從樂律看秦漢讖緯

An Interpretation on Chen-Wei in Pre-Qin and Han Dynasties According to Musical Temperament

本文欲撥去讖緯神秘的面紗，試圖從樂律的角度回答──讖緯是如何建構出來的？究竟這些文獻的作者懂不懂樂律？結果發現，樂律與讖緯最大的交集在於「比附」，且基本架構其實已在先秦完成。這些讖緯的作者，基本上還是懂樂理的，只是對他們而言，音樂應順天而作，有無比的神聖性，絕非是一種娛樂，不以悅耳為目的。在此意識型態下，把人事與音樂、自然一一對應清楚，形成一套比附系統，以知政治得失。而建構的方法，是先有一套先驗的系統，如陰陽、五行、月令、節氣、八卦等，再一一配上音律。因此，相對於音律本身，當時人更在意音律背後的象徵意義。於是，五音可以出現許多不同的排列順序；而和聲也未必採取西方「簡單整數比」的概念，而是參考音律的象徵意涵，組成和聲，自然缺乏音程上的一致性。而這種做法在古人眼裡，具有人文的秩序，模仿天道運行，才是真正的和諧，於是形成一種獨特的審美觀與價值判斷。

This essay unveils the mystery of chen-wei by answering the following questions from the perspective of musical temperament: How was chen-wei constructed? Did these authors of chen-wei understand musical temperament or not? The research shows that the most significant common ground between musical temperament and chen-wei is analogy, and its basic structure was completed in Pre-Chin era. While these authors had basic knowledge of musical temperament, they believed music should be composed in accordance with heavenly principles and thus should be absolutely sacred. For them, music was not a form of entertainment and did not appeal to the sensual pleasure of the ears. Under this concept, tonalities were paired with human affairs and natural phenomena, and an analogical system was constructed to foretell the political gains and losses. Its construction was grounded upon a meta-empirical system, including yin-yang, the five elements, monthly orders, solar terms and the eight trigrams (or bagua), which was then matched with musical tones. During that era, people cared more about the symbolic meanings hidden behind the music notes rather than the music proper. The five tones were used to create a wide range of different orders. Different from the western music which counts on “the rate of simple integers,” the Chinese musicians composed harmony in accordance with the symbolic meanings underlying the musical notes. The result is a lack of consistency in music intervals. Nevertheless, for the Chinese people in antiquity, this method observed the human rule and reproduced the heavenly order, and thus achieves true harmony. The result is a Chinese music aesthetics that is unique among world cultures.