稱之以「漢」－禪典表人名詞「漢」溯源

大多數學者認同以「漢」稱人，具有濃厚的口語成分，是禪宗語言的特點。對於「漢」何以能稱人，學者大抵從種族名稱引申為表人稱謂；然而，未能解釋水名之「漢」如何成為稱謂名詞、成為禪師口中激切的稱謂？啟人疑竇。本文梳理晚唐五代禪宗典籍含「漢」的表人詞語，尋找其共同特徵，結合文字學及訓詁學，探尋表人名詞「漢」系統源頭的可能性。本文認為「漢」聲符的隱性義素［+苦難］、［+人］，在音譯過程被激活、被擇取，使「阿羅漢」成為「arhan」的強勢譯詞。禪師將「阿羅漢」節縮「漢」，添加不同的修飾成分，指稱人物謂的不同狀況，寄喻禪師殷切期盼的用語，跨越宗派成為禪宗的行業用語。

關鍵字

禪典；表人名詞；漢；義素；聲義同源

並列摘要

Scholars generally agree that referring to a person as a ＂han＂漢 reflects oral usage, a characteristic of Chan language. Regarding the reason why ＂han＂ becomes used as an appellation, scholars have generally regarded it to be a case of using the name of a race to refer to an individual member of the race. However, it has not been possible to explain how this relates to the same term as it refers to the Han River. This article analyzes passages in Chan texts containing this term from the late Tang and Five Dynasties to find common characteristics, combining linguistics and exegesis to explore possible origins of this usage. This article suggests that the implicit meanings of the phonetic component the character ＂han＂, [+suffering] and [+human], are activated and employed during the transliteration process, making ＂aluohan＂阿羅漢 a powerful translation for arhat. When Chan masters reduce ＂aluohan＂ to ＂han＂, they add descriptive content, suggest different conditions of the persons referred to, and convey their eager expectations. This crosses sectarian lines to become a common phrase in the Chan school.