The Influence of Zhuangzi's Concept of Speech and Meaning on China's Ancient Literary Theory

In the history of pre-Qin philosophy, Zhuangzi deeply discussed the contradiction between words and meanings, and put forward the viewpoints of "not saying enough" and "forgetting words with pride". Zhuangzi's concept of words and meaning was connected with the literary thoughts in Wei and Jin Dynasties through metaphysics, and finally formed the hidden tradition of "implication" in China literature, which laid the foundation for the emergence and development of China's ancient artistic conception theory.

Zhuangzi's theory of metaphysics in Wei and Jin Dynasties was implied.

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The distinction between word meanings is an old and often new topic. In the history of pre-Qin philosophy, Zhuangzi was a person who deeply discussed the contradiction between words and meanings. Zhuangzi's concept of words and meanings mainly focuses on the heaven, autumn waters and foreign objects in Waipian. 1

Whether these articles were written by Zhuangzi himself is controversial in academic circles. For example, Wang Fuzhi thinks that the inner part comes from Zhuangzi's original work, and the outer part comes from Zhuangzi's disciples' later learning. The fable and the world in Miscellaneous Notes are the preface of the book. Feng Youlan thinks that Zhuangzi is a Zhuangzi, which is highlighted in two articles: Wandering and The Theory of Everything. Although different schools have different opinions on the inside, outside and miscellaneous articles of Zhuangzi, this does not prevent us from studying it as the whole Zhuangzi school, because there was no concept of private rights in the pre-Qin period. four

For the convenience of writing, let's first quote the relevant remarks in Zhuangzi as follows-

Books are also valuable in the world, but books are not words, and words are expensive. If the language is expensive, it means what it means. Don't say what you like, the world is more important. Although the world is expensive, I am still not expensive, because it is not expensive. Therefore, those who can be seen are all kinds; Those who can hear and smell are also famous. Sad husband, the world's reputation is enough to win each other's favor! If a person's fame is not enough to win his love, then the knower does not speak, the speaker does not know, and the world is ignorant! Huan Gong is studying in class. Wheel flat wheel down the hall, release vertebral chisel, ask Huan Gong: "Dare to ask, does the public reader say evil?" Gong said, "The words of saints are also true." Say, "Do saints care?" Gong said, "I'm dead." Yue: "However, the readers in your place and the evil spirits of ancient people are already husbands!" Huan Gong said, "I'm studying, and it's my turn to discuss! Just say it, or you will die if you don't say it. " Lun Bian said, "I also regard it as a matter of ministers. In the wheel, Xu is willing but not solid, and he is sick but not bitter. Not getting sick should come from your hands, but it should be in your heart. You can't talk, and there are a few things in it. I can't compare with my son, and my son can't be influenced by me, so I am 70 years old. The ancients can only be passed down after they die, but your readers, the evil spirits of the ancients have married! "

-Zhuangzi? Paradise "

All who can talk are boors; Those who can understand are the essence of things; People who can't say what they say, people who can't understand what they mean, are probably not refined.

-Zhuangzi? limpid eyes

People in Tsuen Wan are so addicted to fish that they forget about Tsuen Wan. Hooves are such in rabbits, he got rabbits but forgot hooves; The speaker was so concerned that he forgot his words proudly. I have an Andrew who forgot his words. Talk to him!

-Zhuangzi? Foreign object

According to the "Round Peace" Festival, we know that Lao Tzu said something similar before. Chapter 56 of Laozi: "The knower doesn't speak, but the speaker doesn't know." The eighty-first chapter of Laozi says: "Good words are not beautiful, and good words are not believed. Good people don't argue, and debaters are not good. " But Laozi was too simple to discuss the contradiction between language and meaning in depth. Another ancient book in the pre-Qin period, Zhouyi, was also exposed to this problem. The copula said, "Confucius, the book is not full of words, and the words are not satisfactory." However, is the meaning of saints invisible? Confucius said, how can a saint make good use of his words when he tries his best to set an image? "However, the Confucian Book of Changes still emphasizes the idea that language can exhaust its meaning. This is quite different from what Zhuangzi meant.

In short, the round and flat segment can be summarized by "words are not full of meaning"

Zhuangzi believes that language attaches importance to care, and "meaning follows", that is, the implication, cannot be conveyed by words. But what the world values is a few words and various reputations in the book, which means "your price is not your price". According to his own pure experience, Argument holds that all the books read by Huan Gong are dross. He realized chakra's laws from his heart and hands, but he couldn't tell his son, just as the ancients couldn't really convey their thoughts in books. At this time, we will feel the pallor of language. Wang Fuzhi commented: "What people with great prospects do is benevolent. Are those who are brave enough to judge them with confidence? If you read benevolence, you will miss benevolence; Read and smell the meaning, then it means. Those who don't understand ancient times are suitable for this statement at that time, because change is not their inevitable feeling. Stealing what he said is self-expensive, and it is the feeling of scratching everything. This kind of Confucian ink is mostly defeated because it hurts people's hearts. It's not unique, it's just what everyone says. Someone forgot it, this is a thief's heart. " Wang Fuzhi believes that the benevolence and righteousness mentioned by the ancients were only made to adapt to the specific times and changes. It is not an "inevitable feeling" to prescribe the right medicine and treat the disease. Later generations unilaterally detained it and stole it from themselves, which led to further development.

So, what is the root of "words are not full of meaning"?

Feng Qi thinks that Zhuangzi criticized logical thinking three times. First, abstract sayings can't grasp concrete things; Second, the concept of stillness cannot express change; Third, the concept of finiteness cannot express infinity. As we know, language is the material shell of thinking and a tool for thinking and exchanging ideas. Hegel said: "In essence, language only expresses general concepts; But what people mean is special and individual. Therefore, people can't say what they mean in words. " In essence, thinking is a negative behavior. When we summarize things in words, it is inevitable that we will abandon many related details, relationships, processes and trends. For example, we say, "What beautiful flowers!" In fact, we ignored the weather and the surrounding environment, the posture and color of flowers, and even the mood of Shang Huashi. We are saying that this flower is really beautiful. We say "good and evil" because we have a standard of good and evil in our hearts, and we use this standard to measure praise and blame. Without this standard, there is no good or evil. Therefore, it is difficult for language to express the subtle meaning in our hearts, and limited language cannot exhaust infinite meaning.

According to the section of "Refinement and Roughness", we know that the purpose of Zhuangzi's discussion of meaning is to clarify his "Tao". Wang Xianqian said: You are thick and can still talk; If you are refined, you can also be intentional; People who don't expect to be fine and rough care about what they say, which is wonderful. There is a relationship between "words, meaning and Tao": words are not full of meaning, and Tao is beyond the meaning of words.

Since words can't represent everything, Tao is beyond words. Why is the book Zhuangzi voluminous, with hundreds of words? Although Zhuangzi realized the limitations of language, he did not simply deny it, but fully mobilized the potential of language, and then put forward the concepts of fable, repetition and nonsense. The Fable of Zhuangzi said: "Fable 19, restate 17, predict the sunrise and make love with the sky." Fables are statements with moral significance, accounting for nine tenths of the book; Overlap refers to the statements of sages, accounting for seven out of ten. 9 Zhuangzi explained his words like this: "Words are speechless, words are life, and there is nothing to say; Never say anything for life, never say anything. Self-sufficiency, self-sufficiency; There is me, but there is me. Evil? However, naturally. Is it evil or not? Otherwise, it is not. Is it disgusting? Keke. Is it evil? You can't do it. Things are inherent, things are inherent, nothing is wrong, nothing is impossible. " In the end, words are "wordless". Because they are wordless, they are comprehensive and complete. They can be, can't be, can be or can't be, so that right and wrong can be eliminated. Zhuangzi finally fell into the quagmire of relativism. 10

On the one hand, it emphasizes "words are not full of meaning", on the other hand, fables, tautology and words are more than 100 thousand words, which seem contradictory, but they are not. Zhuangzi also has a fulcrum, that is, "forgetting words with pride".

According to the "hoof" section, hoofs and hooves are used for fishing and rabbits. If you get a fish, you forget your feet; if you get a rabbit, you forget your feet. Language is used to convey meaning, and you should forget to say it when you are proud. Speech is a bridge, a tool and a means; Meaning is the destination, the result and the purpose. Zhuangzi reminded us to burn down the bridge when crossing the river, and not to confuse tools with results, means and purposes. Means is a means to an end, and the perfect means is still a means after all, which cannot and cannot replace the end. It is the end that determines the means, not the means that determines the purpose. Therefore, "Zhuangzi's book is full of hoofs and ears" and "Tao has no body, so it is versatile and suitable for right and wrong; It's a drop in the language, just like Tao. So I invented something that I haven't said all day, so that people can meet it every day, let them read the inside story, and let the fish and rabbits forget their feet. Don't be surprised that he is a river man. " 1 1 It is not difficult to understand that Zhuangzi's fables, tautologies and proverbs are tools to grasp the Tao, that is to say, as far as Zhuangzi is concerned, they are also tools to grasp the Tao.

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Zhuangzi's "not saying enough" and "getting carried away" are still reflections in the field of philosophy, which did not directly affect China's ancient literary theory. After the Confucian classics era in Han dynasty, I finally waited for metaphysics in Wei and Jin dynasties.

The distinction between words and meanings became a hot topic in Wei and Jin Dynasties. There were three popular opinions at that time: the theory of expressing everything represented by Ouyang Jian; Words don't mean everything, represented by Xun Neng; Proud of forgetting words, represented by Wang Bi. I don't want to comment on the three schools here. In short, it was a trend of thought with great influence at that time. "Shi Shuo Xin Yu Literature" said: "The old cloud king crossed the river as prime minister, and stopped saying that there was no sorrow or joy. As far as health is concerned." Tang Yongtong said: "The difference between symbol and noumenon is due to the difference of word meaning. According to the division of words and meanings, it is generally pushed to make it the standard of all theories, which is a new vision and method discovered by metaphysical scholars. " This new vision and method has been widely used in Wang Bi's smug Forgetting Ci: first, it is applied to the interpretation of classics; Second, deeply understand the purpose of metaphysics; Third, it will connect Confucianism and Taoism; Fourth, influence the establishment of celebrities. "Reading depends on where Hyunri is. You don't have to confine yourself to sentences. Xiao Lang, who asks for the wind, doesn't have to be embarrassed. " 12 the formation of Wei and Jin demeanor is not unrelated to this.

With the heated discussion on the distinction between words and meanings, the prevalence of metaphysics liberated people's thoughts and personalities, and ushered in the "conscious" era of China literature.

Lu Ji was the first to introduce the relationship between words and meanings into the field of literature. In the era of metaphysics, Lu Ji was the first to help Lao Zi and Zhuang Zi enter the theory of literary creation. He described the origin of the creation of Wen Fu as follows: "I look at the works of talented people and steal them to get their intentions. Husband's words are changeable. Yan Ji likes and dislikes, so to speak; Every article belongs to itself, especially its feelings. Often suffering is not a matter, and the text is insufficient. It is not difficult to know, but it is also difficult to know. Pretending to be a "literary fu" to describe the prosperity of the ancestors is because of the elements of interest. " Lu Ji said that "meaning doesn't weigh things, words don't grasp meaning", revealing the eternal contradiction between words, meaning and things. When creating, it is difficult to match the meaning in the heart with the external things, and it is also difficult for language to exhaust the meaning in the heart.

Liu Xie in Wen Xin Diao Long? In Shensi, we continue to discuss the meaning: "Fang Qi is arrogant and angry; When the article is finished, it begins with a heart folded in half. What is this? Curiosity is easy, but cleverness is difficult. " Huang Kan commented: "People who start with a broken heart will only get half an ear if they are still talking. Thinking and writing are incompatible, because thinking is changeable and writing has a certain shape; If you write slowly, think slowly and chase slowly, you will feel sorry for your words. If you have been controlling changes, you will be full of ideas. Lu Yun: Constant suffering means nothing, and words are not enough. Yanhe' s words, if you reply. " The internal meaning of 13 can be imagined as beautiful and strange before the formation of various characters, but the language is concrete and material, paying attention to reality, so it is difficult to be clever.

The contradiction between words and meaning discussed by literary critics is basically based on metaphysical thinking, and it is said that words are not full of meaning and words are forgotten. Zhong Rong's Poetry says, "Words are full of meaning." Jiao Ran's Poetic Style: Poems with Emphasis on Meaning said: "It is the best policy to cover poetry only by seeing temperament but not words." Si Kongtu's poem? Implicit "said:" Without saying a word, it is romantic. " Ouyang Xiu's Poem on June 1 quoted Mei Yaochen as saying: "The scenery that is difficult to write is like the eyes; The meaning is endless and can be seen outside the words. " Yan Yu's Cang Lang Shi Hua? The poem distinguishes: "Beauty is delicate and delicate, and cannot be berthed together, such as the voice in the air, the color in the phase, the moon in the water and the image in the mirror." Liu Xizai's Introduction to Art said: "Du Fu's poems only have" yes "and" no ". People who are' yes' look at temperament, and people who are' no' can't see language. " "Words fail to convey meaning" and "get carried away" have evolved from simple philosophical discussion to aesthetic conscious pursuit.

A careful understanding of literary critics' comments reveals that the meaning and value of literary works are jointly completed by the author and the reader.

As an author, we should make full use of the sense of space and distance between language and meaning, make use of the fuzziness, ambiguity, metaphor, symbolism, implication and intentionality of language, use less to win more, use one as ten, use finite to express infinity, contain everything in imperfection, contain everything in nothingness, and break through the barriers of real language through poetic images bred infinitely.

Let's take Tao Yuanming's Drinking (5) as an example: "Building a house in a person's environment, but there are no chariots and horses. Ask what you can do, your heart is far from self-prejudice. Picking chrysanthemums under the east fence, you can see Nanshan leisurely. The mountains are getting better and better, and the birds are back. There is a real meaning in this, and I have forgotten what I want to say. " Xiao Tong's Preface to the Collection of Tao Yuanming said: "There is wine in Tao Yuanming's poems, but I don't think it is wine. I also send wine as a trace." Drinking is the name of the poem, and there is not a word in the article. Tao Qian also said that the drunkard's intention is not wine, but also expressed his personal hug through wine, expressing his yearning for rural life. When he feels that nature contains the truth of life, he wants to talk, but he feels that he can't express that feeling in words and leave the fleeting "eternity" in eternity? However, Tao Qian's silence is obviously better than chatter. Silence means telling more things with silence than with voice. Through his hints, we can fully understand the realm that Tao Qian yearns for.

As a reader (receiver), we should use our intuition, instinct, understanding, imagination and emotional experience to pursue a kind of psychological perception-expectation, disappointment, pursuit and reconstruction, and appreciate the "scenery outside the scene", "image outside the image" (Si Kongtu's Ji Pu), "unexpected rhyme" and "unexpected taste" constructed by the author. Wang Fuzhi, who also emphasized that "the author thinks consistently and the reader feels satisfied" 14, fully affirmed the dynamic role of the receiver in the appreciation process.

Let's take Zheng Gu's "Farewell to Friends in Huaishang" as an example: "The Yangtze River is the head of the Yangtze River, and worrying about killing people crosses the river. Some bagpipes leave the pavilion late. You go to Xiaoxiang and I will go to Qin. " Song Hezi's Poem Raft said: "Poetry has extremely vulgar language, which is used as a boring sentence and used as a punch line. For example, Zheng Gu's poem "Farewell to the Old Friends in Huaishang" said:' Raise the head of the Yangtze River and worry about killing people crossing the river; Several times, Qiangdi left the pavilion late, the monarch turned to Xiaoxiang, and I turned to Qin. "That's right, it only takes the words' Xiang Jun Xiaoxiang I Qin Xiang'. If you say it from the beginning, it is shallow and tasteless; This is actually a knot that makes readers linger and feel that there are still dozens of unfinished sentences. " 15 In such a beautiful spring, the poet is full of sadness. At the end of the article, the reader thought that the poet would tell the truth, but the poet ended the article with "Xiang Jun Xiaoxiang, I am Qin Xiang". Readers' expectations have failed, and they feel that there are still a thousand words to say. They will naturally imagine the mountains and rivers on the road, difficulties and obstacles, distant hometown and midnight dreams, yearning for friends, confusion and helplessness for the future. Under the reconstruction of readers, poetry has been satisfied.

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The distinction between words and meanings not only affects ancient literary theory, but also affects the art field.

Su Shi's "After Huang Zisi's Poems" said: "Reading books is the trace of Zhong (Qin) and Wang (Xizhi). The small three are simple and far away, and the beauty is beyond the strokes. " 16 Shen Kuo "Meng Qian pen talk? Calligraphy and painting: "The beauty of calligraphy and painting lies in God, but it is hard to find in form and shape. Most painters in the world can criticize the defects of image, position and color, but as for the Austrian painter, he is rarely seen. For example, Yan Yuan's "On Painting" said: "Wang Wei's paintings don't ask about the four seasons. If you paint flowers, you often take peaches, apricots, hibiscus and lotus flowers as a scene. " In the painting "Sleeping in the Snow" collected by Yujia, there are plantains in the snow, which is handy and can be understood. Therefore, it is difficult for laymen to discuss it by absorbing reason and obtaining God's will. Xie:' Although the paintings of the Health Association should not be beautifully prepared, they are full of charm, which makes them stand out from the crowd and unique.' There is also a sentence in Ou Wenzhong's "Car Map":' Ancient paintings don't draw shapes, and Mei poems have nothing to hide. Few people are complacent, and when they see a poem, they see a painting. "This is really painting knowledge." 17

The distinction between words and meaning, applied to music, is to seek its meaning; When applied to painting, it is to seek outside the pen and ink; Applied to words, it is to seek strangeness outside words; Applying it to a text is to find its meaning.

Wang Guowei said: "Canglang's so-called interest and Ruanting's so-called charm are not enough to tell the truth. If I choose the word' realm', I will explore its origin. " 18 Zhuangzi's distinction between words and meanings, from Lu Ji to Liu Xie, from Si Kongtu to Yan Yu, and from Wang Shizhen to Wang Guowei, finally formed the implicit tradition of "implication" in China literature, which laid the foundation for the emergence and development of China's ancient artistic conception theory and standardized China's ancient aesthetic thinking in a certain sense.

Philosophy is the reflection and understanding of culture and the pillar of a national spirit. Our times are complex and busy. Fortunately, our nation also has Zhuangzi, who guides us to experience a realm of life, an artistic realm of self-satisfaction. That is Wei and Jin demeanor, our spiritual home.