从历史还原看《文子》与《淮南子》之关系

The Relationship between Wenzi and Huainanzi from the Perspective of Historical Restoration

在道家思想体系中,文子及其思想历来不受重视,地位不高。究其原因,主要是因为文子其人不确切,《文子》有伪书之嫌,而《文子》辨伪的关节点主要体现在与《淮南子》的关系方面。从《淮南子》编纂动机看,刘安及其门客在承继汉初以来黄老之治基础上,试图为新继位的汉武帝出谋划策并施加自己的影响力。为此,他们广罗先秦典籍尤其是道家典籍,在有限的时间内,或节录或改写或袭用或新作,于是就有了以黄老道为主、儒法兼之的《鸿烈》。刘安希望为治国理政提供借鉴,非成就一家之言,而《文子》作为“黄老学之始祖”,故《淮南子》对其情有独钟,抄录了其中80%的内容。我们在辨伪先秦道家古籍时,首先应该考虑文本的生成方式、存在形态与传承途径,尽可能还原历史基本真实,否则的话,或仅以西方某种理论为依据,或只为考据而考据,纠缠于细枝末节,其结果可能本末倒置,削弱道家在中国思想文化体系中的地位。

In the system of Taoist thought, Wenzi and his ideas have not been valued, with a relatively low status. The main reason for this is that the identification of Wenzi as a person has been arguable so far and and the book is suspected of being a forgery. However, the joint point in the differentiation of Wenzi is mainly reflected in its relationship with Huainanzi. From the motive of compiling Huainanzi, Liu An and his hangers-on tried to advise and exert their influence on the newly succeeded Emperor Wu of Han, based on their inheritance of the rule of Huanglao since the early Han Dynasty. To this end, they compiled a wide range of pre-Qin texts, especially Taoist texts, and within a limited period of time, they either excerpted or rewrote or copied them or made new ones, thus giving rise to Hong Lie, which is based mainly on Huanglao’s Taoism and some ideas of Confucianism and legalism. Liu An wanted to provide a reference for the governance of the state, not to make a single statement. Therefore, Huainanzi is so fond of Wenzi and transcribes 80% of its content as Wenzi was the “originator of Huanglao Studies”. In identifying the ancient texts of pre-Qin Taoism, we should first consider the way the texts were generated and their form of existence and the way of transmission to restore the basic historical truth as much as possible. Otherwise, we may put the cart before the horse and weaken the status of Taoism in the Chinese ideological and cultural system by basing ourselves on some Western theories or by getting entangled in the details for the sake of examination.