馬六甲、檳城華人在宗祠、義山祭祀中的聖教觀

The Concepts of 'Sacred Religion' in the Chinese Ancestral and Yishan Worships in Malacca and Penang

閩、粵移民從早期移居馬來亞的馬六甲、檳城即面對多種族、多宗教的多元文化環境，乃借由「聖教」的綜合性觀念表達其宗教意識。原本在原籍的宗祠、義山，在明中葉到清中、晚期，既已成為標誌宗族的建築及儀式，也作為埋葬祖先的傳統禮俗，經移植之後為因應環境而強化其為「聖教」，以之融合儒、釋、道及民俗信仰，原本節俗性質的活動也突顯其宗教意義。借由馬六甲與檳城兩個華人較多的城市，從現存的宗祠祭祀與義山搬遷事件中，可以觀察華人原本隱而未發的「宗教」意識，如何經由宗祠的凝聚宗族，也在義山搬遷事件中「被發現」其埋葬之地，可在友族、友教的比較對照中，被視為「神聖的場所」。有關宗祠、義山俱可作為單獨的歷史研究課題，在此僅以實例論證其歷史事件的背後，乃因宗教性的聖教觀轉化為「華人宗教」，故可借此「宗教」的觀念轉換論證華人的宗教定義，乃因生存環境而被激發成為一種文化認同。

Since their early immigration to Malacca and Penang in Malaya, the Min and Yue immigrants have encountered a multi-cultural environment with its poly-ethnic and poly-religious groups. Therefore they have been trying to express their religious consciousness through an integrated concept of ”sacred religion”. From the mid-Ming dynasty to the mid and late Qing dynasty, the ancestral temples and Yishans (free public cemeteries) derived from their original domiciles have become family-symbolized architectures and rituals, as well as traditional rites for ancestral funeral. These beliefs and rituals are transformed and reinforced as ”sacred religion”. It integrates Confucianism, Buddhism, Taoism, and popular religions, while the religious meaning of the original festive activities is emphasized. Malacca and Penang are taken as case studies in this essay-the Chinese population is relatively high in these two cities. From the existing ancestral worships and the historical events of Yishan being forced to move, we see Chinese descendents insisted on worshipping their ancestors and resisted to move the Yishans. The activities which had been considered as life ceremonies were thus transformed as hidden ”religious consciousness”. It was also through such consciousness that ancestral temples could gather up families. On the other hand, the sacredness of Yishan was ”discovered” in the events of people's resistance on moving Yishans. Through comparing with other races and religions, such as Muslim which Malaysians believe in, Yishan is considered as ”sacred places”, just like how Muslims see their burial places. The subjects on ancestral temples and Yishan can be both taken as individual historical issues. With the two examples mentioned above, I try to argue that there is always religious consciousness behind historical events. It is the scholars who transform the religious concept of ”sacred religion” into ”Chinese religion”. Through such a transformation of ”religious concepts”, we can argue that the Chinese definition of religion has come from people's living environment, and thus can be seen as a sort of cultural identity.