The Research On The Relationship Between Er Cheng Taoism And Buddhism

Buddhism was introduced into China since the Eastern Han Dynasty, and the status is not well settled in the early stage. During the Southern and Northern Dynasties, Buddhism had developed rapidly. At the same time, Buddhism as a foreign philosophy progressively integrated into the local cultural philosophies in China, in which experiencing a process of conflicting, divergence, and integration. While Buddhism was gradually developing and adapting to Chinese traditional culture, its philosophical ideas gradually developed and penetrated into all areas of Chinese culture. With the burgeoning argument and competition between Buddhism and Confucianism, Neo-Confucianism occurred in Song and Ming dynasties that marked the improvement of both Buddhism and Confucianism.Cheng Yi and Cheng Hao are the founders of the Neo-Confucianism in North Song dynasty in the history of China. Er Cheng’s philosophy plays a crucial ideological role in the development of philosophy not only in Song Dynasty, but also in the history of Chinese philosophy. In Er Cheng’s Taoist beliefs, Cheng Hao advocates the ontology that "mind is reason, reason is the heart," Cheng Yi advocates "reason" and “moral integrity”, and reason is one of the most important philosophical thoughts in Er Cheng’ s philosophy. After Buddhism was introduced to China, Cheng Hao and Cheng Yi actively developed and promoted a new Confucianism, and criticized on Buddhism. While critiquing Buddhism, they also adopted, inherited, and developed some philosophical thoughts from Buddhism, especially for Buddha-nature,Zen, Huayan’ ontology and epistemology, in which impacted Er Cheng’s Taoism and philosophy on “mind theory”. Through the reciprocal interactions between Er Cheng’s Taoism and Buddhis, this thesis plans to provide an in-depth understanding of the relationship between Er Cheng’s Taoism and Buddhism.