A Study Of The Fusion Of Confucianism, Buddhism And Daoism In Fang Yizhi's Thought

This Treatise mainly explores Fang Yizhi's thought on "the fusion of Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism".The author defines his "fusion of the three religions" as "the unity of the three religions",with the premise that they attribute to the same root and there is no difference in essence.Based on this proposition,two related issues are mainly discussed:what is the same root of the three religions and how can the three religions be traced to the root.Influenced by his grandfather Wu Guanwo and his master Buddhist monk Langjue Daosheng,Fang Yizhi generated the consciousness of the "fusion of the three religions". At the same time,Yi-ology that handed down from the older generations of his family provided him with the metaphysical basis of his philosophy.As Fang's core thought lies in his ontology,the author begins with the definition of Existence and Non-existence in Fang's works,believing that Fang confers it with two meanings.Firstly,it is regarded as a pair of related categories,expressing the epistemological rules on the world,as well as the relationship between the fundamental and the incidental,the one and myriads.Secondly,it is also concerned with a realm of "being unformed by Existence and Non-existence",which is viewed by Fang as the very essence of things.Fang elaborates this point with the discrimination of One and Two(myriad),in which One represents noumenon,and Two the phenomenon.A concrete example of this can be found in that there is One,there is Two,and Two originates from One.This is a doubleaction dynamic process,as well as a framework of three dimensions,as it contains Two,One,and the unity of One and Two.The relationship between One and Two is not only the innate characteristic of existence but also that of human thinking mode,wherein human thinking and existence attain to a unity in Fang's theory.The above is the main idea of Fang's ontology,as well as the academic source of his "fusion of the three religions".As for the second issue,i.e.how can the three religions be traced to one root,Fang Yizhi begins with the concret concepts in the thoughts of the three religions.According to him,the theoretical systems of the three religions are developed on the basis of the same root.Fang attaches great importance to the Analects and the Doctrine of the Mean. Most of the propositions in these two books are explained by Fang in a very original way,such as "all-encompassing Principle","word and wordless","infering the whole from a single instance" and "the Mean" etc..Fang holds the opinion that all of these propositions are the demonstration of the relationship between One and Two(myriad). Moreover,he has a deep understanding of the Confucian theory on huaman nature,and puts special emphasis on Chan Buddhism and Huan-yan sect of Chinese Buddhism.He believes that some stories recorded in Chan Buddhism classics indicate a realm of being "unformed by existence and non-existence".Chan Buddhism doesn't suggest setting up words to explain the communication of one and myriad.In Taoistic classics,Fang Yizhi values Zhuang zi most,explaining Zhuang zi with the thought of Chan Buddhism, Confucianism and Yi-ology.He annotates such concepts in Zhuang zi as "spiritual freedom","non-conditional state" and "homogeneousness of myriads of things" to illustrate the communication between Zhuang zi and other schools."The fusion of the three religions" is a historic issue,and Fang's thought is only one special case.Therefore the author tries to study the characteristic of Fang's thought under the specific historical background.It contains three respects:equally valuing the three religions;approaching value-free,and a comprehensive expression.Futhermore, we compare Fang's thinking mode with that of Leonard Swidler:Leonard Swidler stresses that it discards the absolute truth if we establish a premise;while Fang holds that the basis on which we make the fusion of the three religions possible just lies in the absolute truth.Thereby we demonstrate a distinctive thinking mode in Chinese philosophy,i.e.noumenon and function can't be separated from each other.At the same time,during this process,we can find Fang's endeavor to reach a comprehensive expression.