《莊子‧養生主》中「薪火之喻」的意義再探

Reexamination of the Metaphor of ''Faggots'' and ''Fire'' in Yang Sheng Zhu

以往研究對於《莊子‧養生主》中「指窮於為薪，火傳也，不知其盡也」一句的詮釋基本上可分為兩種：其一是在標舉出形、神的對立作為詮釋工具，分別以此兩者比喻薪火，藉此提出「重神養神」的養生方針；其二則是以「事物自然地流轉變化」為分析脈絡，強調「火」的無窮無盡，並提出「勿使形體的存亡影響己心」的看法。筆者認為，以上兩詮釋各有其理據，亦有其源遠流長之歷史脈絡，因此才為學界所接受。然筆者認為，以往詮釋中，在通假字的使用、目標域與來源域的連結及字義解釋等處，尚有幾項值得討論的面向。本文將嘗試以高亨與劉武的注本作為基礎，轉換以往將「薪火之喻」作「正面」詮釋的共通點，而將其解釋為不應發生的「負面」情況。並嘗試指出，此詮釋除可在文本找到相應之說，亦能夠於以上癥結點給出回應，因此具有其獨特之價值。

"This paper offers a new interpretation of the following Zhuangzi fragment:''What we can point to are the faggots that have been consumed; but the fire is transmitted (elsewhere), and we know not that it is over and ended''(Yang Sheng Zhu, chapter 3). There are two commonly accepted interpretations. One points out the opposition of form (xing形) and spirit (shen神) and suggests taking care of and preserving spirit as a regimen. The other interpretation focuses on the change of everything and the endlessness of fire and suggests that one's mind should not be affected by the living or dying of things. Both interpretations have a long pedigree and enjoy their own internal support. However, in both interpretations, there are remaining issues related to the use of phonetic loan characters, the connection between source and target domains in the metaphors used, and the interpretation of some word meanings. On the basis of the commentaries of Gao Heng and Liu Wu, I attempt to develop an alternative interpretation. While both of the interpretations introduced above regard faggot and fire as positive metaphors, I instead argue that these metaphors portray negative situations that should be avoided. This novel interpretation has its own unique value because it finds support in Zhuangzi and because it meets the problems of the former two interpretations."