朱子體用思維之淵源、性質與理路

The Intellectual Foundations and Characteristics of Zhu Xi’s Employment of Ti-Yong

體用乃朱子慣常使用的思維方式，於其思想形態影響甚鉅。為徹底窮研朱子思想的基本型態，本文將深入分析朱子的體用思維。研究發現，體用並非自始便是一種思維方式。體用作為一組特定的觀念，很可能誕生於魏晉玄學中環繞著形神問題的論爭。在隋唐時期，方外之學又大量運用體用觀念發明其世界觀，體用幾乎成為一組專用於討論本體問題的語言觀念。降及宋代，學者使用體用的方式才漸趨多元，終而在朱子的思想中形成一種成熟的思維方式。必須說明的是，作為思維方式的體用，並不能等同於理氣，理氣乃朱子世界觀的根本基礎。在釐清體用的基本性質後，本文進一步指出，形體或身體及其功用的關係即朱子理解體用的原始模型，且「體用不離」與「立體達用」作為體用思維之兩項主要特質，均以此為義理基礎。

This article investigates the intellectual foundations and characteristics of Zhu Xi’s 朱熹 employment of the concept ti-yong (體用 substance and function). The author contends that ti-yong as a conceptual model very likely emerged from the metaphysical debate over body and spirit 形神之爭 among Wei-Jin scholars of Neo-Taoism 玄學. During the Sui-Tang period it was again extensively used in Taoist and Buddhist metaphysics to create their respective worldviews. Ti-yong became a linguistic concept used to deal almost exclusively with ontological problems. It was not until the Song dynasty, however, that scholars gradually began to employ ti-yong in more diverse ways, a trend that Zhu Xi finally developed into a mature mode of thinking. It is important to note that although Zhu Xi sometimes used ti-yong to articulate the structure of the Way, ti-yong should not be construed, as many modern scholars have suggested, as a synonym for li-qi 理氣, the elementary composition of the world, which is the very foundation of Zhu Xi’s worldview. After clarifying the basic nature of ti-yong, this article also argues that the relation of the body to its functions was the original model upon which Zhu Xi based his understanding of ti-yong. This leads to two main characteristics of Zhu Xi’s ti-yong as a mode of thinking: first, that ti and yong are inseparable; and second, that ti is the premise for yong.