民初悟善社《靈學要誌》及其靈學論述與實踐

Wushanshe’s Essential Journal of Spiritualism and Its Spiritualist Discourse and Practice in Early Republican China

本文聚焦於民初救世團體之一的悟善社（後來組建救世新教）及其發行的機關刊物《靈學要誌》，探討它在上海靈學會的影響與啟發之下，如何於宗教場域內挪用、再現及轉化有關靈學之論述，並以扶乩及靈魂照相兩種實作為例，考察悟善社的靈學實踐。本文分為四個部分：首先介紹《靈學要誌》的發刊緣起及其流通情形，並著眼於它在形式與宗旨上對上海靈學會《靈學叢誌》的擬仿，進而辨析悟善社「靈學」旨趣之所在；其次討論悟善社對於扶乩作為「神人靈光相接之術」的操作機制及原理解釋，一窺悟善社的扶乩如何成為一種現代靈學實踐而有別於傳統地方乩壇；而後根據《靈學要誌》各篇攝影記及其「神靈顯像」的照片，探討悟善社從事靈魂照相的實作方式，並反思神靈攝影之於該教團的宗教意義；最後將悟善社的案例置於民初靈學風潮及科玄論戰的思想文化脈絡中，除了定位悟善社之於其他靈學團體的關係，也觸及它的「靈學」推廣如何關聯到時人的「玄學」印象。

This paper aims at examining the publication of Essential Journal of Spiritualism （Lingxue yaozhi 靈學要誌） and spiritualist discourse and practice of the Society of Awakening to Goodness （Wushanshe 悟善社）, one of the redemptive societies in early republican China and later renamed New Religion to Save the World （Jiushi xinjiao 救世新教）. The article is comprised of four sections: First, I present the publication and dissemination of Lingxue yaozhi, along with its imitative relation to Lingxue congzhi 靈學叢誌by the Shanghai Spiritualism Society 上海靈學會, and distinguish the meaning of “spiritualism” from Wushanshe’s standpoint. Second, I discuss how Wushanshe interpreted the mechanism of spirit-writing and transformed it into a modern type of spiritualist practice. Third, drawing on the records of taking spirit photographs, I investigate how Wushanshe made use of the technique of spirit photography and made sense of the religiosity of those spirit photos. Last, placing the case of Wushanshe’s spiritualism within the context of spiritualist trends in early republican China as well as the Debate of Science and Metaphysics（科玄論戰） in 1923-24, I reflect on its relation and position to other spiritualist societies and its impact on the contemporaries’ impression of “metaphysics” （Xuanxue 玄學）.