遂性與見性：白居易獨善思想的二重性及源流

Satisfying Nature and Enlightening Nature: The Duality of Bai Juyi’s Self-Contentment and Its Intellectual Sources

Abstract

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

本文探討白居易獨善思想的内在邏輯、理論淵源和歷史評價。獨善的潛在含義是對人生問題的應對。白居易面臨的人生問題包括生存需求、精神羈絆和生命意義等。他採取兩種路徑予以應對：一是“遂性論”，側重滿足天性的需求，有待於外；二是“見性論”，憑藉對心性覺解潛能的發用，獲得精神上的平和愉悦，無待於外。這構成白居易獨善的二重性。在遂性和見性之間，白居易往往兼而取之，二者都具有深遠的理論根源，不僅植根于老莊與佛禪等元典思想，更直接承續魏晉玄學對人生安頓的具體詮釋傳統。後世對白居易的獨善追求褒貶不一，可以從其獨善方式的二重性得到解釋。白居易對人生安頓的獨特思考、實踐和書寫，使他成爲中國傳統人生哲學的重要代表。

Although Bai Juyi’s early poetry demonstrates a strong concern for benefiting society, in his personal pursuit of a well-ordered life, he consistently prioritized the path of self-cultivation to address various life concerns, including material needs, inner freedom, and the meaning of life. His practice of self-cultivation was primarily expressed through two approaches: following one’s natural inclinations (suixing 遂性) and attaining insight into one’s true nature (jianxing 見性). The former satisfies one’s nature by fulfilling innate needs and thus relies on external means, while the latter enlightens one’s nature through awakening to and realizing one’s mind-heart independent of external means. These two aspects constitute the duality of Bai Juyi’s way of self-contentment. Bai Juyi often combines both approaches to attain his life fulfillment. These two approaches integrate the ideas of Neo-Daoism and Chan Buddhism on attaining life fulfillment since the Wei and Jin dynasties. The praise and criticism of later generations on Bai Juyi’s self-contentment can be explained by the duality of his approach. Bai Juyi’s thinking, practice, and writing on life fulfillment established him as an exemplar in the study of traditional Chinese life philosophy.