華人宗教「世俗化」發展新探︰論唐宋變革背景下民間宗教興起的歷史意義

A New Interpretation of Secularization in China: The Signifi cance to World History of the Rise of Popular Religions after the Tang-Song Transition

本文所謂的「世俗化」，是指宗教在功能分化情境下的結構轉型。世俗化雖使宗教與其他社會領域分化開來，但並非從此不相往來，反而恰恰使俗世也能過宗教生活的終極理想獲得實現。至於宗教能否超越組織的層次，分化出來成為功能系統，從而走向世俗化，其中關鍵在於能否一視同仁地讓每個人都有獲得救贖的機會，達成原則上含括所有人的要求，同時又容許由個人來決定他自己的信仰。以此為出發點，本文先從宗教如何分化出來的視角，重新審視華人宗教的發展，指出唸佛即可得救的淨土信仰，以及一切日常瑣事皆是開悟契機的禪宗法門，是突破含括瓶頸的兩大關鍵。本文接著從交互比較的視野，分析唐宋變革背景下興起的民間宗教，何以能夠在功能上等同於西方的宗教改革，不但體現了華人宗教世俗化的發展，更成為世界上宗教世俗化的先行者。本文最後藉此實例來顯示「交互比較」的視角蘊含了有助於重新概念化世俗化的理論潛能。

In this article, secularization refers to a religion’s structural transformation as it encounters functional differentiation. The religious area is thereby differentiated, but not separated from other social areas. On the contrary, through this transformation, religion tries to realize its ultimate end, living a religious life in the secular world. Whether the religion can go beyond organization and become a differentiated functional system depends on whether it can provide salvation to everyone regardless of one’s character, role or status. When religion has in principle included all the people, it must leave one to decide for oneself whether one believes this religion or not. Taking these theoretical assumptions as the point of departure, I reexamine the development of religion in China with the guiding problem being how religion becomes differentiated in society. Two developments that break the bottleneck of inclusion are highlighted: the “pure land” belief that reciting Buddha’s name suffi ces to bring salvation, and the Chan school view that daily ordinary things bring the chance of enlightenment. Furthermore, I analyze why the popular religions, arising after the Tang-Song transition, are functionally equivalent to the Reformation from the view of reciprocal comparison. These popular religions are not only an embodiment of secularization in China, but also pioneers of secularization in the world. With this case analysis, I illustrate the theoretical potential of reciprocal comparison in the reconceptualization of secularization.