儒僧:儒释交涉的一个侧面

Clergy-monks:An Aspect of Buddhist-Confucian Intersection

在佛教中国化的进程中,有一个此前不太为人所专门研究的特殊群体,即放弃儒者身份,出家为僧的“儒僧”。历史上,皈依、亲近佛教的士大夫不在少数,而转变身份、出家为僧的儒士却并不多见。本文以这一群体为研究对象,从宏观的角度考察了几类儒僧,并通过几位具有代表性的儒僧,分析了他们的出家目的等细节,从而比较了自魏晋以降,唐宋乃至明清时代,儒僧的自我意识以及他人看待儒僧的态度的演变,从一个角度揭示出儒家与佛教在势力上的此消彼长。

This article focuses on a special group of eminent monks,who were Confucian scholars before tonsured.In the long history of interaction between Buddhism and Confucianism,mingled with integration and collision,numerous Confucian scholars showed compassion and understanding toward Buddhism but few of them converted to it.Nevertheless,the importance of this kind of rare persons,clergy-monks should not be ignored.Instead,this article argues that their role in the history should be considered as a good case to analyze the power shift in the field of ideology between Buddhism and Confucianism.For example,the attitude towards these clergy-monks by secular people has been changed from the Six-dynasty to the Qing dynasty.Respect or contempt implies the general views towards these two teachings rather than personally.Therefore,this article compares the stories of some representing figures of clergy-monks in order to indicate the power shift mentioned above.