“内圣外王之道”的衍化

先秦道、儒学术，其宗旨俱在讲明“内圣外王之道”。“内圣外王之道”主要针对最高统治者立论，其基本义为由圣而王，即统治者以德性修养为出发点，凭借自身“圣”之德力悦服、取信于人，进而“王”天下。究其历史文化渊源，实本原于上古“竞于道德”之原始民主政治。以其陈义高远、缺乏现实可行性，儒家诸子于讲习之余乃以斯道自任，认其为自身之人格理想与人生价值目标，其“外王”内涵亦发生重大变化。秦汉以降，大一统专制治下，“内圣外王”之人生价值渐趋于重内轻外，并最终倾斜于外，其涵义亦世俗化、庸俗化，流失原始儒家的崇高性。宋元以来，《大学》成为科考教材，借助科考的影响力，经由举子童蒙的诵习，“内圣外王之道”为一般社会民众所熟知、认同，进而泛化为社会各职事阶层普遍之人生理想。

The Development of the Way to be Domestic Saint and an Overseas Ruler

The guiding principle of the way of the Early Qin and the Confucius Theory is to how to turn oneself into a domestic saint before becoming an overseas ruler. This view, clarify mainly concerning the way a paramount ruler of a state stand out among others, which basically means to turn oneself into a domestic saint before becoming an overseas ruler, that is the ruler ought to enhance his own moral qualities and win over trust from the people both at home and broad with saint-like morality so as to be able to rule over the whole nation. The origin of the view can be dated back to the primitive democracy of the remote ancient time known as ＂to compete with good moral＂ But the scholars in the early Qin Dynasty held that the original idea seemed to be unrealistic due to being too abstract and over ambitious. Consequently it was merely adopted as a way for them to improve their personal morality and considered as their personal goal, as a result of which the connotation of ＂ruling the outside world＂ altered enormously. After the Qin and Han Dynasties, the idea, restricted by despotism, initially, placed more stress on internal morality than on external influence, and then inclined to favor the latter, as a consequence, its meaning varied and appeared to be secular and vulgar, with its original nobility lost. Since the Song and Yuan Dynasties, Da Xue, as the designated material for the hnperial Exam, was widely recited by scholars and exam takers so that the principle ＂as a domestic saint and an overseas ruler＂ became popular among the populace, and it was widely accepted as the personal ideal of people from all walks of life.