明師一指超生了死──一貫道生死解脫觀研究

Initiation of Patriarch for Transcending Incessant Cycle of Birth-and-Death: On I-Kuan-Tao’s Account of Release from the Bonds of Birth-and-Death

生命的生死關懷，是宗教的核心目標。生死是人生一大事，誰也逃不了。如果不明生死的究竟，便會失去人生之意義與價值。本研究從一貫道「明師一指超生了死」的概念為主軸，藉由一貫道仙佛聖訓之層面探索生死課題，指出一貫道信徒生死解脫乃起因於得明師一指。按一貫道的說法，可以說仰仗天命明師的佛力加持為主。不過一貫道更強調「先得後修」的修養功夫。其中往生者是否解脫之判準，基本上是根據死後之身體能否呈現「身軟如棉」之吉祥相貌。本研究調研發現，一貫道道親死後的身體幾乎都不是僵硬的，甚至比生前還要柔軟，這在科學上是很難解釋的現象，值得進一步研究。

Religion is primarily concerned with life and death, from which no human being can avert. One’s life would become pointless and valueless if one remains ignorant of the true meaning of birth and death. Based on the idea, essential to I-Kuan-Tao, of “initiation of Patriarch for transcending incessant cycle of birth-and-death,” our paper aims to point out that, thanks to the initiation of Patriarch, and by way of sacred admonition from saints and sages, believers of I-Kuan-Tao end up releasing from the bonds of birth-and-death. According to I-Kuan-Tao, that believers end up transcending the incessant cycle is due to the heavenly mandated Patriarch’s primal vow. I-Kuan-Tao emphasizes notwithstanding that self-cultivation consists in “first receiving then cultivating”. The criterion for determining when the dead transcend the incessant cycle is their propitious appearance without rigor mortis. Our research shows that rigor mortis scarcely happens to dead I-Kuan-Tao members, and some of them even have softer bodies than before death. This is a phenomenon that science has difficulty explaining and that deserves more investigation.