慈善活动与佛教振兴——浅谈南亭长老的宗教竞争意识

Charity Activities and Buddhist Revival——On Master Nanting's Consciousness of Religion Competition

面对基督教在中国的强势发展,南亭长老经常将佛教与基督教加以对比。他以基督教主张人类可以食用动物为依据,对其宣扬的上帝至善产生了怀疑。他意识到基督教是一种推崇斗争的宗教。他从对比中体会到举办慈善事业的重要性,故而在弘扬佛法时,长期坚持举行一些力所能及的慈善活动。他创立的华严莲社是在热心慈善和弘扬佛法之间取得良性循环的成功特例。

Facing the great development of Christianity in China, Master Nanting often compared Buddhism with Christianity. Based on Christianity’s claim that humans can eat animals, he cast doubt on the goodness of God. He realized that Christianity was a struggle-advocating religion. In contrast, he realized the importance of charity, so he persisted in carrying out charity activities as much as he could. The Society of Huayan he founded was a successful illustration of the mutual promotion of between charity activities and Buddhist revival.