試論學界對大乘佛教興起之看法

The Research on the Origin of Mahayana Buddhism

佛教思想並非從佛陀設教起，即確立了所有的思想，而是經過時間，空間的改變，而持續演化的思想。因為佛教是一個實踐性的宗教，其教理必然會與其所處的時空相互影響，並進行融入該文化或時空的必要改變。於本文，作者即想探討幾個為東亞國家所信奉的大乘佛法所含藏的根本問題：成立時間？發生地點？發生的原因？以及如何發生？雖然要正確無誤地回答這幾個問題，實屬不可能的事。因為，不重歷史記載的印度，可靠可信的史料實在少之又少，又，由於大乘經典的造經者，多以佛陀或菩薩名義來造經，因此，想要具體、切確地陳述大乘佛教的發生時間、地點或是發展過程，均有著相當程度的困難。是以本文試圖就目前學界對大乘佛教教興起所拋出的詮說：部派起源說、大乘佛教教團起源說、異文化起源說、永恒懷念說、集體意識說等，來嘗試解讀大乘佛教的起源及特色。

Buddhism thoughts did not form and establish at the moment when Buddha had taught, but with the passing time and the change of the space, the thoughts evolved continuously. Because Buddhism is a practical religion which could not forbid the influences from the living culture and made the necessary changes. In this paper, the author wants to probe into several basic questions hidden in Mahayana Buddha dharma, such as: The establish time? The happened place? The reason to happen? And how to happen? Though to answer these questions correctly, it is really impossible. Because India does not have enough historical records, so there are really few reliable believable historical datas, and because the name of the Mahayana Sutra's writers used to use the name of Buddha or Bodhisattva, therefore it's even more difficult to find out the answer. But as this is the worthy work to do, so I won't give up tracing to the source, hope at the end of the paper can find out a accepted and received result.