摘要
本文檢討中國古代自商周至秦漢生命觀念的轉變，大體上是從祭祀禱請發展為人為掌握的趨勢，與古代政治社會結構從封建制到郡縣制的轉型過程有共通之處。中國古代社會到春秋戰國之際可能發生一種根本性的轉變，除我以前研究的結構性課題外，本文的心態研究也可獲得佐證。
我將這千餘年間生命觀念的轉變分為三個階段。第一階段殷商和西周，生命來自祖先，延續生命的方法主要是向祖先祈禱。在這四五百年中我們發現早先所祈求的生命多著重於宗族群體，大概自西周中期以後，個人壽考的禱請才萌芽。
第二階段春秋時代，相信人世生命最後的來源和主宰者乃在祖神之上的天帝，此或與封建崩解有關。上帝從周天子的壟斷中解放出來，不再高高在上，逐漸下移而干預諸侯、貴族的生命，最後連芸芸平民也不脫他的掌握。
第二階段含有濃厚的轉型色彩，生命觀念一方面沒有脫離宗教範疇，另方面隨著人文思潮的普及，個人行為關係生命則成為普遍的信念。春秋時代有識之士對封建禮制中個人所表現的禮容威儀及其透露的精神狀態都認為是壽夭的象徵。再進一步發展下去，生命就可以靠個人的努力來追求了，這是本文分類的第三階段，溯其發軔大概在春秋戰國之際。
戰國時代不否定禮制的學者已知道封建禮制的享受對生命的傷害甚大，但情欲既然不能完全屏去，於是提出節適養生論，適度地折衷。另外否定封建禮制的人，他們追求的長生，本文分作養神和養形兩派，雖然他們互有攻詆，基本上都屬於後世學術分類的道家。養神派容易流於哲理的思索，養形派由於和醫療科學比較直接，發展出多采多姿的養生文化，其影響至今依然不墜。
This paper reviews ancient Chinese concepts of life from the Shang and Chou to the Ch'in and Han Periods. In general, these changes can be said to be related to a trend of secularization, as well as to the transformation of the political and social structure from a feudal to a prefectural-bureaucratic system. Ancient Chinese society up to the Spring and Autumn and Warring States Periods seems to have undergone a fundamental transformation. In relation to this topic, my previous research examined problems of a structural nature; the current paper brings evidence to bear on the issue through research on the mentality of the period.
I divide the concepts of life in this period of over a thousand years into three stages. The first stage covers the Late Shang and Western Chou, when life was thought to come from the ancestors, and the primary method for extending life was to pray to the ancestors. During these four to five hundred years, we find that earlier prayers for life emphasized that of the clan as a group. It is probably only from the middle of the Western Chou (about the end of the 10th century B.C.) that individual venerability first became an object of prayer.
The second stage is the Spring and Autumn Period. It was believed that the ultimate source and supreme ruler of human life was the Heavenly Emperor residing above the ancestral deities. This is perhaps related to the collapse of feudalism. The Supreme Emperor was liberated from the monopoly of worship by the Chou kings. Not to remain in his elevated isolation, he gradually extended his influence downward to the lives of the feudal lords and noble clans, and finally even the multitude of commoners could not escape his control.
This second stage was marked by a deep transformation. On the one hand, the concept of life did not break away from religion. On the other hand, through the dissemination of cultural and intellectual trends and through individual human activity, previously restricted views of life became common beliefs. In the Spring and Autumn Period, farsighted people considered the spiritual condition revealed in the demeanor and dignity expressed in the performance of the rites of the feudal ceremonial system to indicate an individual's longevity or premature death. After some further development, life became something that individuals could pursue relying on their own efforts. This is the third stage as demarcated in this paper, traceable to about the Spring and Autumn and Warring States Periods.
In the Warring States Period, scholars who did not oppose the ceremonial system already knew that the enjoyment of the feudal ceremonial system was very harmful to life. But feelings and desires can not be entirely guarded against, and so they proposed theories of moderation and nurturing life. This paper divides the others, who did oppose the feudal ceremonial system in the pursuit of long life, into the two camps of those who cultivated the spirit and those who cultivated the physical body. Although they attacked each other, fundamentally they both belong to what later ages categorized as Taoists. The spiritual cultivation camp easily moved into philosophical contemplation. The body cultivation camp, because it is more directly compatible with medicine and science, developed a rich and varied culture of cultivating life, and its influences remains today.