The Book of Songs was originally called "The Book of Songs". It was listed as a Confucian classic and later called the "Book of Songs". It was compiled in the Spring and Autumn Period, and contains 305 poems from the beginning of the Western Zhou Dynasty to the middle of the Spring and Autumn Period, about 500 years ago. It is said that the Zhou royal family sent special personnel to collect folk poems for the purpose of "collecting poems", so they were compiled into poetry collections. According to records in "Historical Records" and other books, it is believed that "The Book of Songs" was deleted by Confucius, but modern people are suspicious and reject this theory. "The Book of Songs" is divided into three categories: "Wind", "Elegance" and "Song". "Wind" includes the styles of fifteen countries, "Ya" includes "Daya" and "Xiaoya", and "Song" includes "Zhou Song" and "Lu Song" ""Song of Shang". The area of ??origin is today's Shaanxi, Shanxi, Henan, Shandong and Hubei. Among them, "Guofeng" is mostly folk songs, "Ya" is mostly banquet music, and "Ode" is mostly poems about gods and ancestors. The form of the poem is mainly four words, and the expression techniques of Fu, Bi and Xing are commonly used. The excellent poems in "The Book of Songs" are vividly described, simple and beautiful in language, natural and harmonious in syllables, and highly artistically appealing, so they have been praised by all ages. In the Han Dynasty, there were four schools of Lu, Qi, Han, and Mao who passed down the Book of Songs. The three schools of Lu, Qi, and Han were called "Jinwen Poetics". There were doctors in the Western Han Dynasty, but they gradually declined after the Wei and Jin Dynasties. "Poetry" is an ancient Chinese poetics that became popular after the Eastern Han Dynasty. The "Book of Songs" popular after the Wei and Jin Dynasties was "Mao Shi". Since then, there has been no shortage of people studying the transmission and study of The Book of Songs. Many scholars have devoted their energy and contributed to the knowledge of The Book of Songs. The Book of Songs has had a profound impact on the development of Chinese literature.
The author deeply loves national culture, and also deeply loves the golden and beautiful "Book of Songs". Combining many years of research and teaching work on "The Book of Songs", the author not only draws on the achievements of ancient and modern researchers, but also thinks independently and connects Ancient and modern folk customs, language, etc., I paid attention to digging out the more implicit and enlightening things in the poem, so as to gain new insights, so I wrote this book.
The Chinese nation has thousands of years of civilized history, created a splendid ancient culture, and left rich spiritual wealth to mankind. It has not only exerted great cohesion on the formation and development of the Chinese nation, but also has a positive impact on today's people, while correctly understanding the national history, getting patriotic education, cultivating moral sentiments, improving the cultural quality of the entire nation, and promoting the prosperity of socialist culture; It still has huge practical significance. They are the cultural essence of our descendants of Yan and Huang, and they shape the national spirit of our Chinese nation.
In order to inherit our country's excellent cultural heritage and carry forward the historical heritage of this ancient civilization, we have launched the "Chinese Traditional Culture Classics Library" series. This series of books is based on the purpose of bringing forth the new from the old and carrying forward the tradition. It selects a variety of classics and classics from all dynasties in my country and publishes them in the form of modern translations of ancient classics.
We first focus on selecting immortal historical masterpieces with typical significance in the fields of philosophy, history, geography, literature, and science and technology in ancient my country, as well as famous selected works that have been passed down from generation to generation. Taking into account the need for popularization and the target readers, for each famous work, except for a few complete translations, the vast majority are selected translations; that is, selected parts from the famous work are translated and annotated, and the translation strives to Accurate and smooth, it saves readers the trouble of facing complicated ancient books with difficult characters. It adapts to the fast-paced era and enables readers to face the essence of ancient Chinese culture directly and apply it while learning. So that the elderly, middle-aged people, and young people are willing to read it and understand it so that they can learn from it.
The history of ancient China, from primitive society to slave society, was the sole responsibility of Wu Zhu. At this time, regardless of whether there were written words or not, history was preserved in the hearts and mouths of Wu Zhu as poetry. "Witches" were originally "those who use dance to bring down gods" (see "Shuowen"), that is, they speak on behalf of gods. In their history, mythology and history were not separated, and the form of expression was a combination of epic poetry and music and dance. This is The origin of "Ode" in "The Book of Songs"... 2
From this perspective, Wu Zhu should be the earliest poet. Therefore, the record in historical records that Emperor Shun ordered Kui Dian Yue to achieve "harmony between gods and men" is absolutely well-founded. It is an indisputable fact that poetry was originally produced in the context of the relationship between man and God, and is a unique way for man to speak to God. This unique speaking context also endows poetry as a form of speaking with various uniqueness: because it shoulders the most supreme mission at the time of communicating between humans and gods, its speaking method must be different from ordinary spoken language. This is consistent with the oracle bone inscriptions and the hexagrams and line inscriptions in the Zhouyi. And because poetry, as an integral part of rituals, is closely connected with music and dance, it gradually has rhythm and rhyme requirements.
This means that, from its origin, poetry has not been endowed with the aesthetic function of later poetry, although in the specific process of the ceremony, there may be an aesthetic quality underlying the solemn sanctity. Later generations, especially researchers since modern times, view the works of "The Book of Songs" from the literary concepts of later generations, so they all attach great importance to "wind" and "elegance" works and despise "ode" poems. However, in the cultural context of the Western Zhou Dynasty, In "Song", the status of "song" is much higher than that of "wind" and "elegance".
Judging from the thirty-one "Songs of Zhou" alone, more than half are directly related to the sacrificial rituals of the ancestral temple, and they are all dedicated to the ancestors. In addition, there are seven poems dedicated to the gods of mountains and rivers, Sheji, and heaven and earth [ii]. It is quite unclear whether the poems "Haotian Youchengming", "Wu", "Ziu", "Huan", "Lai" and "Ban", which are speculated by scholars as chapters of the music of "Da Wu", are the joy of sacrifice. debate. According to the statement of King Zhuang of Chu in "Zuo Zhuan·Xuan Gong Twelve Years", "Shi Mai" of "Daya" and "Wu", "Huan", "Lai", etc., which were judged by later generations to be the movements of "Da Wu" The poem was written when King Wu conquered Shang. Some people think that the title "King Wu" in the poem should be a posthumous title, so they suspect that it was the name used by people to worship King Wu after his death. Later, through research by Wang Guowei and Guo Moruo, they believed that there was no posthumous title in the Zhou Dynasty, so "King Wu", "King Cheng", etc. were all titles during his lifetime. The academic community then judged these so-called "Da Wu" movements as tributes to King Wu during his lifetime. work. Recently, the famous historian Professor Zhao Guangxian argued in an article titled "King Wu's Conquest of Shang and the Chronological Examination of the Kings of the Western Zhou Dynasty" that "comparing the bronze inscriptions with the literature, from civil and military to Xuanyou, all should have posthumous titles rather than birth titles" 2 Dr. Li Shan also agreed with Professor Zhao Guangxian’s statement through detailed research. The author also agrees with Zhao's theory based on the speech context point of view of the relationship between humans and gods. Therefore, we believe that the several poems in the movement of "Dawu" are also used for ancestral temple sacrifices and are people's speech to gods. There are no poems praising living kings in "Song of Zhou". In addition, the two poems "Jingzhi" and "Xiao'ao" ??are believed by ancient and modern commentators to be King Cheng's self-warning works. From the literary point of view of the poem, this is good, but since the self-warning words are said in a serious way and become a written text, its meaning is unusual. This is done to solemnize the matter and give it a solemn tone, consistent with the identity of the listener. So who is the listener? Some researchers believe that it was the officials who became the king, and he was making self-warning remarks in front of the officials. This is not true. It is unlikely that a successful king would be so humble in front of his ministers. Although self-effacing words like "Yu Xiaozi" were very common at that time, emperors would only use them when facing God, ancestors or elders. , For example, in "Shang Shu·Da Gao", Zhou Gong said, "I am a young man, and I dare not take orders for God." In "Luo Gao", King Cheng calls himself "Yu Xiaozi" in front of Duke Zhou. Therefore, these two poems also speak to God, the ancestors’ spirits in heaven, and are “addresses to the temple.” The purpose is to win the sympathy and blessing of the ancestors’ spirits in heaven through self-warning and self-description of hardships.
From this point of view, as the earliest work in the "Book of Songs", "Song of Zhou" was produced in the context of the relationship between man and God, and is man's speech to God. This was originally the knowledge of the ancients, but different opinions have emerged in modern times. For example, "Preface to Mao's Poems" says: "The one who praises is a description of beautiful virtues, and he is the one who tells the gods about his success." The Song Dynasty poets Li Chuan and Huang Chun's "Explanation of Mao's Poems" also said: "The one who "songs", Music that addresses the gods.” 3 Even those movements that are not directly used in sacrificial activities are still speeches in the relationship between humans and gods. Fan Chuyi from the Song Dynasty pointed out: ""Ode" is specially used to tell the gods about meritorious deeds, while "Zhou Song" contains poems about assisting sacrifices, planning temples, entering precepts, and asking for help. It seems that they are not intended to tell the gods. Poems and music are also , all poems can be sung for pleasure. For example, if you praise the priest, you will tell the gods about the sacrifices; if you praise the temple, you will tell the gods about the temple; if you praise the temple, you will enter the precepts. You should tell the gods about the matter; you should ask for help if you ask for help." 4 This is a very sensible view. From this point of view, poems like "Jingzhi" and "Xiao'ao" ??are indeed words of self-warning, but they are not told directly to the ministers, but before the gods. Naturally, they can also be won over. The effect of the ministers is that the ministers will also know the king's words to the gods.
In the era when "Song of Zhou" was produced, the most basic dimension of cultural space was the relationship between humans and gods. Therefore, sacrifice, the main way to communicate between humans and gods, became one of the most important cultural activities of the nobles.
Since people at that time believed that all misfortunes and blessings in the world, especially the rise and fall of dynasties, were directly related to the will of gods, they were extremely respectful to gods, and sacrificial activities therefore became solemn rituals. Of course, speech in such a context cannot be ordinary everyday speech. In order to highlight the sacredness of speech, poetry also acquires a rhetorical method that can reflect the sacredness, such as neat sentence structure and concise and concise speech. And using rhyme and so on. And as mentioned before, writing at that time was not a universal way of communication like it would be in later generations. Only words that were considered to be of great significance would be recorded in writing. Therefore, once speech obtains written form, it naturally possesses a certain authority and sanctity. It can be said that it was the relationship between man and God that was at the core of the cultural space at that time that shaped the way poetry spoke. Poetry initially appeared in the form of divinity. Divinity allows poetry to enter into writing, and writing strengthens the divinity of poetry. At this time, poetry as a text appeared, but the poetic nature as the soul of this text did not emerge. Poetic culture only "appeared" after divine culture abdicated. There is "poetry" first, and then there is "poeticity". This situation, which does not seem very logical, is precisely the historical reality.
It can be seen from the above analysis that the context of the relationship between humans and gods played a decisive role in the occurrence of ancient poetry. It was this context that created a unique discourse system that was very different from the way of speaking in daily life, and it was written in simple books and passed down to later generations. The relationship between man and God gave birth to poetry, but the actual direction of poetry lies in reality. The important realistic functions of poetry produced in this context are mainly reflected in the following aspects: First, poetry, a special way of speaking, itself has a strong ideological function. As part of the most solemn and sacred rituals, poetry already plays an important role in affirming the established social order, regardless of the connotation of its words. Because the creators and users of this way of speaking can only be the politically dominant aristocrats, and it is a special discourse produced in a special context, the speech itself is an affirmation and strengthening of the speaker's privileged status. The ritualistic nature of poetry does not entirely come from the content of its speech, but also from its writing form. It can be said that in the context of the relationship between humans and gods, writing has become a ritual with a sacred and inviolable character. lofty status. This status of poetry certainly comes from the political status of the speaker, because in the ritual and music system of the Western Zhou Dynasty, the way of speaking is consistent with the political status of the speaker. But at the same time, poetry can further legitimize the political status of the speaker, because this special and written discourse has an unquestionable mysterious power, which is not only related to the context of the relationship between humans and gods in which it was originally produced, but also related to Its ritualistic nature is closely related. Therefore, poetry had an important ideological function at that time. Secondly, the formation of the context of the relationship between humans and gods in the Western Zhou Dynasty certainly had elements left over from primitive witchcraft, and it certainly included people’s psychological expectations of being favored by God, but these were all integrated into the political consciousness system of the aristocratic class. Therefore, rituals that communicate the relationship between humans and gods also become an excellent means of confirming the hierarchy. This ritual itself has become one of the main manifestations of the hierarchy, thus bringing with it distinctive political utilitarian characteristics. For example, major sacrificial activities such as the "suburban sacrifice" to worship the sky, the "social sacrifice" to the earth, and the "禦 sacrifice" to honor the ancestors are all exclusive to the monarch. Even worshiping one's ancestors is not something one can do casually. In the ancestral temple system of the Western Zhou Dynasty, people at different levels also had completely different rights to worship their ancestors. For example, according to historical records: "The emperor has seven temples, three Zhaos and three Mu are related to the temple of Taizu; the princes have five temples, two Zhaos and two Mu are related to Taizu's temples; three temples to the officials, one Zhao and one Mu are related to Taizu's temple. Three; Shi Yi Temple. "("Zhao Mu", the so-called "Left Zhao and Right Mu". The arrangement of temple owners. Below Taizu, the father is Zhao, the son is Mu, and the grandson is Zhao. The living people are in the ceremony. (the above is also arranged according to this system) In this way, one of the practical significance of communicating between humans and gods is to confirm the hierarchy and make everyone settle in their own place. Over time, people will think that this is natural and forget the operation of power behind it. Therefore, poetry whose basic function is to communicate the relationship between humans and gods is essentially a symbol of realistic power. Third, judging from the content of the poem "Ode", the words to communicate between humans and gods are actually for the purpose of coordinating interpersonal relationships: the purpose of praising God and ancestors for their impartiality, selflessness, wisdom and greatness is to determine the value criteria of interpersonal relationships.
For example, "The Mandate of Weitian" dedicated to King Wen first praised the impartiality and never-ending destiny of Heaven ("The Mandate of Weitian, Yu Mu is endless"), and then praised King Wen's noble character and purity ("King Wen "The purity of virtue"), and finally implemented in reality ("If it overflows me, I will accept it. I will give you a handsome gift to King Wen, and my great-grandson will appreciate it"). In short, "God listens, and there is peace in the end" ("Xiaoya Flogging") is the common goal of the nobles. Such poems enable them to motivate themselves and at the same time establish an unbreakable value basis for realistic codes of conduct.
In the past, when I read the "Preface to Mao's Poems", I always felt that the sentence "Therefore, correcting gains and losses, moving heaven and earth, feeling ghosts and gods, is nothing close to poetry" was abrupt, exaggerated and overstated. How can poetry have such magical functions? In fact, this is precisely the unique meaning given to poetry by the context of the relationship between humans and gods. The author of "Preface to Mao's Poems" is not unfounded. As far as poetry is concerned, it indeed bears the important mission of moving the ghosts and gods of heaven and earth. The significance of poetry in recording history and reflecting reality discovered by later generations of poets is from the perspective of discourse effect, not the conscious awareness of the speaker. As for the aesthetic function, it is not the original meaning of poetry. Commentators often use today's poetic concepts to understand the works of the Book of Songs, which inevitably leads to huge mistakes.