卜辭「爯冊」與《尚書》之「誥」

Cheng Ce in the Oracle Bone Scripts and Its Relation to Gao in the Shangshu

殷虛卜辭的「爯冊」，各家異說不少，主要有冊封、報告軍情、誓師等幾種說法。其中又以「誓師」一說最為普遍，說者以為類似《尚書》的「牧誓」。從「沚􀀀爯冊」這一常見的卜辭來看，各種說法都有一定的道理，但如果全面考慮與「爯冊」有關的卜辭，則各說都有其局限。如卜辭中「興爯冊呼歸」，是興這個人「爯冊」叫軍隊回師，顯然不是誓師，其它各說也都無法解釋這裡的「爯冊」。通過對卜辭和文獻的考察，我們認為卜辭的「爯冊」可以解釋為「稱述王的命令」，命令的內容是多樣的，當然包括戰前的誓師，或是回師，還有其它各種命令，其性質類似《尚書》的「誥」。〈多士〉書序說「周公以王命誥」，偽孔傳對「誥」的解釋說「稱成王之命告令之」，卜辭「爯冊」即「稱商王之命告令之」，以「稱述亡命」解釋卜辭的「爯冊」無不曉暢。後代文獻的「冊」，率皆上對下的教令，其意義是相貫串的。

Cheng ce (爯冊), in the oracle bone scripts from Yinxu, has been discussed by numerous scholars. These scholars have presented many interpretations of cheng ce, such as ''the conferment of a title,'' ''battlefield intelligence report,'' and ''the pledge before going to war.'' Among these hypotheses, ''the pledge before going to war'' is most commonly accepted. Supporters of the pledge hypothesis claim that the meaning of cheng ce is very similar to that of ''Mushi'' (牧誓, The pledge of the battle of Muye), which appears in the Shangshu (尚書, The classic of history). When we consider the phrase ''Zhi jia cheng ce (沚􀀀爯冊),'' which appears in the oracle bone scripts with great frequency, we may find that each of the above hypotheses does indeed seem acceptable. However, if we consider all of the oracle bone scripts related to cheng ce together, each interpretation is limited and cannot be used universally to explain every occurrence. For instance, ''Xing cheng ce hu gui (興爯冊呼歸)'' can be translated as ''the man named Xing called upon the army to return.'' Clearly, Xing's action had nothing to do with the pledge before going to war. Furthermore, none of the other readings of cheng ce make sense in this context either. Through our research on the oracle bone scripts and ancient documents, we have concluded that cheng ce in the oracle bone scripts can be interpreted as ''to proclaim the kings' orders.'' The contents of the Shang kings' orders are diverse, and the pledge before going to war or the call to return can all be included within this explanation. Cheng ce is similar in nature to the gao (誥, announcement) from the Shangshu. The preface of ''Duo shi''(多士, The numerous officers), according to the explanation from Wei Kongzhuan (偽孔傳, The pseudo-Kong commentary), the meaning of the sentence ''Zhougong yi wang ming gao (周公以王命誥)'' can be understood this way: ''Zhougong, the Duke of Zhou, proclaimed the king's edict.'' It follows that cheng ce in the oracle bone scripts carries a similar meaning, the proclamation of the Shang king's orders. This interpretation of cheng ce allows for a fluent reading of all of its occurrences in the oracle bone scripts. The meaning of ce (冊) in later Chinese documents closely corresponds to the meaning of cheng ce; both denote superiors' orders to their subordinates.