本文旨在藉由南宋洪邁《夷堅志》中有關五通信仰的記錄，細繹出此信仰 於盛行之初的神格特質、崇拜模式和所反映的社會意識。就神格特質而言， 即使「五通」一詞已見於六朝譯出的佛經，甚至六朝及唐人小說已有提及佛經 中之五通神仙，然與《夷堅志》中以嗜利重欲且多獸性為表徵的五通神，在形 象和本質上皆有差距，較近於道經後設五通鬼的概念。因著當時人們以精怪形 塑出欲念甚重又知悉、掌握人間諸事的五通神格，正可與正祀中深具道德意識 的神明有所區別。在崇拜上也形成近於契約簽訂的特殊法式，具備互蒙其利的 概念，令《夷堅志》中的當事人便需要採取入夢、魂遊或對答等方法，直接與 五通神商談並確認契約內容，立下約定。就簽定的內容以觀，除了反映出人 們心中對利益的重視與尋求外，亦將此想望與思維，投射在五通神的特質中， 形成不斷強化嗜利的崇拜內容，和立約中代價和收益間的對等關係，成為五通 神人格建構的主要思維及內容。於是即令五通的神格具有重欲甚至背信的重大 缺陷，卻因著能滿足民眾求告意外財富的想望──一個正祀無法滿足的心理需 求，之後竟吸納同發源自徽州婺源、名號又和五通近似的五顯信仰，盛傳於當 世及後代。至於五通神多與好淫、貪財等概念甚至擔任財神的職務，也可從五 通信仰初盛時所奠定下的嗜欲神格、崇拜利益與互惠共享的特徵中，得見此概 念產生的箇中原由。

Using the information on the Wutong Faith in the Yi Jian Records by Hong Mai of the Southern Song Dynasty, this paper aims to carefully find out the character of deity, form of worship and the reflected social consciousness of this faith at the inception of its popularity. As for the character of deity, the term “Wutong: Five Supernatural Powers” already appeared in the Buddhist sutras translated during the Six Dynasties, and even the novels of the Six Dynasties and the Tang Dynasty referred to them as “Wutong: Spirits possessed of the five supernatural powers” in the Buddhist sutras. However, the Buddhist Wutong differed greatly from the Powerful Spirits Wutong in Hong Mai’s Yi Jian Records who were greedy of material gains and sexual desire with bestiality in both image and essence. Hong Mai’s Wutong were closer to the concept of Wutong ghosts established later in Taoist scriptures. Because the contemporary people modeled the character of deities of Hong Mai’s Wutong after the monsters with strong desire yet with knowledge and power over the everyday life of people, the deities of Wutong differed from those officially sanctioned worshipped ones that had moral consciousness. The Wutong worship almost became a special ceremony of contract-signing with the concept of mutual benefits. The party concerned would use the methods of dreaming, soul-traveling or direct dialogue to negotiate with the Wutong, verify the contents of the contract and sign it. However, regarding the contents of the contract, it not only reflected the mind of people in emphasizing and seeking benefits, but also projected into the characteristics of the Wutong and continued to enforce profit-seeking in the worship and the equal relation of costs and benefits in the contract, evolving into the Wutong character of deities. Therefore, even though the Wutong character of deity had the serious shortcoming of emphasizing desire and even being faithless, because it could satisfy the longing for unexpected wealth of people, which is a psychological need the officially sanctioned worship could not provide; thereafter, it even absorbed the Wuxian (the Five Manifestations) Faith which also originated at Wuyuen in Huizhou with a similar name, and became popular during that time and the later periods.