从太虚佛教改革看近代佛教复兴运动之制度建构

The institutional construction of the revivalism of modern Buddhism from the perspective of the reformation of Taixu

从历史的角度言之,中国佛教是在印度佛教发展到大乘阶段方才较大规模地传入的。作为一种外来文化,佛教面对中土以儒家为本位的政治与文化环境,只能采取渐近的逐步渗透的方式传播。这就导致在事实层面,首先引起中土士人兴趣的并非佛教的制度,而是其思想,而且由于中印文化的固有差别,印度佛教的制度并非完全适合中土。由于前者,中国佛教的制度建设往往具有滞后性与非系统性;由于后者,中国佛教的制度建设往往具有中国特色,而并不完全与印度相同。然而,佛教的中国化不仅仅是在义理层面进行的,制度层面的中国化实际上更为重要。因为制度建设本身是思想义理的"凝固化"与"物质化",而思想义理只有达至制度化的层面其影响才有可能持久。当中国传统社会面临转型,中国佛教面临内忧外患,实际上已经到了一个生死存亡的关头,佛教的改革也就成为势所必然的事情。然而由于近代中国之复杂的政治社会环境,由太虚等人发起的救亡图存之佛教复兴运动最终并没有取得成功,但其理论与实践的成果,却值得我们学习和借鉴。

From the perspective of history, Chinese Buddhism was borrowed from Indian Buddhism when India Buddhism developed into a mature stage. As an extra religion, Buddhism faced the strong influence of Confucianism in China. What attracted the interests of Chinese intellectuals were the thoughts of Buddhism, not the system. Because of the cultural differences, the system of Indian Buddhism was not suitable to the development of Buddhism in China. The system of Chinese Buddhism had its own features and it was not developed. The construction of the system was important to the spread of Buddhism in China. When Chinese traditional society faced the transformation, it was necessary for Chinese Buddhism had the reformation. However, in the complicated political and social environment, the Revivalism of Buddhism launched by Taixu was not successful. The theory and the practices of the Revivalism were meaningful.