從《史記》記事論司馬遷之天人思想

On Sima Qian's Heaven-human Thoughts from Shiji's Chronicles

司馬遷在〈報任安書〉中，敘述撰史的目的說：「網羅天下放失舊聞，考之行事，稽其成敗興壞之理，凡百三十篇，亦欲以究天人之際，通古今之變，成一家之言。」此意又見於〈自序〉，說明他的「一家之音」，不同於諸子學的空言論道，設寓說理，而是在「天人之際」與「古今之變」的探索中，結撰他的閔識孤懷，以資來者深思、取鑑。
司馬遷對於所謂「古今之變」的探討，採取詳今略古、詳變略新與裁篇互見的原則。這些原則的結合，的敘述，波瀾起伏，言簡意深。這不僅在《史記》的篇章布局中明顯可見，也是歷來研究者共認的事實。對於「天人之際」的探究，就〈自序〉所述，集中於八書，但是，事實不然。〈白起王翦列傳〉述白起受詐阬長平軍之報賜死，王離於鉅鹿之戰被虜是祖孫三世為將所致；〈高祖本紀〉記述高祖狀貌、行事的種種神異；〈秦楚之際月表〉贊嘆漢之得天下「豈非天哉」等記載，是否意味司馬遷相信鬼神報應之說？有天命論的色彩？這些與他所謂「（怪物）余不敢言之也」的態度相矛盾否？另一方面，在〈伯夷列傳〉中對天道深致其疑，在〈蒙恬列傳〉中擅棄蒙恬「絕地脈」、在〈項羽本紀〉中同樣擅棄項羽「天亡我」之說，似乎又透露司馬遷所重視的是在人事作為。凡此種種，不但《史記》全書未有明確統一的說明，學者也往往斷章取義，故對司馬遷天人思想的研究，不免言人人殊。
職是之故，拙文擬檢視《史記》中相關論述，釐清其用意，以期掌握司馬遷的天人思想及相關論述在《史記》一書中的作用。文分三節：第一節綜述漢初天人思想的主要趨勢；第二節辨析《史記》中有關天人之際之記事與論評；第三節析論司馬遷天人思想的特色。

In A Letter Replying Ren An, Sima Qian expressed that the purpose of his history-writing is ''to collect the missed historical records and old legends, to examine and verify what the former generations did, to investigate the reasons for said generations5 successes and failures, rises and falls, and, with one hundred and thirty chapters finished in total as the result of the study, to explore the relationship between Heaven5s way and the ways of the human, to link and understand the changes of historical development from the ancient time up to date, and to complete an independently-apprehended, systematically self-founded writing.” Such intention is also manifested in the Self-preface, which explains that his “independently-apprehended, systematically self-founded writing” differs from other scholars' philosophy deliberations, which were done with mere empty speeches, and reasoning exploration, which used apologues and fables set up by said scholars. Instead, said writing is to conclude and record his extensive understanding and sole sentiment, gained through the exploration of “the relationship between Heaven's way and the ways of the human” and “the changes of historical development from the ancient time up to date, ” to assist the coming generations to ponder and acquire examples.
To explore and investigate ''the changes of historical development from the ancient time up to date, ” Sima Qian adopted the principles of detailing the modem-time events and summarizing the ancient-time chronicles, detailing the changes and summarizing the gradual trends, and cutting historical materials and giving form to different chapters. The combination of these principles makes the narrations of history soaring up and down like waves and profoundly meaningful with simple words. This is not only apparently observed from Shiji's layout of volumes and chapters but also regarded as a fact commonly recognized by all researchers up to date. Regarding the exploration and investigation of ''the relationship between Heaven's way and the ways of the human, '' the results are collected into eight books according to the Self-preface, but the reality is otherwise. The Bai Qi and Wang Jian 's Biography describes that Bai Qi's suicide ordered by his King might be resulted from the retribution that Bai Qi deceitfully buried the surrenders during the Changping Battle, and that Wang Li's being captured in the Julu Battle might be due to that the three generations of Wang Li's family, from his grandfather through him, are all appointed generals ( implying that too many people were killed by said three generations of this family). In Emperor (Han) Gaozu's Fundamental Record, Gaozu's external appearance and various kinds of miraculous events conducted by him were narrated. In The Monthly Chronicles in the End of the Qin Dynasty and during the Chu-Han Struggling Period, Sima Qian praised : ''Wasn't it the edict of Heaven” that the world fell into Han's dynasty ? Don't these records and the like indicate that Sima Qian believes the retribution of God and Ghosts ? Thus the influence of fatalism or the theory of God's will ? Do these contradict his so-called ''I don't dare to mention ( those ghostly matters)” attitude ? On the other hand, Sima Qian was deeply suspicious to the Heaven's way in Bo Yi's Biography, discarded “the earth-artery was dug and broken'' conclusion in Meng Tian's Biography, and similarly abandoned “the Heaven wants to destroy me” supposition in Xiang Yu's Fundamental Record; these views seem to reveal that what Sima Qian emphasizes is human's deeds. Such kind of matters not only were not explained clearly in agreement throughout the whole writing of Shyi, but also were quoted out of context to garble a statement, hence the study of Sima Qian's Heaven-human thoughts cannot avoid diverse conclusions from different persons.
For this reason, my paper intends to examine and view correlated statements in Shiji and to clarify the purposes and meanings of these statements so as to master Sima Qian's Heaven-human thoughts and the effect of these correlated statements in Shiji. This paper is divided into three sections : Section One summarizes the main trend of Heaven-human thoughts in the early Han Dynasty; Section Two identifies and analyzes chronicles and comments related to Heaven-human relationships in Shiji; Section Three analyzes and discusses the characteristics of Sima Qian's Heaven-human thoughts.