十八世紀初巴黎外方傳教士顏璫《中國宗教四論》手稿論佛教

Discourse on Buddhism in the manuscript Religione Sinica (early Eigteenth century) by Charles Maigrot, MEP

Michele Ruggieri, Matteo Ricci and other Jesuits were the first to present the history and teaching of Buddhism to Europeans. At the beginning of the eighteenth century, when the Rites Controversy was at its height, Charles Maigrot wrote a voluminous manuscript, De Sinica Religione Dissertationes quatuor, containing a short section describing the history and doctrine of Chinese Buddhism. Unlike the summary treatment of Buddhism by the Jesuits, Maigrot translated Chinese materials. However, he did not directly translate Chinese sutras, but Confucian texts of the Song and Ming dynasties that discuss Buddhism. This paper presents the materials used by Maigrot and analyzes how he accepted the radical criticism of Qing Confucianism against Buddhism, and yet, on the question of moral retribution, Maigrot stood on the side of Buddhism. His discourse shows the complexity of the Catholic position on Buddhism.