“会三归一”与“开权显实”——《法华经》中的“宗教对话”思想及其在天台宗中的运用

"To Unite the Three Vehicles in One" and "to Explore the Temporary Teaching of the Three Vehicles and Reveal the Final Truth":On the Concept of "Religious Dialogue" in the Lotus Sutra and Its Practice in Tiantai School

"宗教对话"是当代宗教界和宗教学界的时髦话题,这个话题原本是在基督宗教的主导下提出来的,但后来也得到了其他宗教的响应。不过,"宗教对话"本身并非是什么新事物,印度佛教在公元一世纪发展到大乘佛教时便主张"宗教对话",而以大乘佛教为基础的中国佛教在"宗教对话"的思想和实践上更是达到了登峰造极的地步。本文分析了大乘佛教经典《法华经》中的"会三归一"、"开权显实"的"宗教对话"思想以及依据《法华经》而成立的天台宗调和大小乘以及会通儒佛的"宗教对话"理论和实践。基督宗教的"宗教对话"思想是应景的、外置的,因为《圣经》中并没有什么"宗教对话"思想,而大乘佛教的"宗教对话"思想则是内在于佛经因而就是佛教教义本身。

The ＂religious dialogue＂, initiated by Christianity and joined by other religions, is a much discussed topic among religious circles and scholars. Nevertheless, the concept of religious dialogue itself is not something new since the Mahayana school of the Indian Buddhism began to advocate religious dialogue in the first century while the Chinese Buddhist schools originated from the Mahayana school reached the peak of perfection of religious dialogue both in theory and praxis. The paper makes an analysis of such concepts of religious dialogue as ＂uniting the three vehicles in one＂ and ＂ exploring the temporary teaching of the three vehicles and reveal the final truth＂ in the Lotus Sutra and the theory and praxis of the Tiantai school in reconciling the Mahayana and Hinayana schools or Buddhism and Confucianism. The thesis contends that the religious dialogue put forward by Christianity is occasional and extrinsic since there is not such an idea in the Bible while the Mahayana dialogue is intrinsic to the Buddhist scriptures and is what Buddhism promotes.