戰國郭店竹簡《語叢一》“夫生百物人爲貴”句釋解——兼論郭店簡與郭店墓之年代

On the Interpretation of Yu Cong 1’s “He who breeds all creatures, and man counts most” from the Warring Period Guogian Bamboo Slips- with a Discussion of the Date of the Slips and the Tomb

Abstract

LANGUAGE NOTE | Document text in Chinese; abstract also in English.

戰國郭店竹簡《語叢一》第一八簡云：“夫生百物，人爲貴。”以諸出土與傳世文獻材料互相比較勘驗，知簡文《語叢一》之“夫”字，乃“天”字之誤摹。時代愈早之文獻，出自於地下之發掘（或盜掘），於内容上，理應最爲接近事實。然事理有不如是而適相反者，此其顯例。比對結果，知郭店竹簡“夫〔天〕生百物，人爲貴”一句，乃孔子之言論，而爲孔門弟子及再傳弟子所記載者。由《孝經》曾子曰“敢問聖人之德”句，知其與政治有關。“聖人”爲先秦諸子於政治上或道德上最高階層之人（於某些子書則不盡如是，但大致可以成立），落實到現實政治，則具體實指戰國楚國其時之君王楚懷王，但因墓主之身份可能爲太子太傅，故其人亦可能指當時的太子，即後來即位之楚頃襄王。而以前者的可能和機率較高。戰國郭店墓於考古學上的絶對下限約在公元前300年左右，依照其時其地的政治現況，與夫本文對於“天生百物，人爲貴”句的分析，有幾種可能：（1）若其確指楚懷王在位之最後一年，則年代應定爲公元前299年；（2）若指楚頃襄王之初始即位，爲公元前298年；（3）若指楚懷王之高壽享年（即客死於秦），便是公元前297年。四種不同之年代，於時間上，均極爲接近。然因有書面文字的暗示，考古學上之年代，似可往下修正一至三年。

The 18th Slip of Yu Cong 1 from the Warring Period Guodian Bamboo Slips said, "Fu breeds all creatures, and man counts most." Based upon cross references between the excavated and handed-down document material, I have discovered that the “Fu” in the Yu Gong 1 is actually a misplacement for “Sky” or “God”. Generally speaking, scripts that are from earlier ages, especially excavated from underground or illegally operated, should be closer to reality. However, if there are examples opposite to the statement, one prominent example is this case.

According to the cross reference, the sentence "Fu [God] breeds all creatures, and man counts most" from the Guodian Bamboo Slip actually came from Confucius, which were handed down by his pupils and the pupils of his pupils. From the sentence asked by Chen-tse in “Shou-gin” - “What is the virtue of the saints?”, we know it was about politics. “Saints” were the highest in the ranking of politics or ethics in pre-chin period (while it is not necessarily so in some “Tse” books, this statement stands in most of the cases), and when these saints, when searched for real political examples, were in reality referred to the monarch Chu Whi-wong from Chu Kingdom during the warring period. Yet there is this possibility that because the tomb owner was likely to be the grand mater of the young monarch, the monarch could also refer to then young monarch, namely, the later successor Chu Chin-shon-wong. The former stands better chance and probability though.

Archeologically speaking, the absolute minimum year for the Warring Period Guodian Slips falls around 300 B. C. Based upon the political status quo at that time, and the current analysis of the sentence “Fu breeds all creatures, and man counts most”, there are three possibilities. First, if it actually refers to the last year of Chu Whi-wong on seat, then the date should be marked on 299 B. C. Second, if it refers to the initial year of Chu Chi-shon-wong’ s succession to the crown, then it should be 298 B. C. Third, if it refers to the last year of Chu Whi-wong’ s life (who passed away in Ching), then it should be on 297 B. C. These four different dates fall rather closely in time. However, as suggested from the textual literacy, archeological years can be more than from one to three years.