论政治伦理与信仰教化的耦合关系——中华本土宗教的社会学理论建构之刍议

Coupling Relationship Between Political Ethics and Religious Cultivation——On the Construction of Sociological Theory of Religion in China

本文试图将中华传统中的本土宗教作为一个自洽体系进行社会学研究。在西方的宗教社会学理论指导下的中国本土宗教研究,很大程度上受到亚伯拉罕宗教传统模本的制约,难以形成契合中华本土信仰系统特点的解说与理论建构。中华本土宗教的信仰系统与实践方式是基于中华民族历史和现实而做出的对人类"终极问题"的回应,有其内在的文化逻辑和现实的社会基础。本文梳理了社会学将中华本土宗教作为独立实体研究的学术脉络,提出以中华文明的发生与发展之内在机制为出发点,认识和解释本土宗教并进行社会学理论的建构,指出"神道设教"原则下政治伦理与信仰教化之间形成的耦合关系决定了在中华民族社会世界(social world)中宗教信仰体系的走向,其特点在于不拘泥于某种特定宗教作为绝对的形式,而更强调对世俗性公序良俗的肯定、对家国的忠诚以及对相关道德价值的崇尚,以促成社会和谐和国泰民安的局面;以孔儒价值为核心,结合释道传统,在信仰内容与实践上为现实社会判别正与邪、正统与异端树立了一个超越教派的标准;嵌入于"人伦日用"的社会结构之中,通过教化系统与道德政治秩序之结合,发展出一个多元互动、不断丰富的本土信仰共同体。

This paper attempts to make a sociological study of the indigenous Chinese religion as a self-consistent system within the Chinese sociocultural tradition.The previous research on indigenous Chinese religion based on the theory of sociology of religion originated from the West is very much restricted by the pattern of Abrahamic religious tradition,so it is difficult to form an interpretation and theoretical construction that conforms to the characteristics of the indigenous Chinese belief system.The orthodoxy and orthopraxy of the indigenous Chinese religion stand for a Chinese response to the"ultimate problem"of the humankind based on the history and reality of the Chinese nation,which has its inherent cultural logic and sociocultural basis.With a review of academic literature of sociological studies of indigenous Chinese religion as an independent entity,this paper suggests an approach to understand and interpret the indigenous Chinese religion from its inherent mechanism in the development of Chinese civilization,and thereupon constructs a sociological theory of indigenous Chinese religion.Drawing on the inclusive perspective of Durkheim’s theory of sociology of religion,this study confirms that all religions are real on the basis of their own context and respond to their living environment in their specific ways.We argue that the coupling relationship between political ethics and belief cultivation under the principle of"Shendaoshejiao"(i.e.guidance by the way of the gods)determines the developmental trend of religious and belief system in the Chinese social world.This system is characterized by not adhering to a particular religion as an absolute form while emphasizing the following features:1)The affirmation of the secular public order and good customs,the loyalty to the family-state communities and the advocation of relevant moral values,the promotion of social harmony,and the creation of peace and security for the nation and the people.2)With the tradition of Confucianism as the core and the traditions of Buddhism and Taoism as the auxiliary,it sets up a standard in the practice of beliefs to distinguish right and wrong,the orthodoxy and the heresy in social life beyond religious schools.And 3)Embedded in the social structure of"human relations in everyday life,"through the combination of educational/cultivational system and moral and political order,there has developed a pluralistic,dynamic and constantly enriched indigenous faith community.