论韩愈眼中的佛道文学

Buddhist and Taoist Literature in Han Yu's Eyes

韩愈历来被视为儒家排挤佛道最重要的代表,但他对于佛道文学则不乏认同,一则认同其恢奇之风格,一则认同其平淡之风格。究其因,首先在于儒释道三家的思想体系都能容纳这两种风格;其次在于当时士人面对时代困境,需要通过这两种风格克服自己内心的痛苦。儒释道三家在此点上遂得以共通,韩愈的态度即是其例。然而韩愈坚定的儒家立场使其不满足于风格气质的克服,他需要在其中注入实质的道德内容,所以他对于佛道文学的认可只停留于浅层,实质上仍对其予以辨斥。这说明韩愈实际上已意识到儒家与佛道之间根本性差异的问题,这些问题在后世乃成为新儒学体系建设之焦点。

Han Yu has long been considered as the most important representative of the Buddhism-banishing and Taoism-banishing Confucians. But he showed his appreciation for Buddhist and Taoist literature to a certain degree. On the one hand, he appreciated their style of huiqi （恢奇, singularity）, while on the other hand, he spoke highly of their style of pingdan （平淡, plainness）. Firstly, this is because of the compatibility of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism with these two different styles. Secondly, this is because the scholars at that time needed these two different styles to overcome their inner anguish caused by the predicament they were faced with. Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism shared something in common at this point. Han Yu＇s attitude was a typical example for this compatibility. But his firm standpoint of Confucianism made him unsatisfied with merely overcoming his inner anguish by using the two different styles. He needed to put substantial morality into his thinking. So his appreciation for Buddhist and Taoist literature only rested on the surface level, and in essence he still banished Buddhism and Taoism. This suggests that Han Yu had actually been aware of the fact that Confucianism was essentially different from Buddhism and Taoism. This issue became the focus of system-constructing for later New-Confucianism.