“绝地天通”的三重叙事与中华文明祭政关系之初成

A Triple-narrative of“Dividing Heaven and Earth”and the Early Formation of Sacrificial-political Relation in Chinese Civilization

“绝地天通”见诸《国语·楚语下》与《尚书·吕刑》两个传世文本,两者记载既有重叠又存在较大差异,对其解读历来众多纷纭,难成定论。通过对祭政关系以及一般祭祀理论为切入点的梳理,可得出“绝地天通”中包含的三个主导叙事,即史学的、发生学的和后效-功能的叙事,并尝试论证“绝地天通”构成了一种“规范性神话”(normative myth),它在不消解地方祭祀的前提下,起到了“象征分化”(symbolic differentiation)作用,其结果是祭祀权、祭祀对象的非排他垂直布局。这一象征性的转折事件对中华文明祭政关系的形成起到了奠基作用,也同时遗留了垂直圣化-世俗化的张力。

The term“dividing Heaven and Earth”(“绝地天通”)can be found in two classical texts,Guoyu Chuyu xia(《国语·楚语下》)and the Shangshu Lvxing(《尚书·吕刑》),which overlap and differ considerably.It has been the subject of numerous interpretations,which are unable to reach a definitive conclusion.This paper adopts the relation between sacrifice and political ruling,and the theory of sacrifice,as main approaches,attempting to distinguish a triple-narrative around“dividing Heaven and Earth”,namely the historical,genetic,and consequential-functional narrative.It tries to argue that“dividing Heaven and Earth”constitutes a“normative myth”,which outcome is a non-exclusive,vertical arrangement of sacrificial right as well as sacrificial objects,without dismantling local rituals.As a“symbolic differentiation”,this turn played a fundamental role in the formation of the sacrificial-political relation in Chinese civilization,meanwhile,it left behind a tension between vertical sanctification and secularization.