禅宗语录“郑头”考

Interpretation of Zhengtou(郑头)in Zen Quotations

《虚堂和尚语录》“郑头”属于“字面普通而义别”的俗语词,日本学界一直以来存有较大的争议。本文认为元代赴日僧一山一宁的解释值得信从,即加在担子的一头使其两头保持平衡的附加物,并进一步对词语的源流进行考察。通过个案研究指出:禅籍疑难词语的考释需要加强对域外训释资料的搜集与利用,同时还要兼顾古今汉语方言,既要追溯语源,又要探寻流变。

The word Zhengtou in the Quotations from Monk Xutang,with ists“literally common yet distinct meaning”(字面普通而义别),has always been mooted Japanese academic circles.The present article argues that the interpretation of Zhengtou to be an object added to an end of a shoulder pole to achieve balance,as proposed by Yishanyining(一山一宁),who went to Japan in Yuan Dynasty,is credible;and we further investigate the etymology of the word.Through the case study,it is suggested that the interpretation of the difficult words in Zen requires better collection and utilization of related foreign materials,as well as taking into account the ancient and modern Chinese dialects,tracing the etymology and detecting variations.