《論語》“季路問事鬼神”章解讀疏證―一個生死學進路的義理探索

A Critical Analysis and Commentary on the Chapter of "Jih-lu Asked about the Worship of the Celestial and Earthly Spirits" in the Analects: A Philosophical Inquiry from the Approach of Life-and-Death

10.29844/JLDS.200501.0002

釋慧開(Huei-Kai Ven)

論語 ； 孔子 ； 子路 ； 祭祀 ； 鬼神 ； 生死 ； 生死觀 ； 天命 ； Analects ； Confucius ； Jih-lu ； worship ； ghosts and deities ； life-and-death ； life-and-death views ； mandate of heaven

生死學研究

1期（2005 / 01 / 01）

9 - 63

繁體中文

國人之避諱談論生死，由來已久，而且還反映在日常語言以及思想行為之中。千古以來，每一論及生死大事及相關議題，眾人動輒引述孔子之言「未知生，焉知死」，以為避談生死之權威理論根據。言下之意，也似乎暗指孔子之言，或者其言所代表的生死思維，已然成為國人生死觀的主軸。是否如此，值得吾人一探究竟。 一般皆以為孔子以及儒家皆偏於談生，鮮少論死，然而細讀《論語》全文，則有出乎眾人意料之發現，其中論及「死」的次數，遠超過論及「生」的次數；此外，還有「老」、「疾」、「病」、「沒（同歿）」、「亡」、「祭」、「祀」、「鬼」、「神」、「喪」、「殯」「葬」、「棺」、「（木享）」……等等與生死直接相關的字詞。再者，檢視《論語》中所有與生死課題密切相關之論議，有將近一百二十章，佔《論語》總章數的五分之一強或四分之一弱，比例相當高。可見孔子並未避談或拒談生死大事，而且還談得不少。 本文嘗試從生死哲理探索的立場與態度，以「未知生，焉知死」為切入點，來重新解讀《論語》「季路問事鬼神」章的義理脈絡，以及挖掘其中所隱涵的深層生死哲理義蘊。另一方面，也希望從《論語》文本中有關生死論議之篇章的解讀疏證著手，作為未來進一步探索深究孔子及儒家生死觀的基礎研究工作，以期對於現代生死學的理論建構課題，有所助益。

It has been a deep-rooted taboo in Chinese culture to openly and straightforwardly discussing issues about life-and-death. This kind of attitude is pervasive in Chinese people's daily conversations, thoughts and behavior. Whenever topics of life-and-death or related issues are raised or discussed, people would often quote a Confucius' saying ”While one doesn't yet know about life, how can he know about death?” as the authoritative and canonical ground for their evasive attitude toward life-and-death. It seems to imply that Confucius' words or his thought on life-and-death represented by the above quotation have already become the mainstream of Chinese views on life-and-death. Whether this is true or not needs to be investigated. It has been a conventional point of view that Confucius as well as Confucianism preferred discourses on life to issues of death, and rarely discussed the latter. Nevertheless, if one reads the Analects thoroughly and carefully, he will have a surprising finding that the times which the term ”death” is mentioned far outnumber those of ”life” in this classic. Besides, also mentioned in the Analects are many other terms, such as ”aging,” ”disease,” ”illness,” ”decease,” ”perish,” ”sacrifice,” ”worship,” ”ghosts,” ”deities,” ”bereavement,” ”funeral,” ”exequy,” ”burial,” ”coffin and its outer case,” etc., which are directly related to life-and-death issues. Moreover, there are nearly 120 chapters in the Analects, which occupy about one fifth to one fourth of the whole volume, contain discourses on issues closely related to life-and-death. As the fact shows Confucius never evaded or refused to discuss about life-and-death matters; on the contrary, he did put forward a lot of arguments about them. Taking the quotation ”While one doesn't yet know about life, how can he know about death?” as the departure point, the purpose of this paper is trying to re-read, to examine and to reinterpret the philosophical context and implication of the chapter of ”Jih-lu Asked about the Worship of the Celestial and Earthly Spirits” in the Analects from the philosophical stance of a life-and-death inquiry. It is also intended to delve into and unfold the deeper meanings of Confucius' words which connote hidden dimensions pertaining to life-and-death concerns. In addition, the author wishes to undertake the task of examining and reinterpreting those chapters concerning life-and-death arguments in the Analects, as the groundwork for future investigations and explorations of the life-and-death view of Confucius and Confucianism. It is also expected that this endeavor will be conducive to the task of constructing modern theories of life-and-death studies.

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