《世说新语》佛、道观念试论

Debating the Conception of Buddhism and Daoism in the ShiShuo XinYu

一些外在因素,如刘义庆晚节崇佛,刘宋时对名士倾赏、推重的社会风气,僧人比附名士的传统,晋宋之际道教信仰的低落等,都可能影响到《世说新语》对佛、道载入的失衡;但最根本的,恐怕还是僧人、道士各自的价值取向,即僧人凭借清谈、雅致与高门士人周旋,而道士凭借技术、操作向上层渗透,造成了这种偏差和分野。然而,这种不同的价值取向是历史演变的结果,并非一两个人的努力所能改变。《世说新语》庞杂的记载倒真切地让后人看出当时佛、道发展中一个关键的转变。这也一定程度上能弥补因史料欠缺而对晋宋间佛、道发展研究的不足。

Some external factors, such as Liu Yiqing adoring Buddhism, celebrities being greatly esteemed during the Song Dynasty, monks readily comparing themselves to celebrities, and the belief that Daoism made a downturn during the Jin and Song dynasties, perhaps affected the unbalanced record of Buddhism and Daoism in The ShiShuo XinYu; but the most important reason was the value orientation of the Buddhist monks and Taoists, which led to this windage and difference, the former resorting to conversational elegance and making friends with the nobility while the latter making use of techniques and manipulations to gain admittance into the high society. This was, after all, the result of historical development instead of efforts from a few celebrities. The numerous and jumbled recordation in The ShiShuo XinYu allows people to see through this key transformation. To some extent this can make up for the absence of data for the research of Buddhism and Daoism between the Jin and Song Dynasty.