刻意疏離後的漠然應對－－由清人筆記《茶餘客話》展示文人視野下的民間信仰

An analysis of the literati’s observations on folk belief based on the book Cha Yu Ke Hua of the Qing Dynasty

本文以撰成於乾隆時的筆記小說《茶餘客話》作為探針，意欲探討文人對當時民間信仰的看法和態度，與如何面對等課題。阮葵生用直覺判定「民間信仰」的本質，承繼自中華文化的傳統，復摻入佛、道思想與巫術理論，反映出一個粗略的概念，對其本質未有明確的界定。疏略的原因，導源自作者著墨於對崇拜實際活動的評議，以入世的精神、經籍的義理、一般的通識，甚至政府的政策為指標來檢驗，民眾在信仰的制約下行為是否合宜，並進一步考核神明身份的真實及資格。在此準測下，民間信仰便不免被看待成愚昧、虛妄的思維。就此亦可知文人即便浸染在相同的信仰氛圍中，在警覺自身應代表社會的理智和引導群眾的責任後，復用疏離、陌然的態度重新對待民間流播的各種崇拜行為，以致於對祭祀、勸善觀與秘密宗教無法有客觀的瞭解。惟文人雖自覺當以智識面對民間信仰，卻也因此無法滿足自己對信仰的需求與依賴，以致於行文中又肯定了鬼神的實有、對定命定觀也多所保留，無可避免地產生思想的自我矛盾。

Based on the literary sketches Dialogues Over A Cup Of Tea (Cha Yu Ke Hua) published by Ruan Kui Sheng during the reign of the Emperor Qianlong, this paper discusses the viewpoint and attitude of literati toward their contemporaneous folk belief. Ruan Kui Sheng used intuition to judge the essence of “folk belief” and concluded that it inherited the tradition of Chinese culture, mixed with the thought of Buddhism and Taoism plus witchery. Although his conclusion reflected the general concept of folk belief, it did not clearly define the essence of folk belief. The author placed particular emphasis on the critique on the activities of actual worship, using the worldly spirits, principles of religious scriptures and general acknowledge, even the governmental policies, as the guidelines of critique to determine if the conduct of people under the restriction of folk belief was proper and to evaluate the authenticity and qualifications of the deities. Under this scrutiny, folk belief represented stupidity and dissolution. It is clear that even though the literati were in the same religious atmosphere, because they were vigilantly aware that they represented the intellect of the society, had the responsibility of guiding the people, yet with indifferent attitude toward the worship ceremonies of folk belief, they were unable to objectively understand the worship, the concept of exhortation to do good deeds and the esoteric religions.