從十八世紀中期到十九世紀末葉，海幢寺不僅為廣州及鄰近地區的民眾所熟悉，也是最為西方人所知的中國佛寺。這除了因為歷史悠久，作為遊覽勝地、文化和外交活動場所，還因為該寺刊刻佛教文獻。這些文獻既滿足僧侶和世俗的需要，還流傳域外促進中外交流。不過這樣重要的一所佛寺，它自十八世紀中期起的中段歷史卻處於若存若亡之間。要重建這段鮮為人知的歷史，首要工作是整理現存的「海幢文獻」。這批文獻為了解參與刻書事業的寺僧事蹟、其佛學思想和寺院的歷史提供重要資訊。本文建基於筆者對海幢文獻的實地調查，全文分為七節。引言扼要明個人對重建海幢寺史的新構想，第二節對現存海幢文獻的特點與價值作綜合考察。第三至五節透過利用海幢文獻與一手中西史料，考察該寺經僧群體的形成與發展、分析刻書事業與清代文網的關係、說明不同背景的捐助社群如何參與文獻的刊刻流通。第六節轉為探究海幢文獻和寺僧在中西交流上的角色。結語重申研究海幢寺史對了解清代的宗教與政治、廣東佛教和中西關係史的重要意義。

From the mid-18th to the late 19th centuries, Haichuang 海幢 Buddhist Temple was not only familiar to the local people of Canton (Guangzhou) and the neighbouring regions, but also better known to Westerners than any other similar establishments in China. In addition to its historic legacy and status as a tourist spot, a venue for cultural and diplomatic activities, the temple also published Buddhist texts, and was hence a convenient point both for Chinese to worship Buddha and for foreigners to learn about Chinese Buddhism. For such an important Buddhist temple, however, the history of its middle phase, especially from the mid-18th century onwards, is only faintly discernible. To reconstruct the largely unknown history of the temple, the first major task is to sort out the extant Haichuang texts, which provide invaluable information on inhabitants of the temple who participated in its publishing enterprise as well as their views on Buddhist philosophy and the temple’s history. Founded on the author’s on-site investigation into the texts, this paper is divided into seven parts: the first two sections state the author’s new conception regarding of the re-construction of the history of Haichuang Temple and provides an overview of the characteristics and value of the Haichuang texts. From Section 3 onward, making use of the Haichuang texts in conjunction with other firsthand Chinese and Western sources, the paper investigates the formation and development of the temple’s publishing priests, analyzes the relationship between the publishing enterprise and the censorship campaign during the Qing dynasty, and explains how sponsors from different backgrounds participated in the enterprise of publishing and circulating Buddhist texts. Section 6 discusses the roles played by the Haichuang texts and the priests in exchanges between China and the West. The concluding remarks reassert the immense significance of the study of Haichuang Temple’s history for an understanding of religion and politics in the Qing era, of Buddhism in Guangdong, and of the history of relations between China and the West.