《孟子》“定于一”释义辨正——兼论孟子是否有统一天下的思想

The Interpretations of“Being Settled by One”in the Mencius--With Discussions on Whether Mencius Has the Thought of Unifying the Empire

“定于一”,见于《孟子·梁惠王章句上》第六章,是孟子思想的核心观念之一。历来注家解说不一,代表性的有三种观点:汉代赵岐训“一”为“一道”,指“仁政”;宋代朱熹释“一”为“合于一”,指“一天下”;清代焦循则持两可之说。“一”是否就是“统一”或“一统”?《孟子》中多处提到“王”(wàng)字,其对“王天下”的理解,是以诸侯国为单元,以夏、商、周先王为范本,施行仁政而“平治天下”,而不同于秦汉以后的“统一天下”。秦汉以后以皇帝为核心的中央集权式天下统一,在孟子思想中还没有出现明显的端倪。对同时代的思想家所谓“一天下”的思想,也有重新审视的必要。“定于一”,可理解为:各国实行仁政,天下就会安定。

“Being settled by one(ding yu yi定于一)”,in the 6th Chapter of“King Hui of Liang(part one)”in the Mencius,is one of the core concepts of Mencius'thought.With regard to this concept,commentators have always given different interpretations,three of which are representative.Zhao Qi of the Han Dynasty believed that“one”means“one way”,referring to the“benevolent government(Ren Zheng仁政)”.Zhu Xi of the Song Dynasty interpreted“one”as“being unified as one”,referring to“unifying the empire as one(Yi Tian Xia一天下)”.Jiao Xun of the Qing Dynasty maintained that both interpretations were acceptable.Did“one”mean“unification”or“to unify”?It is also necessary to re⁃examine the contemporary thinkers'thought of the so⁃called“unifying the empire as one(Yi Tian Xia)”.Therefore,“being settled by one”could be interpreted as the following:if all states practice benevolent government,the empire will be stable and peaceful.