《地藏菩薩本願寺》主題思想析論－兼論東年的佛學思想

作家東年的佛教小說《地藏菩薩本願寺》是當代台灣佛教文學中深受重視的一部作品。作者藉由小說主角的經歷來描寫修行者由迷至悟的心理過程，站在原始佛教的立場提出他對菩薩信仰的見解，並且批判了台灣佛教界世俗化的現象。本文從佛教的觀點來探討這本小說，先對小說的敘述方式與主要人物作概略分析，再導入探討的主題：作者如何藉由主角的心路歷程來闡明修行的意義與目的，何以知識份子強烈的道德觀、深重的我執經常形成學佛的障礙，這是本文要討論的第一點。作者否定神通，主張自力修行；認為修行在乎的是反求諸己，而非神通救度，因而對菩薩有不同的詮釋，是本文要討論的第二點。在不影響情節發展的情況下，以佛典經文融入小說的寫作手法有無作用或意義，是本文要討論的第三點。而東年對當前台灣佛教界世俗化現象的批判，信徒不解佛法、只求現世利益的修行方式之憂心，則是本文討論的第四個重點。

關鍵字

佛教文學；地藏菩薩；東年；自力

並列摘要

The Ksitigarbha-Pranidhana Temple by Dong Nien is a work highly valued in the contemporary Taiwan Buddhist literature. The author describes the Buddhist's mechanism of enlightenment through the life experience of the protagonist. He proposed his opinion of Bodhisattva belief and criticized the secularized phenomenon of Taiwan Buddhists in primitive Buddhist viewpoint. This paper investigates the novel from Buddhist viewpoint. It roughly analyzes the narration and protagonists of the novel, and then discusses the following topics: First, how does the author clarify the meaning and goal of a pious life through the protagonist's life experience; and how do the intellectuals' morality and self-rigid can obstruct the studying of Buddhism. Second, the author denies magical power and advocates practicing the pious life self-reliantly; He thought that the most important thing of a pious life is to engage in self-examination, not to rely on magical salvation, thus giving a new interpretation of the Bodhisattva. Third, without interrupting the plot, is it any meaning or function for the writing skill of applying Buddhist scriptures into a novel? Dong Nien criticized the secularized phenomenon of contemporary Taiwan Buddhist and worried about the utilitarian followers who do not try to understand Buddhist doctrine thoroughly. This is the fourth key point which this paper discusses.