儒、釋、道三家不約而同地宣稱：身體的五種感官中，耳修在工夫論上特別殊勝。異文化、異時空，卻有高度雷同的身心經驗，而且指出這一現象的典籍，有不少均屬於早期文獻，故如是之宣稱，實難說是彼此影響所致，受本土文化影響的成分即使存在，大概也不是最核心的因素，共同的身體感應當才是主要原因。本文正是欲解決這一問題：耳修何以殊勝？論文分別從耳根和聲音兩方面切入，析論耳根和聲音二者共有之「通」與「無為」的特質，正是耳修特別殊勝的關鍵因素，而「通」與「無為」又恰好符合體道者、證悟者之境界。文中並兼論儒之「聰聖」、道之「以神氣聽之」，和釋之「天耳通」的關係，以及道之「天籟」、佛之「一音」與儒之「和樂」等相關課題。

Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism all state that a highly developedfaculty of hearing stands out from the other bodily senses in theory of practice(工夫論 gongfulun). People living in different cultures, places and times share ahigh similarity of experience in body and mind, and the prominence of hearing isa phenomenon described in many of the world’s early writings, which thereforemakes this difficult to attribute to mutual cultural influence; moreover, even ifthere exists an element of local cultural influence, this is probably not a corefactor either. In all probability, it is indeed people’s shared bodily responses thatare the key. Thus the important question to be dealt with in this essay is whatmakes hearing so special?Starting with the ear and sound, this essay intends to analyze and discusshow it is the characteristics of communication and effortless action (無為wuwei) that they jointly possess that make a highly-developed hearing the mostprominent of the five senses, and how these characteristics are in completeaccord with the experiences of those who understand the Dao and those who areenlightened. This paper will also discuss the relationship between the “hearingsage” (聰聖 congsheng) of Confucianism, “hearing through the bodily vitality” (以神氣聽之 yi shenqi ting zhi) of Daoism and the clairaudience (天耳通 dibbasota)of Buddhism. It will also discuss related topics such as the “sounds ofnature” (天籟 tianlai) of Daoism, “the single sound” (一音 yiyin) of Buddhismand “harmonious music” (和樂 heyue) of Confucianism.