Huan Tan - Easy

A Chinese thinker from the early Later Han Dynasty. His courtesy name was Junshan. He was from Pei Commandery (Anhui Province). His works include the 29-volume New Treatise. He entered the service of Emperor Cheng at the age of 17. He did not like the study of modern Chinese texts, chapters, verses, and exegesis, and was a scholar of classical Chinese literature. He was particularly close to Yang Xiong, and debated with Liu Xin and others. At the beginning of the Later Han Dynasty, he became a councilor and was regarded as the head of Confucianism. Later, when Emperor Guangwu asked him to decide a matter based on the tuju (a divine revelation) that he believed in, he whipped the old man and remonstrated with him, "saying things that are not in the divine revelation sutra," which angered him. However, he escaped execution and was demoted to the position of Lu'an County Magistrate, where he died of illness on the way to his post. "New Treatise" questions the veracity of the theory of the times and became the precursor to Wang Chong's thought, but only fragments remain. It contains a general theory on how governance should be, criticism of Wang Mang, criticism of the theory of immortals, and a theory of the extinction of the gods, demonstrating his sharp critical spirit.

[Takao Okubo January 19, 2016]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

中国、後漢(ごかん)初頭の思想家。字(あざな)は君山。沛(はい)郡（安徽(あんき)省）の人。著書に『新論』29巻がある。17歳のとき成帝朝に出仕。今文(きんぶん)章句訓詁(くんこ)の学を好まず、古文派で能文家であった。とくに揚雄(ようゆう)とは師友の交わりを結び、劉歆(りゅうきん)などと論議を闘わせた。後漢の初め議郎給事中となり、儒者の宗と目された。のちに、光武(こうぶ)帝が信奉する図讖(としん)によって事を決しようと下問した際、老骨に鞭(むち)打ち諫言(かんげん)し、「讖の経にあらざるを極言」したことにより、逆鱗(げきりん)に触れた。しかし斬殺(ざんさつ)を免れて六安(ろくあん)郡丞(じょう)に左遷され、赴任の途中で病没した。『新論』は時説の真偽を問うもので、王充(おうじゅう)思想の先駆となったが、断片断章を残すのみである。そこには、為政のあるべき姿を説く大体論、王莽(おうもう)批判、神仙説批判、神滅論などがあり、鋭い批判精神が示されている。

［大久保隆郎　2016年1月19日］

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