Chinese Buddhism and Neo-Confucianism of the Song and Ming dynasties

Author: Chen Yunning
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2002-02-01
Features: Since the Western Han Dynasty, the history of ancient Chinese thought, in terms of its fundamental content and characteristics, has been a history dominated by Confucian thought, where Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism both oppose and integrate with each other. Therefore, studying the history of ancient Chinese thought cannot only focus on Confucianism in isolation but must also study Buddhist and Taoist thought simultaneously. Otherwise, one cannot grasp the full picture of the history of ancient Chinese thought or understand the development of Confucianism. Moreover, compared to Taoist thought, Buddhist thought possesses richer theoretical content and more refined dialectical structures, exerting a greater influence on the development of Confucian thought in the later feudal society. Thus, the study of Buddhist thought, especially the research on the mutual absorption and mutual exclusion between Buddhist and Confucian thought, becomes even more important. From the mainstream development of ancient Chinese thought, Confucian thought, established by Confucius and Mencius, has gone through different stages of development: Confucianism that advocates the feudal Three Cardinal Principles and Five Constant Virtues as absolute truth is the initial stage of Confucian thought development, characterized by a strong emphasis on unification in ethical philosophy. Ontologically, the exploration of the relationship between heaven and humanity, even within Confucianism itself, remains in a state of contention among the Hundred Schools of Thought, without forming a unified Confucian metaphysical philosophy. In the mid-Western Han Dynasty, to adapt to Emperor Wu of Han's policy of "suppressing the Hundred Schools and upholding Confucianism exclusively" and to perfect and consolidate the newly established feudal order, Dong Zhongshu proposed the theory of "Heaven-Humanity Resonance," viewing "Heaven" as a divine being and arguing for the metaphysical system of Confucian ethical philosophy from the perspective of the unity of heaven and humanity. Later, whether it was Zou Yan's Yin-Yang and Five Elements theory or divination and scripture-based theology, they generally followed Dong Zhongshu's line of thinking to develop theological metaphysics.