佛教在經濟型社會發展的作用初探

A Preliminary Study on the Role of Buddhism in the Development of an Economic Society

鄭慶雲(Cheng Hingwan)

《人間佛教研究》 1期 (2011/12) Pp. 75-88

摘要

二十世紀的世俗化運動，促進了全球的科學和技術的發展，其成果有目共睹。然而，全球的道德和倫理價值觀，也受到很大的衝擊。三次大規模的全球性金融風暴，似乎根源於這些道德和倫理價值的轉變，也間接誘發了二十世紀末東西方兩大陣營的宗教衝突，至今猶未平息。本文首先回顧了近年學術界在這方面的探討，包括宗教在現代經濟社會中所扮演的角色和產生的效應；學術界提出「宗教資本」這個概念，重新賦予了宗教在現代社會中的位置，亦成功地為宗教勾畫出一個適合在經濟研究上應用的系統框架。然後從佛教的角度，探討宗教與現代社會之間相互發展的路向。文末最後指出了經調整後的佛教，會在三方面為經濟型社會作出貢獻：一、義務工作的推廣可以平衡人們的經濟與精神生活；二、非世俗化（宗教運動）可以提高人們對多元文化的認知和包容，從而減少或消滅現存的文明衝突；三、佛教與現代各領域學科的相合所產生的教育有助於佛教的推廣，並且減少人們對世俗知識與生命認知的迷思。

關鍵字

佛教 ； 經濟 ； 世俗化 ； 宗教資本

並列摘要

The secularization movement has not only enhanced the scientific and technological development in the 20^(th) Century, but also made a very significant impact on global ethics and morality of our time. The three mass global financial crises can be seen as an aftermath of this change in ethical and moral values, which has also passively sprung the religious confrontation between the East and West in the 20^(th) Century. This paper first reviews the recent academic development of this topic including the role and effect of religion in the modern economical society. The academia introduced the idea of ＂religious capital＂ in re-defining the place of religion in modern society as well as successfully in constructing a framework applicable in examining religion based on economical basis. Basing on a Buddhist perspective, the paper then looks into the possible path religion can take on in the modern society. The end of this paper points out three specific contributions of a modified Buddhism towards a economical society, including the notions that: 1) volunteer works can promote the balance between economical and spiritual life of an individual; 2) de-secularization can enhance people's knowledge and acceptance towards cultural diversity and to minimize existing cultural clashes; and 3) the combination of Buddhism and different modern disciplines can establish an education system that can facilitate the promotion of Buddhism as well as reduce the ignorance towards secular knowledge and life meanings.

並列關鍵字

Buddhism ； economy ； secularization ； religious capital