本文透過解讀孟子、荀子運用流水、雲雨隱喻的觀念涵意，探析隱喻表述與價值思辨的關係；並且透過考察先秦儒家水意象的流變，顯影儒學發展的外在表徵與內在肌理。就先秦儒家水意象的流變軌跡而言，先是孔子以「逝者」作為流水的原初意象，道出了「此在是『逝者』」的洞見，其後孟子、荀子兩大儒者分別對此一「逝者」意象進行「隱喻化」的解讀：孟子在「君子志於道」的語境當中，將「逝者」意象詮解為「有本者」的人格德行，並作為其王道論述的基礎；荀子則將「逝者」意象寄託於雲雨的「大物」體性，隱喻「壹於道而以贊稽物」的聖德與「心術」，並以此詠贊王道理想。本文就以這一案例當中的王道論述，勾勒先秦儒家思想轉化的外在表徵；並且就掌握意象與隱喻的輾轉詮釋脈絡，顯影了先秦儒家思想轉化的內在肌理。

The water image is a continuous motif in pre-Qin period Confucianism. Its metamorphosis, however, illustrates the development of the discursive/linguistic and metaphysical/intellectual argumentations in Confucian tradition. Confucius pioneers that the flowing water presents one dominant image: one that passes on. Mencius and Xunzi inherit and re-evaluate the flowing water as a significant metaphor by seizing the image of “the one that passes on.” They elaborate this image to pave way for their theories concerning the Kingly way. For Mencius, flowing water with ample source typifies a gentleman’s duty to set his will on the Way. He then formulates two methods for gentleman’s self-cultivation, which are fundamental in his Kingly way discourse: the reservation, and the full realization of the heart. As for Xunzi, his exposition of the Kingly way follows another rationale. He proposes that the hugeness of cloud-rain displays the image of the one that passes on. The cloud-rain image resembles the prudence of the perfect mind state of one who concentrates on the principles of life, and uses them to assist in investigating things. Briefly speaking, the allusions and the metaphorical interpretations of the water image in Mencius’s and Xunzi’s treatises of the Kingly way manifest the evolution of Confucianism in pre-Qin period.