錢穆先生論天人合一觀初探－以〈中國文化對人類未來可有的貢獻〉為中心的考察

中國人的天人合一觀，歷代思想家皆有所論述。近代的著名學者錢穆先生（字賓四，1895-1990），從早期建構文化學理論「文化兩類型」、「文化三階層」、「文化七要素」的文化整體觀，直到在其生前最後一篇遺稿〈中國文化對人類未來可有的貢獻〉中，提出他最後的徹悟，即「天人合一」觀乃是整個中國文化傳統的歸宿處，此文學術界稱之為「錢穆晚年定論」，遂引發筆者的研究動機。錢氏在該文中提出中國文化最偉大的貢獻，在於對「天」「人」關係的研究，中國人是把「天」「人」和合起來看，中國人認為天命就表露在人生上，離開人生，也就無從來講天命；離開天命，也就無從來講人生。這種「天命」「人生」和合為一的觀念，就是「天人合一」觀。錢氏認為這種觀念不易澄清，不如直接點出「古代中國人的人文觀，亦是其天文觀」的說法來得簡單明瞭。由於中國古代「天人合一」觀的影響，發展出中國式的生命信仰與宗教信仰。錢氏表示，「孔子的人生即是天命，天命也即是人生，雙方意義價值無窮」，所以「人生離開了天命，便全無意義價值可言」。最後錢氏從最淺顯的「天下」二字來說明中國人最深邃的文化哲學意涵，引申出「普天之下」、「天下一家」等觀念，其背後就是「天人合一」觀的文化理想。古代學者往往神秘「天人合一」理論，反而讓人對其說感到迷惘，錢文貼近人文，論述平易，態度熱誠，可惜的是，此文完成於錢氏精神耗盡之際，發揮未盡，未免令人浩嘆。

關鍵字

錢穆；文化；天人合一；天命；人生；天下

並列摘要

The concept of the union of heaven and mankind, which is held by Chinese, has been discussed by thinkers in various ages. The famous modem scholar, Ch'ien Mu (or Ch'ien Pin Szu, 1895-1990), who structured his theory of cultural science in his early years with ”Two Types of Culture”, ”Three Strata of Culture” and ”Seven Elements of Culture” which look at culture as a whole, proposed his last thorough understanding that the concept of the union of heaven and mankind is the final setting place of the tradition of Chinese culture in his last thesis in life, ”What Contribution Chinese Culture Could Have to Human's Future”, which was called ”the final conclusion of Ch'ien Mu in his old age”. This provoked my intension of study. In the thesis, Ch'ien Mu proposed that the greatest contribution of Chinese culture is its study of the relationship between heaven and mankind. Chinese people consider heaven and mankind all together and think that the heavenly mandate expresses in human life. The heavenly mandate cannot be talked about apart from human life, and vice versa. The concept of the union of the heavenly mandate and human life is the concept of the union of heaven and mankind. Ch'ien Mu thought that this concept is not easy to clarify, so he would rather point out straight that ancient Chinese' concept of humanity is also their concept of heaven, which is a simpler and clearer statement. Affected by the concept of the union of heaven and mankind, life belief and religious belief in Chinese style were developed. Ch'ien Mu said that ”Confucius' life is his heavenly mandate, and vice versa.” So, ”human life has not any meaning and value at all if it leaves away from the heavenly mandate”. Finally, Ch'ien Mu used the simplest phrase ”all people under the heaven” (the world) to show Chinese profoundest meaning of cultural philosophy, and led to the concepts of ”all people under the heaven” and ”One Family under the heaven”. The background is the cultural ideal of the concept of the union of heaven and mankind. Scholars in ancient times often mystified the theory of the union of heaven and mankind, and the theory only puzzled people. This thesis by Ch'ien Mu is humanistic, easy to understand, and written with warm and sincere attitude. It's a pity that it was finished in Ch'ien Mu's energy-exhausted old years and he did not expound it thoroughly.