佛教人類胚胎學

Buddhistic Human Embryology

郭正典(Cheng-Deng Kuo)

《佛學與科學》 6卷1期 (2005/01) Pp. 33-43

https://doi.org/10.30162/BS.200501.0008

摘要

有出生就有死亡，有死亡可能就有出生，如果人們只知道死亡而不知道出生，則關於生死之道的了解就不完整。佛教《修行道地經》對卵子受精後及胚胎在母體內發育的過程有詳細、精確的描述。比較現代胚胎學和《修行道地經》的經文，可知《修行道地經》經文對胚胎發育的描述雖然有點巨觀，但以當時的醫療科學水凖而言，已是相當詳細而且正確的描述了。佛教《修行道地經》可被視爲現代人類胚胎學的濫觴，是歷史上第一本有關人類胚胎學的經典之作，釋迦牟尼如何在沒有研究設備的情況下，好像親眼目睹般地看到並紀錄下胚胎發育的過程，委實不可思議。由於釋迦牟尼比號稱現代胚胎學創始者的亞里斯多德更早且更正確地描述胚胎的發育，而且是人類胚胎的發育，故現代胚胎學的先驅者應是釋迦牟尼，亞里斯多德不應被稱爲現代胚胎學創始者。

關鍵字

胚胎 ； 發育 ； 胚胎學 ； 修行道地經 ； 亞里斯多德 ； 釋迦牟尼

並列摘要

There will be a death if there is a birth. Similarly, there probably will be a birth if there is a death. If we know only the death of human beings without comparative knowledge about birth, the understanding of life and death of human beings will be incomplete. The Yogācarābhūmi Sūtra of Buddhism is a written documentation that has unimaginable detailed description about the fertilization of ova and the further development of embryo in the uterus of the mother. By comparing the descriptions in the Yogācarābhūmi Sūtra of Buddhism and the texts of modern embryology, we found that though a little macroscopic, the descriptions in the Yogācarābhūmi Sūtra of Buddhism are rather detailed and correct as judged by the standard of medical science at that time. The Yogācarābhūmi Sūtra of Buddhism can be viewed as the beginning of modern human embryology; it can even be viewed as the first classic book on human embryology in history. It was really incredible that Shakyamuni could make such detailed eye-witness observation and description on the development of human embryo without using any instrument. Since Shakyamuni lived earlier than Aristotle and since he had made more correct and detailed descriptions about the formation and development of human embryo than Aristotle, Shakyamuni should be the first or father of human embryology, and the Yogācarābhūmi Sūtra of Buddhism should be the first book on human embryology in history.

並列關鍵字

embryo ； development ； embryology ； Yogācarābhūmi sūtra ； Aristotle ； Shakyamuni