佛陀是佛教的教主，而西方人以英雄稱呼恰當嗎？本文以兩個重要的英雄理論，分析佛陀的一生及英雄特質，分別是美國當代神話學大師喬瑟夫‧坎伯( Joseph Campbell，1904─1987) 在《千面英雄》一書中所提出的英雄旅程，和英國湯瑪士‧卡萊爾(Thomas Carlyle，1795─1881)的《英雄與英雄崇拜》中對英雄的分類與特質分析。 坎伯博覽群書歸納出單一神話，也就是細分為啟程→啟蒙→回歸等階段的英雄旅程，用以分析佛陀的一生從出宮求道（啟程）→艱難成道（啟蒙）→弘揚真理（回歸），的確與英雄旅程相合。另外卡萊爾將英雄分為六類，並分析出多達十餘種的英雄特質，與之和佛陀的人格特質及佛教裡「佛的十大稱號」的內涵相互比較，審視佛陀的特質與英雄的特質有無相同或相異處？發現「佛的十大稱號」的內涵比卡萊爾的英雄特質要更豐富，因此可知佛陀不但是英雄，而且是大英雄。 本文接著再加以闡述英雄存在的意義－對於世界的貢獻，佛陀留給世人的智慧寶藏，就是這趟英雄之旅的意義，佛法帶給世人向善的力量、心靈安定的力量以及救苦的力量，推而廣之，是達到世界和平的方法。綜合以上，研究發現佛陀是英雄，且英雄其實就是福慧雙修的人，但是因為世界觀(World)的不同，佛陀在西方只能是英雄，而在佛教裡及東方，佛陀不只是英雄，而是可以超越英雄。
Buddha is the leader of Buddhism. Is it appropriate to call Buddha a hero? This article analyzes Buddha’s life and Buddha’s hero personality traits according to two important theories of heroes. These two theories are the hero’s journey in “The Hero with a Thousand Faces” by the contemporary mythologist, Joseph Campbell (1904 – 1987), and the classification and personality traits analysis of heroes in “On Heroes and Hero-Worship” by the English writer, Thomas Carlyle (1795 – 1881). Campbell widely read books and concluded a single myth, the hero’s journey: departure, initiation and return. With the hero’s journey, the life of Buddha can be divided into three stages: leaving the Palace to seek the meaning of life (departure), having realized the ultimate reality of existence through all difficulties (initiation), propagandizing truths (return). The Buddha’s life indeed coincides with a hero’s journey. Carlyle defined six categories for heroes and found out more than ten hero personality traits. This article compared the hero personality traits with Buddha’s personality traits and the connotation of ‘the ten titles of Buddha” to see whether Buddha’s personality traits and hero personality traits are the same or different. It is found that the connotation of “the ten titles of Buddha” is even more abundant than the hero personality traits in Carlyle’s book. Therefore, Buddha is not just a hero but a great hero. This article further elucidates the meaning of a hero’s existence: contributions to the world. The wisdoms Buddha left for the world is a great treasure and is also the meaning of the hero’s journey. Buddhism has the power to help people move toward the goodness, to calm and comfort people, and to relieve people’s distress. In general, Buddhism is the method to attain to world peace. Therefore, Buddha is a hero who has both wisdom and blessing. Buddha can only be a hero from the western perspective. However, in Buddhism and in the Eastern world, Buddha is not just a hero but also beyond a hero.
