Research on Karma stories of Soushen ji = 《搜神記》因果報應故事研究

Abstract

Soushen Ji (《搜神記》) is a diverse collection of stories of various folklores, myths and legends in ancient China. Compiled in the Eastern Jin Dynasty (東晉) by Gan Bao (干寶), Soushen Ji is one of the most famous mysterious novels (志怪小説) in China, with a certain amount of karma stories. However, previous research on Soushen Ji was mostly focused on the general story structure, literary effects, or only plot analysis of a single story, not much of that was dedicated to karma, one of the central ideas the tales were based on. Karma is a Buddhist belief originated from India. In the karma system, people would be rewarded or punished according to their own good or bad acts. During the Eastern Han Dynasty (東漢), Buddhism was introduced to China, together with the concepts of ‘karma’ and ‘rebirth’. Under the influence of Buddhist thoughts, karma stories in Soushen Ji consist of a mix of Confucianism (儒家) and Taoism (道教) ideas, and are therefore most of the previous studies analyzed Soushen Ji from a religious perspective. Applying the text-interpretation (文本細讀) method, this research aims to analyze the core spirit and characteristics of karma stories in Soushen Ji. The first part of this study is a content analysis which aims to explore the types of karma in Soushen Ji. Then, by comparing the content evolution of some stories in different dynasties, it is hoped to find out the core culture of Soushen Ji. Finally, this research examines how the religious beliefs, social conditions and political morality influence the presentation of karma stories in Soushen Ji. This article makes systematic research on karma stories in Soushen Ji, hoping to fill up the deficiencies of the predecessors, and contribute to the research on the theme of the karma concept in Soushen Ji. 干寶《搜神記》是東晉的志怪小説，內含大量神仙、鬼怪、傳説故事，當中還記錄一定數量的因果報應類故事，呈現豐富而多元化的一面。不過，歷來對《搜神記》的研究大多流於概括性的論述，又或只對單篇故事作情節分析，對書中豐富的因果報應故事卻欠缺專題研究。報應觀念源於印度佛教，傳入中國後便與本土的儒、道思想結合，形成具中國本土特色的報應觀，亦因如此，前人的研究大多停留於以宗教眼光審視《搜神記》因果報應故事。 在因果報應系統中，造業者、受報者和施報者是重要的概念，本文以文本細讀的方法，先探析三者的關係，歸納出《搜神記》因果報應故事的內涵及特色。然後，透過比對部分故事在不同朝代的內容演變，以期找出《搜神記》的核心文化。最後，透過歸納受報的原因及形式，嘗試從當時的宗教信仰、社會情況及政治道德教化等不同角度作探討，找出《搜神記》因果報應故事背後所反映的文化內涵，以及這些因素如何影響《搜神記》因果報應故事的呈現。 本文對《搜神記》因果報應故事作出系統性的研究，希望能填補前人的不足，為《搜神記》因果報應主題研究作出貢獻。