从《唐语林》看唐代佛教的世俗化

Research on the Secularization of Buddhism of the Tang Dynasty through Tang Yu Lin

《唐语林》中记载的佛教故事,为我们提供了唐代佛教世俗化的丰富镜像。僧侣和非僧侣两个群体在他们的身份与生活等诸多方面相互融合:其一是僧侣身份的官僚化与生活的民众化。身为僧侣,实际却履行着官员或者士人的职责;在生活上破戒违规,类同民众。其二是官僚与民众生活的僧侣化。非僧侣群体在生老病死过程中与佛教有密切关联,他们日常参禅诵经,恪守佛教饮食禁忌,为我们了解唐代佛教的发展提供了更加直观的生活化依据。

The Buddhist stories in Tang Yu Lin well reflected the secularization of Buddhism of the Tang Dynasty. The differences between the monks and the common people were gradually integrated in such aspects as identity and life. On the one hand, the monks’ identity was bureaucratized and their life popularized. The monks actually played the role of officials or scholars(shi 士)but their life was almost the same as that of the common people because they broke Buddhist rules. On the other hand, the life of the officials and the populace was almost the same as that of the monks. The common people had close relations with Buddhism in such aspects as birth, death, diseases and old age. They practiced meditation(chan 禅), recited Buddhist scriptures, and obeyed the eating and drinking taboos of Buddhism in their daily life. These materials provide more intuitive proofs for us to know the development of Buddhism in the Tang Dynasty.