日常生活中「虛」的身體經驗

Daily Life Experience: Bodily Experience of the Emptiness

本文自「常識」、「在地生物學」與「身體感」等關鍵觀念，來討論台灣漢人的在地身體經驗「虛」。「虛」的身體經驗在民間用法中，涵蓋相當廣泛，可以是日常生活中未發病的情狀下，也可以是已然生病的情況之下。「虛」可以用來講述身體感覺，也可以用來指稱精神狀態。「虛」可以陳述人的狀態，也可以描繪外在環境，更可以用來指稱超自然界的無形物。「虛」雖然不是一個已知的知識類別，卻是民眾在日常生活中，時常會使用的一個用來描述身體感覺與狀態的字詞。不只是宗教民俗醫療者的病人會使用，中醫與西醫的病人都會使用到此一字眼，可以說是一個共通於三種醫療體系的深層民間文化邏輯。本文推測漢人民間「虛」的身體感應該與「虛／補」、「冷／熱」、「陰／陽」三對觀念與經驗之間的對應與感通有關。

This paper discusses the bodily experience of “emptiness” of Han Chinese in Taiwan using C. Geertz's concepts of common sense and local knowledge. The term “emptiness” is widely used both in present day Taiwan and in traditional Chinese medical texts. This provides the possibility for the study of “local biology”, a term derived from Geertz's local knowledge. “Emptiness” can refer to a feeling of fatigue or a pathological depletion as well as a state of mind or a physical exhaustion. It can also refer to an environmental wildness or supernatural evil. This paper will focus on the folk beliefs and folk healings of emptiness using material from fieldwork. The author will show that the bodily experience of emptiness is deeply embedded in the yin/yang cosmology and there is a correlation between experiences of “emptiness / fullness”, “cold / hot” and “yin/yang”.