獅城善女人：19世紀以來的新加坡齋姑社群

The Good Women of Lion City: Vegetarian Nuns and their Religious Community in Singapore Since 19th Century

齋姑，在早期新加坡華人史中，是相當重要卻又少被關注的女性群體。她們帶髮修行、持長齋奉佛、守貞，大部分居於先天道齋堂，也有一定數量活動於私人佛堂或早期佛寺，具有別於僧團、道姑的宗教主體性，往往有意識自我標榜齋姑身份。齋姑逝後，其訃告往往強調她們潛心帶髮修行、精勤修持、為一代善女人之典範。在東南亞各地，「齋姑」遊移於多重身份，積極運用自身的社會資源，營造獨立的女性空間及互助網絡，以道脈、同鄉連結、方言群為組織依歸，組成跨地域的「姐妹會」。她們也走入社區，廣行善業，參與文化活動，實踐自給自足的經濟生活。齋堂除了是傳統的宗教敬拜空間，也是教眾行醫、議事、交換消息、經營生意網絡的場所，是一個不斷被塑造的宗教暨社會空間。本文利用歷史文獻和口述資料，結合歷史視角與當代田野觀察，勾勒19世紀末、20世紀初期至今新加坡齋姑群體的身份面貌及信仰網絡，並透過梳理齋姑積極營造的社會資源，討論其如何助益於宗教姐妹會的拓展。

In the early history of the Chinese in Singapore, vegetarian nuns were a significant female community that has not received much attention. ''Vegetarian nun'' is a general term referring to groups of Chinese vegetarian women who exhibit a unique religious subjectivity. A large number lived in vegetarian halls, while some were active in private Buddhist temples and early Buddhist monasteries. Vegetarian nuns are addressed according to their religious names or personal names, plus the suffix of gu (姑) to indicate their identity. Their obituaries and ancestral tablets also possess religious significance. Throughout Southeast Asia, ''vegetarian nuns'' possess overlapping social roles as they navigate multiple identities. Vegetarian nuns actively draw on their own social resources in the construction of gendered spaces and support networks. Forming ''sisterhoods'' based on religious lineages, kinship ties, and dialect groups, vegetarian nuns participate in community and cultural activities and support themselves self-sufficiently while practicing good deeds. In addition to serving as a traditional place of worship, the vegetarian hall is a religious and social space that is constantly being shaped as resident-members gather to practice medicine, conduct meetings, exchange news, and manage their business networks. This article draws on historical documents and oral interviews to connect historical perspectives with contemporary ethnographic observations, in order to illustrate the identities and belief networks of vegetarian nuns, focusing on the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries in Singapore. Through outlining vegetarian nuns' employment of their social resources, this article shows how these resources help expand their religious sisterhoods.