東區惡靈／東密救贖？──論林燿德《大日如來》的台灣省思

The Evil Spirits in the East District Redeemedby the Japanese Shingon Buddhism?:The Taiwanese Reflection in Lin Yao-te’s Mahavairocana

本文以林燿德《大日如來》為研討對象，論證該書如何運用宗教修辭省思台灣歷史與社會問題。相對於廣受討論的《一九四七高砂百合》，亦屬長篇之《大日如來》較少獲得關注，雖少數前行研究業已指出其都市書寫、魔幻現實手法及佛理之挪用；不過，本文更聚焦該作兩大面向：其一、史觀問題，即故事情節特意著墨十七世紀顏思齊等四大海盜的冤怨，相當程度回顧了明鄭王國建立前身，台灣在東亞海域的重要性，間接關注台灣之海洋屬性；其二、小說描摹台北東區匯聚惡靈，卻安排「外來宗教」―「東密」為救贖法門，既非顯教亦非藏密，除了點引日本文化藝術對台灣的影響，此間欲言而未明言的台／日複雜關係亦可窺見，且現實地理之西門町，確實留有東密舊迹可供參照；另本文借鏡密宗義理，探論小說轉化神祇方式、巧用咒訣典出與功能，旨在證成林燿德以災難預言未來台灣的同時，更深層關懷台灣多元血統系譜，並以諷刺、暴力、情慾、信仰元素共構情節，意圖召喚讀者省察台灣未解的歷史情結，乃至台灣主體中，主權的讓渡、建構與宗教捨我／無我之間的思辨。

This paper focuses on Lin Yao-te’s Mahavairocana, which attempts to demonstratehow this novel uses religious rhetoric to ponder on Taiwan history and social problems.Compared with his widely discussed novel─Lilia Formosana 1947, Mahavairocana didnot attract much attention. Some previous studies have pointed out the urban writing,Magical Realism, and application of Buddhism in Mahavairocana. This paper discussestwo other main aspects: First, historical views ─ the plot of the novel deliberately describesthe injustice complains of four famous pirates in the 17th century, the importanceof Taiwan in the east Asia sea, and concerns about Taiwan’s ocean properties in the eraof the former kingdom of Tungning. Second, the novel depicts the evil spirits gatheringaround in the east district of Taipei; however, the author arranged the Japanese ShingonBuddhism, neither Sutra nor Tantra, to be the redeemer. The novel shows the influenceof Japanese culture and art on Taiwan, and reveals the implicit and complicated relationshipbetween Taiwan and Japan as well. In addition, it points out that there are old tracesof Japanese Shingon Buddhism for reference in Ximending. This paper applies tantricteachings to show the manners of gods’ conversion and tactical use of the origin andfunctions of curses in the novel for proving that while the author was deeply concernedabout the multiple pedigrees in Taiwan, in the meantime he was predicting Taiwan’sdisastrous future as well. Moreover, the author employed the plots of magic, sarcasm,violence, and passion trying to call on readers to examine the unsolved historic issues of Taiwan and think the issues of Taiwan sovereignty, sovereignty transfer (construction),selflessness (Anātman) in religious.