A scholar said that to use a metaphor of weaving, Chinese religions were constantly intertwined.
Peng Rui, a lecturer in the Department of Sociology of Nanchang University, delivered a lecture entitled "China's Pluralistic and Integrated Religious Pattern from the Perspective of Social Cooperation" at the 2021 Academic Annual Conference of the Chinese Sociological Association conducted in Chongqing in middle July.
The sub-forum of Sociology of Religion in the 2021 conference, hosted by the Chinese Sociological Society, was held on July 17.
"China's religious form has been controversial throughout history," Rui said. "Our common belief in China is that the three religions are harmonious and pluralistic, which is quite different from the exclusive religions in the West. Scholars with western backgrounds have been debating about this and are often left confused. For example, the earliest Jesuit missionaries in the late Ming and early Qing Dynasty thought Confucianism was a little religious but denied other religions. By Weber's time, Confucianism was recognized as a religion. After the 1960s, Western scholars regarded Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism as orthodox religions and set popular religion as a complete religious system."
He claimed that in ancient China, there was great space for different religions, resulting in a multi-religious situation.
"Yet despite this, we kept a very unified ideology. How can I explain this? It can be explained through the lens of cooperation in modern economics. For a society to exist, it needs multi-dimensional cooperation, such as cooperation between man and nature, vertical cooperation, horizontal cooperation, self-cooperation, and so on. In fact, regardless of religion, it needs to make some ethical explanations and how therefore can it make a single unified explanation that holds true in all dimensions."
"For China's characteristics, this can be made possible by many religions in these dimensions, and finally reaching an equilibrium," Rui continued. "For Christianity, it is a religion. We need to explain why China's religion is developing like this. After Confucianism emerged as an official religion, why did Buddhism and Taoism still have so much room for development and become the mainstream religion in China? After the Tang and Song Dynasties, Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism formed the harmony of the three religions. Why did the popular religion rise again and enter mainstream society? "
"Judging from the controversy of various schools of thought, Confucianism has made explanations for cooperation in many dimensions, as have Taoism and Mohism. Confucianism finally won, and its explanation of the types of social cooperation is the most extensive. Especially for China, which pays attention to intergenerational cooperation and vertical cooperation, its explanation is the strongest and most suitable. The problem is that Confucianism's explanation of man and nature is weak, and it emphasizes sociality in the cooperation between individuals and other individuals. For example, we emphasize glorifying ancestors, which is sociality. However, the orientation to individuality is relatively weak, and this is finally satisfied by Buddhism’s assertions," he added.
"After Buddhism was introduced into China, it made a lot of efforts in all dimensions, but finally, under the strong influence of Confucianism, it shrank to the ethical explanation of individual cooperation. As an institutional religion, Taoism has also made efforts in various dimensions, but in the end, it has made its main advances in the dimensions of man and nature. The final result is that Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism have together been explained in all dimensions."
"But for us Chinese, we use Confucianism from the perspective of intergenerational and vertical cooperation; Buddhism only relies on individual cooperation; Taoism is used to explain man and nature. In this sense, we have formed the harmony of the three religions."
"Why then can three-religion harmony be formed? It may be related to the ambiguity of its religion and the poor acceptability of ordinary people. In addition, due to the weak interpretation of the philosophy of supremacy, religion relies too much on the huge magical system to meet the practical ethical needs, so it finally forms an open and non-exclusive theological system for each religion to meet the needs of cooperative ethics, forming a relationship that is both competitive and integrated," the scholar explained.
There were some theological explanations for the construction of the overall balance of the integration of the three religions: the internal and external theories, the theories of all goodness and all holiness, and the theories of all paths leading to the same goal.
"But we can see that Confucianism seeks to undertake and organize the harmony of the three religions because of the close association between Confucianism and imperial power."
"Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism lack horizontal dimensions, and the cost of the integration of the three religions is very high. In a unified society, people need a religious form that can meet all ethical needs and needs of various dimensions, and finally form popular religions, such as the worship of the general Guan Yu and Mazu."
Rui concluded, "To use a metaphor of weaving: Chinese religions are constantly intertwined."
-Translated by Charlie Li
在中国社会学会主办2021年学术年会宗教社会学的分论坛于7月17日举行，南昌大学社会学系讲师彭睿分享了题为“社会合作视域下的中国多元一体宗教格局”的讲座。
“中国的宗教形态在历史上争议一直比较大。”彭睿老师分享道：“我们中国主流的说法是三教圆融、多元一体，这和西方排他性的宗教有很大的不一样。以西方为背景的学者对此一直有争论和困惑，比如说最早明末清初的耶稣会的传教士认为儒家有一点宗教性，但是否认其他的宗教。到韦伯时代，比较认可儒教是宗教。到1960年代以后，西方学者才把儒释道视为正统的宗教，且把大众宗教设为完整的宗教体系。”
彭睿老师介绍说，中国古代给予不同的宗教有很大的空间，呈现多元宗教、很多种宗教的状态，“但是我们又保持了一个很统一的理念。对此如何做出解释？我自己从现代经济学的合作视角来解释。对社会来说，它需要多种维度的合作，人和自然的合作、纵向合作、横向合作、自己与自己的合作等等。事实上不管宗教，它都需要做出一些伦理的解释，以及如何在维度上做出统一性的解释。”
“对于中国的特色性来说，它可能在这些维度上由多种宗教来做出的，最后达到一个均衡。”彭睿老师继续提出问题：“对基督教来说，它是一个宗教做出的。我们需要解释中国的宗教为什么呈现这样的发展？儒家作为官方宗教出现之后，为什么佛道教仍然有这么大的发展空间成为中国的主流宗教？在唐宋之际以后，儒释道已经形成了三教圆融，为什么大众宗教又会兴起，走入了主流社会？”
“从诸子百家争鸣来看，儒家在很多维度上做出了解释，道家、墨家也是。儒家最后胜出，它对社会合作类型的解释是最广的。尤其是对中国这样注重代际合作和纵向合作的社会来说，它的解释力度是最强的。问题是儒家对人和自然的解释是比较弱的，以及它对人和个体的合作更加强调社会性，比如我们强调光宗耀祖，这是社会性的。但是对个体性指向是比较弱的，这一点最后是有佛教来完成的。”
“佛教在传入中国以后在各个维度上都做出了很多的努力，但是最后在儒家的强势影响下龟缩到个体式合作的伦理解释。道教作为制度性宗教，它也在各个维度上做出了努力，但是最后它在人和自然的维度上做出了它的优势。最后的结果就是儒释道在所有维度上都做出了解释。”
“但是对我们中国人来说，从代际和纵向合作角度上我们用儒教；佛教只借助于个体式合作；道教用于人与自然的解释。从这个意义上来说，我们形成了三教圆融。”
“为什么会形成三教圆融？可能和它宗教的模糊性、老百姓的可接受性比较差有关。另外由于至上性神哲学解释力度弱，宗教过分依赖庞大的神奇体系来满足实际性的各种伦理性的需要，所以它最后形成的是每个宗教都是开放性的、非排他性的神学体系来满足合作伦理的需要，形成了一种既竞争又融合的关系。”
这种三教融合整体均衡的构建有一些神学解释：本末内外论、均善均圣论和殊途同归论。
“但其中我们可以看到因为儒家与皇权紧密结合的关系，儒家是作为三教圆融的承担者、组织者。”
“儒释道缺乏横向的维度，并且三教圆融的成本是很高的。在大一统社会中，人们需要一个能够满足所有伦理需要和各种维度需要的宗教形态，最后形成了大众宗教，像关羽和妈祖等。”
最后彭睿老师总结道：“用一个织布的比喻：中国宗教就是不断地交织在一起的。”
宗教社会学者讲座：社会合作视域下的中国多元一体宗教格局
A scholar said that to use a metaphor of weaving, Chinese religions were constantly intertwined.
Peng Rui, a lecturer in the Department of Sociology of Nanchang University, delivered a lecture entitled "China's Pluralistic and Integrated Religious Pattern from the Perspective of Social Cooperation" at the 2021 Academic Annual Conference of the Chinese Sociological Association conducted in Chongqing in middle July.
The sub-forum of Sociology of Religion in the 2021 conference, hosted by the Chinese Sociological Society, was held on July 17.
"China's religious form has been controversial throughout history," Rui said. "Our common belief in China is that the three religions are harmonious and pluralistic, which is quite different from the exclusive religions in the West. Scholars with western backgrounds have been debating about this and are often left confused. For example, the earliest Jesuit missionaries in the late Ming and early Qing Dynasty thought Confucianism was a little religious but denied other religions. By Weber's time, Confucianism was recognized as a religion. After the 1960s, Western scholars regarded Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism as orthodox religions and set popular religion as a complete religious system."
He claimed that in ancient China, there was great space for different religions, resulting in a multi-religious situation.
"Yet despite this, we kept a very unified ideology. How can I explain this? It can be explained through the lens of cooperation in modern economics. For a society to exist, it needs multi-dimensional cooperation, such as cooperation between man and nature, vertical cooperation, horizontal cooperation, self-cooperation, and so on. In fact, regardless of religion, it needs to make some ethical explanations and how therefore can it make a single unified explanation that holds true in all dimensions."
"For China's characteristics, this can be made possible by many religions in these dimensions, and finally reaching an equilibrium," Rui continued. "For Christianity, it is a religion. We need to explain why China's religion is developing like this. After Confucianism emerged as an official religion, why did Buddhism and Taoism still have so much room for development and become the mainstream religion in China? After the Tang and Song Dynasties, Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism formed the harmony of the three religions. Why did the popular religion rise again and enter mainstream society? "
"Judging from the controversy of various schools of thought, Confucianism has made explanations for cooperation in many dimensions, as have Taoism and Mohism. Confucianism finally won, and its explanation of the types of social cooperation is the most extensive. Especially for China, which pays attention to intergenerational cooperation and vertical cooperation, its explanation is the strongest and most suitable. The problem is that Confucianism's explanation of man and nature is weak, and it emphasizes sociality in the cooperation between individuals and other individuals. For example, we emphasize glorifying ancestors, which is sociality. However, the orientation to individuality is relatively weak, and this is finally satisfied by Buddhism’s assertions," he added.
"After Buddhism was introduced into China, it made a lot of efforts in all dimensions, but finally, under the strong influence of Confucianism, it shrank to the ethical explanation of individual cooperation. As an institutional religion, Taoism has also made efforts in various dimensions, but in the end, it has made its main advances in the dimensions of man and nature. The final result is that Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism have together been explained in all dimensions."
"But for us Chinese, we use Confucianism from the perspective of intergenerational and vertical cooperation; Buddhism only relies on individual cooperation; Taoism is used to explain man and nature. In this sense, we have formed the harmony of the three religions."
"Why then can three-religion harmony be formed? It may be related to the ambiguity of its religion and the poor acceptability of ordinary people. In addition, due to the weak interpretation of the philosophy of supremacy, religion relies too much on the huge magical system to meet the practical ethical needs, so it finally forms an open and non-exclusive theological system for each religion to meet the needs of cooperative ethics, forming a relationship that is both competitive and integrated," the scholar explained.
There were some theological explanations for the construction of the overall balance of the integration of the three religions: the internal and external theories, the theories of all goodness and all holiness, and the theories of all paths leading to the same goal.
"But we can see that Confucianism seeks to undertake and organize the harmony of the three religions because of the close association between Confucianism and imperial power."
"Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism lack horizontal dimensions, and the cost of the integration of the three religions is very high. In a unified society, people need a religious form that can meet all ethical needs and needs of various dimensions, and finally form popular religions, such as the worship of the general Guan Yu and Mazu."
Rui concluded, "To use a metaphor of weaving: Chinese religions are constantly intertwined."
-Translated by Charlie Li
Scholar: 'Chinese Religions are Constantly Intertwined'
