青海師范大學中國語言文學一級學科研究生通識課程
“跨文化中國學研究方法論”第六講
王邦維教授《圣山與大河：一個有關青藏高原的神話傳說》
主講教授簡介：王邦維，北京大學博雅講席教授，我國著名佛教史、東方學、中印交流史研究專家。季羨林先生培養(yǎng)的我國第一位印度語言文學專業(yè)博士。英國劍橋大學、美國哈佛大學、德國哥廷根大學留學、高訪和工作。印度比哈爾邦那爛陀大學董事會成員。北京大學東方學研究院院長、北京大學印度研究中心主任。教育部人文社科重點研究基地北京大學東方文學研究中心首任主任。曾任國務院學位委員會第五屆和第六屆學科評議組外國語言文學組成員。王邦維教授著述自上世紀80年代起已產(chǎn)生了較大的國際影響，獲國際級和國內(nèi)獎項的主要有：與季羨林先生等合注《大唐西域記校注》獲陸文星、韓素音中印友誼獎(1987)和國家圖書獎一等獎(1993)。個人學術專著《大唐西域求法高僧傳校注》獲陸文星、韓素音中印友誼獎(1985)，《南海寄歸內(nèi)法傳校注》獲北京市第四屆哲學社會科學優(yōu)秀成果一等獎(1996)和教育部全國高等學校第二屆人文社科研究優(yōu)秀成果三等獎(1998)，《跨文化的想象：文獻、神話與歷史》獲中版好書獎(2019)和社科優(yōu)秀圖書獎(2020)。在國內(nèi)以及德國、法國、印度、日本、瑞典、愛沙尼亞、尼泊爾、美國、荷蘭、丹麥出版有各類學術著作和發(fā)表學術論文多篇。其新著《玄奘與<大唐西域記>》和《佛教史話六講》是支持“教育援青”人文學科基礎建設的力作。
2022年4月16日，青海師范大學中國語言文學一級學科“跨文化中國學研究方法論”研究生課進入第六講，繼續(xù)由北京大學王邦維教授主講，題目為《圣山與大河：一個有關青藏高原的神話傳說》。青海師范大學文學院，青海師范大學民族師范學院、青海師范大學高原科學與可持續(xù)發(fā)展研究院、北京師范大學跨文化研究院師生、歐洲高校研究生近80人在線聽講。青海師范大學文學院副院長劉曉林教授主持本課。
王邦維教授本講仍以《大唐西域記》為藍本，但不再是講單篇個案，而是研究一個總體性問題，即在《大唐西域記》的《序論》中記載了不少山川地點，其中一些是與青藏高原有關的圣地地名，在它們背后，是神話傳說史、地名學與佛教概念史建構(gòu)的關系。這是人文科學史上的一個經(jīng)典問題，近年也成為跨文化研究的共享課題。在今天強調(diào)尊重文化多樣性的國際思潮中，研究這種文本，關注其多元敘事類型的神話傳說文本、多元地標性質(zhì)的地名學和多元信仰因素的宗教概念，還具有重要的學術價值和社會現(xiàn)實意義。
王邦維教授在本講中重點談到的《大唐西域記》圣地地名有：“贍部洲”、喜馬拉雅山、喀喇昆侖山、帕米爾高原、“無熱惱池”、“四河”和“五河”。這些討論都是在前期大量研究的基礎上進行的，包括研讀印度佛經(jīng)《俱舍論》《大毗婆沙》《發(fā)智論》和南傳巴利經(jīng)典《長阿含》《那先比丘經(jīng)》，我國古代經(jīng)史子集典籍《史記》《括地志》《水經(jīng)注》和酈道元在書中引用外來文獻《釋氏論》、和《扶南傳》等。通讀和分析這些卷帙浩繁的文獻，是曠日持久的工作。王教授本課講授的要點是：解讀《大唐西域記》之《序論》，玄奘的說法來自何處，歷史文獻溯源，對高山與大河的地理學考察，中印神話傳說的對接，以及進一步思考的問題。
我們可以把王邦維教授的觀點概括為以下幾點：1）從敘事文本看，《大唐西域記》圣地地名解釋只是一些神話性的傳說，也有少許地理痕跡，但附會了很多想象成分。2）從地名學上看，千百年來，四條大河或五條大河，一直是中亞和南亞最重要的河流，不過對任何國家民族的地名知識又與原生地的社會歷史和文化傳統(tǒng)有關，即便是傳誦圣地地名，彼此也未必一致，甚至互相都想不到。像四河中的阿姆河，玄奘認為是黃河，他也有他的文獻依據(jù)；印度人則認為是印度的河，當時印度人不會有中國人的想法。但在玄奘的生前身后，中國綿長的歷史文獻對這些地名續(xù)有記載，從印度返回的玄奘將他在印度看到的和想到的著書立說，就提供了一個中印交集點。3）文化交集點與宗教信仰結(jié)合，就能在地方社會扎根，并向深處發(fā)展，因為信仰故事的兼容性比信仰本身更寬泛。
直至19世紀至20世紀中葉還是印歐文化論主宰的時代，中國學者的聲音是微弱的。這種中西差距有多大？僅從中國神話傳說在以印歐故事為主的AT中不足2%的分布數(shù)據(jù)就能說明，而且AT以神祇、人類和動物故事為主，山川地名故事稀見，《大唐西域記》以東方敘事方式見長，還增加了圣地地名敘事，這就有自己的獨特性。王邦維教授的研究說明，《大唐西域記》可以作為一個范本，啟示我們，在文化主體性中產(chǎn)生這類混用體裁文獻能夠呈現(xiàn)跨文化性。中國學者和國際學界對《大唐西域記》的研究已經(jīng)形成跨文化的研究史，但學者還要始終注意本民族自身的分類，如唐玄奘和中國古代學者對四河的分類，印度人民對四河的分類，青藏高原多民族人民古往今來對四河的分類等。對這類文獻繼續(xù)擴大研究，可以建設人類共享文化財富。
王邦維教授《圣山與大河：一個有關青藏高原的神話傳說》的授課現(xiàn)場（2022年4月16日）
接下來，著名青海藏學家、青海師大原原副校長扎布教授就青藏高原地區(qū)長期傳承的圣地文獻和高山大河傳說進行了系統(tǒng)介紹，就其多元文化分布和本民族分類方式做了補充解釋，雙方還就藏語文獻的保護利用開展了對話，精彩的學術交流將這次講課推向高潮。青海師范大學文學院副院長劉曉林教授對今天的課程做了全面總結(jié)。
Postgraduate General Course of the First-Level Discipline
Chinese Language and Literature of Qinghai Normal University
“Methodology of Transcultural Study on Chinese Society and Culture” Invites
Professor Wang Bangwei to Deliver Lecture on:
Sacred Mountains and Great Rivers: A Myth about Qinghai-Tibet Plateau
On April 16th, 2022, the sixth lecture of “Methodology of Transcultural Study on Chinese Society and Culture”, postgraduate general course of the first-level discipline Chinese Language and Literature of Qinghai Normal University, was delivered online by Professor Wang Bangwei from Peking University. The title of his lecture was “Sacred Mountains and Great Rivers: A Myth about Qinghai-Tibet Plateau”. Nearly 80 participants attended the lecture online, including postgraduates and teachers from College of Chinese Language and Literature of Qinghai Normal University, Teachers College for Nationalities of Qinghai Normal University, Academy of Plateau Science and Sustainability of Qinghai Normal University, College of Transcultural Studies of Beijing Normal University, and European Universities. Professor Liu Xiaolin, vice dean of College of Chinese Language and Literature of Qinghai Normal University, presided over the lecture.
Professor Wang Bangwei’s lecture is still based on The Great Tang Dynasty Record of the Western Regions, but it is no longer about individual cases, but about an overall problem. In the preface of The Great Tang Dynasty Record of the Western Regions, there are many mountains and rivers, some of which are the names of sacred places related to the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. Behind them, there exist relationships constructed by the history of myths and legends, toponymy and the history of Buddhist concepts. This is a classic question in the history of humanities and has become a shared topic in transcultural studies in recent years. In current international trend of respecting cultural diversity, it is of great academic value and social practical significance to study this kind of text and concentrate on its myth and legend texts of multiple narrative types, toponymy with multiple landmark natures and religious concepts of multiple belief factors.
In this lecture, professor Wang Bangwei focused on the names of sacred places in The Great Tang Dynasty Record of the Western Regions. For instance, Jambudvipa, Himalayas, Karakoram, Pamir Plateau, Anavatapta, “Four Rivers” and “Five Rivers”. Those discussions were conducted based on the extensive research, including the study of Indian Buddhist scriptures such as Abhidharmakosha, Abhidharma-mahavibhasa-sastra, Jnanaprasthana-sastra, the Pali canon Dirghagama-sutra and Milindapanha, ancient Chinese classics such as Shih Chi, Kuo Di Zhi and Commentary on the Waterways Classic, and ancient books and records cited by Li Daoyuan such as Shi Shi Lun, Fu Nan Zhuan, etc. It took a long time to read and analyze the voluminous literature. The main points of Professor Wang’s lecture are: the interpretation of the preface in The Great Tang Dynasty Record of the Western Regions, historical document tracing, geographical investigation of mountains and rivers, Chinese and Indian myths and legends, as well as issues for further discussion.
Professor Wang Bangwei’s views can be summarized as follows: 1) From the perspective of narrative text, the explanation of those sacred place names in The Great Tang Dynasty Record of the Western Regions is based on some mythological legends, with little geographical traces but many imaginary elements. 2) From the perspective of toponymy, for thousands of years, four or five major rivers have been the most important rivers in Central and South Asia. However, the knowledge of place names of any nationality is related to the social history and cultural tradition of the original place. Even if the names of sacred places are passed down, those names may not necessarily consistent or relevant. Take amu darya for example. With documentary evidence, Xuanzhang thought it was the Yellow River. While Indians thought it was an Indian river. Indians and Chinese could not reach consensus at that time. However, Chinese historical documents record those places uninterruptedly before and after Xuanzang’s period. Xuanzang’s return from India to write about what he saw and thought in India provides an intersection point between China and India. 3) When cultural intersection points are combined with religious belief, they can take root in local society and develop in depth, because the compatibility of belief stories is broader than belief itself.
From the 19th century to the middle of the 20th century, the Indo-European cultural theory dominated the era and the voice of Chinese scholars was weak. How big is the gap between China and the West? This can be explained from the fact that Chinese myths and legends only account for less than 2% in AT distribution data, which is dominated by Indo-European stories. Besides, AT is dominated by stories of gods, humans and animals, while stories of place names of mountains and rivers are rare. The Great Tang Dynasty Record of the Western Regions is good at oriental narration, and it also adds the narration of place names of sacred places, which has its own uniqueness. Professor Wang Bangwei’s research shows that The Great Tang Dynasty Record of the Western Regions can serve as a model to inspire us to produce such mixed genre documents in cultural subjectivity to present transcultural characteristics. Scholars at home and abroad have formed a history of transcultural research on The Great Tang Dynasty Record of the Western Regions. However, they should always pay attention to the classification of their own ethnic groups, such as the classification of Four Rivers by Xuanzang and ancient Chinese scholars, the classification of Four Rivers by the Indian people, and the classification of Four Rivers by the multi-ethnic people on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau of all ages.
Afterwards, Professor Zha Bu, the renowned Tibetologist in Qinghai and former vice principal of Qinghai Normal University, made a systematic introduction to the long-inherited sacred place texts and legends of mountains and rivers on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, and gave a supplementary explanation on their multicultural distribution and ethnic classification. The two sides also had a dialogue on the protection and utilization of Tibetan texts, pushing the lecture to a new high. Professor Liu Xiaolin, vice dean of College of Chinese Language and Literature of Qinghai Normal University, made a comprehensive summing-up of today’s lecture.