Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v1.c7.s7.t7.11

v1.c7.s7.t7.11

The prevalence of Buddhism has promoted the new development of Confucianism. On the one hand, the Confucians in Song and Ming Dynasty tried to establish their own philosophy to compete with Buddhism, and they formed their own theories; on the other hand, some Confucians were deeply inspired by Buddhism, and they deepened Confucianism theory. Zhang Zai pointed out “Taixu is mind” to repel Buddhism, because Buddhism had the saying of “Everything in the world is illusory”. Chu Hsi used sentences in Buddhism to interpret the features of mind and good quality, such as “People who are indifferent to fame or wealth can sense everything”, “Human’s nature is rational, so they can handle everything”, etc. This kind of action was mocked by Buddhists in Ming Dynasty, they mocked that Chu Hsi learned from Buddhism and looked down upon it at the same time. Chu Hsi used the metaphor “The Moon Reflected in All Rivers” of Buddhism to interpret “Li Yi Fen Shu”, which means that everything was included in Tai Chi completely. He said, “Tai Chi is only one single object, however, everything has its own nature and they are all reflected in Tai Chi. It is similar to the moon, which is the only one existed in the sky, however it can be reflected in all rivers and seen everywhere, but we cannot say that the moon is divided into different pieces”. Confucians in Song and Ming Dynasty advocated the “Idea of Respect”. Cheng Yi said, “improving self-control needs the idea of respect”, the so-called respect means that you need to concentrate on the