Qisong Account For The Doctrine Of Mean And The Communication Between Confucianism And Buddhism

The Book of the Doctrine of Mean is highly respected and honored by monks of Song dynasty and their value of the Doctrine of Mean opens a door for communication with each other within the field of philosophy of Confucianism and Buddhism. Among them, Qisong, a monk of Cloud Gate School, encourages to perform this communication to the peak. It can be said that Qisong’s admiration and value to the Doctrine of Mean is unprecedented. The author believes that there are mainly two reasons why Qisong appreciates the Doctrine of Mean so much as follows: Firstly,"The Doctrine of Mean is what Nagarjuna called the Middle Path Way." Thus, Qisong perceives this proposition as a starting point and he draws a conclusion of that "the Way of Buddha and the Kingly Way can be combined together". His idea of this sets an example for dealing with the relationship between Buddhism and Kingly Way, at the same time, this idea helps to clear away political obstacles for the development of Buddhism in China. Secondly, he advocates that Buddhism and Confucianism have the same heart but different trace, Buddha and Sage have the same Nature. According to the Doctrine of Mean, Qisong elucidates the Mind theory, advocating the idea of "Buddhism and Confucianism have the same heart, the same Nature but different trace". His idea helps to open the door for the local elites, especially the Literati class, towards Buddhism. In this way, he secures the main forces for the development of Buddhism. Besides, Account for the Doctrine of Mean reflects the conscious state of the secular,valuing the Doctrine of Mean is an inherent need of the development of monks’ own intellectual thought after the form of Chinese Buddhism and the Buddhism of Confucianism. By using the language and expression of Confucianism, Qisong interoperates the Doctrine of Mean of Confucianism with the moral principles of Buddhism. His idea and theory not only recruits the political forces and the main force for the development of Buddhism, but also plays an important role in the process of the communication between Confucianism and Buddhism as well as has the epoch-making significance in the history of academic thinking in Song Dynasty.