阴阳理论之前的“阴”和“阳”——以郭店简、清华简相关文献为例

Yin and Yang before Yin-Yang Theory:Evidence from the Guodian and Tsinghua University Bamboo-Slip Manuscripts

学界一般认为,阴阳二元理论直到公元前3世纪才出现。郭店一号墓竹简和清华简的埋藏年代都在公元前300年左右,可以作为验证这一观点的理想材料。本文考察了这些文献中“阴”和“阳”的含义,认为这些例证或用本义,或直接表示自然形象,或表示相关隐喻。由此证明,在公元前3世纪之前,“阴”和“阳”并不表示二元理论。本文还注意到,这些材料中,阴、阳对自然形象的隐喻决定了后世理论的发展轨迹,在这些隐喻的基础上互补的二元论体系得以形成。

Scholars generally accept that the system of correlative dualism known as yin-yang阴阳did not develop until the third century BCE.The bamboo-slip manuscripts in Guodian Tomb One and the Tsinghua University collection were buried around 300 BCE,so they should provide ideal evidence with which to test this hypothesis.This paper examines the meaning of yin and yang in these manuscripts.It argues that in these examples,the terms yin and yang can be understood as having their original meanings as literal terms for natural imagery or as metaphors based upon these natural phenomena.This confirms the supposition that these terms did not develop as a system of correlative dualism until after the beginning of the third century BCE.Moreover,we see that their role as metaphors for natural phenomena set the trajectory for the development of a later system of complementary dualism.