寺廟門庭大都放置一對石獅，寺左為腳踩繡球的雄獅，右邊則是和幼獅在一起的雌獅，獅子的形象早已融入中華文化，成為神格化的吉祥瑞獸及寺廟門庭的守護標誌；但中國與台灣皆不產獅子，獅子係於東漢章帝時由西域貢入，且寺廟石獅的造型十分特殊，與真獅差距甚大，是否由真獅演變而來？本文藉由「真獅傳入」、「佛教神獸」、「雕造石獅」三個文獻議題及輔以二重證據法中的考古文物來探討獅子如何從活生生的舶來品猛獸變成具中華文化特色的造型石獅。研究結果顯示，西域真獅貢入中土後，以其為奇珍異獸而豢養在皇家苑囿，一般人無緣親睹，是以對獅子的傳播並無助益，民間對於獅子的認識與瞭解，其實是得自於佛像中的「獅子圖像」。因此，石獅造型的構想來源係從佛教的「圖像獅子」開始，而非活生生的進口猛獸。 Taiwan temple constructions used most totems and the decorative carvings, besides the dragon, the phoenix, are the stone lions. Lions' image have already integrated in the Chinese culture, become the deification lucky auspicious, omen beast and temple entrance's protection symbol. The temple lays aside a pair of stone lion to guard mostly in the entrance, the temple left side is the male lion which steps on the embroidered ball for the foot, and the right side is the young lion in the together with lioness. But in the ancient China and Taiwan all do not produce the lions, and the original meaning and the symbolic significance of the temple laying aside stone lion are worth researching. Some literature thought that the stone lion modeling basis originated from the nature real lion. But the new finding demonstrated that the real lion tribute enters into China from western region, which were taken as the wonderful treasure unusual animals in the imperial pen. Usually the people do not have the fortune seeing lions. Thus, the result does not have any help to lion's dissemination. Regarding lion's understanding the folk actually derived from Buddha “the lion image”. Therefore, the original conception of stone lion modeling comes from Buddhism “the lion image”, but does not come from the import live beast.
