A Probe Into Master Taixu's Views On Good And Evi

In the early 1930 s,the invasion of foreign powers plunged Chinese society into numerous crises.In the social situation of domestic and foreign crises,a large number of patriotic people carry out activities to save the nation from subjugation and seek survival through various means.Intellectuals represented by Chen Duxiu and Cai Yuanpei advocated saving the country with ethics,while Dharma Master Taixu,a representative of the Buddhist community,also made a positive response.He took the lead in raising a new banner of saving the country and the people from ethical and moral construction.In the face of the historical tragedy of national poverty and lack of family,Taixu refers to "the way to save the country,although the emphasis is on the cultivation of national productive forces and socio-economic strength,but the more fundamental is the national morality." In Taixu’s view,ethical reform and national character transformation are the only way to save the nation from extinction and survive,However,the decline of traditional culture and the impact of Western ideas have made Chinese social ethics tottering,and Chinese society urgently needs a new value system as the theoretical source of national ethics and moral construction.As a result,Taixu turned his attention to Buddhism,introducing the excellent ethical ideas of Buddhism into the construction of national morality,and advocating the recasting of social ethics and moral norms with Buddhism as the core.Therefore,Taixu fully discussed the good and evil of ethics and the good and evil of human nature,and based on this,proposed the construction methods and paths of outlook on life,ethics,and morality.He aspired to "proclaim the true meaning of Mahayana Buddhism to the maximum extent of the trend of thought in the human sea,and establish a positive thinking track for the modern people."The purpose of this article is to systematically expound the good and evil thoughts of Taixu from multiple perspectives,in order to comprehensively grasp the important significance of Taixu’s good and evil thoughts for the construction of social ethics and morality.The article is divided into three parts.The first chapter mainly discusses Taixu’s views on "good" and "evil".First of all,in a brief review of the Buddhist concept of good and evil,the historical significance of Taixu’s thought of good and evil was clarified.Then,it expounded his thought of good and evil from multiple perspectives,and followed the thinking of Taixu to deeply explore the criteria for judging good and evil,the perspectives of defining good and evil,such as "self" and "other",and the principle of good and evil,such as "originating emptiness".The second chapter focuses the discussion of good and evil on the commonality of humanity-human nature.This chapter focuses on Taixu’s evaluation of Mencius and Xunzi’s viewpoint on human nature,mainly including Taixu’s dialectical criticism of "the theory of good nature" and "the theory of evil nature" from the perspective of ethics and Buddhism,as well as his viewpoint on human nature.The focus of this section is on Taixu’s elaboration of the good and evil of human nature from three different perspectives,namely,ethics,humanity,and Buddhism,fully reflecting the high level of thinking of the master in integrating China and the West,and integrating Confucianism and Buddhism.The first two chapters are theoretical introductions to Taixu’s thought of good and evil,while the third chapter mainly demonstrates the practical application of Taixu’s thought of good and evil in real life.He incorporated the concept of good and evil into real life and society,analyzed the deep meaning of life and proposed guiding standards for the lives of all living beings,that is,the Buddhist outlook on life.Based on his analysis of the psychology of good and evil,he proposed to use Buddhist ethical norms to dispel the evil in the world,while expanding the good in the world,so as to construct an ethical society.Based on the analysis of the good and evil of human nature,he pointed out that it is necessary to take "self interest and altruism" as the core ideology,take the precepts of Buddhism as the code of conduct,and use moral education as a means to stop evil and do good in human nature,advance from individuals to the country,and ultimately popularize the Datong society,building a harmonious and peaceful world ethics and morality.In general,Taixu’s view of good and evil is based on the theoretical analysis of the thought of good and evil,thereby advocating that the public construct a sound outlook on life,ethics,and morality through the way of "stopping evil and doing good.".Looking at the development process of the entire Buddhist thought of good and evil,Taixu’s discussion of the thought of good and evil plays a pivotal role in connecting the preceding and the following.He integrated the ancient and the present,not only deeply summarizing the ethical thoughts of Buddhism,but also playing a leading role in the elucidation of Buddhist thoughts in later generations.While inheriting the Mahayana Buddhist concept of "self serving and altruistic" good and evil,he has absorbed the research results of modern ethics,psychology,and other disciplines,carefully excavating the deep meaning of the concept of good and evil,and applying it to the moral construction of individuals and society in the real world.From our current perspective,the ethical and moral norms advocated by Taixu still play a positive role in the construction of modern socialism.