試論《老子》首章「形上之道」與「無為工夫」之關係

Abstract

《老子》首章向被視為老子形上學之總綱，其要旨側重形上之道與天地萬物之創生關係。此一創生關係，不止解釋了宇宙的起源問題，還涉及道體的性質、語言的侷限、認知的界域、治術的根據諸問題。針對這些問題，學人遂從存有論、真理論、認識論、君道論諸種不同角度詮釋首章義理。循這些研究成果出發，拙文嘗試立一新解：《老子》首章的「道」、「名」、「欲」、「玄」四組概念，除了涉及形上之道及其性質的「形上學」問題外，尚可被理解為涉及無為思想的「工夫論」問題。要之，拙文旨就首章形上學和老子之「無為」思想進行合論，據以釐清首章的「形上之道」與「無為工夫」之關聯性。

As the core of Laozi`s metaphysics, as scholars put it, the first chapter of the Laozi has been widely seen as making an assertion that the metaphysical Dao creates the myriad things, which not only explains why the universe exists, but also refers to issues including the essence of the Dao, the limit of language, the range of empirical knowledge, as well as the basis of how a ruler governs his or her country. Such a complexity enlightens scholars who have interpreted the first chapter of the Laozi from different approaches, approaches that are ontological, epistemological, political, or even pertaining to the theory of truth, respectively. This article, based on the researches as mentioned, attempts to provide a new interpretation that besides pertaining to the metaphysical Dao and its characters, the four key concepts in the first chapter, namely, dao, ming, yu, and xuan, also refer to so-called wu-wei practice or action with acting held by Laozi. In short, this article aims at combining the metaphysics in the first chapter with Laozi’s thought of wu-wei, clarifying how Laozi defines the relation between the metaphysical Dao and the wu-wei practice.