略论中国佛教的世俗化与“人间佛教”

Secularization of Chinese Buddhism and "Mundane Buddhism"

世俗化指宗教面临外部环境的冲击,而在社会中地位和作用的变化。它反映了宗教自身的调整功能以及宗教和外界的交互作用,在本质上意味着宗教神圣性的弱化。印度佛教特别是大乘佛教和中国佛教为佛教世俗化提供了理论上的支撑和良好的土壤。“人间佛教”对佛教世俗化作了某种程度的修正并成为新时期佛教发展的主流,但如何合理地把握出世和入世的关系在新世纪仍然是一个巨大的挑战和时代课题。

Secularization of religions refers to the changes of functions and social roles of religions under the impacts coming from the outside. It reflects the modification of religions themselves as well as the interaction between religions and the outside world. In most cases, secularization weakens the sacredness of religions in essence. Indian Buddhism, particularly Mahayana, and Chinese Buddhism provide the theoretical as well as practical support to the secularization of Buddhism. ＂Mundane Buddhism＂, adapting secularization of religions to some extent, acts as the mainstream of Buddhist development in the modern time. However, how to balance the worldly life and ascetic life in this new century is still a challenging and demanding problem.