论梁启超的灵魂观

On Liang Qichao’s View of “Soul”

梁启超对“灵魂”问题的关注始于对宗教的关注,他认为宗教区别于哲学之处即在于宗教特别关注“灵魂”问题。他认同佛教对于灵魂的讨论。佛教主张存在着“么匿”和“拓都”,即众生所造的“不共业”和“共业”,其承受果报的主体分别是作为个体的“灵魂”和作为群体的“羯磨”,“羯磨”即孔教所说的“精神”。他更为关注的是“羯磨”,认为只有“羯磨”才是真正的“我”,肉体只是“彼”而非“我”。因此,他主张人应当为群体之“羯磨”努力创造善业。他的落脚点仍然在国家与社会,而非个体灵魂的轮回或审判,这显示出他仍秉承了儒家的入世主义和家国情怀。

Liang Qichao’s concern over“soul”came from his attention to religion.He believed that religion and philosophy differs in that religion focuses on“soul”and identified with the theory of“soul”of Buddhism.According to Buddhism,one’s behavior entails consequences,the“unit”and“total”.The“unit”is called“soul”,and the“total”is called“karma”,which is also called“spirit”.He put more emphasis on“karma”,and argued that“karma”is the real“self”while flesh is just the“other”and not“self”.Therefore,he proposed that one should try hard to create good karma for the benefit of the total.This shows that his focus was still the nation and society and not the reincarnation or the last judgment of the individual soul and he had inherited the Confucian’s spirit of participation in society and patriotism.