The Confucian Reading of Buddhist Teaching: Two Truths, Li Shizheng and the Intellectual Milieu of Buddhism in the Early Tang

在佛教逐步融入中國文化的過程中，有一種頗為引人注目的現象，即佛教之概念與思想，在未經嚴格佛學訓練的文人之表述中，經常遭到扭曲，被人為地輸入一些本來沒有的意義，並被附著上一些本來沒有的表達方式。唐初文人的許多作品中，即常見此類現象，可謂借道家之名言，說佛家之義理，以傳達儒家之思想。這一現象，一方面，反映了非專業人士佛學素養之不足，而另一方面，則折射出當時士人在接受與處理外來之佛教文化時的一種可能是無意識的基本態度：即以積極入世的儒家精神，去解讀與接受淡退出世之佛家教義。這一基本態度，從一個側面反映了作為受者之中國文化，是如何以其自身之因素接受、調和、並最終同化外來文化之過程的。

關鍵字

思想背景；佛教漢化；二諦；李師政；內德論

並列摘要

We sometimes recognize a curious mixture of Daoist jargons, Buddhist teachings and Confucian spirit in the writings of non-Buddhist elite. Such a mixture invites us to think about the level of familiarity with Buddhist thought on the part of these non-Buddhist elite, and the implication of such familiarity on the reception and development of Buddhism in China. Addressing these questions, this paper focuses on the non-Buddhist treatment of the Buddhist concept of Two Truth in the 7th-century China, and examines, as a case study, a treatise on Buddhism by a scholar official. It argues that the apparently flawed understanding of Buddhism on the part of the non-Buddhist elite should not be dismissed as simply the result of an inadequate doctrinal training, but must also be seen as reflecting a conscious effort to read Confucianism into Buddhism-a tendency that both underlies and shapes the indigenization of Buddhism in China.