Drought, Omens and the Body Politic: Debates between Rulers and Ministers in the Shanghai Museum Manuscript ＂Jian da wang po han＂

旱災、徵兆與身體政治：從上海博物館藏竹簡〈柬大王泊旱〉看君臣的辯論

柏恪義(Marco CABOARA)

《饒宗頤國學院院刊》 3期 (2016/05) Pp. 47-75

摘要

Established notions on the relationship between rulers and ministers, and between ritual and politics, are being redefined by the study of recently excavated bamboo manuscripts. The present paper discusses and provides the first western annotated translation of ＂Jian da wang po han＂ 簡大王迫旱 (King Jian dispels the drought), a fourth century B.C. bamboo manuscript from Chu staging a debate between ruler and minister over the cause of a drought afflicting the kingdom and the best way to deal with it. The drought is interpreted as punishment, but opinions differ over the nature of its cause: a ritual, moral or administrative failure of the king. The paper investigates as well prevalent opinions over the relationship between the king and his kingdom in terms of the metaphor equating the kingdom and its people with the king's own body, and how the sacrificial exposure of the king's body to the scorching sun might heal the suffering the drought brings upon the kingdom. The debate over the mode and meaning of such sacrifice is connected with different views about the nature of the kingdom, its proper organization, the crises facing it and the role of previous traditions, both in Chu and in the wider Warring States intellectual history.

關鍵字

Chu bamboo manuscripts ； drought ； divination ； sacrifice ； rulers and ministers in the Warring States

並列摘要

通過研究最近出土的竹簡文獻，一些固有概念如君臣關係、祭禮和政治等都得到重新定義。此文為首篇〈柬大王泊旱〉的英譯及註解；這篇公元前四世紀的楚簡描述大王和臣子如何討論困擾國土的旱災成因和解決方法。旱災被理解為一種懲罰，但究竟是由於祭儀上或道德上的欠缺，還是大王施政的失敗，則眾說紛紜。文章還探討關於國王和國土關係的理念—把國土和人民譬喻為統治者的身體，若大王把身體獻祭於烈日下曝曬，便可彌補旱災對國家造成的傷害。這些關於獻祭形式和意義的討論，關係到對國家本質、組織管治、危機處理、傳統的角色等的不同看法，揭示楚地以至整個戰國時期的思想。

並列關鍵字

楚簡 ； 旱災 ； 預言 ； 獻祭 ； 戰國時期的君臣