“祭祀不祈”与“内尽己心”:以祭礼中的“鬼神”为例论儒家思想的“理性主义”

本文以儒家典籍中的“鬼神”为研究对象，借此对儒家思想的“理性主义”特征进行讨论。儒家思想对鬼神的理解，继承了巫术时代鬼神能影响现实之认识，又为其赋予了新的内涵。新的内涵以“形气论”为认识基础，一方面将鬼神世界与人间世界视作同质且可以互相沟通，极力强调鬼神尤其是“人鬼”与祭祀者之间固有的“父子”关系的重要性，形成了以“报本反始”为核心意义，以“格神”“敬飨”为直接目的的祭祀之礼；另一方面，儒家强调，“格神”的最关键条件是主祭者“事死如事生”的“诚敬之心”，而这一诚敬之心源自于“孝”的情感。

Supernatural Beings and Confucian Rationalism

The role of supernatural beings in Confucianism is the focus of this paper. It discusses the "rationalism" of Confucianism in relation to the pre-Confucian period belief in witchcraft and magics. Confucian understanding of ghosts and spirits continued the thought that supernatural beings could influence real life but added to it a new meaning. Because of it the fear and differentiation of ghosts and gods were no longer a source of sacredness in Confucian ethics.
In Confucianism, supernatural beings could be classified into categories of "ancestral spirits" and other ghosts and deities. The former was regarded as "human ghosts" as they were dead ancestors who brought life to their descendants. The latter included all non-ancestral deities such as "tianshen" (Heavenly God) and "diqi" (Earth Deity). Worship and sacrifice were the reciprocal duty people felt for the benefits they received from these supernatural beings. This reciprocity became the center piece of Confucian rituals. Thus, "honoring your origin and repaying your ancestors" had been the most important component of Confucian sacrificial rituals.
"Xing-Qi" (form vs non-form) theory helped explaining Confucian thought on the epistemological foundation of supernatural beings. On the one hand, Confucianism saw the interdependent and homogeneous relationship between men and their gods and ghosts. Sacrificial rituals were the direct way to communicate with supernatural beings with offerings. On the other hand, because the difference between material beings of men and invisible beings of supernatural world, the communication could only be experienced individually by the prayer. To have the access to the supernatural beings, one must "treat the dead like the living with sincerity and respect," the same type of sincerity and respect of filial piety that one show to one's parents. These two aspects demonstrate the ultimate role supernatural beings played in Confucian ethics.