英文摘要 |
Chapter 'xiangdang'鄉黨 in Lunyu論語(the Analects) has always been overlooked. Previous studies of this chapter have almost totally concentrated on ritual as a social institution from a perspective of philology and evidential studies. This article, however, probes the spiritual and philosophical implications of this chapter from a practical perspective. In my view, this chapter is a record of Kongzi孔子's 'body teaching'. This 'body teaching' is featured by two points: one is integrating ritual practice and daily life into a continue process; the other is taking ritual practice as a bodily and spiritual exercise. It is through 'xiangdang', a detailed record of Kongzi's ritual practice in various situations in his daily life, that ritual practice as a bodily and spiritual exercise is vividly focused by Kongzi himself as a paradigmatic personality, not an abstract idea any more. In this chapter, we can find that every situation of daily life is actually permeated with ritual practice, how Kongzi as a 'timing sage' carries out the situated principle of 'timing' in his everyday ritual practice, and, particularly, how ritual practice is performed as a bodily and spiritual exercise that entails a psychosomatic way of thinking. It is through this ritual practice as a bodily and spiritual exercise that an exemplary person or a sage can be shaped. And an exemplary person or even a sage is exactly a paradigmatic personality who can make a suitable response to any complicated situation of our daily life. 'Following my heart-mind without overstepping the line', is just the description of this consummate achievement of the ritual practice as a bodily and spiritual exercise. |