中晚唐文人與經學

Literary Men and Canonical Scholarship in Mid- and Late Tang China

長久以來，唐代經學史主要被兩個形象所界定。首先，這是一個經學衰落的時代，唐初的《五經正義》是其中最重要的學術成果。其次，安史亂後的八世紀後期，出現了啖助、趙匡、陸淳（陸質）等人所發動的新春秋運動，貶抑傳注、追求大義，是北宋春秋學自由解經風氣的先聲。近來雖然有研究對上述圖景提出質疑，對於中晚唐經學，學界還是缺乏比較完整的理解。本文想提出的看法是，九世紀之後，唐代經學有著活躍的新生命。但這個躍動主要不是存在於經學專家之間，而是在文人群中。這個風氣，部分淵源於啖、趙、陸的新春秋學，但非全然如此，中晚唐文人的治經視野也不限於《春秋》。從思想史的觀點看來，中晚唐經學的「業餘」化，其實是經學的一個躍進，因為當時文人具有遠比經史學者為優越的地位和影響力，文人「跨界」治經，對學術有推進之功。本文詳檢安史亂後新經學思潮與文人的關係、九世紀的春秋學與論語學以及文人的經學變體之作，對安史亂後的經學演變提出多面的描繪和說明，尤其著重揭示晚唐文人主導經學的景象以及文儒混合的趨勢。不用說，文人治經也是中晚唐儒家復興之成形與持續的一個表徵，它和宋代經學的關聯，說不定深於八世紀後期的新春秋學。

Canonical scholarship in the Tang (618-907) was conventionally characterized by the following two understandings. First, it was a time of decline for canonical scholarship, and the True Meaning of the Five Classics (Wujing zhengyi) compiled at the beginning of the Tang was perceived as the greatest achievement of the entire era in this regard. Second, after the An Lu-shan Rebellion (755-763), there emerged a movement of new scholarship in the study of the Annals of Spring and Autumn (Chunqiu), led by Dan Zhu, Zhao Kuang and Lu Chun (Lu Zhi). This new scholarship held sharply critical views against traditional commentaries on the Annals and insisted on retrieving the fundamental meaning of this classic through its main text. It is generally considered that this movement was the precursor of the highly liberated interpretations on the Annals among the Song canonical scholarship. In recent years, although researchers have mounted challenges to the above-mentioned concepts, many remain unanswered in our understanding of canonical scholarship in the mid- and late Tang. The present work proposes that new dynamics came into play for the canonical scholarship during the ninth century, yet this dynamics existed not among canonical specialists but literary men who developed keen interest in canonical studies. The involvement of these literary men was inspired partly by the new Annals scholarship initiated by Dan Zhu, Zhao Kuang and Lu Chun, but not completely so. The vision of the literary men working in canonical studies was not confined to the Annals either. From the viewpoint of intellectual history, this “amateurization” actually represents a significant boost for canonical studies, as literary men in Tang China enjoyed much greater prestige and wielded much stronger influence than canonical specialists. This article examines the following specific issues: the relationship between literary men and new ideas in canonical scholarship in the post-Rebellion period, studies of the Annals and Confucius’ Analects in the ninth century, and unorthodox works of literary men on the Confucian canon. Hopefully, these inquiries can provide a multifaceted and multilayered account of the changes in canonical scholarship after the An Lu-shan Rebellion. It goes without saying that the involvement of literary men in canonical scholarship also signifies the formation and continuation of a Confucian revival in the mid- and late Tang. The canonical scholarship with heavy participation from literary men in the ninth century might have closer connections with the Song canonical scholarship than the famed new Annals scholarship of Dan Zhu, Zhao Kuang and Lu Chun.