重审“绝地天通”——兼论20世纪以来中国学术史存在的问题  

Re-interpreting the Concept of“Dividing Heaven and Earth”:With a Discussion on the Problems of Twentieth-Century Chinese Academic History

作　　者：曹峰[1,2] Cao Feng

机构地区：[1]中国人民大学哲学院 [2]中国人民大学“古文字与中华文明传承发展工程”协同攻关创新平台,北京100872

出　　处：《四川大学学报(哲学社会科学版)》2025年第2期22-38,229,230,共19页Journal of Sichuan University:Philosophy and Social Science Edition

基　　金：中国人民大学重大规划项目“出土文献与早期中国文明研究:以‘清华简’为中心的中国早期思想观念生成研究”(23XNLG09)。

摘　　要：学界已从不同领域对“绝地天通”进行了大量的研究,试图用以解决文明起源、制度变迁、思想跨越的重大问题。然而,“绝地天通”的本义尚未得到认真的梳理。从《国语·楚语下》所见楚昭王开始,对其的理解已经产生了偏差,之后的诠释都存在读者基于自身立场随意解读和无限放大的问题。结合《春秋公羊传》《白虎通》《独断》等材料可知,“绝地天通”的本义是断绝失势政治集团和天神、地祇相沟通的可能,是一种类似“夷其宗庙”的惩罚手段,而非所谓历史早期曾经有过人人都可以与天相通,后来神权被王权垄断的意思。《楚语下》进一步强调了区分天神与地祇管理系统的重要性,但这只代表重、黎职责互不干扰,不等于从此出现人神截然相分的政教分离。通过比对相关传世及出土文献发现,“绝地天通”必须放在中国古代治乱历史观以及历法天道观中,才能得到合理解释。20世纪以来的学术史研究,深受西方单线演进论影响,“绝地天通”成为解释从巫术到宗教、神权到王权、神文到人文的绝佳题材,有断章取义、夸大其词之嫌,需要重新界定诠释。In the twentieth-century Chinese scholarship,a great deal of research has been carried out on“Dividing Heaven and Earth”(jue di tian tong)in different fields,in an attempt to solve major problems concerning the origins of civilization,institutional changes and ideological transitions.However,the original meaning of“Dividing Heaven and Earth”has not yet been seriously clarified.The interpretation of this concept began to deviate from“The Discourses of the State of Chu”in The Discourses of the States,and the subsequent interpretations suffered from the arbitrariness and the unlimited amplification according to the interpreter’s own position.Combined with the materials such as the Gongyang Tradition(Gongyang zhuan)and Comprehensive Discussions in the White Tiger Hall(Baihu tong yi),it can be seen that the original meaning of“Dividing Heaven and Earth”was to cut off the possibility of the communication between an out-of-power political regime and the gods in heaven and on earth,a punitive measure similar to“razing the ancestral temple,”rather than the misunderstanding that early in history,everyone was able to communicate with the heaven,but later,the divine power was replaced by the king’s power.“The Discourses of the State of Chu”emphasized the difference between the management system of the gods in heaven and that on earth,but this only meant that Chong and Li did not interfere with each other’s duties,and did not equate to the dichotomy between humans and gods and the separation of church and state.“Huozheng”was also a heavenly official post,but it was related to civil affairs,so it is wrong to say that Huozheng Li’s being put in charge of the earth and civil affairs means the break between heaven and earth or the separation of gods and humans.By comparing the handed-down documents such as the“Calendars”(Li Shu)and“Astronomy”(Tianguan Shu)in the Records of the Grand Historian(Shi Ji),the“Treatise on Rhythm and the Calendar”(Lüli Zhi)and“Treatise on Sacrifices”(

关 键 词：绝地天通 《吕刑》 《楚语下》 《独断》 《五纪》 历法 治乱 学术史 

分 类 号：B21[哲学宗教—中国哲学]