從《帝鑒圖說》看張居正心目中理想君王的形象，兼論他的帝師角色

Abstract

As a case study of imperial education, this thesis aims to reveal the interactions among emperor, imperial mentor and a guidebook (extracurricular primer) on imperial ruling by examining Zhang Juzheng 張居正’s Di jian Tu Shuo 帝鑒圖說 and related issues. The imperial mentor, representing supreme political status, is responsible for instilling knowledge, guidance of behavior and advising political decisions. According to Ming Muzong 明穆宗’s last will and empress dowager Li 李太后’s delegation of authority, Zhang, really acted as a regent, was a guardian and tutor of the 10 year old Emperor Wanli. At the time when Emperor Wanli became adult, Zhang was not permitted to retire according to empress dowager Li’s edict, thus the transmission of power was interrupted. This brought latent resentment of Wanli toward Zhang and thus political purge of the Zhang family soon after the death of the imperial mentor. Di jian Tu Shuo 帝鑒圖說, complied by Zhang and the Han-lin scholars, was a pictorial book with colloquial illustration containing totally 117 examples of ancient rulers since legendary times. Under Zhang’s supervision, those scholars selected the examples from various historical records and edited the sources. Zhang thus produced the final version. This book was intended to set up the models of rulership for Wanli to imitate, willing that the young emperor would then be cultivated to be a sagacious king. Wanli was expected to be fearful to heaven, modeling ancestors, affiliating to the upright, modest enough to accept criticism, filial, frugal, benevolent, studious and diligent. This image conforms to the Confucian tradition, fulfills the request of Muzong, satisfies the expectations of the subjects and reflects Zhang’s political ideal. The young emperor enthusiastically followed the written examples during his early reign. Therefore, the contemporaries contributed the national prosperity to Di jian Tu Shuo. This book became a symbol of the flourishing age. As Wanli refused to assume his imperial duty later and people began to cherish Zhang Juzheng’s contribution, this book in turn symbolized Zhang’s loyalty and Wanli’s under achievement