「大國佛教」的如露亦如電：夢迴、夢醒上座部

＂The China Dream＂ behind the Religious Public Diplomacy of Yunnan Theravāda

劉宇光(Lawrence Y. K. Lau)

《禪與人類文明研究》 1期 (2016/12) Pp. 175-207

摘要

隨著中國的軍事、經濟及政治實力在國際上影響力的大增，中國官民皆有聲音呼籲：中國現在已是時候，須要大規模地推出包括宗教範疇在內的公共外交，向國際社會彰顯與中國國家硬實力相稱的軟實力，吸引國際社會欣賞中國。尤其當推出「一帶一路」的南進和西進國策後，因為「一路」的南進方案涉及主要是信仰上座部佛教的東南亞諸國，所以罕被討論的雲南上座部在一夜之間，突然成為了中國學者與官員爭相強調的所謂「重要戰略資源」。本文特別就此作出質疑，循：一、「大國佛教夢」的想像；二、在宗教地緣跨境競爭下看雲南上座部的實況；三、從泰國上座部高等教育到傣、暹離散社群的宗教公共外交，及中國的知識生產條件等四點，來論證該主張其實是欠缺對基本事實、乃至國際學界相關研究成果的起碼認知之情況下，所作的閉門造車立論，最終恐怕只是一廂情願的自說自話。

關鍵字

雲南上座部 ； 傣族佛教 ； 佛教公共外交

並列摘要

Within the last several years in China, there has been voice suggesting that now is the right moment for China to promote her soft power overseas, through various forms of public diplomacy, while religion is also included. Its purpose is trying to soften, or to comfort, the anxiety of other Asian countries, which is caused by China's rapid extension of her political, economic and military power in the area. Under this concern, Theravāda Buddhism in Yunnan, from China's perspective of international strategy, can be useful tool to extend China's soft power of Buddhism to various Southeast Asia countries with Theravāda background. This article is going to argue that there are series of unaware difficulty behind, which may frustrate the optimistic plan. The difficulty includes the current reality of a weak Theravāda saṃgha along with its fragmented monastic education, strong political influence on religion, intensified competition among various Theravāda traditions through the monastic educational network under a georeligious environment, and China's problematic mechanism of knowledge production of Southeast Asia.

並列關鍵字

Yunnan Theravāda ； the Dai Buddhism ； Buddhist public diplomacy