“缘起”思想的中国化

Sinicization of the Thought of“Dependent Arising”

“缘起性空”可能是当代中国人最“耳熟”但未必“能详”的一个佛教术语,一般理解为由“缘起”和“性空”两个词语组合而成。“缘起”表示世间的一切事物都由因缘和合而生起;“性空”则意为万事万物都是“其性本空”或“自性空”,即没有不变的自体或本质(“无自性”)。所以,“缘起”与“性空”合在一起常被理解为:世间事物由因缘和合产生,故而本性是空。实际上,大多数语境中的“缘起性空”都被当成了一个习惯用语,其所蕴含的甚深奥义很少被考虑到。本文首先回溯“缘起性空”一词在中国佛教史上的“出现”情况,然后考察近现代佛教界形成此一相对固定的术语表达背后所隐逸着的“空”之语境与思想,借此提出笔者对佛教“空”哲学体系之演化的一些看法,即试图探讨:当我们讲“缘起(性空)”的时候,我们到底在谈论什么?

The Buddhist term“dependent arising and emptiness”is probably one of the most often heard but not well understood idea for Chinese.It is generally understood as a combination of the terms“dependent arising”and“emptiness”.“Dependent arising”means that everything in the world arises from causes and conditions;while the“emptiness”means that everything is“empty by nature”or is“empty of self-nature”,that is,there is no unchanging entity or essence(no self-nature).Therefore,the combination of“dependent arising”and“emptiness”is usually understood as follows:because of everything in the world is produced by the causes and conditions,their ture nature is empty.In fact,the term“dependent arising and emptiness”is regarded as an idiom in most contexts,so that its profound meaning is rarely considered.This article firstly traces the history of the“dependent arising and emptiness”in Chinese Buddhism,and then examines the context and thoughts of“emptiness”hidden behind this relatively fixed expression in modern times.It is under this context that the author Puts forward some views concerning the development of the Buddhist philosophy of Emptiness,i.e.,trying to answer the question:when we talk about the“dependent arising[and emptiness of self-nture]”,what do we really refer to?