中古中國地獄審判書寫中的女性形象─以《法苑珠林》為中心

Abstract

本文以唐初僧人道世著作《法苑珠林》中的地獄審判故事為核心，探討中國中古時期的女性在父權社會的規訓之下，呈現何種形象，以及這些故事反映女性面臨哪些法律上的困境。 地獄審判書寫，不僅代表中國古代對於「惡有惡報」的想像，並且也反映出俗世法律的運作情形。在佛教傳入之後，更將因果報應的觀念融入其中，成為佛教宣揚教化的工具。 在《法苑珠林》與女性有關的地獄審判故事裡，對於女性的規範與要求，可從以下四種類別分析，即墮胎、不孝、嫉妒以及私用家財，這些現象都圍繞著女性在家庭中的角色與被賦予的責任。當女性未能達成這些任務，或者有所反抗，導致父權結構與家內秩序受到挑戰時，便會受到社會強烈的規訓與懲罰，地獄審判故事便發揮規範女性的重要功能。 總結在《法苑珠林》的冥判故事中，道世對女性生活各層面的描寫，都深刻呈現對女性的壓迫與束縛。主要的原因，仍舊是為了維持父系體制下，家內秩序的穩定及對社會的控制，而塑造出各種地獄懲罰的故事。在這些故事當中，女性便被要求依順父系體制的要求，而能夠完成傳宗接代、孝養舅姑、無妒嫉之性，並且在用財上符合家庭規範等種種任務。

Through the stories of hell trials in Fa-Yuan-Zhu-Lin, written by monks in the early Tang Dynasty, this essay discusses the image of women under the discipline of patriarchal society and what legal dilemmas that women met is presented in the stories. Hell trials not only present the medieval Chinese idea of “A bad penny always comes back,” but also shows how worldly law works. Then, karma is combined with the stories of hell trails after Buddhism was introduced into China in addition to serving the purpose of propagating Dharma. In the women-and-hell-trial-related stories from Fa-Yuan-Zhu-Lin, restrictions and requests for women can be divided into four categories to analyze, including abortion, ill-pity, jealousy, and using family possessions without permission. These phenomena come from the characters and responsibilities women have in families. If a woman fails to take the responsibilities, resists, or challenges the patriarchal structure and the order of the family, she will be disciplined and punished. Thus, disciplining women is an important function of stories about hell trials. To sum up the hell-trial-related stories in Fa-Yuan-Zhu-Lin, the description of the different aspects of women’s lives deeply presents the oppressions and limitations on women. The main reason that these hell-trial-related stories are made up to maintain the order of the family and the control of the society under the patriarchal structure. In the stories, women are demanded to obey the mandate of the patriarchal structure and take on the responsibilities such as bearing a son to carry on the family name, being filial, not being jealous, and spending family possessions reasonably.