《西游记》写猴与《聊斋志异》写狐之“尾巴”的功能——兼及“人身难得”的文化意义

On the Tail's Function in Journey to the West and Strange Tales from a Lonely Studio——On the Cultural Significance of“Being Difficult to Be a Human”

《西游记》写孙悟空由猴子而"初世为人"(第七回),尚不能不有尾巴,尾巴成为孙悟空形象鲜明特征之一,对人物性格塑造、故事情节设计都起有不少作用,有关故事中的孙悟空可以说是成也尾巴、败也尾巴。《聊斋志异》写"狐狸的尾巴藏不住",每成为其事体败露、图谋无成之机。二者有异有同,有后先承衍的联系。其共同显示的"人身难得"观念,首先是佛教的,同时为道教所接受,而又接近于儒家"天地之性人为贵"之说,可谓中华传统文化要义之一。

The novel Journey to the West described that King Monkey became a human being from a monkey but he still kept his tail, which became one of the important features of King Monkey and played an important role in the shape of his image and the development of the story. To some extent, the stories about King Monkey depend on his tail. In the novel Strange Tales from a Lonely Studio, the foxes cannot also hide their tails when they are caught at red-hand. The description of tails in these two novels is related, though there are also some differences and similarities, both of which manifest the concept that it is difficult to become a human, which is from Buddhism, then it is accepted by Taoism, and to some extent, it is same to Confucianism concept that man is the nature of the world. That is to say, it is one of the elements of traditional Chinese culture.