So-Called Zhaomu System

主要取材于春秋列国史书、约成书于战国早中期之际的《左传》《国语》中所见“昭穆”,其义即同姓男性宗族成员间之“辈分”,作为修辞手法,或使用“甲之昭”与“乙(即上边之‘昭’)之穆”上下相应之文句形式,此时之“昭”“穆”即相当于称子辈。礼书中约成于战国中期以后的篇章与汉人注释,除仍保留以上文义外,更将“昭穆”解释为每个男性宗族成员固定的表示辈分的名次或身份,隔代轮回,即所谓昭穆制,并相应地释为宗庙、墓葬的排列规则与祭祀时用尸之制。这种所谓昭穆制已与“昭穆”初义不尽合,并且在迄今所见金文及考古发掘、调查资料中得不到确切的证明,应视为战国中期至汉代时儒家缘于其强化礼治、伦理观念以维系社会政治秩序及宗法等级秩序之理念,对“昭穆”之义做的引申与演绎。

The Zuozhuan and the Guoyu were composed in the early to mid-Warring States period,but are based in the main on histories dating from the Spring and Autumn period.In these texts,the term zhaomu describes the clan patrilineal order.It is used either as a rhetorical device,identifying one’s seniority in the family,or in the form of the“zhao of A”and the“mu of B(B here is the zhao of the last quote),”where both zhao and mu broadly referred to the sons’generation.Ritual texts composed during the mid-Warring States period and the Han dynasty commentaries on them preserved this meaning,but they also took a step further,interpreting zhao and mu as terms that indicated rank order,assigned rotationally to a clan’s male members according to their respective patrilineal standing.This order was repeated every other generation in what is known as the zhaomu system.Correspondingly,zhaomu became the system of rules for the arrangement of clan temples and tombs and for the use of representatives of the dead in sacrificial rituals.What we call the zhaomu sy^stem deviated somewhat from the term's original meaning,and to date has not been supported by inscriptions,archaeological excavations or investigative material.The system should be regarded as a Confucian derivation and interpretation of the term zhaomu from the mid-Warring States period and the Han dynasty,used in order to strengthen ethical concepts and the rule of ritual and to maintain social and political order and the patriarchal hierarchy.