《山海经》神权空间认知新范式——第14篇:扶木与建木符号差异考——基于先秦字源的二元神权演化分析

本文是《山海经》神权空间认知新范式系列研究的第14篇,聚焦《山海经》早期文本所载的扶木与建木两种神树符号。本文摒弃后世“扶桑”之“桑”这类秦汉五行、方术附会文字,仅以扶木与建木的原始形态为研究对象。

通过甲骨文、金文及先秦本义对“扶、建、木、柱、叶、芥、樾、构、实、芒、麻”等关键字进行逐字溯源,证实二者均非自然树木,而是上古二元神权体系的政治象征柱杆。扶木对应二元神权早期松散阶段,民少而无天授合法性凭证;建木对应绝地天通后二元神权成熟中心化阶段,民众且具备完整的天授统治合法性。二者形态与符号配置的差异,本质是上古神权—王权结构从雏形走向规范的历史呈现。

本系列总纲及全部实证研究已同步发布。完整理论框架详见作者《〈山海经〉神权空间认知:理论框架与方法论(总纲)》。

This paper is No. 14 in the series The Classic of Mountains and Seas: A New Paradigm of Theocratic Spatial Cognition. It focuses on the symbolic trees Fumu and Jianmu as recorded in the early texts of The Classic of Mountains and Seas. Rejecting later accretions such as the character “Sang” in “Fusang” (a Qin-Han addition), this study takes only the original forms of Fumu and Jianmu as its objects of investigation.

Through word‑by‑word etymological tracing of key characters using oracle bone inscriptions, bronze inscriptions, and pre‑Qin original meanings, this paper demonstrates that neither Fumu nor Jianmu were natural trees; rather, they were political symbolic poles of the ancient dual theocratic system. Fumu corresponds to the early, loosely organized stage of dual theocracy, characterized by a small population and the absence of a heaven‑granted legitimacy credential. Jianmu corresponds to the mature, centralized stage of dual theocracy after the “Juedi Tiantong” (Severing the Communication between Heaven and Earth) reform, characterized by a large population and complete heaven‑granted ruling legitimacy. The differences in their forms and symbolic configurations are essentially the historical presentation of the evolution of the ancient theocracy‑royal power structure from its embryonic form to standardization.

The general outline of this series and all 25 empirical studies have been published concurrently. For the complete theoretical framework, see the author’s Theocratic Spatial Cognition in The Classic of Mountains and Seas: A Theoretical Framework and Methodology (General Outline).