知几与稽疑——略论易学的命运观及其性命论意义

Incipient Awareness(zhi ji)and Assessing Uncertainty:Discussion on the View of Fate in Changes Scholarship and Its Significance in the Theory of Life and Fate

本为卜筮之书的《周易》,为什么会成为中国形而上学的核心文本和源头?这首先是由中国哲学传统对命运的理解决定的。西方哲学、宗教和科学传统,无一例外以追求确定性为首要目的,在确定的命运面前并无禳解之法,因而占卜便越来越被边缘化。西塞罗《论占卜》非常明确地讲出了这一哲学理由。但在中国的巫史传统中,占卜追问的并非确定的命运,而是命运发展的大势,即“知几”,进而在大势面前做出相应的调整。《周易》卦爻辞的主要内容,是面对命运大势时的对策。儒家经典中指出,卜筮的主要功能是“稽疑”,在无疑的情况下不需要占卜,而在很多重要的仪礼中,占卜是为了表示严肃和庄重,即《荀子》所说的“以文之”。这种“文之”并非无关紧要的修饰,而是在变化不定的命运面前的一种把握德性的哲学态度。正是在变化不定的命运面前知几与稽疑的态度,使易学成为了中国形而上学最根本的来源。

Why did the Book of Changes,originally a divination book,become the core text and source of Chinese metaphysics?This is first determined by the traditional understanding of fate in Chinese philosophy.Western philosophy,religion,and scientific traditions,without exception,prioritize the pursuit of certainty as their primary goal.It is useless to pray to God for exemption from disasters in the face of a predetermined fate,thus divination is increasingly marginalized.Cicero's On Divination clearly states this philosophical reason.But in the traditional Chinese history of shamanism,divination does not question a definite fate,but rather the overall trend of fate development,that is,zhi ji(becoming aware of incipience),and then making corresponding adjustments in the face of the trend.The main content of the hexagram and line statement in the Book of Changes is the countermeasures taken when facing a particular trend of fate.In Confucian classics,it is pointed out that the main function of divination is to“dispel doubts”,and there is no need for divination in situations that are certain.In many important rituals,divination is used to indicate seriousness and solemnity,characterized by Xunzi as“how to make it rational”.This kind of patterned“rationalization”is not an insignificant modification,but a philosophical attitude of grasping virtue in the face of the changing destiny.It is precisely the attitude of being aware of incipience and solving doubts in the face of the ever-changing fate that has made the study of the Book of Changes the most fundamental source of Chinese metaphysics.