夜叉崇拜与《佛说鬼子母经》

Yaksha Cult and HāritîSutra

本文旨在讨论《佛说鬼子母经》的编撰与出现。《佛说鬼子母经》是经录中记载的东晋失译本,在这部公元4世纪讲述僧人于饭时祭祀鬼母及其众鬼子的有部律典中,提到因吃人夜叉鬼子母皈依了佛陀,佛赐予她的鬼儿子"浮图摩尼钵"的名号,由他们统领的天地之间众鬼叫"摩尼钵"。号称"摩尼钵"的夜叉,是印度自古就受到崇拜的财神。当公元3、4世纪印度教挺进恒河平原后,大量遗存的摩尼钵造像,反映了当时普遍的夜叉崇拜现象。由于夜叉崇拜的盛行以至其形像开始进入佛教系统,被佛教僧人编入各类经典中,《佛说鬼子母经》可能正是在这种情况下编写的新经。它将自犍陀罗以来、工匠习惯性表现的地方天花女神纳入佛教系统,并以经典的形式宣告从此古老的夜叉信仰,属于佛教母亲神诃利帝(汉译鬼子母),她是诸多摩尼钵之母。

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the compilation of the Hāritî Sutra(Fo Shuo Gui Zi Mu Jing).The Hāritî Sutra was translated into Chinese during the Eastern Jin dynasty in the 4th century AD by an unknown translator.It describes monks offering sacrifices to the goddess Hāritî and her sons at their meals.It also narrates how the cannibal deity Hāritî converted to Buddhism,and mentions her ghost sons whom Buddha named"Buddha Mānibhadra"and who led the other Heavenly and Earthly ghosts called"Mānibhadra".The Yakshas,known as the"Mānibhadra",are the gods of wealth worshipped in India since ancient times.When around the 3-4 century AD,Hinduism entered Indo-Gangetic Plain,many Mānibhadra statues were established,reflecting the popular worship of the Yakasha.Because of the prevalence of Yaksha,this worship and related imagery began entering the Buddhist system.HāritîSutra was arguably compiled during this time as a part of this process.It incorporated into the system of Buddhist worship a local God of smallpox in a way as it appeared in the Gandhara art.It also used the form of a sutra to promulgate the cult ancient Yaksha female deity,who became the Buddhist mother goddess,Hāritî.