以古鑑今論臺灣當代佛教與基督宗教：從一門通識課作業談起

A Historical Perspective on Contemporary Buddhism and Christianity in Taiwan: Beginning with an Assignment for a General Education Course

佛教與基督宗教對臺灣社會的影響與貢獻甚鉅。筆者開設一門通識課，以此二宗教與伊斯蘭教為課程內容。在2014年為這門課規劃一項期末作業，根據各組學生聯絡基督教會和佛教道場的經歷與他們的訪談記錄，以此為本研究的參考起點，進而聯繫到筆者對臺灣佛教與基督宗教的長年觀察，並以此二宗教的歷史發展作為借鏡，可發現一些深具意義的現象。從創教之初，此二宗教都富有傳道的使命感，後來為了探究與宣揚自己宗教的「真理」，分別發展出頗具規模的教育研究機構，但這類機構在臺灣發揮的功能，兩教差距甚大。此二宗教原本都鼓勵信徒時常到教會或道場學習宗教義理，固定每隔七天或大約每隔七天舉行一次聚會，基督宗教稱為「主日崇拜／主日彌撒」，佛教稱為「齋日／布薩」。「法會」一詞原指此類講經說法的聚會。但在當今臺灣，這種佛教聚會已經沒落，而基督宗教依舊維持其傳統。佛教與基督宗教各自早已派別林立，近幾十年來，此二宗教在臺灣的教派意識發展有相反的趨勢：前者傾向於自我定位為民族性的「漢傳佛教」，各派竭力發展其特色以別於其他教派，後者則強調普世的基督信仰，追求超越教派藩籬，不同教派能在宣教與慈善濟世方面合作。

Buddhism and Christianity have had a substantial impact and made contributions to Taiwan's society. I teach a general education course that focuses on these two religions and Islam. In 2014, I designed an assignment for this course in which students contact Christian churches and Buddhist temples/monasteries and write interview reports. These students' experiences and reports serve as the starting point of my research. I associate them with my long-term observation of Buddhism and Christianity in Taiwan and use the historical developments of these two religions for reference, thereby discovering some significant phenomena. Since their inceptions, both religions have been filled with a sense of mission to disseminate their doctrine. Later, for the sake of exploring and spreading the “truth” of their own, the two religions established institutions of considerable size for education and research. However, there is disparity between the two religions in terms of how effectively their institutions function in Taiwan. From the beginning, both religions encouraged followers to frequent churches or temples/monasteries and learn about religious doctrine there. Congregational meetings are held (approximately) every seven days, which is called “Sunday worship/Sunday Mass” in Christianity or “fasting day/uposatha” in Buddhism. The term fahui “Dharma assembly” originally referred to this kind of gathering where the scriptures are preached. In contemporary Taiwan, however, such Buddhist congregations have faded away while Christianity still maintains its tradition of such meetings. Buddhism and Christianity have split into many branches for a long time. In recent decades, the two religions in Taiwan have developed opposite trends in sectarian ideologies. The former tends to identify itself as “[Han] Chinese tradition Buddhism” with national characteristics, and each Buddhist sect endeavors to develop its individual features to distinguish itself from the others. The latter emphasizes the universality of Christian faith and tries to break down barriers between denominations so that different denominations can cooperate in missionary and charitable social work.