明德法師與印順法師的交際及其生歿年問題

The Communication between the Venerable Ming-De with the Venerable Yin-Shun and the Date of his Death

明德法師（1909？-1974）為鼓山南來僧，1936年南來馬來亞，1939年任檳榔嶼鶴山極樂寺監院職，1950年創建香山寺，值此時期，他主動致函印順法師（1906-2005），贊助後者在香港出版著作，自此通信往來，並於1969年印順法師初次訪馬時見面。按此敘述，明顯與當今國內外學、教界廣為徵引的明德法師生歿年有出入。本文一則按文獻梳理來顯示明德法師與印順法師之間的跨海交情，二則以此為引起動機，追溯明德法師生平簡介的文本流變，循流溯源之後，釐清其生歿年的誤植。經此正誤，將有利於未來進一步展開明德法師之生平活動及學思史料的挖掘與梳理，期能推進馬來西亞漢傳佛教早期文化僧群體的時代活動。

The Venerable Ming-De (明德法師1909?-1974) was a Chinese monk who moved from Gushan, Fujian to Malaya in 1936. In 1939, he served as the supervisor of Kek Loh Si Temple (極樂寺) in Penang. In 1950, he founded the Heong Shan Si Temple (香山寺) in Tanjung Tokong, Penang. During this period, he sent a letter to the Venerable Yin-Shun (印順法師1906-2005) in Hong Kong, requesting to publish his books and only later met the Venerable Yin- Shun during his first visiting to Malaysia in 1969. As this research shows, there is some discrepancy with the date of the death of the Venerable Ming-De. This research further traces the evolution of the text of the Venerable Ming-De’s life and uses this scholarship to trace the source of the misunderstanding in order to clarify the date of his death. The correction of this error will be of great benefit to sort out the historical details of the Venerable Ming-De’s life. We also hope that this research will provide an in-depth study of the activities of the early Chinese Buddhist monks in Malaysia.