變,變相及變文之義

Meanings of biun(變),bianxiang(變相) and bianwen(變文)

對於以"變""變文"爲題的18件敦煌卷子②,有許多學者做過研究,探討"變""變文"的意義③,但迄今仍未有令人滿意的答案。儘管如一些學者業已指出的那様,"變""變文"確與"畫"有關④,但對它們的定義依舊不清,一些當代出版的與"畫"並無絲毫關係的敦煌文書也被稱作"變文"。此外,對於"變"是如何與"畫"發生聯繫的也未爲人所知。因此我們應做的首先是對比漢譯佛典中的"變"和與其對應的其他語言的用例,明確"變"在漢譯中的意思,之後再看非漢譯文獻中的例子,然後明確"變相",最後是"變文"和"轉變"的意思。

Concerning the meanings of bian(變)and bianwen(變文),which appear in the titles of 18 Dunhuang manuscripts,there have been dozens of articles written,but their meanings and definitions remain obscure.As is pointed out,they are clearly related to paintings.However,as their meanings have not been clearly defined,some Dunhuang documents,which are apparently nothing to do with paintings,are often incorrectly labelled in modern publications as bianwen.In addition,it is not yet clear how they are related to paintings.At first,we shall investigate the meaning of bian(變)in Chinese translations,which have parallels in other languages,and then in non-translation texts.After that,we shall examine the meaning of bianxiang(變相),and finally clarify what bianwen(變文)means.