聖山形象的流轉──清末民初域外人士眼中的峨眉山

The Evolution of the Image of the Sacred Mountain: Mount Emei in the Eyes of Foreigners in the Late Qing and Early Republican Period

隨著佛教漢化，西元八到十二世紀，漢傳佛教移植自印度聖地，在中土建立菩薩化現的佛教名山，從此佛教徒不必千里迢迢至印度朝聖，聖山信仰的形成可謂佛教本土化的最佳途徑，而文殊五臺山、觀音普陀山、普賢峨眉山、地藏九華山，更在靈驗傳的推波助瀾下，名揚四方，遠播海外。大航海時代浪潮下，東、西方文化交流、碰撞頻繁，被視為東亞海上絲綢之路的重要中轉站之普陀山，便進入西人著述之中。而後十九世紀中晚期至二十世紀早期，中國正值翻天覆地的巨變時期，不少域外人士紛紛來華，當中有傳教士、冒險家、學者、商人、外交官等，多不約而同把獵奇目光投向中國西部，西蜀峨眉山因此進入域外人士筆下。本文將就目前所蒐集的材料進行初步探究，嘗試討論清末民初域外人士眼中的峨眉山形象，試圖從有別中國人視角的「他者」（“the other”）來觀看這座聖山，觀其眼中峨眉山是否同中國人一樣視之為聖山？抑或是一處風景勝地？記錄峨眉山哪些風貌？這些人登峨眉山時間不一，身分不一，透過其行跡紀錄，峨眉山在清末民初的形象流轉折射出哪些時代考察意義？以上面向，將是本文試圖觀測焦點。

From the eighth to twelfth century, with the Sinicization of Buddhism after its introduction into China from India many sacred Buddhist mountains were established in China due to people’s belief in Bodhisattvas, and thereafter, practitioners of Buddhism no longer needed to travel large distances to India for pilgrimages. The formation of beliefs in sacred mountains can be considered the optimal method to localize Buddhism, with those such as Mount Wutai (based on Manjushri), Mount Putuo (Guanyin), Mount Emei (Puxian), and Mount Jiuhua (Dizang) having become famous, even overseas, aided by spiritual legends. Because of the frequent East-West cultural exchanges and encounters during the Great Age of Sail, Mount Putuo was regarded as an important stopover on the Maritime Silk Road in East Asia and thus included in the travelogues of foreigners. In addition, from the mid and late nineteenth to early twentieth century when China was undergoing tremendous changes, foreigners including missionaries, adventurers, scholars, merchants, and diplomats traveled to China, with many coincidentally deciding to venture to Western China; likewise, Mount Emei in Sichuan province thus appears in their writings.
Based on the materials collected to date, the present article conducts a preliminary investigation on the image of Mount Emei in the eyes of foreigners in the late Qing and early Republican period, discussing whether Mount Emei was regarded as a sacred mountain in the same way as that of the Chinese peoples from the perspective of“the other”or was merely a scenic site. Moreover, this article examines how these foreigners of different backgrounds and who had climbed the mountain at different times recorded the appearance of Mount Emei, and explores the significance of the evolution of its image over the course of the same period.