唐代民间佛教神祇信仰中的女性角色与地位

The Role and Status of Females in Folk Worship of Buddhism and Gods in the Tang Dynasty

唐代佛教鼎盛,佛教神祇信仰广泛普及于民间社会,并影响到唐代社会生活的各个方面。佛教从本质上来说,仍是一个由男性所创造、并由男性权力结构支配的制度,但这并不影响唐代妇女信佛的热情与执著。其中一个重要原因就在于唐代中国化的大乘佛教神祇信仰,不仅使唐代现实生活中的广大妇女在精神解脱、情感体验和参与宗教社会活动方面拥有了同男性同样的权利,而且还为世俗社会那些难以扮演社会角色的女性信众提供了某些体现其自身价值的机会和场所,使得她们得以从宗教活动中获得了一种新的身份认同。

The prosperity and popularity of Buddhist worship in society of the Tang Dynasty lnlluenced the cur- rent social life in every way. In essence, Buddhism was a church established by males and predominated by the structure of male power, but this didn＇ t have much effect on the women of the Tang Dynasty＇ s enthusiasm and per- sistence in worshipping Buddhism. One of the leading reasons for this was that the Chinesized Mahayana in the Tang Dynasty offered an equal right to the broad women to be disengaged spiritually, to experience emotionally and to participate in activity of religious society like men and provided those female worshippers who had trouble acting social roles with some chance and place to embody the value of their own to obtain a new sense of identity in religious activity.