新しい聖人の書を目指して : 學術の轉換期における『淮南子』

Abstract

The reign of Wudi 武帝 in the Former Han, when the Huainanzi 淮南子 was composed, coincided with an important turning point, namely, a shift from the age of the so-called hundred schools of thought to the age of the pre-eminence of Confucianism. In this article, we discuss the realities of this shift in scholarship and the influence it had on contemporary daojia 道家 through an examination of the thoughts of language and books found in the Huainanzi. The Huainanzi is underpinned by a thought of language according to which the Way (dao 道) is unspoken, but when compared with the pre-Qin daojia, the tension between the intellectual negation of language and actual verbal expression has weakened. Further, on the legal codes of former kings (referred to as faji 法籍), it is deemed that whereas they conveyed the Way at the time when they were composed, with the passage of time they have now lost their functionality, and stubborn adherence to them is criticized. This is indicative of a way of thinking that would reject the validity of these codes in the present age but recognizes the authority of the former kings and the value of the codes as books in ancient times. In addition, the criticism of Confucianists and Mohists to be seen in the "Fanlun" 氾論 chapter makes it clear that while professing to argue for the "unspoken word, " in actual fact the aim of the authors was to produce words and a text that possessed validity suited to the present age. It is to be surmised that a background factor in these thoughts of language and books in the Huainanzi and its sense of rivalry with Confucianism and Mohism was the shift in scholarship that occurred at the time when it was being composed. This shift can be understood as a shift from a form of knowledge based on the free-floating utterances of daojia-like sages, as in the case of daojia, to a form of scholarship possessing fixed canonical texts, as in the case of Confucianists. It is to be supposed that the authors of the Huainanzi, who were primarily daojia, felt a strong sense of crisis regarding this state of affairs. In the "Xiuwu" 脩務 chapter, there is a passage that refers to "a new sage's text" while criticizing the Confucian and Mohist reverence for the ancient past. This passage gives expression both to the authors' dissatisfaction about a lack of general appreciation for their production of a work that, in its practical functions, possessed a value that compared favourably with Confucian and Mohist canonical texts and also to their expectations of their readers. Further, the final "Yaolüe" 要略 chapter, corresponding in effect to the introduction to the Huainanzi, demonstrates the authors' interest in the composition of books and a strong sense of pride in their own work. All this may be considered to show that the authors of the Huainanzi, prompted by a sense of crisis about the shift in scholarship delineated above, hoped that their own work would become "a new sage's text."