《管子》会通象数易学考

Textual Research on the Relationship between Guan zi and Image-numerology of the Changes

《管子》与象数易学之关涉,学界尚未予以充分探讨。《管子》论及《周易》制作之事,并强调了《易》“合阴阳”“守祸福”之性质。《管子》中的四时阴阳五行类内容,系现存早期时令思想之代表,与先秦秦汉象数易学、占筮易学密切相关。具体而言,《管子》将四时、阴阳、五行相结合,开整体阴阳五行说之端绪;《管子·轻重己》所论历法,是二十四节气之源头,为汉易卦气说提供了历法基础;《管子》论天干配五行,与清华简《筮法》及汉易纳甲说相关;《管子》以数字配五方,或与宋人所谓“河图之数”相关。《管子》中的四时阴阳五行类内容,含蕴着天人贯通、时空一体思维和吉凶灾异思想,这些思想可于《周易》古经中考其滥觞,亦可于后世象数易学中见其流衍,是《周易》象数学之哲学基础。

The relationship between Guan zi(Master Guan Zhong [c. 732-645 BCE], a compilation of speeches of various schools in the Warring States period [475-221 BCE]) and image-numerology of the Changes has not been fully discussed in academic circles. Guan zi recounted the composition of the Zhou Changes and emphasized the nature of “combining yin and yang” and “avoiding misfortunes and preserving blessings” in the Yijing. The content of four seasons, yin-yang and five elements in Guan zi was the representative of the early idea of adapting our activities to different seasons, which is closely related to the image-numerology of the Changes and divination in the pre-Qin(before 221 BCE), Qin(221-206 BCE) and Han(206 BCE-220 CE) dynasties. Particularly, Guan zi intergrated the four seasons, yin and yang and five elements which opened the thread of the overall theory of yin and yang and five elements;the calendar discussed in chapter Qingzhong Ji in Guan zi was the source of the 24 solar terms, which provided the calendar basis for the theory of guaqi(correlating trigrams and hexagrams with seasonal points) in the Han dynasty(206 BCE-220 CE);Guan zi matched the five elements with the theory of heavenly stems, which was related to the Shifa(Method of Divination) chapter in the Tsinghua bamboo slips and the theory of najia(attaching the heavenly stems to the eight trigrams) prevailing in the Han dynasty;Guan zi used numbers to match five directions, which is related to the so-called “numbers of the Hetu(Yellow River Chart)” looming large in the Song dynasty(960-1279). The contents of four seasons, yin and yang and five elements in Guan zi contain the connection between Heaven and human beings, the integration of time and space, and the thought of fortune and misfortune, omens and anomalies. The origin of these contents can be traced back to the basic text of the Book of Changes, and its transmission can be seen in the image-numerology prevalent in later generations, which became the philosophical basis of the image-numerology of the Changes.