中国古代佛教小说圣愚形象探究

A Study of Holy Fool Image in Chinese Ancient Buddhist Novels

佛教自两汉之际传入中国后,僧传文学和佛教小说中就出现了许许多多高僧大德的形象,但与此同时也出现了圣愚这一另类的人物形象。圣愚外表邋遢,行为癫狂,不守戒律,慈悲济世。圣愚是印度佛教信仰与中国儒家、道家思想乃至民间文化相融合的产物,它体现了"天人合一"的世界观和"众生平等"的人文观。可以说,圣愚形象折射出了中国人既超凡脱俗又心系苍生的人生追求,也从一个独特的角度诠释了佛教慈悲度人思想所具有的普世意义。

After Buddhism had been introduced into China since Han Dynasty,a number of eminent monks have appeared in monk biographies and Buddhist novels.At the same time,hooly fools,a different kind of characters,have appeared.Hooly fools are those monks with dirty clothes and strange behavior,they seldom observe the precepts of Buddihist discipline but always help and save people.Hooly fool image is a production of Indian Buddihism,Chinese Confucianism and Taoism,as well as Chinese folk culture.It reflects the world view of＂union of heaven and human＂and the humanity sight of＂equality of all living beings＂.We can say that,hooly fool image reflects the life pursuit of Chinese people,both free from vulgarity and aware of all people in the world.It also interprets Buddhist universal meaning of saving all human beings by unique point of view.