台灣的民間佛教傳統與“巖仔”的觀音信仰之社會實踐

台灣「巖仔」信仰的起源與發展，不僅異於閩、粵原鄉「巖仔」信仰型態，也異於正信佛教不祖世間神明的信仰內涵，形成具有地域化、社區化、世俗化特徵的民間佛教「巖仔」信仰的傳統與活動。尤其台灣的「巖仔」信仰不一定位於山間或洞窟，也有位於平地者，此外也出現隸屬於齋教或一貫道筆情況。台灣「巖仔」信仰為介於佛寺與宮廟之間的寺廟信仰，它與出家人為主體的叢林佛教寺院部份制度一樣但又大異其趣，部份「巖仔」的型態雖然與地方宮廟趨近，卻又有所不同。台灣「巖仔」信仰傳統中以觀音信仰為主體，藉由觀音佛祖普渡眾生的精神，與地方公廟或其他宮廟構成護生濟亡的信仰體系，將佛教信仰納入民間地域性群體祭祖範圍之中，揭示著傳統佛教的民間化與俗信化發展，並以其民間化的內涵表現在和村廟或與社區信仰構成「陰陽共濟」的信仰防護網，其中「巖仔」信仰所特有的迎觀音佛祖逸境的民俗慶典化活動最具特色，亦為「巖仔」信仰被納入民間信仰體系，所展現之「民間佛教」特質與社會實踐之具體內涵。

關鍵字

巖仔；民間佛教；觀音信仰；台灣

並列摘要

Giam-a (巗仔) is a type of traditional temples in Taiwan, usually located at the foot, on the hill, or the top of the mountain. Many of Giam-a temples have long history and enjoy reputation of prosperous incense offerings. Pilgrims usually visit Giam-a temples at the beginning of the year, together with their sightseeing tours or weekend activities. This special type of temples is popular yet it does not attract scholarly attention, as it deserves. It is attempted in this paper to explore the religious characteristics and religious practices of Giam-a temples in its social arena, especially in concern with the Kuan-yin belief that is the major deity in Giam-a. Giam-a temples can be distinguished from Buddhist Ssu (寺) and Miao (廟) in folk religion, yet it largely inclined toward the characteristics of Miao, in the way that Kuanyin is worshipped as a female deity instead of a bodhisattva, that it endures the concept of Hsiang-huo (香火), and that it's architecture with sticking roof resembles any local temple. The more important indication of merging with folk religion is the local cults and the regional cults developed from the Giam-a. Local deities may be worshipped together with Kuan-yin so that the burning of paper money one can observe in some Giam-a temples. For some Giam-a temples which currently been managed by Buddhist monks or nuns have conflicts between the laymen believers and these monks and nuns. The quarrels over the use of paper money and animal sacrifice, the competition on the right of temple property and management have occurred frequently. The fundamental conflict mainly lies on the different perception of the history of Giam-a and the ideological difference between Ssu and Miao concerning that how a Giam-a should be run. There is also great gap between laymen practices and the teaching of Buddhist orthodox.