四大耶? 五行耶? 四行耶?——杨廷筠辨儒释耶元素论

Four or Five Elements:The Differentiation by YANG Ting-yun on the Notion of the Elements Held Respectively by Confucianism,Buddhism and Catholicism

明清之际天主教在华传教士利玛窦在基督教神学框架内,用西方哲学元素论改造中国传统儒佛元素论,以"四行"代"五行"、"四大"。明末中国天主教徒杨廷筠沿袭其传教士老师的思路,也基于基督教创造论对儒家和佛教的元素说进行了辨析。认为,儒家宇宙构成论体系中的阴阳五行观念,与基督教创造论体系中的四行观念,异中有同:异在元行的种类和数目不同,同在其共为万物的质料。而佛教四大元素说,则是基督教四行说的改头换面。但是,他也表现出不同于其传教士老师的倾向,即仍在传统哲学意义上解说气在万物生成中的本原作用,并吸收佛教假合说的内容以论证基督教观念。杨廷筠的辨析,表现出他调和两种文化传统的努力。

The Catholic missionary Matteo Ricci remolded, between the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the notion of element held by Confucianism and Buddhism in accordance with the notion of elements in western philosophy within the framework of Christian theology, replacing the five elements in Confucianism and the four elements in Buddhism with the Christian four elements. Also based on the theory of Christian creation, the Chinese Catholic YANG Ting-yun followed the train of thought of his master and conducted a differentiation and analysis on the notion of elements held by Confucianism and Buddhism. He contended that there exist both a similarity and a difference between Confucian and Christian notion of elements. The difference can be seen in different types and numbers while the similarity can be observed by the fact they are all the materials from which the world is made. Furthermore, the four elements in Buddhism is only a change in appearance of the Christian four elements. What makes him different from his master, however, is that he considered that ＂Qi＂ is the ethereal substance of which all things in the universe are composed while he made use of Buddhist concept of ＂empirical combination without permanent reality＂ in expounding and proving Christian concepts. It is obvious that YANG Ting-yun was trying to make a reconciliation between these two cultural traditions