The Emergence Of Ch'an Buddhism A Revisionist Perspective

禪宗起源新探

史維仁(Charles W. Swain)

《中華佛學學報》 2期 (1988/10) Pp. 331-338

https://doi.org/10.6986/CHBJ.198810.0331

摘要

本文目的，在於探索禪宗何以在中國佛教以不同的宗派出現。要討論的，並非謂傳統上所述禪宗如何成立的講法為不可信，而是注意到記載這些史事的史籍如何編成，或有助於解釋禪宗的特有風貌。禪宗被認定是大乘佛教的秘傳宗派且曾在中國佛教內有過強有力的改革；禪宗是由菩提達磨帶進中國來，他有一代一代的華夏繼承人，而這些繼承人之中有若干人郤同時是其它宗派的祖師；自五祖而後，禪宗戲刻性地分裂，北宗以神秀為首，南方則以慧能為首，後來北宗可能由於唐武宗的毀佛而消沈，而南宗取得了正統地位。作者指出一般宗教運動的特性為：舉凡一個宗教受到逼害之後，其教史必然探究教難何以發生？又檢討教難後還遺留了些什麼？一般而言，這類宗教史籍會顯示出倖存者保存了最原始、最純真的教旨，而這既原始又純真的教旨郤反映了倖存者這一派的傳統，於是倖存者們便接管了一切，連最初的改革運動亦出於他們之手了。標準的禪宗傳統顯示了上述的趨向，也就是說，當教史記載他們的創始者曾在說法中申言建寺誦經無用，這是他們經歷了可佈的滅法運動，覺得寺院建成終會被毀，經典寫成終會被燒的反映。又慧能向南逃亡的故事，其主題也可從上述架構中弄個明白：由於武宗毀佛，倖存者逃亡到南方避難後，覺得誦經無用，因而提出佛法中原本所無的 [頓悟]之說，為了使後世禪師信服，乃有慧能創頓教之說。進一步，本文作者指出以下兩點：(一)禪宗的修禪方式跟中國其它佛教宗派的教義並無牴牾之處。(二)早期的中國佛教可能有一祕傳的修行方式，而這方式是以坐禪為中心。

並列摘要

The purpose of the present paper is to examine the emergence of Ch'an Buddhism as a separate school in China, The argument is not that the traditions concerning this emergence are unreliable, but rather that attention to the historical context of their compilation may help to explain some of the distinctive features of Ch'an as a school of Chinese Buddhism. Ch'an is defined as an esoteric school of the Mahayana that became a vigorous reform movement within Chinese Buddhism, Because of its esoteric nature there was no necessity to exist as a separate school, Thus the question arises what explains its emergence as such. According to the received tradition Ch'an was brought to China by Bodhidharma and passed on through a line of successors some of whom were also patriarchs of other schools. A dramatic schism happened when, after the Fifth Patriarch, the succession split into Shen-hsiu in the North and Hui-neng in the south. While the Northern tradition collapsed, probably due to the persecution under emperor Wu-tsung, the Southern gained legitimacy. The author points out that it is characteristic of religious movements under persecution that they preserve their histories in forms which justify both the occurrence of the persecution and the survival of the remnant. A common theme of such histories is that the survivors preserve the original, true form of the religious ideal embodied in their tradition. Thus their survival is a mandate for the radical reform of the community. The normative Ch'an tradition shows this tendency, e.g. when their founder is said to have preached the fruitlessness of building temples and reciting sutras which was then revealed by the terrible persecution. The motif of the flight to the south is also understandable in this frame of reference; like Huineng, the survivors had fled southward in order to bear witness to future generations concerning the essence of the tradition, the direct experience of enlightenment out of which the dharma originated. The author further points out that (1) there is no contradiction involved in a tradition of meditative practice co-existing with the doctrines of the various schools of Chinese Buddhism. and (2) it may be that there was an esoteric practice within early Chinese Buddhism which centered on meditation.

參考文獻

(1933).This famous four-line stanza is attributed to Bodhidharma, but was actually formulated much later; according to Suzuki.(Essays in Zen Buddhism).

(the verses can be traced back no further than Nan-ch'üan P'u-yuan, a Ch'an master of the T'ang era).

(1969).(A History of Zen Buddhism).

Cf. Dumoulin,Wu-men Kuan(1953).Der Pass ohne Tor.13,171.

Cf. Ching-Chüeh.Leog-ch'ieh shih-chih chi.(Ta chwun tsang).