天 Tian

对于“天”这个词，我们打算采用音译。这在很大程度上是因为，通常所用的英文译法“Heaven”，为之强加了若干中国文化没有的，源自耶稣-基督传统的意象；而“Nature”也同样不可取。在很多语境中，单独使用的“天”字实际上是在指代“天地”--它暗示“天”并不是独立于世的。《圣经》中的上帝常常被转喻为创世之“Heaven”，而文言文中的“天”即是世界。

Tian is a term that we have chosen not to translate, largely because we believe its normal English rendering as “Heaven”cannot but conjure up images derived from the Judeo-Christian tradition that are not to be found in China; and “Nature” will not work either. In the first place, tian is often used alone to render tiandi天地—“the heavens and the earth”—suggesting that tian is not independent of this world. The God of the Bible, often referred to as metonymically“Heaven,” created the world, but tian in classical Chinese is the world.

“天”既包含有世界是什么之意，又隐喻了世界如何为之的反思。“万物”是中国人指代所有客观事物的成语。但是，万物并不是独立于秩序世界之外的“天”的创造物；恰恰相反，万物构成了“天”。“天”既是造物者，又是滋养创造物的沃土。在秩序本身及其规定性之间并不存在严格的界限。正是因为超秩序的缺失，道家之“道”和佛教的dharma这两个概念才颇具相似性；而且二者都曾经提及具体现象和从中总结出来的规律。

Tian is both what our world is and how it is. The “ten thousand things (wanwu萬物),”an expression for “everything,” are not the creatures of a tian which is independent of what is ordered; rather, they are constitutive of it. Tian is both the creator and the field of creatures. There is no apparent distinction between the order itself, and what orders it. This absence of superordination is a condition made familiar in related notions of the Daoist dao and the Buddhist dharma which at once reference concrete phenomena and the order that obtains among them.

因此，“天”应该是一种从其自身组成成分中抽绎出来的、自在自现的秩序。但是，“天”并不仅仅是“事物”；它是一种活生生的文化——发生、流传，直至成为人类社会中不可替代的元素。“天”是一个神、人同形同性的概念。这种性质揭示出它与“神话即历史”的观念的密切联系--历史人物被尊崇为神灵--此即中国人祖先崇拜的渊源。很可能，正是祖先崇拜这个共同基础，使得商代的人文化的“帝”，与盘踞于黄河谷地的如罗马人一般嗜血好战的周人所拜的“天”相融合。……由于并不存在什么超然的造物主作为真、善、美的源泉，“天”似乎是一种聚焦于前人精神的，经年叠累而成就的文化遗产。因而，当我们发现在这种文化中，神话、理性和历史的纷繁关系与西方传统迥然不同时，并不感到丝毫诧异。诸如周公和孔子这样的重要文化人物常常被神化为“天”；而“天”本身也在与人合一的过程中具体化为上述人物。

On this basis, tian can be described as an inhering, emergent order negotiated out of the dispositioning of the particulars that are constitutive of it. But tian is not just “things”;it is a living culture—crafted, transmitted, and now resident in a human community. Tian is anthropomorphic, suggesting its intimate relationship with the process of euhemerization—historical human beings becoming gods—that grounds Chinese ancestor reverence. It is probably this common foundation in ancestor reverence that allowed for the conflation of the culturally sophisticated Shang dynasty's di帝(ancestral spirits) with the notion of tian associated with the Zhou tribes, militant and Romanesque, who conquered the Yellow River valley….In the absence of some transcendent creator deity as the repository of truth, beauty and goodness, tian would seem to stand for a cumulative and continuing cultural legacy focused in the spirits of those who have come before. It is not surprising, then, that the relationship between mythos , logos , and historia is radically different from the Western tradition. Culturally significant human beings—persons such as the Duke of Zhou and Confucius—are“theomorphized” to become tian, and tian is itself made anthropomorphic and determinate in their persons.

不言不语的“天”通过神谕、反常的气候现象和自然条件的改变等方式与人类进行有效的、但意图并不总是那么明确的交流。“天”由此进入人类社会的话语系统——并且成为其中最为重要的元素。儒家世界中的各种秩序相互依存，相互影响、一荣俱荣、一损俱损。人文社会的衰败紊乱将会波及自然环境。尽管“天”不是耶稣-基督文化传统中的那种回应个人需要的人格神，但是作为祖先的集合体，“天”毫不偏颇地护佑其子嗣尽可能地在所有方面实现和谐圆满。也就是说，“天”不是先验的，而是尽心尽责地服务于子孙后代。对此，《尚书》早已明言曰：“天聪明，自我民聪明。”

（《〈论语〉的哲学诠释》，第47-48页）

Finally, tian does not speak, but communicates effectively although not always clearly through oracles, through perturbations in the climate, and through alterations in the natural conditions of the human world. Tian participates in a discourse shared by the human community—at least by the most worthy among them. Given the interrelatedness and interdependency of the orders defining the Confucian world, what affects one, affects all. A failure of order in the human world will symbiotically be reflected in the natural environment. Although tian is not the “personal” deity responsive to individual needs as found in the JudeoChristian worldview, as aggregate ancestor it would seem that tian functions impartially on behalf of its progeny to maximize the possibilities of emergent harmony at all levels. That tian is not transcendental, but indeed functions on behalf of its progeny, is seen clearly in the Book of Documents: “Tian hears and sees as the people hear and see.”

(The Analects of Confucius: A Philosophical Translation, pp. 46-48)

“天”是一个我们不打算翻译的术语。作为其惯常的英文翻译，“Heaven”只是变幻出了我们犹太—基督教传统的令人误解的联想而已。那些神学的联想多半与中国的经验无关，却常常给中国文化的各种实践附加书写了一些与其自身相异的预设（presuppositions）。无论如何，如果我们能够发展一种对于“天”的理解的话，我们必须将这个术语从那些不幸的联想中解救出来。

Tian is a term we choose not to translate. Its conventional English rendering as “Heaven” cannot but conjure up misleading associations drawn from our Judeo-Christian tradition. These theological associations are largely irrelevant to the Chinese experience but, nonetheless, have often overwritten Chinese cultural practices with presuppositions that are alien to them. In any case, we must extricate the term from these unfortunate associations if we are to develop an understanding of tian.

首先，“天”常常被用作“天地”的简称，这一点说明，“天”与这个世界不是彼此独立的。“天”指示着我们周遭运行着的世界，它无穷无尽、不断进展、始终处在更新之中。正如《中庸》第二十六章所描述的：

天地之道，可一言而尽也：“其为物不贰，则其生物不测。”

天地之道，博也，厚也，高也，明也，悠也，久也。

In the first place, tian is often used as an abbreviation for tiandi天地—“the heavens and the earth”—suggesting that tian is not independent of this world. Denoting the world as it turns around us, it is bottomless, ever advancing, and always novel. As described in Zhongyong 26:

The way of heaven and earth can be captured in one phrase: Since events are never duplicated, their production is unfathomable.

The way of heaven and earth is broad, is thick, is high, is brilliant, is far-reaching, is enduring.

《圣经》中的“God”（上帝），通常转喻为“Heaven”。“God”或“Heaven”创造了（created）世界。但是，古代中国的“天”，却不是世界的创造者，而就是（is）世界。“天”既是我们的世界之所是（what our world is），同时又是我们的世界之如何是（how our world is）。万事万物不是独立于其所制序（ordering）之外的一个“天”的受造物（creatures）。“天”既是“一”也是“多”。它既是各种过程和事件从中产生的单一的根源，又是由这些过程和事物构成的多种价值的场域（multivalent field）。

The God of the Bible, often referred to metonymically as “Heaven,” created the world, but tian in classical Chinese is the world. Tian is both what our world is and how it is. The“ten thousand processes and events (wanwu萬物)” are not the creatures of a tian that is independent of what is ordered; rather, they are constitutive of it. Tian is both one and many. It is both the single source from which processes and events emerge, and the multivalent field constituted by them.

在此基础上，“天”可以被描述为由各个特定个体的各种倾向协调而出的必然发生的秩序（emergent order）。此外，“天”不只是自然世界，独立于人工。毋宁说，“天”是活生生的、累积性的人工产物。既包括自然，也包括人对它的养育。那种养育不但与人类经验不可分离，同时也在相当程度上恰恰是人类经验的表达。它是在一个特定的人类社群内部得以创造和传播的。

On this basis, tian can be described as the emergent orders negotiated out of the dispositions of the many particulars that are presently constitutive of it. Moreover, tian is not just the natural world, independent of human artifice. Rather, tian is a living, cumulative artifact, inclusive of nature and nurture that is not only inseparable from the human experience but is in an important degree expressive of it. It is created and transmitted within a particular human community.

“天”常常是被人化的，这一点提示着它与一种独特的中国的神话即历史观（euhemerization）的密切关系。这种神话即历史观是基于祖先崇拜的。或许正是这种基于祖先崇拜的共同基础，说明了具有文化复杂性的商代的“帝”观念与周人“天”观念的合并。大约在公元前的第一个千年周人的部落征服了黄河流域。有很多很好的理由假定，对于中国“神灵”大体上都是已逝的祖先这样一种主张来说，“天”也并非例外。在缺乏某种超越的创造者（transcendent creator）的情况下，“天”可以被认为是代表着一种累积和持续的文化遗产，这种文化遗产由那些先人的神灵所聚焦。

Tian is often anthropomorphized, suggesting its intimate relationship with a distinctly Chinese version of euhemerization that grounds ancestor reverence. It is probably this common foundation in ancestor reverence that allowed for the conflation of the culturally sophisticated Shang dynasty's di帝(ancestral spirits) with the notion of tian associated with the Zhou federation of tribes who conquered the Yellow River valley at the turn of the first millennium BCE. There are good reasons to assume that tian is not an exception to the claim that Chinese gods are, by and large, dead people. In the absence of some transcendent creator, tian would seem to stand for a cumulative and continuing cultural legacy focused by the spirits of those who have come before.

“天”不说话，但是，通过人制的甲骨、气候的紊乱以及使人类世界境域化的自然条件的改变等，它却能够有效地与人进行沟通和交流。“天”参与着为人类社群中最为贤德的人们所共享的话语。鉴于界定儒学世界的各种秩序的关联性和相互依赖性，影响一件事物的东西同时也影响着所有的事物。有这样一种假定：人类世界的秩序的失败也会在自然世界中得到反映。

（《切中伦常：〈中庸〉的新诠与新译》，第97-99页）

Tian does not speak but communicates effectively, although not always clearly, through human-generated oracles, through perturbations in the climate, and through alterations in the natural conditions that contextualize the human world. Tian participates in a discourse shared by the most worthy persons in the human community. Given the interrelatedness and interdependency of the orders defining the Confucian world,what affects one affects all. It is assumed that a failure of order in the human world will be reflected in the natural environment.

(Focusing the Familiar: A Translation and Philosophical Interpretation of the Zhongyong, pp. 79-80)

古典中国传统总体上表现出借助内在和自然概念解释存在的浓厚兴趣。这类概念不会发展那些打算解释宇宙本身发生的理论。现象就是“so of themselves”——自然。即便偶然有对起源理论的指涉也暗蔽在对转化更为突出的探讨中。上面所引《论语·阳货》（天何言哉？四时行焉，百物生焉）即是明证。就此，“天”就不是一个生成了独立于自己的世界的先在创造性原理。它更确切地说是一个自然产生的现象世界的总称。“天”完全是内在的，所有建构它的成分都不会独立于它而存在。说现象“创造”“天”和“天”创造现象都同样正确。因此，“天”和现象的关系是一种彼此依存的关系。“天”的意义和价值是其种种现象意义和价值的一个功能。“天”的秩序由彼此相关的成分之间获得的和谐来表达。

The classical Chinese tradition generally evidences a strong interest in explaining existence by reference to immanental and naturalistic concepts. Such concepts preclude the development of theories that propose to explain the origin and birth of the cosmos per se. Phenomena are tzujan自然： “so of themselves.” The only occasional references to theories of genesis are eclipsed by the far more prominent discussions of transformation. The passage from the Analects (17.19) cited above (“What does t'ien have to say? And yet the four seasons turn and the myriad things are born and grow within it.”) is a case in point. In this context, t'ien is not a preexisting creative principle which gives birth to and nurtures a world independent of itself. T'ien is rather a general designation for the phenomenal world as it emerges of its own accord. T'ien is wholly immanent, having no existence independent of the calculus of phenomena that constitute it. There is as much validity in asserting that phenomena “create” t'ien as in saying that t'ien creates phenomena; the relationship between t'ien and phenomena, therefore, is one of interdependence. The meaning and value of t'ien is a function of the meaning and value of its many phenomena, and the order of t'ien is expressed in the harmony that obtains among its correlative parts.

中国古代封建结构使之成为最终主宰化身的“天”的形象与我们将之解释为宇宙论整体的“天”并非不一致。“天”作为其代理人——“天子”的始祖与其子孙后代有着内在的关系。生身之父活着是儿子的楷模，死后亦对其眷顾和保护。而子辈则成为祖先精神的化身和延续。他们彼此关联，彼此诠释。“天”作为统治者与他的“帝国”有种比拟关系，统治者就是他的“帝国”（或其“命”），而“帝国”也正是统治者。

（《通过孔子而思》，第255—256页）

The projection of the classical Chinese feudal structure on to t'ien , making it the ultimate ruler, is not inconsistent with our explanation of t'ien as the cosmological whole. T'ien as primitive ancestor of his deputy, the “son of t'ien ,” has an intrinsic relationship with his progeny. The father is the source and model of the son in life, and his counsel and guardian in death. The offspring, for his part, is the psychophysical embodiment and continuation of his progenitor. They are correlatives, requiring each other for explanation. T'ien as ruler has an analogous relationship with his empire. The ruler is his “empire” (or“command”), and the “empire” is the ruler.

( Thinking Through Confucius, pp. 206-207)

“天”作为规定中国人的精神性的核心观念，不能解释为一个超越的范畴，……〔这一观念的〕英文翻译，如“Heaven”、“Providence”（意为天意、天命、天公、上帝），或“God”（意为上帝）显然会造成误解。现在我们要进而讨论“道”，它对于理解中国人的感悟方式同样极其重要。我们将会发现，它与“天”一样，也必须解释为明显非超越的观念。此外，在西方寻找与中国的精神性相当的东西将引导我们聚焦于西方的神秘主义传统，虽然我们对这一点将不加详述。这是因为，就像我们在前面所说，有很好的理由相信，神秘体验本身从根本上说是非超越的。

（《汉哲学思维的文化探源》，第252页）

Tian , a central notion in defining Chinese spirituality, is not to be interpreted as a transcendent category…. English translations such as “Heaven,”“Providence,” or “God” are decidedly misleading. We shall now proceed to a discussion of dao 道， an equally fundamental notion for the understanding of the Chinese sensibility. We shall find that this notion, as well as tian, must be interpreted as distinctly nontranscendent. Further, though we shall not elaborate this point in any great detail, a search for Western counterparts to Chinese spirituality would lead to a focus upon the tradition of mysticism in the West. For, as we discussed above, there is good reason to believe that mystical experience is itself fundamentally nontranscendent.

(Thinking from the Han , p. 244)