余象斗《北遊記》的三十六員天將形象與敘事意義探研──道教視野的詮釋

The Image and Narrative of the Thirty-Six Marshals in Yu Xiangdou's Journey to the North: An Interpretation from Taoist Perspectives

余象斗編撰的《北遊記》為著名的神魔小說，其中玄帝收三十六員天將為小說的核心情節，前賢研究主要討論這三十六員天將的形象與搜神類書《三教源流搜神大全》或是其他神魔小說的差異，但多忽略了道經中的記載，特別是小說最後「封神」所列的神譜，列有小說中未出現但明初流行於福建的清微法、洞玄法、混元法祖師，若配合明刊本最後所列的儀軌與其編纂的類書資料，可推測余象斗應參考過相關的科儀文本。本文即由此觀點出發，討論其「三十六天將」構思與道教的可能關係，指出「三十六」之數除了可能受《水滸傳》三十六天罡影響外，也可能來自宋元道法中的「三十六將化身主事」，而小說中出現的神將也與洞玄法、混元法所列的將班有密切的關係，這些概念又持續透過戲曲小說擴散傳播，形塑新的大眾知識，影響至今。文章後半部則比較這些天將在道經、小說與搜神類書中的形象差異，指出小說不盡然只是承襲《三教源流搜神大全》的資料，余象斗也配合神譜位階、福建地區的信仰傳統以及銷售策略而作出不少有趣的改寫，表現獨特的小說趣味。而小說中多將這些天將敷衍為惡神，若從道教角度來看，玄帝收服三十六員天將一方面可表現修行者（玄帝）修證心性、積功累德的歷程，由此開展了一個由「非常」返回「正常」的修真巡歷，另一方面也可表現道教如何收編民間神祇，透過受封歸正、助戰顯化讓小說結構有更緊密的連結。整體而言，本文從道教角度出發，對《北遊記》中的天將形象與情節作出一些有別傳統的詮釋，希望由此豐富對這部作品與明清神魔小說的理解。

Yu Xiangdou's 余象斗 (1560?-1637?) Journey to the North 北遊記 is a famous popular novel in which the core of the plot centers on Xuandi 玄帝 conquering the thirty-six marshals. Previous studies have mainly discussed the image of the thirty-six marshals as well as having compared the differences between Journey to the North and the folk text Sanjiao yuanliu soushen daquan 三教源流搜神大全 (Complete Compendium of Origins of the Deities of the Three Religions) or other popular novels, but have largely ignored the records in the Taoist Canon, especially the pantheon listed in the ''titles conferred to the deities'' 封神found in the final part of the novel. Based on this point of view, this article discusses the possible relationship between the thirty-six marshals and Taoism. For example, the number ''thirty-six'' may not have only been influenced by the thirty-six heavenly spirits 天罡 of the Water Margin 水滸傳, but may have also originated from the ''thirty-sixth reincarnation of the marshal'' 三十六將化身主事of Song-Yuan Taoist rites 道法. The marshals appearing in the novel also have a close relationship with Dongxuan 洞玄and Hunyuan 混元Taoist rites. Moreover, Yu Xiangdou authored numerous remarkable rewrites which incorporated the pantheon, local beliefs of the Fujian area, and even sales strategies, showing the unique style of the novel. On the whole, from the perspective of Taoism, this article makes a number of distinct interpretations of the image of the marshal and the plot of Journey to the North, hoping to enrich our understanding of this work and popular novels of the Ming and Qing dynasties.