六十年來台灣佛學概論著作之評估

A Critical Review of Introductory Writings on Buddhist Publications in Taiwan over the Last Sixty Years

對於有興趣了解佛教思想的人，都會感覺到對一本適當入門書的迫切需要。然而，這樣的作品，在民國成立之前並未出現。1916年，謝蒙編著《佛學大綱》，可視為中國第一本正式的佛學入門書。1930年，太虛大師撰《佛學概論》，爾後，《佛學概論》廣泛流行起來了。「佛學概論」的主要工作，在於接引廣泛的大眾入門，並協助理解正確的佛教義理。將完整而正確的佛教觀念，介紹給讀者，是佛學概論應負起的基本責任。這有賴奠基於佛教聖典研究，建立理解的客觀基礎，進而對之抉擇分類、客觀分析，再參酌現代研究成果，爾後可期合理完備的佛理體系。然而，六十年來（若從謝蒙算起，就將近七十年了），現代台灣佛學概論研究，卻普遍忽略上述要求，只是達致現代學術研究基本水平而已，一本適當的佛教入門書仍然難求！此一情況，並不符合讀者知識渴求的願望，更何況，佛學概論課程已廣泛在大學的哲學系、中文系、通識課程，與各佛學院中開設，如果教師們傳授給同學的佛學概論，大抵都是不夠全面完整並嚴謹正確的理論，其中引起的廣大不良影響，也是可以預期的了。本文盡可能探討了六十年來台灣佛學概論撰著情況，除介紹他們的研究成果，也嘗試指出其中一些問題，並試著為一本現代佛學概論應具備的內涵，提出一些觀點。另外一個引申出來的重要發現是，除了佛學概論外，另存有一種重要的佛學入門體裁—「修道次第論」，極待學者之重視，甚至比佛學概論更加重要！

For those interested in Buddhism, a good introductory guide is essential. However, such a work did not exist before the founding of the Republic of China in 1912. The first introductory book on Buddhism that ever appeared in China was compiled by Xie Meng in 1916. Following Master Tai Xu’s An Introduction to Buddhism (1930), a large number of similar publications came into being, gaining popularity among people interested in learning about Buddhist thought. Generally speaking, the goal of this kind of writing is to encapsulate the gist of Buddhism for the general public and foster a correct and complete understanding of Buddhist concepts. Authors of this type of publication not only need to have a full understanding of the entire collection of the Buddhist canon—they also need to select, classify, and analyze objectively the contents of the canon and refer to contemporary studies to come up with a logical, all-embracing Buddhist theoretical system. However, if we look at the Buddhist guidebooks published in Taiwan over the past 60 years (it would be 70 years if we counted from Xie Meng), we will find that almost all of the publications fail to measure up. We still do not have a truly good basic book that would meet the needs of the many introductory courses on Buddhism taught in the departments of philosophy, Chinese literature, and general education at universities throughout Taiwan. Without access to a well-written textbook, the quality of these courses is likely to suffer. This article reviews the various introductory writings on Buddhist thought published in Taiwan over the past 60 years. In addition to pointing out the strengths and weaknesses of these publications, the article tries to articulate the necessary points that should be included in a good introductory book on Buddhism. The article also discusses the important topic of “Different Stages of Spiritual Development” that outlines point by point the various stages of spiritual cultivation for beginners. It is a subject of great significance that calls for the attention of Buddhist scholars and it will be covered in the fifth section of the article.