陰陽、鬼神——城隍屬性之探討

A discourse on the Cheng Huang’ character

城隍信仰在唐代業已出現，從唐到今日，民眾信奉城隍時，不斷將許多思維融入宗教，導致各式各樣的民俗現象產生。本文藉由田野調查台南市的城隍廟，發現「有應公」和「私祀城隍」關係如下：「有應公→『初級』城隍（職責似土地公）→『次級』城隍（具備陰司部屬）。」若探究造成這種現象的原因，乃可歸因於中國宗教信仰「由鬼轉神」的現象，這種轉變不單僅有「驅逐邪祟」思維的成份存在，亦是人們追求安定、和諧秩序的反映。接著本文也嘗試瞭解為何當民間談到城隍時，往往說不清其屬性為「陰」或「陽」？這代表城隍具有陰、陽界線模糊的性質，文中歸納出幾個要點來解釋這種模糊性的起因。從田野調查所發現的現象，到運用相關民俗理論去解釋這些現象的產生，相信對城隍信仰能夠有更深一層的認識。 Cheng Huang cult(城隍信仰) appeared in Tang Dynasty. From Tang Dynasty to today, when people belief in Cheng Huang(城隍), they have blended their thought into this cult so that plenty of folk phenomena have come into existence. This paper investigate Cheng Huang temple(城隍廟) in Tainan, discover the relationship between You Ying Gong(有應公) and Cheng Huang as follows, You Ying Gong(有應公) →primary Cheng Huang(The deity's duty is similar to Tu Di Gong(土地公) ) →advanced Cheng Huang(prospective Cheng Huang, possess subordinate) . If we make a thorough inquiry into the reason, maybe we can attribute the phenomenon to the transition from ghost into god. The transitoin contain not only the thought of exorcising, but the inflect of the courting stable life. On the other hand, this paper also tried to understand why the folk can't distinguish the yin(陰) or yan(陽) when talking about Cheng Huang? This means Cheng Huang deity(城隍神) have blurred property of yin(陰) and yan(陽), so this paper contributed to three essentials. From the phenomena that field research discovered to apply some related folk theories to expound the phenomena, we will know more about the Cheng Huang cult.(城隍信仰)