如是我聞：《維摩結所說經》文本的敘事分析

As Such I Have Heard: A Narrative Analysis of Vimalakīrtinirdeśa

廖桂蘭(Guey-Lan Liao)

《文化越界》 1卷6期 (2011/09) Pp. 121-164

https://doi.org/10.30405/CCS.201109_1(6).0005

摘要

如是「我」聞是佛經文本的身分印記，理應呈現第一人稱的敘事手法，文本中的敘事策略卻往往是第三人稱的敘事視角，為甚麼？本文以鳩摩羅什所譯的《維摩詰所說經》為主要研究文本，分析其敘事聲音與敘事視角、敘述者的敘述方法等。初步研究發現敘事者常代替人物發聲，以我的視角對話，呈現熱耐特（G. Genette）敘事學所說的「視角位移」（perspective change）與跨層敘述的「敘事違規」（narrative transgression）現象，所謂的「敘事轉喻」（metalepsis）。敘述者聲音與人物的聲音重疊，發生「複調式」現象。特別在《佛所行讚》文本中，對話與人物內心的獨白，界線不明，沒有分辨的符號標記，完全需靠讀者的閱讀想像與建構，才能貫串情節，這樣的敘事方式確實有趣，打破對話與獨白的分界，在五世紀時就開啟了敘事文學中第三人稱與第一人稱混融式的韻文傳記文學。佛經文本擅長以人物的戲劇性對話、用問答型式闡述人生無常與解脫繫縛之道。敘述者常以非戲劇性評論介入干涉文本敘事的效果，特別是宗教文本，希望達致宣傳與信仰的效果，敘述者的介入文本創作，實屬自然。法國的佛教學者拉蒙特（E. Lamotte）認為《維摩詰經》「係以佛教梵文特有之文法暨體裁編成，該經含有非常豐富之成語、慣用語、固有名詞、比喻及複踏重述」，而且富含大小乘的經典傳統與材料。編集者必定相當熟稔經典的內容，隨著記憶編撰而成。口傳的經典系統自然離不開敘述者的「前理解」（pre-understanding）與文化傳統，就如高達美（Gadamer） 所說的彼此間的「視域交融」（Horizontverschmelzung）或克莉斯蒂娃（Julia Kristeva）「互文性」（intertextuality）的影響，文本創作間的模仿、影響、重複與相似，在所難免。可以說，佛經文本處處呈現「跨文本性」（transtextuality）的宗教傳統，任何一本的佛經文本都是整個佛教宗教傳統的微型載體與互文性的展現。

關鍵字

《維摩詰經》 ； 《佛所行讚》 ； 複調式 ； 互文性 ； 敘事轉喻 ； 跨文本性

並列摘要

”As such I have heard” functions as the hallmark phrase of the Buddhist Scriptures. Accordingly, a Buddhist text should be narrated by a first-person narrator, but in most cases it adopts the perspective of a third person. Why? To answer this question, this paper explores the narrative voice, narrative perspective and the narrating skills of Vimalakīrtinirdeśa. My primary study shows that the narrator speaks often as the character and acts in place of the character. The text and the dialogues in the text go on in the first-person point of view without any signs of transition. Beside the ”perspective change”, this transition of narrative levels without any signs manifests ”narrative transgression” and ”narrative metalepsis” in Genette's terms. The narrator's voice overlaps the character's voice. This results in double tunes. Particularly in Buddha Carita, the line between dialogue and monologue is vague. There is no distinguishing sign. The reader has to construct the plot by exercising his imagination. Such narrating method that breaks the boundary between the dialogue and monologue is interesting. In the fifth century China, a versified biography using mixed narrating styles of the firstand the third-person narrative was already available.The Buddhist Scripture elucidates life impermanence and liberation by adopting dramatic dialogues and elocution. The narrator interferes, especially in the religious text, to promote the faith with non-dramatic comments. It is natural for the narrator to interfere in creating the text. The French Buddhist scholar E. Lamotte stated that Vimalakīrtinirdeśa was ”[w]ritten in the grammar and style particular to Buddhist Sanskrit, the Vkn abounds in turns of phrases, formulae, stock phrases, comparisons and repetitions.” Besides, it also encompasses the traditional sources of the two Vehicles. The compiler must be very familiar with the Scriptures and compiled them from his memory. Oral canonical literature is not free from the influences of the narrator's pre-understanding and the cultural traditions, as stated by Gadamer's ”Horizontverschmelzung” or Kristeva's ”intertextuality.” It is unavoidable that the text refers to the prior texts or imitates the others. The Buddhist texts manifest the religious traditions of ”transtextuality.” Any Buddhist texts symbolize part of the Buddhist traditions and show the referring intertextuality.

並列關鍵字

Vimalakīrtinirdeśa ； Buddha Carita ； polyglossia ； intertextualiy ； metalepsis ； transtextuality