從台灣家庭的「神明彩」談佛光山舉辦的「神明聯誼會」

Religious Synthesis: from Taiwanese’s Family Altar to the“Deities reunion”Event Held by Buddha Light Mountain

漢學家Rolf A. Stein說，「在全世界各地我們都可以看到官方宗教與民間宗教之間引起的競合問題。無論是歐洲的基督教，或是中國、西藏與日本的佛教，都因為融合有當地民間宗教的元素，而讓它們擁有各自的特色。」(Stein 1979:53)。中國佛教顯然異於印度佛教，當代台灣佛教顯然也異於印度原始佛教。空間上來說，外來宗教要落地生根，必要吸收當地土壤養分，中國民間宗教有如土壤養分，讓印度佛教在中國落地生根。時間上來說，宗教要讓每一個時代的人實踐，也不得不與時俱進。如此來說，宗教的變遷，恐怕是必然的現象。只要宗教核心價值得以保存，其實宗教變遷不是洪水猛獸一般令人擔憂。亦即，中國佛教回歸佛陀本懷，人間佛教還是佛教(翟本瑞2017:420)。本文從台灣家庭的「神明彩」來談佛教的本土化。亦即，從民間宗教信徒的角度，談佛光山舉辦的「神明聯誼會」。

The Buddhist organization Buddha Light Mountain (Fo Guang Shan Monastery) has been hosting an event of “Deities reunion” every year on December 25 since 2011 to promote the conversation and communication among different religions in the world. Critiques from Buddhist monastic communities have pointed out the event is obfuscating and misleading, yet, it is welcomed by local temples and believers. One aspect of the sinicization of Indian Buddhism in both historic China and contemporary Taiwan is the synthesis of the Buddhist pantheon with local deities. In every Taiwanese family altar, we can see a painting of five deities, including Buddhist Bodhisattva and Daoist deities, called “shen ming cai.” From the folk believers’ point of view, the painting with the Buddha/ Bodhisattva on the top, and deities of other religions on the bottom of the pantheon, is the best synthesis of the supernatural world. This paper will describe the localization of Buddhism in Taiwanese folk belief.