An Excerpt from The Precious Scroll of Liu Xiang

《劉香寶卷》節略

亞天恩(Katherine L. Alexander)

《中華佛學學報》 34期 (2021/07) Pp. 27-62

摘要

The Precious Scroll of Liu Xiang was one of the most widely reprinted ＂precious scrolls＂ of the Qing and Republican periods in China. Within this broad genre, it is a particularly well-told, exciting representative of the subgenre of narratives about women seeking to follow a religious path. Though such heroines face all kinds of opposition, often from family, these narratives chronicle their persistence and victories against all odds. In the excerpt translated below, we focus on Liu Xiangnü as she navigates the difficult transition from daughter to daughter-in-law in her new home. In addition to offering an eager defense of lay Buddhist practices, this excerpt addresses family dynamics, class-based hierarchies, and performance of socially acceptable gender roles.

關鍵字

Liu Xiang baojuan ； precious scroll ； popular religion ； women's religious practice

並列摘要

《劉香寶卷》是清與民國時期翻印最多的寶卷之一。在寶卷文類中有關婦女修行故事的題材中，《劉香寶卷》是一部極為優異且具代表性的作品。儘管婦女修行故事中的女主角面對各式各樣的磨難，特別是家人的反對，但到最後這些故事都描繪她們克服一切困難的勝利。在此論文所翻譯的節略中，我們聚焦於劉香女在結婚之後如何在新家庭裡當媳婦。而在此節略文中，不但為在家修行辯護，也涉及家庭關係、社會階層以及性別角色。

並列關鍵字

劉香寶卷 ； 寶卷 ； 說唱文學 ； 民間宗教 ； 婦女修行

參考文獻

Alexander, Katherine. “Conservative Confucian Values and the Promotion of Oral Performance Literature in late Qing Jiangnan: Yu Zhi's Influence on Two Appropriations of Liu Xiang baojuan,” CHINOPERL: Journal of Chinese Oral and Performing Literature 36, no. 2 (2017): 89–115.

Alexander, Katherine. “The Precious Scroll of Liu Xiang: late Ming Roots and late Qing Proliferation” Journal of Chinese Religions 49, no. 1 (2021) : 49–74.

Berezkin, Rostislav. “The Lithographic Printing and the Development of Baojuan Genre in Shanghai in the 1900–1920s: On the Question of the Interaction of Print Technology and Popular Literature in China (Preliminary Observations)” Zhongzheng daxue Zhongwen xueshu niankan, no. 17 (2011): 337–367.

Berezkin, Rostislav.“Printing and Circulating ‘Precious Scrolls’ in Early Twentieth Century Shanghai and its Vicinity: Toward an Assessment of Multifunctionality of the Genre.” In Religious Publishing and Print Culture in Modern China, 1800–2012, edited by Philip Clart and Gregory A. Scott, 139–185. Boston: de Gruyter, 2015.

Berezkin, Rostislav. Many Faces of Mulian: The Precious Scrolls of Late Imperial China. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2017.