印順對現代新儒家的理解與評騭

Yin-shun’s insightful understanding and criticism of contemporary New Confucianism

現代新儒家在 1930 年代興發，馬一浮、熊十力、梁漱溟、方東美、牟宗三、唐君毅諸賢踵起，形成一股思潮。他們欲恢復先秦儒家與宋明理學傳統，襲取、應用西洋哲學與佛學為範疇，期以重建儒學並予現代化，惟由於他們對佛教未有真切信解，故多師理學遺緒而排斥佛法。印順基於維護佛教尊嚴，端正社會視聽，乃毅然撰文回應、批駁現代新儒家對佛法之曲解與誤用。本文條分印順對現代新儒家之理解主要有二：一是現代新儒家擡頭於新生活運動；二是現代新儒家論衡佛法越過前儒。他對現代新儒家之評騭，則可歸納為三：一是現代新儒家缺乏真切之佛教信解；二是現代新儒家對佛學之知解有曲蔽；三是現代新儒家劃限格局於自家一派。這些觀察應是公允的。

Due to the upsurge of the contemporary new Confucianism in the 1930s, the masters including Ma Yi-fu, Xiong Shi-li, Liang Shu-ming, Fang Thomé H., Mou Zong-san, and Tang Jun-yi emerged and formed a trend of thoughts. They attempted to recover the convention of pre Qin Confucian and Neo-Confucianism, inherited and applied Western philosophy and Buddhism so as to re-built and to modernize Confucianism. Nonetheless, they overwhelmingly followed Neo-Confucians’ ideas and excluded Buddhism as a result of their lack of genuine conviction and understanding. Based on the maintenance of Buddhist dignity and correction of the facts, Yin-shun wrote articles to respond and rebuked the misunderstanding and misuse of Buddhism caused by Neo-Confucianism. This article analyzes that Yin-shun’s comprehension of contemporary New Confucianism are two-fold. Firstly, the rise of contemporary New Confucianism was derived from the New Life Movement. Secondly, the discourses of contemporary New Confucianism about Buddhism did go beyond the former Confucians. In addition, according to the criticism of Yin-shun about contemporary New Confucianism, three important points can be concluded. The first point is that contemporary New Confucians seemed to be deficient in real belief about Buddhism. Secondly, contemporary New Confucianism misconstrued and misinterpreted Buddhism. Thirdly, contemporary New Confucianism restricted their discoursed within their own faction. Importantly, these views may be unbiased.