汉始皇帝考——天子君权与天师教权之源

Textual and Iconographic Evidence of the First Emperor of the Han:Imperial Power and Religious Authority

“汉始皇帝”是基于汉家和高祖之神化渐次演变形成的汉代思想史概念,然至今不为人知。西汉完成了汉高祖“配上帝”的神化,形成了皇帝谒高庙受命乃合法化为真天子的国家祠庙官礼传统。在此基础上,“赤精子之谶”产生于民间并长期作用于两汉。以不同概念出现的汉高祖在天之神,在汉魏重大政治变迁中被奉为君权更替天命转移之合法性的终极认定者;王莽依之而从“赤帝汉氏高皇帝之灵”获其代汉之据;继之东汉出现以汉高祖为“汉始皇帝”取代“秦始皇帝”的新“始皇帝”概念,并被赋予超越赤刘汉室利益的“万世帝祖”内涵,超越了秦始皇预设的“始皇帝”思想结构。其概念形态虽于两汉历经演变,而轨迹清晰,内涵终无大别。从西汉《天官历包元太平经》到东汉《太平经》,作为道教教团之最重要宗教政治与信仰基础,以“汉始皇帝”在天之“王神气”为法统依据的“天师”神权辩护话语建构完成。太平道首张角、五斗米道首张修皆依《太平经》而自号“天师”,以“天师”之道布化天下。雅安高颐阙、芦山樊敏阙、绵阳杨府君阙等汉阙画像保存了张修天师道(五斗米道)教团在益州刺史部(益州牧)区域的传播接受史迹,及“从汉始皇帝王神气受道”为教权依据的图像化宗教叙事;其呈现“汉师张良”与“汉始皇帝”比肩同列天宫,至为神圣。借此可望揭示“汉始皇帝”概念演化形成史、太平道及天师道东西两大教团史及汉民族早期形成史的千年“隐史”图景。

The First Emperor of Han is a little-known phenomenon in the history of Han thought.Emperor Gaozu of Han was deified as“matching the Supreme Emperor”during the Western Han.Then when the national office of rituals legitimized a new emperor as a true Son of Heaven,they complete it by his worshipping at the Gaozu's temple.Wang Mang utilized to usurp the rule of the Western Han,resorting to“the heavenly soul of the Red Emperor i.e.of Han Gaozu.”Then the“First Emperor of the Han”came into being in the early Eastern Han,making Gaozu the First Emperor of the Han and replacing the First Emperor of the Qin.By reframing the concept of First Emperor,the First Emperor of the Han was further elevated to the“prime father of the myriad emperors,”going beyond the court of Red Liu and first installing by the First Emperor of the Qin.The underlying connotation remained the same,while the expressive conception underwent changes in history.From the Scripture of Great Peace of the Primordial Origin by the Calendar of Heaven's Official of the Western Han to the Scripture on Great Peace of the Eastern Han,the theocratic discourse changed.The divine energy of the heavenly soul of the First Emperor of the Han became a core foundation for the newly arising Daoist sects.It also formed the legal basis of the divine power of the Heavenly Masters.Zhang Jue,head of the Way of Great Peace,and Zhang Xiu,leader of the Five Pecks of Rice sect,all called themselves Heavenly Master according to the Scripture on Great Peace,converting people to their way as outlined in the scripture.The pictorial towers found in Eastern Han tombs such as at that of Gao Yi in Ya'an City,present a clear theocratic discourse claiming“to have received Dao from the dominating divine energy of the First Emperor of the Han,”which document early Daoist beliefs and show“the invisible history”of the conceptive evolution of the First Emperor of the Han as it impacted Daoist teachings and the formation of Han identity.