日本佛教研究的現狀與課題

日本的佛教研究受制于歷史因素較多。最初傳入日本的是中國南北朝時的南朝佛教，重視講經與教理學習，因而日本的佛教研究有了偏於教理及思想研究的傳統。至近代初期引進了歐洲以文獻學為基礎的研究方法，更加強了這種學術傾向。文獻研究已然成為日本佛教學界之主流。研究對象限於教理類著作，而對於如佛教民間傳說、受佛教影響之和歌及故事等文學作品的研究並不多。學者對於創作者的研究很熱心，對接受者的研究卻敬而遠之。日本從古至今留存許多寫本資料，雖已出版各種叢書可管窺一二，仍有多種論義、唱導等寫本未見刊刻。目前雖有研究計畫在推動電子化寫本資料庫，但寫本本身仍不易入手。海外有許多日本佛教的研究者，但本國研究者卻常忽視前者之研究成果，亟待改善之。日本歷史之時代區分不甚明確，且每個時代受重視程度也不同，事實上日本佛教研究者的興趣多集中於中世與近代。希望學者今後多關注古代與近世之日本佛教。雖說教理研究占日本的佛教研究之主導地位，但論義、唱導等方面，尤其是宗派成形前的院政期至鎌倉時期的論義、唱導研究仍是空白。若將佛教分為「學」與「行」，可以說學界對於「行」的研究甚少，這很可能與日本佛教的歷史特色有關，也是今後需突破的重要研究課題之一。

關鍵字

論義；唱導；行學；文獻學；時代區分；佛教學；歷史學；日本思想史

並列摘要

History has placed certain limitations on the study of Japanese Buddhism. Buddhism came to Japan in the sixth century, during the Southern and Northern Dynasties period in China, via the Korean peninsula. It took on characteristics of the Buddhism of the Southern Dynasties, in particular, the practice of preaching about Buddhist sutras, as well as a robust system of doctrinal learning, and these have been the focus of the study of Buddhism for the majority of its history. However, during the Meiji period, Buddhist Studies advanced greatly with the advent of philological methods brought over from Europe. After the introduction of this style of research, philological studies became the mainstream of Buddhist studies in Japan, however this research tends to focus on ideological or philosophical writings, while neglecting the study of more literary works such as tanka (poetry), as well as classical fiction and other narrative forms. In brief, there are relatively few works focusing on writing influenced by Buddhism. Although there is a deep interest in the makers of Buddhism, as it were, those whom it was made for have been neglected. Furthermore, there are many handwritten manuscripts that remain from ancient Japan. Although some of these documents have been published with modern typesetting, and thus made into a more accessible format, many have not yet been made into modern printed editions. In particular, documents recording sermons (shodo) and debates (rongi), and sermons and debates from the Cloistered Government (insei) period to the Kamakura period are largely unstudied topics. Although there are projects that aim to digitize these documents, these have still not been developed to their full potential. Another important issue to be rectified is that although there are many researchers outside Japan studying Japanese Buddhism, the results of their research seem to be by and large overlooked by those working inside Japan. Although there is a lack of consensus on the periodization of Japanese Buddhism, there is nevertheless a tendency to study the Buddhism of medieval and modern eras, while neglecting the study of the ancient and early modern periods. Finally, although we can broadly divide the study of Buddhism into the categories of (doctrinal or academic) learning, and (religious) practice, the study of how Buddhism has been practiced, particularly how meditation (samatha and vipassana styles in particular) has been practiced in Japan, has not sufficiently been discussed. This may be a product of the tradition of Japanese Buddhism, but is nevertheless a question the field faces in the future.