經典與實踐－當代臺灣讀經運動之研究

Abstract

本文是關於臺灣讀經運動之研究。讀經運動始於1990年初，由台中師院王財貴教授發起，發展至今已有十多年，估計參與過之學童數超過百萬，活動遍及全臺灣各地，甚至蔓衍至世界各地的華人社群。讀經運動雖然以讀最有價值的書為訴求，在實質上是民初以來儒家發展的新階段。包括主要的推廣者王財貴，乃是知名新儒家學者牟宗三的學生，實際的讀經活動中則以儒家經典為主皆說明這是以儒家為主的運動。此論文之預設是視經典為宗教傳統的一個重要現象，儒家為華人之重要宗教傳統，它提供華人意義和作為華人之世界觀。\n首先藉由歷史發展，說明讀經運動與1912年教育總長蔡元培廢止讀經，1935年和1953年等讀經問題之關聯。這些歷史說明儒家經典從被視為宗教經典，轉變為「文化」傳統的歷程，它是知識分子有心的造作，加以反宗教的潮流和時尚下完成，而政治力的介入和運用，使得儒家的發展憑添變數。其次，簡述推廣者之主要推廣歷程和理念，敘述讀經發展成社會運動的轉折、建立組織的過程以及讀經運動的現況，並且指出這些過程或現象與宗教的關聯，以及其全省分佈之狀況，接下來則證明讀經運動以儒家經典為主，而經典的定位問題與儒家之宗教性有關，最後，指出當代讀經運動的推廣者與支持者，對儒家經典的建構，以及讀經活動與社會規範、儒家的宗教定位等之關聯。\n經由描述當代讀經運動的發展歷程，反映出儒家傳統如同各宗教傳統一般，有類似的特徵，包括有（一）儒家經典成為善書，推廣讀經被視為善行。（二）有著聖人和聖典。經典被人們認為必然蘊含倫理道德。（三）經典代表秩序感，有永恆和全面的知識內涵。（四）、讀經有其經驗層面等。華人社會各宗教團體或人士之投入，即在於儒家傳統乃是華人之世界觀，它提供華人意義，如同盧克曼宗教社會學意義下之隱形宗教，儒家傳統是華人宗教之底色。因此，儒家傳統於宗教研究中，有必要以別於單一傳統等相關概念加以理解，儒家傳統在華人之宗教生活中扮演重要的角色。

This thesis is about a Confucian movement which is called “Du Ching “(讀經) in Taiwan. Du 讀 means reading literally. In actually, Du ching include reciting, memorizing, chanting etc. Du ching movement which started by a professor Wang tsai guei （王財貴）in Taichun about 1991. The movement developed to the whole Taiwan in a decade and over millions of pupils had attended it. “Reading the most valuable book” is Professor Wang’s appealing slogan though. Actually, almost all of the pupils who attend the movement use Confucian scriptures. Beside, Wang is the famous Confucian scholar Mou Tzung san’s follower. So, this movement can be seen as a Confucian movement. My assumption is Confucianism which is a religion to Chinese. As a world view to Chinese, Confucianism provides meanings.\nFirst, I will show the history of Confucian scripture’s changing in 1900s. In the history, people can find how the scriptures was shaped by Confucian intellectuals by intention from religious texts to cultural texts. The politician influence made this changing violently. Second, I describe the ideas of Professor Wang about du ching and the movement’s key process. To show how did people organize themselves to promote Confucian scripture? And what are people’s practicing about the scriptures? Lastly, I will point out the du ching movement’s promoter and supporter’s idea about Confucian scriptures is part of imaginations. The imagination is connected to the social order and people moral state. The core of the imagination is Confucius not the scriptures which some students think of.\nBy the history what Confucian scripture met in early modern era and the du ching movement in modern Taiwan, it reflects Confucianism as well as the other religions, it has the same character. It comprises Confucian scriptures and classics as moral books, sainthood holly books, moral and order phase, as if an encyclopedia, experimental phase etc. In summary, Confucianism is the worldview of Chinese. It is the basic tone of Chinese religious life, as the sociology Thomas Luckmann said “ the invisible religion”. However, Confucianism still plays an important role in Chinese communities globally.