經典重塑──晚明顏從喬《僧世說》成書論略

Reconstructing Classics: Yan Congqiao’s Seng Shishuo from the Late Ming Dynasty

《僧世說》，一名《僧要》，明崇禎年間刊本，六冊廿四卷，現存臺北故宮博物院（故觀003663-003668），楊守敬舊藏。作者顏從喬（生卒年不詳）字若齡，明季著名文人居士。全書基於南朝宋劉義慶《世說新語》之纂輯旨趣，規模自梁慧皎《高僧傳》、唐道宣《續高僧傳》、宋贊寧《宋高僧傳》及以歷朝佛教僧史筆記之餘，重新筆削分類彙集成編；起自〈布施品〉終於〈駢麗品〉，凡廿二目。顏氏聲稱：「《世說》通乎俗，《僧要》本乎真；本乎真為體，通乎俗為用。又《僧要》為宗，《世說》為趣，猶諸修多羅具數名也。」明確指出欲以文字為般若、筆硯做佛事之著述心跡。
惟《僧世說》雖曾授予剞劂，疑因流傳未廣、保存情況不佳等緣故，早在清初黃虞稷《千頃堂書目‧釋家類》中已注錄「闕卷」；而民國魯迅《中國小說史略》中雖曾言及此書，卻誤指該書為清代《世說》仿作一流，恐怕未見原著。是以歷來研究者幾乎不曾親睹其書，以為散佚，遑論迄今相關研究付之闕如。緣於此，本文擬以《僧世說》為個案進行討論，一者站在推介新出文獻的立場上，略陳是書作者生平及其體裁與內容之梗概；二者從文本敘事的角度，嘗試探究顏氏如何以「《世說》為趣」重新規模佛教僧傳之書寫範式，以傳遞其審美經驗與信仰價值。

Seng shishuo僧世說(Tales of the World of Monks), also titled Seng yao僧要, was published during the reign of the Chongzhen Emperor (r. 1627-1644) of the Ming dynasty. The work, consisting of twenty-four chapters across six volumes, was a part of Yang Shoujing’s楊守敬(1839-1915) collection and is currently preserved at the National Palace Museum in Taipei (nos. Gu Guan 003663-003668). The author, Yan Congqiao顏從喬(courtesy name Ruoling若齡, ?-?), was a renowned literatus and lay Buddhist of the late Ming period. Seng shishuo draws inspiration from Liu Yiqing’s劉義慶(403-444) Shishuo xinyu世說新語(A New Account of the Tales of the World), compiled during the Liu- Song of the Southern Dynasties, as well as re-edits and classifies material from earlier sources, including Hui Jiao’s慧皎(497-554) Gao seng zhuan高僧傳(Biographies of Eminent Monks) of the Liang dynasty; Daoxuan’s道宣(596- 667) Xu gao seng zhuan續高僧傳(Continued Biographies of Eminent Monks) of the Tang dynasty; Zan Ning’s贊寧(919-1001) Song gao seng zhuan宋高僧傳(Biographies of Song Eminent Monks) of the Song dynasty; and other Buddhist biographical records from previous dynasties. The book begins with the chapter“Almsgiving”布施品and concludes with“Parallel Prose”駢麗品, covering twenty-two topics in total. Yan claimed,“Understanding of Shishuo is based on convention, while the root of Seng yao is based on truth; root based on truth as essence, understanding based on convention as function. Seng yao is for doctrine, and Shishuo is for amusement, just as various sutras have many different names.”It clearly indicates his desire to express wisdom, namely prajna, through words and to practice Buddhist faith through writing.
Despite being published, Seng shishuo was not widely circulated nor well preserved, and Huang Yujing黃虞稷(1629-1691) in the early Qing dynasty had thus already noted that the work had been missing volumes in his Qianqing tang shumu: Shijia lei千頃堂書目·釋家類(Catalogue of Qianqing Hall: Buddhist Category). In the Republican era, Lu Xun魯迅(1881-1936) mentioned it in his Zhongguo xiaoshuo shilüe中國小說史略(A Brief History of Chinese Fiction), but mistook it as an imitation of Shishuo xinyu, likely because he had never seen the original text. Therefore, scholars throughout history have rarely seen this book firsthand and have largely considered it lost, let alone conducted any in-depth studies. Based on this, the present article intends to discuss Seng shishuo as a case study to explore the reconstruction of classical texts. First, from the perspective of newly discovered documents, a brief introduction to the author’s life, the literary style, and the contents of the work are provided; second, from the perspective of narrative and of cultural transmission, this article explores the influence and transformation of Seng shishuo among Buddhist ideological trends and layperson communities in the late Ming dynasty, as Yan Congqiao attempted to imitate and reinterpret the form of Buddhist biographies by maintaining“Shishuo [xinyu] is for amusement.”