“离形去知,同于大通”的宇宙无意识——禅宗及禅悟的本质新解

The Cosmic Unconscious That “Leaves the Material Form and Bids Farewell to Knowledge to Become One with the Great Pervader”:A New Interpretation of the Essence of Chan and Chan Enlightenment

"禅"这一本来是东亚特有的宗教哲学思想,现今已成为一种全球性的文化现象。虽然世界上众多思想家对禅宗和禅悟发表了很多见解,但所持的共识仍然是东方神秘主义的不可知论。通过对禅宗从历史、心理、语言、哲学和主体间性的多重视角进行深度探索,可以对禅悟的本质提出一个为前人所未道的见解:禅悟是主体对出生前的身心状态的某种回归,胎儿在母体中感知世界的心理活动是一种最原始的无意识,但这种原初的无意识却是宇宙性的,其心理状态就是庄子所说的"天地与我并生,而万物与我为一",这种物我为一的出生前感知堪称"宇宙无意识"。人一旦出生就无法回到出生前的身心状态,但通过修炼可以达到向这一身心状态的瞬刻回归。禅悟的本质就是宇宙无意识在特殊情况下的瞬间回归,因此,禅悟不是深刻认识自我和世界的大智慧,而是一种回归生命原初本真的无智慧。

Zen,which used to be a Far Eastern philosophy-cum-religion,has evolved into a global cultural phenomenon.Despite the many views expressed by numerous thinkers in the world,the consensus on Chan and Chan enlightenment remains an agnostic Oriental mysticism.By exploring Chan and Chan enlightenment from a combined perspective of history,philosophy,psychology,religion and linguistics,this article proposes a hitherto unexpressed view.Chan enlightenment is a pre-natal physico-psychological state of existence,which grows out of a fetal subject's perception in the womb.Although this primordial mode of perception is unconscious,it is cosmic in nature,because for the fetal subject,the womb is the whole world with which it feels to be at one.This unconscious oneness can be said to be'cosmic unconsciousness.'Once born,no one can return to the pre-natal mental state,but through personal cultivation and Chan practice,one can experience a fleeting moment of this cosmic unconscious.In the final analysis,the essence of Chan enlightenment is a momentary return of the cosmic unconscious.It is therefore not a great wisdom which enables one to have a profound understanding of the self and the world,but a non-wisdom induced by a return to the pre-natal primal state of life.