Yu Chun Xi And The Debate Between Buddhism And Catholicism In The Late Ming Dynasty From The Perspective Of Field

The debate between Buddhism and Catholicism is an important part of religious dialogue and cultural exchange between China and the West in the late Ming Dynasty.The first generation of missionaries represented by Matteo Ricci,launched the theory of Buddhism denial first.Under the constant challenges of Catholicism,the loss of believers and the changes of social situation,Buddhism has experienced the process from passive defense to active attack,and gradually launched this controversy with Catholicism for more than 30 years.Looking back to the beginning of the debate between Buddhism and Catholicism,the first one to face the challenge of Catholicism was Yu Chun Xi,a lay Buddhist living in Hangzhou.The debate between him and Matteo Ricci was also the main form in the early stage of the debate between Buddhism and Catholicism.Based on Bourdieu's "field" theory,my article investigates Yu Chun Xi's debate on Catholicism and uses the three core concepts of field,capital and habitus to investigate the cultural capital,social capital and symbolic capital he acquired in the religious and cultural field of Hangzhou with strong Buddhist atmosphere,so as to reveal the social and cultural factors behind his debate.First of all,the reason of Yu's debate is closely related to the social situation.At that time,Buddhism was in the period of both declining crisis and reviving opportunity.Catholicism regarded the missionary strategy of "uniting Confucianism and excluding Buddhism" and upper line as important means to enter the religious field of China.The circulation of books and Matteo Ricci's influence on intellectuals made Yu's religious and cultural field in Hangzhou feel the infiltration and threat of Catholicism,and Yu's debate coincided with his symbolic capital.Secondly,through the analysis of Yu's articles against Catholicism,we can find that his choice of perspective,wording and strategy change were all influenced and restricted by his capital in the field: His choice of perspective carried his cultural capital including integrating Confucianism and Buddhism,abstaining from killing;His wording reflected his accommodating thinking habit and mental set in the trend of "three religions in one" at the end of Ming Dynasty,they were both his cultural habitus formed in a specific environment;The change of his strategy and the result of fighting alone was restricted by the silence of his teachers and friends in his social capital.Finally,Yu Chun Xi's debate had an impact on the construction of the "sub field" of the debate between Buddhism and Catholicism under the "big field" of religion in the late Ming Dynasty,as well as the development trend and characteristics of Buddhism within the field.For example,Buddhism began to turn from defending to attacking in the debate,Hangzhou gradually turned to the main battlefield of the debate,the lay Buddhists became the mainstay in the debate,and it became the habitus of Buddhism to use the name of Confucianism against Catholicism.Therefore,Yu Chun Xi's debate against Catholicism was not only reflected by his original religious and cultural field,but also reflected on the field construction of the debate between Buddhism and Catholicism,which provided a new perspective for the case study in the negotiation between Buddhism and Catholicism in the late Ming Dynasty.