禪修過程中的經驗變異狀態：以法鼓山默照禪法之踐行為對象的現象學探究

Altered States of Experience in Chan Meditation: A Phenomenological Investigation of the Silent Illumination Method from Dharma Drum Mountain

本研究的目的在於以現象學描述來揭露默照禪法踐行過程中的經驗變異狀態，試圖將「不立文字」、「不可思議」的修行體驗以當代學術語言描述之，並作為佛學、宗教學與心理學等學門之間在禪修現象上的跨界溝通起點。禪修是佛教修行的一個重要方法，但就其經驗過程與意涵而言，經典中雖有祖師大德所留下的文字敘述，但多為古代使用的詩歌及散文體，對於當代修行者而言不免有隱晦難解之憾。因此，若能將禪修經驗以當代文字描述揭露出來，將可以促進佛學教義在經驗層次上的當代理解。本研究訪談有過禪修過程中經驗變異狀態的修行者，透過現象學描述分析來揭露禪修過程中的意識經驗變化。研究結果以四個主題來呈現禪修過程中的經驗變異狀態。這四個主題分別為：(1)在話語活動脫除下，出現了可稱之為「導引判斷意識」懸浮的現象，指的是經驗者處於對周遭與自身有分別判斷的覺知但相離於身體自發的經驗狀態；(2)話語活動脫除下之種種身體感受的變異狀態，在其中經驗者感到物我界線泯滅，身體可以無負擔地變形並與物融合，顯現出一種身體液態化的經驗現象；(3)前述兩項主題共同構成了禪境經驗的整體性存在特徵：「懸浮之導引判斷意識者」與「液化身態作為者」所組成之雙重作為者樣態；最後是(4)相應於滑入經驗變異世界的狀態，禪修經驗者在人際關係感受上有著「修行同道者」與「親緣家人」之關係的親疏遠近轉換現象以及對一般人群距離感受。研究結果顯示禪修過程中的經驗變異狀態奠基於語言與身體感作用的分離運作，從而凸顯出兩者在意識過程中的特殊關聯。本研究結果除了提供一個對默照禪法的說明外，更透過討論禪修經驗中意識與身體的關係，得以觸及佛教禪修的意識主體轉化與純粹身體存在的意涵。

The present study provides a phenomenological description of altered states of experience in Chan meditation with the Silent Illumination Method from Dharma Drum Mountain in order to unveil the practical experiences that are noted as inconceivable and“not through words”in traditional Buddhist resources; furthermore, this study seeks to construct shared points of reference between the academic study of Buddhism, religion, and psychology. The results of this study indicate that the altered states of experience in Chan meditation derive from separate operations in one’s linguistic and bodily awareness, and therefore manifests the special relationship of the two in the process of consciousness.
This research project necessitates a cross-disciplinary approach in order to engage with scholastic confrontations in Buddhism, religious studies, and psychology. These disciplines each have their own respective conceptual frameworks and thus treat the issues and phenomena of Chan meditation differently. The present study thus argues that the separation and lack of communication among these perspectives toward the same phenomena is not necessary and can be overcome if common ground can be obtained. This study, therefore, takes altered states of experience in the process of Chan meditation as the target phenomena for investigation. In this study, Chan meditation is examined in the context of personal practice.“Altered state of experience,”here, denotes directly given but unusual states of experience. This back-to-experience strategy is neutral because it neither pre-defines the content for investigation nor presupposes the criteria of meditation achievement. The danger of premature conceptualization is thus avoided, and the door for the experiential process of Chan meditation is opened.
Three practitioners who had experienced altered states during their Chan meditation were interviewed. A phenomenological method of analysis was applied to the interview transcripts and four themes describing altered states of experience were obtained. They are: (1) in correspondence with ceasing to use language, there emerged a hovering conscious agent which is constrained and dissociated from bodily experience, indicating a mode of awareness dissociated from bodily activities; (2) the phenomena of“the liquefaction of the body,”derived from the various altered states of experience within which one experiences bodily boundaries dissolve and changes in form; (3) a“double agency”phenomena that emerges within the coexistence of both the hovering conscious agent of guiding judgment and the liquefied bodily agent; and (4) the interchange of intimacy between contacts with the Chan master and family members. Within these experiences are distinct modes of language and bodily feelings relating to each other in the process of consciousness. The results of the present study not only provide an illustration of the experience of practicing Chan meditation, but also provides insight into the issues of the relationship between consciousness and the body in Chan meditation.
In dialogue with existing modern articulations of Chan meditation, first, the hovering conscious agent of evaluation and judgment and the liquefied bodily agent correspond respectively to Master Sheng Yen’s descriptions of“seeing without being affected”that brings up the experience of“letting go of ego-centric fixation”and“releasement from the heavy burden of mind and body”. This correspondence indicates that the evaluating and judging conscious agent is the base of ego fixation and the liquefaction of the body is a manifestation of unloading the mind-body burden. Second, the deprivation of language and the corresponding transformative bodily experiences resonate with Japanese scholar Yuasa Yasuo’s observation of the transformation of conscious subjectivity and pure body existence. Third, the altered states of experience in Chan meditation display the operative characters of both linguistic and bodily conscious acts within the author’s Three Acts of Consciousness model.
Regarding the limitations of this research, the present results cannot be taken as an indication of the enlightening achievement which is deemed to be the ultimate goal of Chan meditation. Nonetheless, with the disclosure of the experiential structure of Chan meditation, the path toward the meaning of the enlightenment of Chan experience is advanced.