宗教敘事的培力──慈濟「善書」的形成分析

The Empowerment of Religious Narratives: Analyzing the Formation of Tzuchi“Books of Morality”

本文以台灣佛教慈濟功德會為例，探討宗教度化的語言和故事產生影響力的培力（empowering）過程。研究資料以五個慈濟志工的自我敘事為主，從敘事治療的角度看，其敘事具有重新建構生命史和生活現實的療癒作用，這個建構是在「大於我」的信仰脈絡中進行，引導人轉進超越世間角色的宗教修為，提供正面有力的生存意義架構，因此也就具有說服力。另一方面，這些志工的敘事常引述證嚴法師提倡人間佛教的語錄《靜思語》，也和《靜思語》一樣透過出版和電子傳播的大量發行，跟著形成一類的宗教善書。其訴求類似於傳統善書的規過勸善，而特色是從生活人事情節出發，加上從慈濟具體的行事修為中領悟，此屬於經驗性語言的宗教敘事植根於生活，由下而上地強化了《靜思語》做為道德指引的影響力，亦即語言和生命的相互流動，是度化語言所以感人，並具有號召力的原因，也是宗教敘事「培力」，或現代善書發揮影響力的重要條件。敘事是宗教傳播的主要媒介，本研究顯示敘事不只是表達或反映現實，也可以重構生存現實，促成生命的療癒與轉化。

This paper examines the empowering process of religious language and stories in Buddhist Tzuchi Association in Taiwan. Drawing upon self-narratives of five Tzuchi volunteers, this study finds that these narratives reconstruct their life stories and reality and thus function as a therapy for individuals. The re-construction undergoes in the context of“larger-than-oneself ”belief, directing one toward religious cultivation other than worldly roles. It is persuasive by offering a positive and meaningful frame-work of life for the narrators. On the other hand, these volunteers’narratives often cite the“Words of Still Thoughts”, a collection of the talk by Master Cheng Yen, the founder of Tzuchi. These narratives along with their stories are widely circulated via books, tapes, radio and television, and thus become a kind of modern religious“Book of Morality ”(shan shu) following the“Words of Still Thoughts. ”Appealing to admonish good and evil as traditional shan shu did, these story-tellings are character-ized by daily encounters along with cultivation from Tzuchi’s services. Such experien-tial narratives are rooted in life and strengthen“Words of Still Thoughts ”as a moral guidance from below. The mutual flow of language and life elicits converting power for the audience and appears to be a significant condition for religious narratives to be influential. As the central media of religious communication, narratives not only rep-resent or reflect upon reality, but also possibly reconstruct living reality and bring forth healing and transformation of individual lives.