The more I look at Zhuangzi, the more I feel like a Buddhist.

When Buddhism was introduced into China, the study of Laozi and Zhuangzi, especially the study of Zhuangzi thought, was an important medium for translating Buddhist scriptures, understanding and digesting Buddhism. From the Southern and Northern Dynasties to the Tang and Song Dynasties, generations of eminent monks never read Laozi and Zhuangzi before becoming monks. In the process of digesting and absorbing Indian Buddhism and making it China, these eminent monks can see the roles played by Confucius, Mencius, Laozi and Zhuangzi.

By the Ming and Qing Dynasties, it was hard for you and me to be separated. Some people say that Zen is Zhuang school, while others say that Neo-Confucianism is Zen outside Confucianism.

Buddhism comes from the East, saying that "the soil in the East has Mahayana weather" refers to the soil of Confucius and Mencius culture in China, especially Laozi and Zhuangzi. If the mysticism of the samsara of dross in Han Buddhism is removed, the rest is almost Zhuangzi, and Zen is the annotation of Zhuangzi.

I have noticed that when many people discuss the three cultures of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism, they always define the time when Buddhist classics appeared as when Sakyamuni was alive, which is wrong.

Take Buddha and Zhuangzi as examples:

Explain the birth and death years of Buddha and Zhuangzi from the perspective of historical materialism.

Because Ashoka has a fairly clear age to test, it is more likely to infer the age of the Buddha. According to various reports, the mysterious Japanese Xiao Ye died in 1 16 when Ashoka ascended the throne, that is, in 269 BC, so the Buddha died in the first 384 years. Ui Hakuju succeeded to the throne of Ashoka in 27 1 year, which was calculated as 466-386. Nakamura, a student of the Yujing family, used new Greek historical materials to set it as 463-383 years ago. When the Buddha died, Confucius in China had been dead for 97 years. (The year of birth and death of the Buddha is another point, and the academic circles have long thought that the credibility is too low. )

At present, the date of birth and death of Zhuangzi is mostly based on the research results of Mr. Ma Xulun, that is, about 369-286 years ago. When Zhuangzi died, the Indian Buddha died in 1997.

Zhuangzi had works when he was alive, which were handed down to the world. When the Buddha was alive, India did not have a mature writing system, so there were no Buddhist scriptures. Buddhist scriptures were written by descendants hundreds of years after the death of the Buddha to 1000 years ago. Although the Buddha was born before Zhuangzi, the Buddhist scriptures were later than Zhuangzi.

Some scholars have pointed out that China's translation of Buddhist scriptures can't be understood by today's concept of "translation", and to a great extent, he is creating while translating. For example, in the Buddhist "Diamond Sutra", the concept of four lives (egg life, wet life, metaplasia, viviparous life) produced by six sentient beings in the three realms is to learn from Zhuangzi's "five gaps, fish in the mouth, fine and important, and brothers cry."

The absorption of China culture is an important factor for the success of Buddhism, not a bad thing. However, every time Buddhism entered a prosperous period in history, there was a trend of thought that emphasized the Indian originality of Buddhist culture, and even a China theory (preaching that many China cultures originated from or were influenced by Buddhism) appeared, which was worthy of vigilance. This is also the limitation of human religion, and religious identity is always higher than national and ethnic identity.