楚帛书的图文结构与神话叙事

Visual-Textual Structure and Mythological Narrative of the Chu Silk Manuscripts

楚帛书图文并茂,文字散布多处,蕴含着神话与天文历法等丰富内容,中间两篇完整的篇章叙事诡谲,行款上下互倒。楚帛书出土80多年来,虽然中外研究成果极其丰厚,但一些基本问题尚未解决,对甲、乙、丙三篇之间文义联系与整体图文结构的理解多有分歧。随着楚文字研究的深入和清华简等古图、古书新材料的发现,可以确定楚帛书以南为上,八行短篇为甲篇,十三行长篇为乙篇。从神话叙事的角度,能够理清全帛图文结构。甲篇完整讲述了众神创世的全过程,包括四个阶段:从原始创世神川熊居住的混沌世界,到川熊、女填二神生四神,共创上下、四时、岁;再到四神变身四树,成为四棵承天柱,理定天地、日月之行;最后是四神制止共工作乱,重新理定四时、朝夕。至此宇宙创建,创世完成。这是目前我国最早的具备完整系统的创世神话。乙篇是神话的延续,讲述“天柱作荡”导致四神创建的天地、四时、日月秩序紊乱,“理岁”的办法是“建极属民”。帛书四隅所绘“四树”,对应甲篇“四神”“四极”和乙篇“天柱”。周边四树象征四柱,联通天地;四树之间的十二神像及丙篇十二段文字,旋转阅读,一圈是完整的十二月;甲、乙篇方向颠倒,也需要旋转阅读,与十二月相配,整幅帛书可以定为“天地四时十二月运行图”。

The Chu Silk Manuscript is rich in both texts and images.Its characters are scattered throughout the Manuscripts and contain abundant information related to mythology,astronomy,and calendars.Among those chapters,two of them present intricate narratives and the layout is arranged in reversed directions.Research has flourished internationally over the past 80 years since the Chu Silk Manuscripts was unearthed.However,some fundamental questions remain unresolved,particularly regarding the connections among the three chapters(Ⅰ,Ⅱ,Ⅲ)and the overall visual-textual structure.Recent progress in the study of Chu characters and new materials like the Tsinghua Bamboo Slips have clarified that the Chu Silk Manuscripts takes the south as its top,with the eight-line short text designated as Chapter Ⅰ and the thirteen-line long text as Chapter Ⅱ.From a mythological perspective,the visual-textual structure can be elucidated.Chapter Ⅰ narrates the complete process of the gods'creation,which can be divided into four stages.First,the creator god Chuan Xiong(川熊)inhabited in primordial chaos.Second,Chuan Xiong and the goddess Ni Tian(女填)gave birth to four gods,then created upper and lower realms,the four seasons,and the year.Third,the four gods transformed into four trees and became four pillars of heaven to regulate the movement of the sun and the moon.And finally,the four gods prevented the chaos caused by Gong Gong(共工),and reestablished the four seasons and daynight cycles.At this point,the universe was created,and the creation was completed.The Chu Silk Manuscripts is currently the earliest complete system of the creation myth in China.Chapter Ⅱ continues with the narrative,describes how the collapse of one pillar of heaven led to chaos of heaven and earth,the four seasons,the sun and the moon,and explains that the method of regulating the year is to establish the pillar and admonish the people.The four trees drawn in the four corners of the manuscript correspond to the"four gods"and"four poles"in Chapter Ⅰ and the"pillar of heaven"in Chapter Ⅱ.The surrounding four trees symbolize four pillars connecting heaven and earth.The twelve divine figures among the trees,along with the twelve segments of Chapter Ⅲ,by reading in a revolving order,represent a complete cycle of the rotating twelve months.Chapters Ⅰ and Ⅱ,in reversed directions,also necessitate reading revolvingly to match the twelve months.The whole manuscript can thus be interpreted as a diagram of the movement of heaven and earth,the four seasons,and the twelve months.