早期「魄」的形神涵義及消亡

Abstract

「魄」往往與「魂」聯繫，多指代鬼神而為人所忽視。事實上「魄」字由月相孳衍而來，其「未盛」之形質為後來發展成魂魄觀念奠定了基礎，漢代又賦予「魄」以倫理道德涵義，凡此作為一種集體潛意識等待佛教輪迴觀念的呼喚，並為佛教思想盡快融入中國奠定了思想基礎。不過，此一轉變亦使其逐漸剝落原始形質之涵義，加之佛教傳入中國後引發的形神論爭，使其逐漸退出了形神關係這一論域。我們通過對早期「魄」語彙的演變進程，亦可覘佛教迅速傳入中國之內在理路。

Frequently associated with “hun” (spiritual soul), “po” (bodily soul) are mostly used to refer toghosts and thus overlooked by people. The Chinese character po was in fact derived from the moonphase, and the fact that this character refers to the shadowy part of the moon, laid the foundation forlater development of the “hun-po concept.” The Han Dynasty instilled ethical and moral meaningsin “po” to constitute a collective subconsciousness in the wait for the Buddhist reincarnation, whichaccelerated the incorporation of Buddhism into Chinese ideology. However, this transformation ofmeaning also gradually stripped away the primitive form–matter implication of “po.” The form–spirit dispute triggered by the introduction of Buddhism into China gradually led to the withdrawalof “po” from the form–spirit relationship discourse. Examining the evolution of primitive Chinesevocabularies comprising the character “po” assists researchers in determining the inner logic as tohow Buddhism was introduced into China in such a short amount of time.