關於《般若波羅蜜經》的編撰史問題──多元中心的擴展模式

On the Problem of the Composition of the Prajñāpāramitā: Multiple Central Pivots of Formulation

Edward Conze在《般若經》編撰史的研究指出《八千頌般若經》前二品是最早成立的部分，其他品章則是圍繞著此二品逐漸發展出來。聖解脫軍在《現觀莊嚴論釋》中則透露了第四現觀三品章—〈空品〉、〈恆河天女品〉以及〈方便品〉—的關係。〈空品〉從早期佛陀對緣起的說法出發，嘗試為五蘊建立與涅槃相似的屬性，〈恆河天女品〉以及〈方便品〉協力為〈空品〉關於五蘊和涅槃等同的說法各自建立合理性以及對菩薩觀修的涵義，這些內容呈現此三品努力地建立五蘊真正本質的說法，在在顯示它們對「空性」一詞的無知。它們應編撰於在「空性」一詞形成前，屬於《般若經》初期發展的階段。若是如此，就不單如Conze指出的《般若經》前二品是其他品章成立及發展的核心，還有圍繞著〈空品〉發展出〈恆河天女品〉以及〈方便品〉的內容。若是這樣，《般若經》的編撰應該不只有一個核心，至少有兩個或兩個以上核心，其他品章內容應該也像〈空品〉那樣，以一品為核心將其他品章的內容編撰在一起。

Ārya-Vimuktiṣeṇa reveals in his commentary on the Abhisamayālaṅkāra the compositional relationship of the eighteenth chapter of the Prajñāpāramitāin 8000 lines of the Sanskrit version with the next two chapters, that is, the nineteenth chapter as well as the first half of the twentieth chapter. The eighteenth chapter on emptiness establishes the sameness between the five aggregates and the nirvāṇa on the basis of the early discourse of the Buddha on conditional origination. The other two chapters spun off from it. The nineteenth chapter justifies this saying by similes and arguments, while the fi rst half of the twentieth chapter connects the sameness of the aggregates and nirvāṇa with the way of observation of the bodhisattvas in the three samādhis. The endeavour of these three chapters to establish the true nature of the aggregates shows their ignorance of the term“emptiness”(śūnyatā) at the time they are composed. They must have been composed in the early stage before“emptiness”became a term for the intrinsic nature of the aggregates. If it is so, not only, according to Edward Conze, the first two chapters of the Prajñāpāramitāin 8000 lines are the earliest formulation of the Prajñāpāramitādoctrine, out of which the other chapters elaborated, in the early stage of composition of the Prajñāpāramitā, there must have been more than one central pivot of formulation.