南渡士人的佛教因缘与文学创作

宋室南渡以后,禅悦之风较北宋更为盛行.从达官宰执到一般朝野士人,皆对佛教持支持信仰之态度.与北宋士人相比,南渡士人的礼佛参禅在内容与形式上有所变化.如同是援佛入儒,北宋士人是"尽用其学而不自知",一方面吸收佛学的精华,一方面又公开攘斥佛老;而南渡士人不仅援佛入儒,以佛学作为儒学的参照系,而且还身体力行,佛教对其浸染甚深.禅悦之风在士林的盛行,不仅对南宋政府的佛教政策有所影响,而且也因此影响了士林的文学批评与文学创作."以禅喻诗"是南渡士人对文学作出的新诠释,而"援禅入诗"、"援禅入词",则是他们在创作上呈现出的一大特色.就佛教对文学批评的影响来说,尽管参诗之说始自北宋,但真正将参禅与作诗结合起来并提出重要的诗学概念与范畴的,则是南渡诗人.并且就时间来说,禅诗相通,至南渡以后,方为诗人所共识,这是最值得注意的现象.禅悦之风在南宋初期的盛行,有历史、政治及经济等方面的原因,就士人来说,他们信奉佛教,除去学术与个人遭际等因素以外,最重要的原因是南渡政府安置南渡士人的特殊政策增加了士人与佛教接触的机会,从而进一步刺激了士人对佛教的了解.

Buddhist Influence on the Literary Production of Early Southern Song Scholar Elite

After the Song court fled south following the Jin invasion, a positive reception of Chan Buddhist thought became even more pronounced among official elite than it had been in the Northern Song Dynasty. High officials at court, such as Li Gang (1083-1140), Zhang Jun (1096-1164), Qin Hui (1090-1155) and Lu Yihao (1060-1139), as well as other members of the official elite, such as Lu Benzhong (1084-1145), Zhang Jiucheng (1092-1146), Zhu Dunru (1081-1159), and Ye Mengde (1077-1148), all demonstrated an attitude of support for and faith in Buddhism. When compared with the elite of the Northern Song, the Buddhist worship and Chan practice of the early Southern Song elite especially among those who had relocated from the occupied North of China experienced an evolution, both in terms of its form and content. First, while Northern Song elite brought aspects of Buddhism into their study of Confucianism by both absorbing the essence of Buddhism and openly rejecting Buddhism and Daoism (Taoism), the early Southern Song elite not only brought Buddhist elements into their study of Confucianism, but also used Buddhism as their reference point from which to understand Confucianism. An atmosphere receptive to Chan Buddhist thought pervaded the ranks of the early Southern Song official elite. This, in part, influenced the policies of the Southern Song government toward Buddhism. Prior to the Shaoxing reign period of Emperor Gaozong (1131-1163), court policies helped to revive Buddhism. After this period, court policies continued to foster Buddhism's development. In another respect, this climate of interest in Chan thought and practice also influenced the literature and literary criticism of the early Southern Song elite. “Likening Chan to poetry” was a new way of explaining and annotating literature, as “bringing Chan into poetry” or “bringing Chan into lyrics” emerged as a defining characteristic of their own works. Beginning with the Northern Song, writers such as Su Shi (1037-1101), Huang Tingjian (1045-1105), and Chen Shidao (1053-1101) all betrayed the influence of Buddhism on their literary criticism, but truly combining the study of Chan and the composition of poetry and putting this forward as an important poetic concept and category really began with early Southern Song writers and thinkers. The pronounced interest in Chan Buddhism in the early Southern Song had historical, political, and economic causes. The most important factor in the faith of the elite of this period in Buddhism, with the exception of academic and personal circumstances, was the policy of the early Southern Song court to resettle the displaced elite who had fled South after the fall of the Northern Song in Buddhist temples, allowing increased opportunities for contact with Buddhist thought and ideas and further stimulating the understanding of Buddhism in these elite circles.