臺灣道教合符童子科儀之形成的初步探討

A Rudimentary Research on the Formation of the Sending off the Dispatch Lads (Ho-fu t'ung-tzu 合符童子) Rite in Taiwanese Daoism

臺灣道教有紅頭道士（正一派道法二門道壇）、烏頭道士（正一派靈寶道壇）以及禪和派等宗派，各派的道士基本上居住在同籍族群優勢區域，依據各世傳的道法從事相關宗教活動。本文的研究對象，即合符童子科儀，由主要分布於臺灣中南部的正一派靈寶道壇之道士，於俗稱「功德」的死亡儀式中所舉行的一種道教科儀，其主要內容為分別派十二童子至其所負責的地獄，懺悔亡者之罪愆，以解放其亡者。在此科儀中，實際上僅使用一種名為「童子符」的文書。但此文書可以與「功德」中此科儀之前的發表科儀所使用的「地獄符」相合為符契，在此科儀中，雖是假想的情況，由赴地獄的童子將這兩種文書合為證明，以祈求地獄主者赦免亡魂之罪。正因為如此，此科儀被冠為「合符」兩字。筆者認為，此合符童子科儀，與道教儀式中的合符之意義、童子之功能，以及「罪愆」觀念等道教研究中的重要課題密切關聯，值得進行更深入的討論。因此筆者在本文中，首先描述臺南地區可觀察到的合符童子科儀以及其所用的文書之具體內容及意義，然後再分析歷史性道教儀式文獻中所載的相關儀式及其所使用的文書，最後相互比較這些討論的結果，藉此對此合符童子科儀之形成作初步探討。透過本文的討論，筆者得出以下結論：臺灣的合符童子科儀是，原本於宋朝的破獄科儀中童子所進行的「合符」，隨此破獄科儀之後的改變而被引進於宋朝時創立的童子科中所形成。

Taiwanese Daoism has several kinds of sects such as Red-head Daoist masters 紅頭道士, Black-head Daosit masters 鳥頭道士, ch'an-ho 禪和 sect and so on. Daoist masters of each sect live basically in the area where the ethnic group with the same ancestral home inhabits dominantly, and engage in the religious activities related to them depending on their own Daoist manners handed down through generations. The focus of this paper, the Sending off the Dispatch Lads Rite, is a part of Daoist rite performed in the death ritual commonly called ”kung-tê (功德 the Ritual of Merit),” and this Ritual of Merit is performed by Black-head Daosit masters, who are mainly distributed over south-central region of Taiwan. The main content of the Sending off the Dispatch Lads Rite is that the Daoist masters liberate the deceased from the hell, by sending twelve lads to the hell of each charge and making them confess the deceased's sins. In the actual practice of this rite, the only one kind of dispatch named ”symbol-orders of lads (t'ung-tzu fu 童子符)” is used. However, this dispatch can unite with another kind of dispatch named ”symbol-orders of hells (ti-yü fu 地獄符)”, which is used during the Anouncement (fa-piao 發表) Rite performed in the earlier part of the Ritual of Merit, and through this union, they can be one tally. In the concept of this rite, it is assumed that the twelve lads sent to the hell unite these two kinds of dispatch to prove their legitimacy. This is why the Chinese name of this rite has two characters of ”合符 (Ho-fu: Uniting the Symbols)” in the beginning. It seems that this rite has close connection with the important issues of Daoist studies such as the meaning of uniting symbols, the role of lads and the concept of sins in Daoist rituals, so this rite seems worth researching deeper. Therefore, through firstly describing specific contents and meanings of the Sending off the Dispatch Lads Rite and dispatches used in this rite which can be observed in Tainan 台南 region, then making analyses to some related rituals and dispatches in old Daoist ritual books, and finally comparing these findings of the two studies above, this paper makes a rudimentary research on the formation of this Sending off the Dispatch Lads Rite. The study findings in this paper suggest that the Sending off the Dispatch Lads Rite in Taiwan has been formed in the process that the ”Uniting the Symbols,” originally performed by lads during the Destruction of Hell 破獄 Rite in Song Dynasty 宋朝, was transplanted in the Lads Rite 童子科formed in Song Dynasty, according to its subsequent changes.