華人傳統殯儀蘊含一套堅信死後生命的宗教文化,敬奉祖先家神便是儒家禮制中孝道的表現。本文藉傳統殯儀作為議題出發點,探討的是華人文化中信仰與實踐的機制。黃光國指出,華人文化蘊含「天」、「鬼神」雙重信仰的內在結構。不像西方主客二元世界觀把個體獨立於外界,華人文化強調天、地、人三者間的類比相應,儒釋道三教都支持人們追求「天人合一」的境界。因為華人殯儀蘊涵著文化結構,不可化約於主客二元世界觀下的二值邏輯,故本文藉佛教的辯證思維來勾勒華人文化修養系統的各種範疇。基於對宗教向度與華人宗教性的理論與實徵研究資料,汲取西方心理學上的「死亡提醒效應」與「持續連結」等概念,本文嘗試改變宗教文化機制的研究法,故建構了「儒家修養曼陀羅模型」作為「天、鬼神雙重信仰」的分析架構,從而對華人文化中生者、亡者與天道之間的關係提出了系統性詮釋,對「自我修養之道」的研究內容提供了大致輪廓。
Confucian philosophy calls for paying respect to one's deceased ancestors as an act of filial piety. The deceased are believed to enjoy an afterlife among the living. Using funeral traditions as the starting point, I explore how religious faith applied in Chinese culture. Kwang-Kuo Hwang (黃光國) pointed out that Chinese religions are constructed on a particular structure of dual belief in Heaven (Tien) and spirits (kuei-shen). Unlike the Western subject-object dichotomous worldview, which presumes that the individual is independent from the external world, traditional Chinese beliefs emphasize an analogy between Heaven, circumstance and man. Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism all support mental synchronization of humans and the universe. The functions and implications of funerals are complex and difficult to understand with Western reductionist logic, so I outline the categories of Chinese self-cultivation system as a whole from a Buddhist perspective. Based on theoretical and empirical studies of religious dimensions and Chinese personal religiosity that rely on the psychological concepts of a mortality salience effect and continuing bonds, I propose a paradigm shift for studying religious mechanisms in Chinese culture and develop the mandala model of Confucian self-cultivation. This model is intended to aid analysis of Chinese beliefs in Heaven and spirits. I provide an integrative discussion of the relationships among the living, the deceased, and Heaven in Chinese culture, and an outline for exploring the principles of self-cultivation and enlightenment.