The Story of Phra Malai and its Application to Pure Land Buddhism

帕拉瑪萊故事及其在淨土佛教中的運用

黃淳壹(HWANG Soonil)

《眾力莊嚴．一佛圓滿——人間淨土與彌陀淨土》 2017年(下冊) (2017/12) Pp. 23-38

摘要

Within the scope of the Southern Buddhism based on the Pali Buddhist Canon, it is not easy to find the lay Buddhist devotional practices aiming directly at achieving nirvāna, the goal of all Buddhists. It is mainly because of the characteristics of the Pali Buddhist canon which was composed and has been preserved by Buddhist monks and nuns for the sake of their own liberation. The whole tipitaka shows the way one can effectively leaving one's society behind and gradually cutting off all one's attachment and defilement to achieve arahant-ship. Thus Buddhist laity have always seen in the early canon as supporters for sangha, Buddhist community consisting mainly of monks and nuns. Where then can we see Lay Buddhist devotional practices in the Early Buddhism? I think, Buddhist narratives could be the key sources to see Lay activities within the scope of Early Buddhism. In the Jātakas and the Avadānas, we can see the future Buddha as animals, such as a monkey, human beings, such as a king, and gods, such as Indra in the heavenly world. In these kinds of stories, the future Buddha tried very hard to accumulate merits through morally good and excellent actions. Even nowadays in the Buddhist world of the Southeast Asia, merit making seems to be one of the major Buddhist devotional practices and to be appeared among the wide variety of Buddhist narratives. In this paper, I am going to look at lay Buddhist devotional practice seen in the story of Phra Malai, one of the most well-known narratives developed around Southeast Asia, to show a kind of short cut to achieve nirvāna through reborn at the time of Maitreya, the Future Buddha.

關鍵字

Phra Malai ； Pure Land Buddhism ； Jātakas ； Avadānas

並列摘要

在基於巴利語藏經的南傳佛教中，很不容易找到虔誠修行的居士獲證涅磐，雖然那是所有佛教徒的終極目標。主要是因為巴利藏經具有這樣一個特點：即它是由那些為自己解脫的僧侶編輯和傳承。整部三藏顯示了那種讓人可以有效地離棄社會和逐漸斷絕一切執著而獲證阿羅漢果的方法。所以，在早期藏經中，居士總是為由僧侶組成的僧團的護持者。早期佛教中哪裡可以看到居士的虔誠修持呢？個人認為，佛教的敘事文學就是早期佛教中找尋居士活動的關鍵資料。在本生故事和聖行故事，我們發現未來的佛陀是各種動物，比如猴子，是人類，比如國王，是天人比如天界的因陀羅等。在這些種種的故事中，未來的佛陀非常努力地通過善良甚至是卓越的行為嘗試積累福報。即便是今天，在東南亞佛教中，修積福報看起來就是虔誠修持一種而且出現在各種的佛教敘事中。在本文中，我將探討帕拉瑪萊故事中的居士虔修行為。這是一個在東南亞形成的最著名的敘事故事。它表明再生在彌勒佛時代就是獲得涅磐的一種捷徑。

並列關鍵字

帕拉瑪萊 ； 淨土佛教 ； 本生故事 ； 聖行故事