论佛教在西方200年的形象变化

在过去的200年间,佛教在西方的形象,前后发生了显著的变化:佛教徒已从最初的异教徒,转而成为犹太-基督教传统的对话者;西方学者原先常把印度佛教、巴利佛教看成纯粹佛教,而把汉藏佛教当作印度佛教的附庸,甚至是堕落的表现形式,现在,这种退化史观得到了彻底的清算;佛教在19世纪被普遍当作一种虚无主义,但到20世纪下半叶,竟成了疗治西方社会现代性危机的思想资源。所有这些变化,正在催生欧美国家的新佛教:注重禅修、强调参与、倡导宗教对话。

On the Change of Buddhism's Image in the West in the Last Two Centuries

The Buddhism’s image in the west appeared itself with great change in the last two centuries,and this paper would like to discuss three aspects of the change.First,Buddhist has been changed from heathens to dialogists of the Judeo-Christian tradition.Second,the west scholars used to recognize Indian Buddhism or Pāli Buddhism as pure Buddhism, and Chinese or Tibetan Buddhism as the followers of Indian Buddhism,sometimes as corrupt Buddhism;however this historical view of deterioration has been completely removed.Third,Buddhism was often figured as a kind of nihilism in the 19th century,but in the later 20th century it has been changed into an important thinking resource to cure the modern crisis in the west.All of these changes are now inducing New Buddhism in the west,which focuses on meditation,engagement in social affairs,and inter-religious dialogues.