僧肇大乘佛教立场下的“圣人观”

Seng Zhao's thought on sage in Mahayana

僧肇梵华会通的之特色,集中体现在他的大乘"圣人观"上。僧肇将对中国传统圣人境界的追求,承接在了悲智双修的大乘佛教立场上,将佛教般若学问与生命境界打通。无论是僧肇著书中的语言、论证方式、文本结构还是其终极目标,处处都体现出这种杂糅。立足大乘佛教立场下的"圣人观",是解读僧肇"物不迁"、"不真空"、"般若之圣智"、"涅槃之圣境"之佛学理论的钥匙。僧肇大乘佛教立场下的"圣人观",体现的是佛教的立场而非老庄玄学或儒学。"圣人"、"至人"是老庄、儒家、玄学谈论的话题,僧肇承接那个时代的主题,继续谈下去。而僧肇的"圣人"更准确地说是大乘"菩萨"。

Seng Zhao,an eminent monk in the Eastern Jin Dynasty,integrated the Madhyamaka doctrine of Indian Buddhism with the traditional Chinese Taoism and Confucianism.His thought on sage in Mahayana fully embodies this integration.In other words,he managed to blend Mahayana with his unremitting pursuit of the high level of sage in the traditional sense,which can be found in all aspects of his works,such as the language style,argumentation,structure and the final goal.Seng Zhao's thought on sage is the key to the understanding of his Buddhism theories,for instance,immutability of things,non-sunya theory,super wisdom of Prajna and the level of nirvana.His idea is rooted in Buddhism rather than the Taoism metaphysics or Confucianism;the sage in his mind,to be more specific,is Mahayana Bodhisattva.