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The Emergence of Ch'an Buddhism--A revisionist perspective |
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| Author |
Swain, C. W.
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| Source |
中華佛學學報=Chung-Hwa Buddhist Journal=Journal of Chinese Buddhist Studies
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| Volume | n.2 |
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| Date | 1988.10 |
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| Pages | 389 - 399 |
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| Publisher | 中華佛學研究所=Chung-Hwa Institute of Buddhist Studies |
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| Publisher Url |
http://www.chibs.edu.tw/publication_tw.php?id=12
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| Location | 新北市, 臺灣 [New Taipei City, Taiwan] |
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| Content type | 期刊論文=Journal Article |
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| Language | 中文=Chinese; 英文=English |
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| Note | 本文著者全名為 Swain, Charles W.
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| Keyword | 中國佛教; 禪宗=Zen Buddhism=Zazen Buddhism; 菩提達摩; 神秀; 慧能 |
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| Abstract | 本文目的，在探索禪宗何以在中國佛教以不同的宗派
出現. 要討論的，並非謂傳統上所述禪宗如何成立的講法為
不可信，而是注意到記載這些史事的史籍如何編成，或有助
於解釋禪宗的特有風貌.
禪宗被認定是大乘佛教的秘傳宗派且曾在中國佛教內有
過強有力的改革; 禪宗是由菩提達磨帶進中國來，他有一代
一代的華夏繼承人，而這些繼承人中有若干人卻同時是其
它宗派的祖師; 自五祖而後，禪宗戲劇性地分裂，北宗以神
秀為首，南方則以慧能為首，後來北宗可能由於唐武宗的毀
佛而消沈，而南宗取得了正統地位.
作者指出一般宗教運動的特性為：舉凡一個宗教受到逼
害後，其教史必然探究教難何以發生﹖又檢討教難後還遺
留了些什麼﹖一般而言，這類宗教史籍會顯示出倖存者保存
了最原始，最純真的教旨，而這既原始又純真的教旨卻反映
了倖存者這派的傳統，於是倖存者們便接管了一切，連最
初的改革運動亦出於他們之手了.
標準的禪宗傳統顯示了上述的趨向，也就是說，當教史
記載他們的創始者曾在說法中申言建寺誦經無用，這是他們
經歷了可佈的滅法運動，覺得寺院建成終會被毀，經典寫成
終會被燒的反映. 又慧能向南逃亡的故事，其主題也可從上
述架構中弄個明白：由於武宗毀佛，倖存者逃亡到南方避難
後，覺得誦經無用，故提出佛法中原本所無的「頓悟」之
說，為使後世禪師信服，乃有慧能創頓教之說.
進一步，本文作者指出以下兩點：(一)禪宗的修禪方式
跟中國其它佛教宗派的教義並無牴牾處. (二)早期的中國
佛教可能有一祕傳的修行方式，而這方式是以坐禪為中心.
The purpose of the present paper is to examine
the emergence of Ch'an Buddhism as a separate school
in China. The argument is not that the traditions
concerning this emergence are unreliable，but rather
that attention to the historical context of their
compilation may help to explain some of the
distinctive features of Ch'an as a school of Chinese
Buddhism.
Ch'an is defined as an esoteric school of the
`Mahayana` that became a vigorous reform movement
within Chinese Buddhism. Because of its esoteric
nature there was no necessity to exist as a separate
school. Thus the question arises what explains its
emergence as such.
According to the received tradition Ch'an was
brought to China by Bodhidharma and passed on
through a line of successors some of whom were also
patriarchs of other schools. A dramatic schism
happened when，after the Fifth Patriarch, the
succession split into Shen-hsiu in the North and
Hui-neng in the south. While the Northern tradition
collapsed，probably due to the persecution under
Emperor Wu-tsung，the Southern gained legitimacy.
The author points out that it is characteristic
of religious movements under persecution that they
preserve their histories in forms which justify both
the occurrence of the persecution and the survival
of the remnant. A common theme of such histories is
that the survivors preserve the original，true form
of the religious ideal embodied in their tradition.
Thus their survival is a mandate for the radical
reform of the community.
The normative Ch'an tradition shows this
tendency，e.g. when their founder is said to have
preached the fruitlessness of building temples and
reciting sutras which was then revealed by the
terrible persecution. The motif of the flight to the
south is also understandable in this frame of
reference：like Huineng，the survivors had fled
southward in order to bear witness to future
generations concerning the essence of the tradition,
the direct experience of enlightenment out of
which the dharma originated.
The author further points out that (1) there is
no contradiction involved in a tradition of
meditative practice co-existing with the doctrines
of the various schools of Chinese Buddhism. and (2)
it may be that there was an esoteric practice within
early Chinese Buddhism which centered on meditation. |
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| ISSN | 10177132 (P) |
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| Hits | 1100 |
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| Created date | 1998.07.22
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| Modified date | 2017.06.15 |
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