殉父報母兩相全──論夏完淳〈獄中上母書〉的生死觀

Dying for Father and Repaying Mother were Both Attained: On Xia Wanchun's View of Life and Death In''The Letter for Mother in Prison''

夏完淳生在「天地崩離」的明末清初，本文從〈獄中上母書〉出發，旁及其他詩文，分「生的價值」與「死的意義」兩節，論述他在生死抉擇、忠孝不能兩全的困境中如何安立自已的生命。在「生的價值」部分，恢復明朝和續寫南明史料是父親夏允彝的遺志，他繼承父志，卻使他無法善盡家庭責任。「殉父」與「報母」是衝突的，但「殉父」卻可使生者得榮、死者得安慰。在抗清的過程中，因著義軍的節節敗退，他仍有生不逢時、人生如夢的感慨。在「死的意義」部分，「死得其所」是他的理想，雖然復國的大業未成，但他與父親的精神則會永遠長存。因此他在面對死亡時，雖然不捨家人，但仍無憾的慷慨赴義。從他身上，我們看到儒家思想「成仁取義」的生死觀典型。

Xia Wanchun was born in the era of ''Heaven and earth fall apart'' in the late Ming and early Qing. This article is based on his ''The Letter for Mother in Prison'' and referred to his other poems. It is divided into two sections: ''the value of life'' and ''the meaning of death''. We discuss how he settled his life in the dilemma of life and death, and where loyalty and filial piety cannot attain both. In the first section, restoring the Ming Dynasty and continuing to write historical materials of the Southern Ming Dynasty were the legacy of his father Xia Yunyi. He inherited his father’s will but prevented him from fulfilling his family responsibilities. On the surface, ''Dying for father''and ''repaying mother'' seemed to be in conflict. But for him, they were the same. It can make the living be honored, the dead be comforted. In the process of fighting against Qing, because of the rebellion's steadily retreating, he still felt that his life was untimely and like a dream. In the second section, ''die well'' was his ideal. Although the great cause of restoring the country had not been achieved, the spirit of him and his father will last forever. Therefore, when facing death, although he was reluctant to bear his family, but he still went to death without regret. From him, we can see a typical Confucian view of life and death that ''die for a just cause.''