讀漢簡《老子》雜記

A Miscellany of Reading the Han Bamboo Slip Laozi

本簡據韓巍副教授說，抄簡年代在漢武前期，是所抄本當與淮南王劉安、太史公司馬遷本略同，然《淮南．道應》、《史記．酷吏列傳》引《老子》作「法令滋章」，帛書乙本作「法物滋章」，法物者，禮之飾物，是時人改「法物」為「法令」，而本簡承帛書乙本作「法物」。帛書乙本作「道大、天大、地大、王亦大」，《淮南．道應》引作「天大、地大、道大、王亦大」，此時人所改，而本簡亦同此，郭店簡本乃「道大」誤抄在「地大」下。道生萬物，天、地皆有名，為萬物之一，固當是「道大、天大、地大、王亦大」之次第，蓋大漢曰「天子」，是訛改正文也，此本簡有倚於兩端者。又有帛書乙本不誤，而本簡誤者，如衍「下德為之而無以為」句，此誤以「上德」、「下德」對舉，如王弼說者乃衍此句，是不知「上德」乃「尚德」，「下德」乃以德為下，故尚仁、尚義、尚禮而為之，為之而敗之者，疑漢初多習《老子》，固不當有此誤也。又如：帛書乙本作「視之而弗見，名之曰微」，而本簡「微」訛作「夷」。「視」與「微」相涉，「撫」與「夷」相涉，王弼本「微」作「幾」，是河上本形訛而作「夷」，通行本作「夷」，非王弼本原文，而本簡作「夷」，是甚可疑也。又本書明列《老子》主要版本，其對照表以通行本誤作王弼本，故所列文字不免訛誤。此數具者隨讀雜記，以為本論文也。

This bamboo slip, according to Prof. Han Wei, was copied before the early period of the Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, resembling the copies during the time of Liu An, King of Huainan, and Shima Qian. However, in the chapter of “Daoying” of Huainanzi and the “Biography of Cruel Officials” of the Historical Records, “decrees multiply” is quoted from Laozi, which has been written as “decorations multiply” in the Book B on silk. Decorations mean decorations of etiquette, which were changed to “decrees” by the contemporaries. The Book B on silk writes, “Great Way, Great Heaven, Great Earth, and Great King,” changed to and quoted by the “Daoying” of Huainanzi and this bamboo slip as “Great Heaven, Great Earth, Great Way, and Great King.” In the simplified text of Guodian, “Great Way” is wrongly copied and placed after “Great Earth”. Dao, or the Way, begets all things, and the heaven and the earth have their names and are included in all things, and thus the order should be “Great Way, Great Heaven, Great Earth, and Great King”. Since “Tianzi”, or the Son of Heaven, was the greatest in the great Han Dynasty, “Great Heaven” is given priority in the text. This bamboo slip is in a dither about two texts. There are some places where the Book B on silk is correct but this bamboo slip wrong. For instance, in “Low virtue that is done will not work”, it is wrong to make “high virtue” and “low virtue” stand oppositely. Some people like Wang Bi have evolved such a saying. Here “high virtue” should be “to value virtue”. “Low virtue” regards virtue as mean, and failure follows as a result of esteeming benevolence, righteousness, and etiquette instead of esteeming virtue. There should not have had such mistakes in the early Han Dynasty since there were many learners of Laozi then. Another case is seen in “Seeing but cannot be seen is called obscurity” in the Book B on silk, in which “obscurity” has been changed to “ease” by this bamboo slip. “Seeing” has something to do with “obscurity” and “ease” with “comfort”. In Wang Bi's text “obscurity” is taken as “dimness”, Heshanggon's text as “ease” for its Chinese resemblance, and the popular text also as “ease”, but not Wang Bi's original text. It is quite doubtful for this bamboo slip to use “ease”. Important texts are listed in this book, but on its contrastive table the popular text is mistaken for Wang Bi's. Accordingly some other words listed may be incorrect. This paper is a miscellany of reading the Han bamboo slip Laozi.