王梵志について(上)

Abstract

The first apraisal of several T'ang manuscripts entitled "Poems by Wang Fan-chih, " discovered in the Tun-huang cave at the beginning of this century, was given by the author of The History of Chinese Vernacular Literature, Dr. Hu Shih, in 1928. To the four fragments which Hu dealt with, the author of this article can add eight more, though he is not able to avail himself of all of them. A paragraph from the Yün-ch'i-yu-i 雲溪友議, which has been neglected by Hu, also is to be quoted as a biographical entry. It says a ninth century monk, Hsüan-lang 玄朗, often cited Wang's poems in his evangelism. When we examine these newer materials in detail, new questions are inevitable. Is Fan-chih a proper noun? Is his "biography" nothing more than a crude imitation of the myths often written about clever men? In sum, was there really a monk named Wang Fan-chih? Questions will be solved in Part II, relating Wang Fan-chih's poems with "The Poems by Han-shan, " which are said to belong to the same category.