Building a Pure Land Lineage: A Study of Zhida's Play Guiyuan jing and a Translation of its Three Paratexts

構建淨土傳燈譜系－智達劇作《歸元鏡》及其副文本譯介

王萌筱(Mengxiao Wang)

《中華佛學學報》 33期 (2020/07) Pp. 1-47

摘要

This article entails a study of the Guiyuan jing 歸元鏡 (Mirror of the Return to the Origin), a play written by the seventeenth-century Chinese Buddhist monk Zhida 智達, along with an annotated translation of the three paratexts that he appended to the play. Drawing on hagiographical accounts of three celebrated Buddhist masters who were ardent devotees of Amitābha Buddha, the play establishes a patriarchal line of the Pure Land tradition. By situating this play within multiple efforts to draw up lists of Chinese Pure Land patriarchates, I argue that the dramatic genre both drove and facilitated Zhida's ambition to construct an unprecedented continuous Pure Land lineage. The play builds up this lineage by employing two key mechanisms: the historical transmission of the Amitābha Sūtra and the reincarnations of the three masters and their disciples. I also trace the possible sources for the plot of the Guiyuan jing from various genres, including Buddhist scriptures, masters’ biographies and their own writings, vernacular narratives, anecdotes, miracle tales, and other historical records. Furthermore, in his paratexts, Zhida explicitly expresses his ideal of using a play as an expedient device to promote the Pure Land teaching and awaken common people. The wide circulation of the Guiyuan jing among Buddhists from the Qing Dynasty to this day demonstrates the success of Zhida's goal. Zhida's Guiyuan jing and his accompanying paratexts provide us with a rare example of a Chinese Buddhist monk's engagement with playwriting and his opinions about theater, while also enriching our understanding of the Pure Land tradition in late imperial China.

關鍵字

Guiyuan jing ； Zhida ； Pure Land ； lineage ； theater

並列摘要

本文介紹明末清初僧人智達的戲曲作品《異方便淨土傳燈歸元鏡》，並注釋翻譯其所附三篇副文本：《戲劇供通》、《客問決疑》與《問答因緣》。在祖師傳記的基礎上，《歸元鏡》運用雙重敘事線索建立了淨土三祖世系，其一是《佛說阿彌陀經》的傳承，其二是祖師的師徒轉世。本文將《歸元鏡》置於諸多中國淨土祖師名錄的歷史脈絡之中，討論智達如何利用戲曲文體構建連續性的淨土傳燈譜系，並且追溯了《歸元鏡》情節的多種文獻來源，包括佛經、僧傳、祖師著作、通俗文學、筆記、靈驗記以及其他材料。此外，智達於副文本中明確表達了以戲曲為方便來弘揚淨土、覺悟眾生的理想。從清代至今，《歸元鏡》在佛門廣泛流傳，影響深遠，基本實現了智達的目標。智達的《歸元鏡》和三篇副文本為探討僧人的戲曲創作及戲曲觀提供了珍貴案例，亦豐富了我們對明清時期淨土傳統的理解。

並列關鍵字

歸元鏡 ； 智達 ； 淨土 ； 譜系 ； 戲曲

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