慧遠法性思想之探討

A Study on Huei-Yuan's Thought of Dharmata

10.29653/LS.199912.0006

釋大睿(Ta-Rei Shih)

慧遠 ； 法性 ； 格義佛教 ； Huei-Yuan ； Dharmata ； Ge-Yi language Ge-Yi Buddhism

鵝湖學誌

23期（1999 / 12 / 01）

127 - 160

繁體中文

東晉名僧慧遠，身處儒、釋、道思想交融的時代，面對因世亂而流行的長生思想，以及佛教內部因般若學之弘揚，未窮實義，故作〈法性論〉，闡明涅槃常住與緣起性空的法性真義。由於慧遠運用格義解釋佛法，因此有些語詞含混不明，令人生疑。解決之道則唯有揚棄中國化或玄學化的佛學，完全以般若空宗的立場來闡述法性，才不致混淆語義。不過，此情形亦須等待般若學發展成熟，佛教思想不依附中國傳統文化，而獨立發展時才有可能。此外，慧遠所言法性、真如、涅槃，以及如何達致此境界，就是哲學中所謂對人生究竟意義的探討。慧遠能以上求佛道、下化眾生的宗教情操，實證體驗法性，並試圖以非語言文字所能解明的法性，說明本體與現象間的關係，實屬難能可貴。究其實，慧遠所談法性、涅槃，其關注點亦在於達成勸教之目的，並非欲說明宇宙本體究竟如何，而現代學者則以西方哲學思辨、分析的方法看待法性，欲解明法性爲何物，二者的進路當然大相徑庭，誤解也在所難免。

Huei-Yuan was an eminent monk in the Eastern Jin dynasty of China. At that time, Buddhism, Confucianism and Taoism were intermingled with each other. When he confronted the thought of eternal life which was prevailed due to the stirring period. And the true meanings of Prajna which were promoted by the Buddhism were incomplete, therefore, he wrote Dharmata sastra to expound and manifest the true meanings of Nirvana-sthita and Pratitya-samutpada.For Huei-Yuan used Ge-Yi to explain Buddha's teachings, so some terms were so obscure that no one really understood them. To solve this problem is avoiding the metaphysical Buddhism and use the standpoint of Prajna completely to expound Dharmata. In this way, we should not mix up the meanings of those terms. It is possible until we wait for the development of Prajna Study has become matured. And the Buddhism on longer adhere to the Chinese traditional culture. Furthermore, what he so called Dharmata, Tathata, Nirvana and how to achieve the condition was just the philosophical inquiry of the ultimate goal of life. Huei-Yuan sought or the tenets of Buddha, cultivated the religious sentiment of all human beings, practised and experienced of Dharmata, and tried to explain the relation between reality and phenomena with Dharmata which cannot be explained clearly by words or language. These achievements mere highly praised and valuable. After all, his so called Dharmata, Nirvana were not intended to talk about what the reality was, but focused on the aim of the attainment of admonition. Nowaday, some scholars attempted to know what Dharmata really was, so they used the method of philosophical analysis in Western style to deal with Dharmata. The may they adopted was very different from Huei-Yuan, so misunderstandings were unavoidable.

1. 僧傳。
2. 南朝宋謝靈運。佛祖統記。
3. 唐吉藏。中觀論疏。
4. 唐釋元康。肇論疏。
5. 唐釋道宣。廣弘明集。
6. 晉張湛(1965)。列子注。
7. 晉釋慧遠。大乘大義章。
8. 梁釋僧祐。出三藏記集。
9. 陳慧達。肇論疏。
10. 隋慧遠。大乘大義章。
11. 隋慧遠。弘明集。
12. 隋慧遠。阿毘曇心論。
13. Robinson, Richard H.(1996)。印度與中國早期的中觀學派。
14. 方立天(1984)。慧遠及其佛學。
15. 方立天(1993)。中國佛教研究。
16. 田博元(1974)。廬山慧遠學述。
17. 呂澂(1990)。中國佛學思想概論。
18. 區結成(1987)。慧遠。
19. 湯一介(1987)。郭象與魏晉玄學。
20. 湯用彤(1991)。漢魏兩晉南北朝佛教史〈上〉。
21. 道安法師。鼻奈耶。
22. 横超慧日(1981)。中国佛教の研究。

1. 李明芳(2004)。廬山慧遠《法性論》佚文之考證。東吳哲學學報，10，1-24。