一件奇特的盟书——敦煌写本S.2199《尼灵惠唯书》之探析

A Peculiar Alliance——Dunhuang Script S.2199 Ni Ling-hui's Promises Warrant

敦煌遗书S.2199《尼灵惠唯书》,自刘铭恕、施萍婷先生等校注以来早已引人关注。"唯书"是古代民间盟誓之书的一种表现形式,属于古代盟书文体之一。它具有明确的制立文书时间,强调文书制立者弥留之际的清醒程度,以押署为验,具有半官方的色彩,产生较强的法律约束力等特征。它一般适应于没有子嗣的老人,在分配遗产时使用。由于宋代新遗嘱法的推行,导致了唐五代"敦煌式"唯书的消亡。此外,这份唯书的制立者尼灵惠,并非是一名尼姑,也不以比丘尼为姓,而是一位姓尼的普通世俗女子。

Dunhuang Script,S.2199 Ni Ling-hui＇s Promises Warrant,after having been checked and annotated by Liu Ming-shu and Shi Ping-ting,has drawn more attention from scholars.The Promises Warrant was a peculiar alliance among the civilians in ancient China.It showed its definite time,the law transaction,the testator＇s consciousness in the last stages and the feature of being quasi-official.The old people without children and heirs often used it when distributing their property.With the implementation of the new intestacy law in Song dynasty,the Promises Warrant in Tang and Five Dynasties died out.And the writer Ni Ling-hui was not a Buddhist nun,and also her surname was not bhiksuni,but an ordinary woman surnamed Ni.