DOI: 10.30792/2949-5768-2024-8-56-68
ON THE TENDENCY TO LAOIZATION IN THE RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN BUDDHISM AND TAOISM AT THE TURN OF THE HAN AND WEI DYNASTIE
Hu Yonghui – Associate Professor at the Department of Philosophy of Nanjing University, Research Fellow at the Research Center for Eastern Philosophy and Religious Culture of Nanjing University, Research Fellow at the Confucius Academy (China).
E-mail: hyh33@nju.edu.cn.
The article examines the evolution of relations between Buddhism and Taoism, starting from the Han Dynasty to the Wei and Jin Dynasties, which went through three stages: «the alchemy of the Taoist saints Huangdi and Laozi ‒ Laoization ‒ the unification of Laozi and Zhuangzi». Even during the time of the Eastern Han Emperor Huan (132‒168), the form of interaction between Buddhism and Taoism began to shift from the rapprochement of Buddhism with the alchemy of the Taoist sages Huangdi and Laozi to the borrowing and perception of elements of Laoism by Buddhism. The shifts caused by the influence of the alchemy of the Taoist saints Huangdi and Laozi and Laoism find specific expression in the Buddhist translated canons of that time. In the polemics of the three teachings at the turn of the Han and Wei eras, Buddhism, as a rule, responded to the requests and accusations of contemporaries through Laoism, and considered the teachings of Confucius as an internal standard, emphasizing that Buddhism and Confucianism are fundamentally united. At the same time, the expediency of Buddhist theories was substantiated through Laoism, and thereby the doubts of Confucians were dispelled. This phenomenon demonstrates to the very least the fact that Laoism in the eyes of contemporaries could be used as a response to Confucians, and also testifies to its recognition by society. The simultaneous appeal to Laozi and Zhuangzi in the process of translating Buddhist works of the Wei and Jin periods not only demonstrates the popularity of Zhuangzi’s teachings in the Wei and Jin periods, but also indirectly reflects the tendency towards Laoization in the relationship between Buddhism and Taoism. The interaction of Daoism, Xuanxue, and Buddhist Prajna became an important occasion for discussions on ontological issues in the Wei and Jin periods. From this perspective, the tendency toward Laoization in the relationship between Buddhism and Daoism at the turn of the Han and Wei can be seen as a stage preceding the ideological fusion of Xuanxue and Buddhism in the Wei and Jin periods.
