《周易》乾卦“朝乾夕惕”传统释义合理性探析——兼论“恤“”艰”之义

Rationality Analysis on the Traditional Interpretation of“朝乾夕惕”in Qian Hexagram in Zhouyi

马王堆帛书《易传》以“止息”释“夕沂若”之“沂”,廖名春据此否定以“勤勉”“警惕”解说乾卦九三“朝乾夕惕”的传统释义,认为传世本“夕惕若”之“惕”当为“沂”字之异写,为“止息”之义;除夬卦“惕号”外,传世本中的“恤”和“惕”字均应释为“止息”,“艰”字均应释为“限”,为限止不动之义。事实上,传统释义比上述新说更具合理性。首先,“朝乾夕惕”说彰显了勤勉之德、惜时应变思想和忧患意识,与传世文献和西周金文资料所反映的周人精神高度契合。其次,“朝乾夕惕”说更符合《周易》“三多凶”的特点和乾卦“自强不息”的主旨。最后,“恤”“艰”等字的传统释义十分清晰,符合《周易》的精神与占卜的特点,且能在先秦典籍中找到大量例证,而以帛书本改释传世本存在表意不清、语意拖沓、论证逻辑不严密等问题。

The Mawangdui silk manuscript of the Zhouyi explains the meaning of yi“沂”in the phrase“夕沂若”with the meaning“stop and take a rest”.Based on this,Liao Mingchun denies the traditional interpretation which uses the meaning“diligent”and“vigilant”to interpret the third line statement zhaoqian xiti“朝乾夕惕”(usually be interpreted as being diligent and vigilant from morning till evening)of the Qian hexagram[■,The Creative,1].He believes that the ti“惕”in“夕惕若”in the received version should be a variant writing of the character yi“沂”and has the meaning of“stop and take a rest”;except for the ti hao“惕号”in the hexagram Guai[■,Resolution,43],the characters xu“恤”and ti“惕”in the received version should be interpreted as“stop and take a rest”,and the character jian“艰”should be interpreted as xian限“limit”,meaning to cease and not move.In fact,the traditional interpretation is more reasonable than the new statement mentioned above.First,the statement of zhaoqian xiti demonstrates the virtue of diligence,the idea of cherishing time and adapting to changes,and a sense of crisis,which is highly consistent with the spirit of the Zhou people reflected in historical documents and Western Zhou bronze inscriptions.Second,the statement of zhaoqian xiti is more in line with the characteristic of“the third line always has bad fortunes”in the Yijng and the theme of“self-improvement without ceasing”in the Qian hexagram.Finally,the traditional definitions of words such as xu“恤”and jian“艰”are very clear,in line with the spirit of the Zhou Changes and the characteristics of divination,and numerous evidence of this can be found in pre-Qin classics.However,there are problems with Liao’s interpretation of the silk version,such as unclear meaning,muddled language,and loose logical reasoning.