“选官”与“选佛”

"Official Recruitment" and "Monk Selection"

唐人赴贡举干仕,名曰"选官";入禅林为僧,称为"选佛"。选官与选佛虽有入世和出世的区别,但二者在各自圈内的竞争又很相似,故士林与禅林的风习往往交相影响。这种影响不但表现为双方圈内习语的互相借用,更表现他们在组织模式和著作形式上的互相效仿。中唐后士人在贡举中形成的文人集团的组织形式是受了禅家"选佛"机制的启发,如以韩愈为中心形成的文人集团;唐代的"秀句"、"格"、"式"等诗论著作形式也是士人选官与禅僧选佛交相影响的结果。不过,僧人的格、式类著作与士人相比,有很多明显的特点和崭新的因素,象征着思维角度的一种转变,因此,禅僧之"选佛"对于深入总结艺术规律、赢得理论进步有重要意义。

During the Tang Dynasty （618--907 A. D. ）, the recruitment to the central bureaucracy is called ＂xuan guan＂; the process to become monk is called ＂xuan fo＂. Although one is secular and the other non-secular, there are many similarities in both competition processes and therefore, the common practice of the bureaucratic officials and the religious monks often match each other. For example, the officials and the monks not only borrow popular idioms from each other, but also mutually copy organization models and written forms. After the middle of the Dynasty, the bureaucracy system, which is based upon the imperial examination, is highly influenced by the religious xuan fo system. The genres of poetry criticism, such as ＂xiu ju＂, ＂ge＂ and ＂shi＂ are all results from the co influence of the two selection systems.