臺灣本土新興宗教的靈魂觀

The Concepts of Soul in the New Religious Movement of Taiwan

本文藉由臺灣的五個本土新興宗教團體靈魂觀的研究，以及和傳統民間信仰的靈魂觀做一對比，來了解1980年以後的本土新興宗教靈魂觀的特色。首先，整理得出臺灣民間社會的靈魂觀是三魂觀，並且呈現1970年代中期以後臺灣社會出現的一些有關靈魂的新論述。再者，本文是以天帝教、亥子道、印心禪學會、大智慧靈氣研究所、中華大日宗佛教協會這五個新興宗教團體為研究對象。除了以文獻資料來分析說明靈魂觀的內容之外，本文還使用1999年臺灣社會變遷基本調查資料和2000年新興宗教信眾問卷調查資料來做實際的檢測。研究結果顯示，本土新興宗教靈魂觀的綜攝內容有三個特色：1.添加上宇宙主宰（基督宗教的「上帝」或印度教的「梵」）的概念，來回應傳統民間信仰中並未回答的靈魂起源和宇宙生成起始的問題。2.「一個」靈魂的論述更為確定，並且更加強調靈魂輪迴或投胎轉世的信念。3.以現代科學用語來合理化和支持其靈魂觀論述，以現代科學的電、光、能量、磁場等語彙來重新詮釋傳統的「氣」觀。

This study compares the concepts of soul for traditional Taiwanese folk religion and the concepts of soul for the new religious movement that emerged after 1980 in Taiwan. First, the scholarly works of the first half of 20th century are analyzed and this study figures out the idea of 'three souls' deeply rooted in the mind of traditional Taiwanese people. Next, some new thoughts on souls, appeared after the mid 1970s, are reviewed. Then, the written texts from five new religious groups are analyzed. Also, the Taiwan Social Change Survey in 1999 and the data collected from the believers of these five religious groups are applied to do empirical test. The main findings are: (1) the concept of God as creator in Christian belief or the concept of Brahman in Indian belief are added to form the new soul concept in the new religious movement; (2) the idea of formation of 'one soul' is further solidified, and the belief of reincarnation is greatly emphasized; (3) the scientific words are blended into traditional beliefs in order to rationalize their belief systems, and also to enhance the authority of their beliefs.