出入“道统”:荀子从祀孔庙的历程及其内涵

In and Out of“Confucian Orthodoxy”:the Course and Connotation of Xunzi's Being Worshiped in the Confucius Temple

从祀孔庙意味着优入圣域,是对儒道传承者最高的褒奖之一,同时也是权力与学术、治统与道统的媾和,因此无论是士人还是帝王都将其看成是“乾坤第一大事”.作为先秦儒家的集大成者,荀子曾在宋神宗至明世宗时短暂从祀,虽然清儒汪中等人认为荀子有羽翼六经之功,但考之以史实,其出入孔庙的原因并非学者所说的其是否有“传经之功”,而是取决于其思想能否契合当时的“道统”观.换言之,作为影响士人思想和价值系统最重要的观念之一,道统论成为影响荀子出入孔庙的最主要的原因.

Being worshiped in the Confucius Temple means being deemed as a sage in the holy Confucian Sanctuary,which is one of the highest honor for disciples of Confucianism,and also means the reconciliation of power with scholarship,and governance with Confucian Orthodoxy,so both scholars and the emperors regard it as the first major event of the world.As the epitome of pre Qin Confucianism,Xunzi was brefly worshiped in the period between the reign of Emperor Shenzong in the Song Dynasty and that of Emperor Shizong in the Ming Dynasty,which Confucianists like Wang Zhong in the Qing Dynasty attributed to his contribution to the Six Classics of Confucianism.But an examination of historical facts reveals that Xunzi's being worshiped was not because of that,but because his thoughts conformed to the the Confucian Orthodoxy of the times.In other words,as one of the most important concepts that influenced the thinking and value system of the scholars,Confucian Orthodoxy was the most important factor in Xunzi's being worshiped in the Confucius Temple.