「念佛」的宗教現象／心理分析與現代實踐意涵

Religious Phenomenological-Psychological Analysis of Nienfo (Mindfulness of the Buddha) and Its Implications for Modern Praxis

本文從宗教現象／心理分析闡釋「信心」既是嚮往無限神聖力量的自然情懷，又是靈性覺醒的動力，能消除貪瞋習性和痛苦煩惱，引導宗教人進入解脫或救度之門。由此論說「念佛」的信心不應只是追求來生的淨土，更應藉由對神聖他力的絕對信賴而「交付自我」，放下我執和追求之心，讓眾生與佛一體的「不二信心」得以生起，體悟心淨則國土淨，當下安住於自心淨土，才是念佛者的「終極關懷」。
開悟聖者的「他力」加持能幫助修行者更快速地證悟解脫，這是佛教與其他修行傳統共同的宗教經驗。但仰仗他力不是否定自力，而是捨棄我執和自力計度的妄心，使彌陀大能不被妄心所干擾，法爾自然地啟發念佛者的佛性潛能及精神能動性去實現生命的解脫或救度，故「他力」其實是「自他不二」。若以為「佛是大智大能而凡夫什麼都不能」，把凡夫與佛對立起來，會導致自我潛能及精神能動性的否定和壓抑，使念佛者無法與佛「會遇」而生起慈悲愛心和真實信心。
本文以多重學理論證「名號即佛」的神秘經驗，阿彌陀佛的名號作為「神聖象徵」，含攝佛德佛智的無限潛能，與基督神學的「話語」（Word）凝聚上帝智慧的全體信息一樣，可從宗教現象學者伊利亞德的「神聖示現」理論、密宗原理、京都學派哲學論述以及大乘佛法的本體論去抽絲剝繭，引導修行者如何透過名號與佛「會遇」，體驗阿彌陀佛的大悲大智而達致靈性的轉化。

On the basis of religious phenomenological-psychological analysis, this article expounds faith as man's natural feeling of fascination towards the infinite Divinity, and simultaneously a motivating force of spiritual awakening, capable of eradicating greed, hatred and mental afflictions, thus leading the aspirant to the gate of liberation and/or salvation. From this standpoint we argue that the faith of nienfo (mindfulness of the Buddha) should not only be directed towards the Pure Land after life, but more importantly towards the pure land here and now by virtue of absolute trust in and self-surrender to the sacred Other Power. Called the "ultimate concern" of the nienfo practitioner, this is achieved by letting go the neurotic complex of self-preoccupation and craving for gains, so as to arouse "non-dual faith," which is the awakening that sentient beings and the Buddha are one, and in which purity of the mind is experienced as purity of the sinful world.
It is a shared religious experience of Buddhism and other spiritual traditions that empowering from an enlightened Other Power can facilitate the process of enlightenment and liberation. But reliance on the Other Power does not imply a denial of self power, but rather the surrendering of self-willed calculations to make room for the omnipotent Amitabha Buddha to spontaneously inspire the infinite potentialities and initiatives of our Buddha nature for the purpose of spiritual liberation and/or salvation. Hence the Other Power is ontologically identical to the self-power. If the aspirant erroneously thinks that "the Buddha is all-knowing and all-powerful while we ignorant sentient beings are impotent,"thus setting sentient beings in opposition to the Buddha, this misconception can lead to the denial and suppression of our potentialities and initiatives, making it impossible to "encounter" with the Buddha and arouse the heart of love and compassion as well as true faith.
Using multi-theoretical expositions, this article seeks to interpret the mystical identity of the Name with the Buddha. That the Name of Amitabha Buddha as a sacred symbol embodies the infinite potentialities of the Buddha's wisdom, merits and virtues is analogous to the assertion of Christian theology that the Word (Logos) epitomizes the total message of wisdom of God. We delineate this mysticism by applying the theory of "hierophany" as expounded by Mircea Eliade, Buddhist esoteric doctrine, the philosophical discourse of Kyoto School and the Mahayana Buddhist ontology on Ultimate Reality, showing aspirants how to "encounter" with the Buddha through the Name and experience His great wisdom and compassion so that spiritual transformation can be actualized.