≪诗经≫≪尚书≫“天命不易”词义考辨

An new interpretation of the idiom “tian ming bu yi” in Shangshu and Book of Songs

In the Archaic Chinese, there is a idiom about the mandate of heaven that “tian ming bu yi”天命不易. but the meaning of the idiom is different in different contexts. There are at least two meanings of “bu yi”不易,they are “unchanged” and “disrespect”. The meaning of “disrespect” is rarely revealed by the predecessors. Through the textual research and exegetical study of the relevant words of Shangshu尚书, Book of Songs诗经 and Tsinghua collection of manuscripts , it helps us to understand the changes in the concept of mandate of heaven in the early Western Zhou Dynasty from “obeying the destiny” to “cultivating the fate.”

周人天命观中有所谓“天命不易”的说法，但在不同语境中的词义有所不同。“天命不易”中“不易”至少有两种词义，分别是“不变易”和“不慢易”，其中“不慢易”之义，前人少有揭示。通过对《尚书》《诗经》和清华简《周公之琴舞》篇相关语词的梳理考察，有助于我们理解西周初期天命观从“服从天命”到“修德配命”的变化。