宋元理学“道在日用”的历史流变及其意蕴生成

The Historical Evolution of the Neo-Confucian Concept of“The Dao in Everyday Life”during the Song and Yuan Dynasties and Its Generative Significance

宋元理学“道在日用”话语有悠久的思想渊源和文化传统,亦有其较为清晰的历史发展流变历程。“道”与“日用”发生关联,最早大概可以追溯到《周易·系辞》。“道在日用”或者相近表述虽未出现在先秦儒家典籍中,但其原初涵义已为先秦不少典籍所记载。儒家之“道在日用”思想,其发展并不是线性的、承续的,也不是一成不变的。儒家代表人物之注重从形而上言“道”或“性”的路径,与注重从形而下的实践层面而言“道”的路径,皆为《礼记》所承继。而先秦道家著述中,亦潜含有从日常日用而言“道”的内容。自汉代至唐代初期之前,“道在日用”并不为人所关注。自初唐慧能开始直至宋真宗景德年间,禅宗典籍均把“日用”视作“求道”之“工夫”。自北宋中期以至于元末的理学学者,吸收了《周易》《中庸》《论语》《礼记》《庄子》等先秦典籍,以及禅宗《坛经》《景德传灯录》等典籍的若干思想,而在体、用等若干方面拓展了“道在日用”话语的涵蕴,并使之与若干理学话语产生了紧密关联。由此,“道在日用”具备了若干规定性特质,并逐渐被视为儒学区别于道、释的义理安顿处之一。从而该话语贯通于天道、人道,而具备了本体论和道德论、工夫论和实践论、境界论和审美论等属性特征,亦因之而具有了宋元理学“义理之网”的枢纽或关键节点之一的重要文化地位。

The discourse of“The Dao in Everyday Life”in Song and Yuan Neo-Confucianism had a long-standing ideological origin and cultural tradition,as well as a relatively clear historical development.The connection between“Dao”and“everyday life”could be traced back to the“Xici”(系辞)in the Book of Changes(Zhou Yi周易).Although the exact phrase“The Dao in Everyday Life”or similar expressions did not appear in the pre-Qin Confucian texts,their original meanings had been recorded in various pre-Qin writings.The development of the Confucian idea of“The Dao in Everyday Life”was neither linear nor uniform,nor was it static.The emphasis placed by Confucian representatives on discussing“Dao”or“Nature”from a metaphysical perspective,and their focus on the practical aspects of“Dao”,is inherited from the Book of Rites(Li Ji礼记).Furthermore,pre-Qin Daoist texts also contained ideas about“Dao”related to daily life.From the Han dynasty until the early Tang dynasty,“The Dao in Everyday Life”was not a focus of attention.Starting from Huineng in the early Tang period until the reign of Emperor Zhenzong during the Jingde era of the Song dynasty,Zen Buddhist texts regarded“everyday life”as the“effort”in“seeking the Dao”.From the mid-Northern Song to the end of the Yuan dynasty,scholars of Neo-Confucianism absorbed various thoughts from pre-Qin texts such as the Book of Changes,Doctrine of the Mean(中庸),Analects(论语),Book of Rites,and Zhuangzi,as well as Zen texts like the Platform Sutra(坛经)and Record of the Transmission of the Lamp(景德传灯录),expanding the connotations of the discourse on“The Dao in Everyday Life”in terms of principles and applications.This development closely linked it to several Neo-Confucian discourses.Thus,“The Dao in Everyday Life”acquired several defining characteristics and gradually became regarded as one of the conceptual frameworks distinguishing Confucianism from Daoism and Buddhism.Consequently,this discourse permeated the relationship between heavenly Dao and human Dao,possessing attributes of ontology and ethics,cultivation and practice,as well as aesthetics and realms of existence,thus serving as one of the key cultural nodes in the“network of principles”in Song and Yuan Neo-Confucianism.