「神道設教」預想下的淑世試驗──紀昀《閱微草堂筆記》對清初靈異傳聞之理論組構與評議法式

The Attempt to Use the Concept of Gods and Ghosts to Educate the Common People—Examining the Discussion on Ghost Stories of the Early Qing Dynasty by Ji Yun in His Yue Wei Thatched House Commentaries

本文藉由《閱微草堂筆記》對清初各類靈異傳聞的評述，組構起紀昀對超現實現象的思維體系與評議方式。已知紀昀以接受民間對個人生命與物理變化主流觀點為前提，故用傳統陰陽氣化論釋萬物流轉的原理，人類順天屬陽，鬼魅乃由氣變而生故屬陰，二氣相斥，然個人的心志決定了氣的本質，當心懷邪念能招邪物，心有正念，鬼魅自避；在此理則之上復接納佛教的輪迴觀，卻又容許不入輪迴的例外存在。如此可解釋人間遇見鬼魅的原由，亦能兼存人入輪迴的說法；紀昀也接受了命定說及報應觀，由天庭及冥府建立起的官僚體系負責執行預定的命運。個人善惡行為能增扣已被決定的命運，至於其善惡的標準，僅肯定了社會禮教的規範，否決佛道兩教祈禳與念佛等宗教行為的果效，排擠在「善」的定義之外，幾同於民間勸善書與功過格的價值標準及計算方法。職故，紀昀全然接受民間已有的信仰基礎，並建立起合理性，當導因自紀氏冀盼藉著順從人們已有的集體意識，讓人們確然相信有鬼神監控個人行為的善惡，並施行報應，以撰寫志怪書為途徑，意欲實踐等同聖人神道設教的淑世目的。

Based on the discussion on ghost stories of the early Qing Dynasty by Ji Yun in his Yue Wei Thatched House Commentaries, this paper attempts to re-establish his theories of the supernatural and the world. It is known that Ji Yun unconditionally accepted the mainstream’s point of view regarding individual life and physical change of the masses, thus applied the traditional theory of yin/yang exchange to interpret the principle of changes in all creation. The human was created according to the natural law, thus belongs to yang; Whereas the qi (氣) of ghosts mutated against the convention, they are in the yin category. The qi of human and ghosts repelled each other. However, the nature of qi is solely determined by the will power of the individuals; evil thoughts invite evils and ghosts will avoid righteous mind. This law of the physical world accepts the Buddhist concept of transmigration. Ji Yun also accepted the theory of predestination and the concept of retribution. The bureaucratic system established in Heaven and Hades executes the predetermined destiny with the control over the addition or subtraction of the allotted share of happiness, as determined by the deed of each individuals. As far as the criteria of good or bad deed, it only affirmed the social ethics and totally rejected the effects of Buddhist and Taoist ceremonies of expelling calamities and the Buddhist chanting the name of Buddha, thus with the distinct social characteristics of its concept of value. Therefore, Ji Yun totally accepted the foundation of belief of the masses and built his rationale. The purpose was to hope that people would believe the presence of gods and ghosts in monitoring their behaviors and executing the retribution accordingly. Thus he wrote weird novels as a mean for social reform.