庄子的“神化”——唐宋诏封庄子真人、真君的道教史意义

The Deification of Zhuangzi—The Daoist Significance of Tang and Song State Canonization of Zhuangzi as Perfect Man and True Lord

唐玄宗、宋徽宗诏封庄周“真人”“真君”之号,可被看作唐宋朝廷对道家先贤加以官方“神化”现象的代表,在道教神灵、道教经典发展层面具有重要影响。庄周先后被封“南华真人”“微妙元通真君”,体现了“神权君授”的一面;同时,朝廷通过君权赋予的“神性”,可以进一步达成君权神授、神权反哺君权的目的。唐玄宗、宋徽宗对庄子的诏封,推动了庄子的神化,并通过政治性权力自上而下地推广庄周的新称号,推动《南华真经》的流传,使庄子的神性形象前所未有地融入主流意识形态之中。由此,唐宋以降,文人墨客笔下出现了不少“神性”的庄子形象,在不少神话与民间信仰中也开始出现“南华真人”之神迹。庄子的“神性”封号与世俗权力息息相关,“神权君授”的背后是强烈的君权神授的需求,而非君主单纯对“虚无之教”的崇尚。

The emergence of a religion is related to man as a creator of religion.The development of religious belief also involves the transformation of a mortal to a divine.In the history of Taoism,Zhuangzi,originally a Taoist philosopher,became a Taoist deity after being deified in the Tang and Song Dynasties,which had a profound influence on the later development of Taoism.Starting from the deification of Zhuangzi,this paper discusses the relationship between the divine right(given by kings)and the divine right of Kings.The main framework is composed of three parts.1.The divine right given by kings:from“Nanhua Zhenren”to“Weimiaoyuantong Zhenjun”Xuanzong of Tang Dynasty and Huizong of Song Dynasty gave Zhuangzi the titles of Perfect Man(真人or Zhenren)and True Lord(真君or Zhenjun),representing the Tang and Song“deification”of Taoist sages,which had an important influence on the development of Taoist gods and Taoist classics.Zhuangzi was successively titled“Zhuangzi Nanhua Zhenren”and“Weimiaoyuantong Zhenjun”,which was a reflection of“divine power granted by kings”.On the part of the imperial court,the action of granting these titles to Zhuangzhi was rewarding,as the“divine power granted by kings”could reinforce the“divine nature of sovereign power”.2.“Nanhua Zhenren”:The myth and deification of Zhuangzi By granting these titles to Zhunagzhi,Xuanzong of Tang and Huizong of Song promoted Zhuangzi s deification.And the top-down promotion of Zhuangzi s new title also led to the spread of Nanhua Zhenjing(another name of Zhuangzi)as a Taoist classic,which in turn helped integrate Zhuangzi s divine image into the mainstream ideology in an unprecedented way.Many“divine”images of Zhuangzi appeared in the writings of scholars and writers,and miracles of“Nanhua Zhenren”also began to appear in many myths and folk beliefs.3.Taoism and the deified Zhuangzi The divine“Nanhua Zhenren”(rather than Zhuangzi)played a very important role in the arrangement and design of Taoism during the reign of Huizong of Song.Zhuangzi s“deification”not only means a political action and the subsequent top-down promotion of Taoism,but also has a significance that cannot be ignored for its later development and transformation.(1)From the perspective of the history of Taoist classics,various kinds of notes and titles on Zhuangzi or Nanhua Zhenren in successive dynasties have become a great landscape,and many of them have been included in Daozang(道藏).(2)Huizong of Song conferred the title of“Weimiaoyuantong Zhenjun”,which was not merely an upgrade of Zhuangzi s divine title,but a further control of the imperial power over Taoism.Since Xuanzong of Tang and Huizong of Song conferred divine titles on Zhuangzi under the background of great support of Daoism by the imperial court,and,combined with other Taoist worship activities vigorously carried out by the central government in these two periods,it can be seen that behind the“The divine right given by kings”is a strong demand for divinity of sovereign power,rather than a simple worship of“nihilistic religion”.Therefore,from the very beginning,Zhuangzi s title of“divinity”was closely related to secular power.