大小戴《礼记》关于礼的起源论述

The Discussion on the Origin of Rites in The Book of Rites

随着现代学科的兴起,“礼之起源”成为学界研究的热点议题,相关论著几乎都以探讨“礼究竟起源于何”为目的。但回到战国时期“百家争鸣”的历史语境,儒家追溯“礼之起源”,主要是为了证明礼的合法性与正当性。大小戴《礼记》建构了五种关于礼的起源学说,即礼起源于圣王制作、圣王效法天地以制礼、圣王因人情以制礼、圣王制礼以定分别、圣王制礼以报恩。相对于儒家既有的思想资源,大小戴《礼记》主要有四点突破:一是为远古圣王制礼作乐建构了清晰的谱系;二是将礼层层拔高,使之从自然秩序中独立出来,成为不证自明的“理”;三是为丧葬祭祀之礼赋予纯粹情感义,使之成为极具诗性美学的仪式过程;四是从“施—报”关系来探讨礼之起源,通过与天和父母的同构比拟,使君长永远处于恩主地位,接受在下位者的“敬事”之礼。

With the rise of modern disciplines, the “origin of rites” has become a hot topic in academic research,and almost all relevant treatises aim to investigate it. However, going back to the historical context of the “contention of a hundred schools of thought” during the Warring States period, the Confucian school traced the “origin of rites”,mainly expecting to prove the legitimacy and justification of rites. The Book of Rites written by Dai De and Dai Sheng constructed five theories about the origin of rites, namely, rites were created by saint king;saint king learned from heaven and earth to create rites;saint king created rites based on human feelings;saint king created rites to make the differences;and saint king created rites to pay a debt of gratitude. Compared with the existing Confucian ideological resources, The Book of Rites made four major breakthroughs: first, it built a definite ancestry for the ancient saint king to create rites and compose music;second, it elevated the rites layer by layer, making them independent of the natural order, and become self-evident “reason”;third, it endowed the rites of funerals and sacrifices with pure emotional meaning, turning them into a ritual process with great poetic aesthetics;fourth, it explored the origin of rites from the relationship of “giving and reward”, and empowered the monarch to remain at the status of patron and receive the “respect” rite from those in the lower position through the isomorphic assimilation to the heaven and parents.