The Doctrine of Kuei Sheng貴生in the Lu-shih Ch’un-ch’iu呂氏春秋

《呂氏春秋》的貴生思想

第一節闡述貴生思想的內容。《呂氏春秋》開宗明義說：「天下莫貴於生。」這是因為「吾生之……利我亦大矣」。大利指的是六欲的滿足，但欲望追求滿足便很容易危害生命，因此必須加以控制。但欲望是人性的內容而「性者所受於天也，非人之所能為也」。幸而「欲有情，情有節」而「聖人」「異」於常人，能夠「得其情」，這就是說「得其節」。「節」就是「合理的限度」，什麼是合理的限度，是由「貴生」原則來決定的，所謂「由貴生動，則得其情矣；不由貴生動，則失其情矣」。既然認為「生」貴於天下，所以欲望追求滿足時，「利於生者則為」，「害於生者則止」。第二節提出「貴生」是為誰說法的問題，結論是為人君說法，這由以下一點可以看得出來。《呂氏春秋》稱耳目鼻口為四官，又說「立官者， 以全生也。今世之惑主，多官而反以害生，則失所為立之矣。」可見《呂氏春秋》著眼於兩者共同之處。四官追求的是心的享受，官的職責是提供人君的享受，兩者都很容易導致生命受到危害，人君要避免「害生」的後果，就要「由貴生動」。至於人民，則與人君不同。人民可以統治，是因為有欲，欲愈多愈容易統治，所以不能讓他們明白「貴生」的道理。士人之中有「以身為人」的，這樣的人就是不承認「天下莫貴於生」。對這樣的人講「貴生」是不會有影響的。第三節認為「貴生」確是源出楊朱，但楊朱原來的學說是極端的為己主義，不肯拔一毛去「利天下」，也不肯用「一毛」去換取天下。《呂氏春秋》的編者拿楊朱的「為我」和荀子的性論結合起來，變成了一種合理化的享樂主義。

Discounting the opening chapters which together make up the Yiieh ling 月令, Book 1 of the twelve chi 十二紀 opens with the chapter “Pen sheng” 本生 and Book 2 with “Kuei sheng” 貴生. This alone would attest to the importance of the term sheng in the eyes of the editors, and this fact is borne out by an examination of the doctrine of kuei sheng, a doctrine derived from Yang Chu 楊朱. The term sheng means primarily “to give birth to”，or “to give life to”. From this, the meaning is extended to “life”. There is also the cognate term hsing 性 which means “that with which a thing is born”, in other words, “the nature of a thing”. Although in the Warring States period the two terms were generally distinguished by the use of different graphs, the distinction seemed not always to have been strictly observed. In the Lu-shih ch'un-ch'iu, for instance, we find both yang sheng 養生 and yang hsing 養性, as well as ch'uan sheng 全生 and ch'uan hsing 全性. Thus which term is meant has, in the last resort, to be decided by the demands of the context. The paramount importance of life is stated more than once.