當代新儒家對《大智度論》的理解與詮釋

Contemporary Neo-Confucian Interpretations of the Da-zhi-du-lun (Mahāprajñāpāramitopadeśa)

當代新儒家的佛學詮釋涉及的哲學議題相當廣博，若研究聚焦於影響中國佛學甚深的《大智度論》，熊十力與牟宗三先生則分別留有具體的著作。熊十力透過「融釋儒佛」與「抑佛揚儒」雙軌的詮釋理路，有意識地摘錄文本並作詮釋，以完成其「抑佛揚儒」之目的。牟宗三除以康德哲學疏通此論之重要哲學議題外，更以天臺宗學作為詮釋基礎，據此作為其對中國哲學的判教標準。本文指出，《大智度論》在當代新儒家之佛學詮釋的地位，在於熊、牟二人均透過此論的詮釋返回存有論的關懷，藉此判釋儒佛二家的理論價值，並凸顯儒家之存有論的優勢。

Contemporary Neo-Confucian expositions of Buddhist philosophy touch upon a broad range of philosophical issues, but in terms of carefully examining the Da-zhi-du-lun (Mahaprajñāpāramitopadeśa)—a text which has had a significant influence on Chinese Buddhism—the works of Xiong Shili and Mou Zongsan stand out. Xiong Shili employs a double-track approach of ‘blending Confucian and Buddhist interpretation’ and ‘restraining Buddhism for the sake of advocating Confucianism’, while deliberately extracting certain portions of this text for exposition in order to accomplish his goal of advancing Confucianism. Mou Zongsan, on the other hand, explains key philosophical issues of the Da-zhi-du-lun from a Kantian perspective and applies Tiantai Buddhist theory to his interpretations of the text, and then uses those outcomes to appraise Chinese philosophy. This paper points out that the importance of the Da-zhi-du-lun with regards to contemporary Neo-Confucian views on Buddhism stems from Xiong Shili and Mou Zongsan's concern for a return to ontology. Through their explications of this text, they come to a position to better evaluate the merits of Confucian and Buddhist theory, and to favour strongly the Confucian ontology.