China has a long history and profound culture. In its long-term historical development, not only many local schools have appeared, but also foreign cultures have been introduced. These different schools and cultures absorbed and merged with each other in the conflict, and some were enriched, developed and expanded, while others were absorbed, transformed and disappeared. From the Eastern Jin Dynasty to the Sui and Tang Dynasties, China culture gradually established a basic pattern with Confucianism as the main body, Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism as their own flags, and at the same time cooperated with each other and complemented each other for social use. This basic pattern of China culture lasted until the end of 19 and even the beginning of the 20th century, lasting about 1600 years. Therefore, it can be said that China's traditional culture is a culture in which Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism are separated, integrated and complementary. However, because Confucianism has long been regarded as orthodox by feudal rulers, some scholars often only emphasize that Confucianism is the representative of China culture, while ignoring or belittling the great role of Buddhism and Taoism in China traditional culture. This view overemphasizes the political system and patriarchal ethics in China culture, and brings other cultural phenomena into the political and ethical framework for investigation and understanding. This describes the colorful and vibrant China culture as bland and lifeless, which is obviously not comprehensive enough. Therefore, no matter from which angle we look at China culture, we can't understand the colorful style and rich content of China culture, let alone fully and profoundly grasp the true spirit of China culture.

First, in the history of our country, before the Western Zhou Dynasty, learning was official, and after the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, learning gradually went to the people. In the late Spring and Autumn Period, there appeared different schools with considerable social influence, such as Confucianism and Mohism. By the mid-Warring States period, a hundred schools of thought were contending, with various schools and colorful theories, which laid a broad foundation for the development of China culture. Sima Qian quoted his father Sima Tan's views on academic schools in Historical Records. He summarized the schools since the pre-Qin period into six schools: Yin and Yang, Confucianism, Mohism, Legalism, Fame and Morality. In Cohesion, Sima Tan quoted the saying that "the world is one, all roads lead to the same goal, and all concerns are the same", arguing that the theories of these six schools are all for national security, and they all have their own views, but they are also biased. At that time, because the society advocated the study of Huang Lao, Sima Tan also advertised Taoism as the leading theory. In his view, the reason why Taoism can "keep pace with the times, conform to the changes of things, establish customs and do things, but not be appropriate" is because of the harmony of Yin and Yang, adopting the goodness of Confucianism and Mohism, and grasping the essence of law. In a word, Taoism means "it is easy to operate by referring to the contract, and do more with less." (Historical Records Volume 130 Preface to Taishi Gong) However, in Hanshu, Ban Gu classified the philosophers since the pre-Qin period into ten schools, namely Confucianism, Taoism, Yin and Yang, Legalism, Ming, Mo, Zongheng, Za, Agriculture and Novels. But then he went on to say that among the ten schools, "only nine are impressive" (except novelists), and each school is "leading its own way and worshiping its goodness". He also quoted the above-mentioned "cohesion" words, not only thinking that each theory has its own strengths and weaknesses, but also emphasizing that "although its words are different, they are incompatible with each other" and "on the contrary, they are complementary." At that time, because the society had put Confucianism in the first place, Ban Gu also highly praised Confucianism and thought that Confucianism was "the best of Taoism". (Hanshu Volume 30, Yiwenzhi)

At the beginning of Han Dynasty, in order to eradicate the extreme depression of social life caused by tyranny and war at the end of Qin Dynasty, the rulers adopted the policy of simple administration and doing nothing, enjoying the people, so as to restore social vitality. Accordingly, in terms of cultural thought, Taoism is strongly advocated to study Huang Lao. At this time, Huang Lao-tao's family is in the representative and guiding position of social and cultural thoughts, and must deal with the relationship with other different schools of cultural thoughts. The social demand for ideology and culture is diverse and rich, not single. However, as many China thinkers have said, this kind of diversity also needs to be "integrated with the Sect and combined with the Yuan Dynasty" (Wang Bi's A Brief Example of Zhouyi Mingbi), that is, it needs a leader. But this kind of "unity" and "meeting" is by no means a style that excludes or replaces other styles. Because, if all other styles are excluded and there is only one style left, there will be no problem of "unity" and "meeting". In the early Han Dynasty, as Sima Tan said, Huang Lao Dao's family absorbed the strengths of Yin and Yang, Confucianism, Mohism, Ming and Fa. It is this spirit of accommodation, absorption and integration that makes Taoism not only the guiding ideology of the society at that time, but also one of the concentrated representatives of the whole cultural spirit of China.

Second, the core of Taoist thought is inaction, which advocates letting nature take its course and attachment; The core of Confucianism is promising, emphasizing famous education (etiquette) and standardizing human nature. The difference and opposition between these two ideas are obvious. Historically, they have complemented and absorbed each other, forming the basic pattern of China culture and the subject spirit of the Chinese nation. As Ban Gu said: "Although the words are different, they are still like fire and water, and they are also born together." "On the contrary, they are all complementary." At the same time, it must be noted that the core ideas of Confucianism and Taoism are not absolutely irreconcilable or mutually compatible.

People often understand the inaction of Taoism as passive escape and inaction. In fact, this is not comprehensive and accurate. It should be pointed out that Taoism has two different theories of negative inaction and positive inaction, and their understanding of inaction is quite different. On the whole, the Zhuangzi School of Taoism tends to be passive and inaction, and what they pursue is a narcissistic spiritual realm of "sitting and forgetting" (Master Zhuangzi) and "I have lost myself" (the same as the Theory of Everything). But the inaction mentioned by the Taoist school of Laozi is not completely negative. Laozi's so-called inaction mainly means "assisting the nature of all things and not daring to do it" (Chapter 64 of Laozi). What he emphasized was "being born with nothing, doing things without relying, being long without killing" (the same as in the first 51 chapters), and "not seeing yourself", "unnatural", "not cutting yourself" and "not boasting" (the same as in the first 22 chapters), that is, not being smart, self-righteous, not taking credit and not boasting. Therefore, Lao Tzu's inaction is not doing nothing, but advocating doing something without relying on it. It is to retreat for progress, to seek perfection with joy, and to be soft and rigid. When Xunzi criticized Zhuang Hejia's theory, one said that "Zhuangzi was hidden in the sky and didn't know anyone" (Xun Zi Jie Quan), and the other said that "Laozi was found in the fault (bending) but not in the belief (Shen)" (ibid., Tian Lun), and he grasped the ideological and spiritual differences between the two quite accurately and clearly.

When Han Fei absorbed Laozi's thought of inaction, he only emphasized the inaction of the monarch, and the way of being a minister should be promising. Han Fei believes that the monarch's task is mainly to grasp the principles and appoint officials. If he does everything by himself, he will not only be too busy, but also can't do it well. More importantly, it will greatly hinder and attack the enthusiasm and initiative of officials. Therefore, the inaction of Jundao can give full play to the enthusiasm and initiative of liegeman.

In the early Han Dynasty, Huang Lao's theory emphasized the rule of inaction, which further praised the minister's inaction. The main political and economic policy in the early Han Dynasty was to recuperate with the people, emphasizing as little as possible disturbing the people, fully mobilizing and giving play to the people's enthusiasm and initiative, so as to facilitate the stability of social order and economic recovery. It is against this background that the study of Huang Lao in the early Han Dynasty also praised the minister's inaction. In the book Huai Nan Zi, there are many doctrines of Huang Lao in the early Han Dynasty, among which there are many positive aspects when it comes to inaction. As he said: "inaction does not mean stagnation, so that it can be said that it is not self-nature." ("Teacher Training") "If I say inaction, my personal ambition will be unfair, and my lust will not be wasted. I will act according to the truth, make contributions because of my capital, and push the trend of nature. I will never tolerate it. The story is successful, the body is arrogant, and the merits are brilliant. It's not that feelings shouldn't be, but those who attack but don't move. " ("Maintenance Training") In short, "The so-called inaction is not the first; Everything is because of what things do. The so-called no cure is not easy to be natural; The so-called incurable person, because of the phase of things. " (Tao Xun Original) The inaction mentioned here has a very positive significance and deserves our attention.

Taoism, especially the Zhuangzi School, holds that individuals are superior to social people. They advocate following nature and relying on nature, that is to say, we should rely on individual's natural nature to develop freely, and don't use social etiquette and other norms to interfere with and bind individual behavior. Laozi said: "The avenue is abandoned, and there is benevolence and righteousness; When wisdom comes out, there is a big holiday; Six parents are not harmonious and have filial piety; The country is in chaos and there are loyal ministers. " (Chapter 18 of Laozi) also said: "Therefore, if you lose your virtue, you will lose your virtue and then your benevolence, your benevolence and then your righteousness, your injustice and then your rudeness." (Same as the previous 38 chapters) That is to say, Lao Tzu attributed the emergence of social etiquette and law systems and norms to the constant self-loss of human nature. There is a primitive and simple idea of "alienation". Lao Tzu's ideal is to hope that people can overcome and prevent alienation through "abandoning wisdom, benevolence, righteousness" and "less profit and less desire" (the same as in the previous chapter 19), so as to return to nature. Zhuangzi believes that any social etiquette system and norms are fetters that bind people's natural nature to play freely, and must be completely broken. He used "heaven" as a metaphor for man's natural nature and "man" as a metaphor for social system norms. In the form of fable, he used cows and horses as metaphors. Borrowing from the mouth of Beihai Ruo, he said, "Cattle and horses have four feet for the sky, their heads are twisted, and their noses are human. Therefore, there is no way out. " ("Zhuangzi Qiushui") Here, he clearly put forward the idea that human nature cannot be obliterated by social etiquette and legal system norms. What Zhuangzi yearns for is an absolute freedom-"carefree travel", free from any restrictions and constraints ("omnipotent"). When his yearning failed in the real society, he taught people to use the method of "homology of things"-relativism to get rid of all kinds of entanglements and distress caused by the separation of good and evil, right and wrong, interests, etc., and then obtain subjective spiritual self-satisfaction. The Taoist theory of nature has its rationality and positive significance in attaching importance to individuality and will. But he exaggerates the contradiction between individual will and social norms, and wants to separate individuals from society, which is obviously one-sided.

Buddhism is a foreign culture introduced from India in Han Dynasty. When I first came here, people knew little about it, and thought it was a theory similar to the theory of Huang Lao's learning and immortal magic that people were familiar with at that time. For example, Justin said in the Book of the Later Han Dynasty: "Buddhists who feel in Chinese will be conscious. Its teaching focuses on cultivating kindness, compassion, not killing, specialization and purity. Its essential name is shaman. Shaman, in Chinese, rests his heart, hides his desire and returns to inaction. ..... So doing good and cultivating monks is expensive, and the spirit is expensive; Even if you do nothing, you will become a Buddha. " (Volume 10) During the late Han and Three Kingdoms periods, Buddhist scriptures were gradually translated, and the Eastern Jin Dynasty began to translate Buddhist scriptures on a large scale. In the meantime, Kumarajiva, a famous translator of Buddhist scriptures in Yao Qin period, and his disciples translated Buddhist scriptures, which conveyed the meaning and achieved the goal in translation, and the translation was beautiful and fluent, which was widely praised, and its influence still exists today. It has played an important role in the spread and development of Buddhism in China. At this time, more and more eminent monks came from the East to preach, and the number of local monks also surged, during which many people learned a lot and gained great virtue. Therefore, the influence of Buddhism in society has expanded rapidly. Since the Eastern Jin Dynasty and the Southern and Northern Dynasties, with the expansion of the influence of Buddhism and the local people's in-depth understanding of Buddhist teachings, the differences and contradictions between Buddhism, a foreign culture, and the local culture have been exposed. Then, the conflict between the two inevitably broke out. At that time, the local culture in China was represented by Confucianism and Taoism, so the conflict between Buddhism and local culture was manifested in the conflict between Buddhism and Taoism and Buddhism and Confucianism.

Taoism in the conflict between Buddhism and Taoism here refers not only to Taoism such as Laozi and Zhuangzi in the pre-Qin Dynasty and Huanglao in the Han Dynasty, but also to Taoism produced in the late Eastern Han Dynasty, and it is more a contradiction with Taoism in form. Although there are conflicts between Buddhism and Taoism because of different doctrines, Taoism advocates immortality and Buddhism advocates impermanence and nirvana. These two fundamentally opposing views of liberation will naturally conflict. But the conflict between Buddhism and Taoism is more about fighting for social status. From the Southern and Northern Dynasties to the Five Dynasties, there were four large-scale campaigns to destroy Buddhism, which were called "three martial arts and one law" by Buddhists. These four movements have profound social, political and economic reasons, but the first two movements, namely, the seventh year of Taidi Taiping Zhenjun in the Northern Wei Dynasty and the second year of Jiande in the Northern Zhou Dynasty, are directly related to Taoism's striving for the belief of rulers and establishing its social legitimacy. During the five-year campaign to destroy Buddhism in Huichang, Tang Wuzong, Taoists also took part in remonstrance. Only after the Five Dynasties did the movement of abolishing Buddhism in Zhou Shizong not involve Taoism. In the orthodox dispute between the two religions, both sides fabricated many absurd lies to attack each other and raise themselves. For example, Taoism fabricated "Hu Jing of Laozi" and lied that Laozi was reincarnated as a Western Buddha; Buddhism did the same thing, forging various documents, or claiming that Laozi was reincarnated as a Buddhist disciple Ye Jia, or assigning Ye Jia to be reincarnated as Laozi, and so on. To give a few examples, such things are worthless.

The most direct conflict between Buddhism and Confucianism is that Buddhism's nativism and becoming a monk system obviously violate the ethics advocated by Confucianism. Therefore, the focus of the struggle between the two factions mainly focuses on whether the birth and becoming a monk of Buddhism violates China's traditional filial piety and loyalty. In this struggle, people who adhere to the Confucian position strongly criticize the Buddhist monk system for teaching people to shave their hair, not to marry, not to respect their adoptive parents, which is completely contrary to filial piety; Existentialism, on the other hand, ignores people's livelihood, does not serve the king and disrespects him. , and completely violated the loyalty. Therefore, it is extremely derogatory to treat Buddhism as a foreign religion, which does not conform to the national conditions and must be eliminated quickly. In order to survive in China, people who stand on the position of Buddhism try their best to adopt a conciliatory attitude, arguing that it does not violate the essence of China customs. For example, Hui Yuan, a famous monk in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, advocated: "Those who like the wind of Buddhism should respect the monarch first; Those who change their customs and vote for hairpin bend will stand by and follow suit. If you have doubts about your relatives, you should withdraw your ambition so that you can understand each other. Sri Lanka is the reason why Buddhism attaches importance to students and helps the king become a monk. " ("Shaman disrespects the King" and "At Home") This means that Buddhists put the worship of their loved ones first. If you can't get the consent or trust of your relatives, you should give in and reflect on your sincerity until both sides realize it. This is also the benefit of Buddhism to people's livelihood and governing the country. He also said that although monks dress and behave differently from their families, they are good for people's livelihood and honor their loved ones, just like family members. Therefore, it is said that "the husband is virtuous and the six relatives are handed down to the world." Although he is not a prince, he has also cooperated with the emperor to make a living in China. " Therefore, it is very important to be a good boy, but you can't violate his filial piety; I respect the Lord, but I don't lose my respect. "(the same as the previous" becoming a monk ")

Theoretically, the struggle between Buddhism and Confucianism and Taoism at that time mainly focused on the existence and elimination of God, karma and other issues. Becoming a Buddha is the highest ideal of Buddhists. In order to solve this problem, Buddhists in China put forward a theory that "God becomes Buddha". Liang Wudi Xiao Yan even wrote a paper entitled "The Justification of Making God a Buddha" to invent this meaning. In his article, he said: "The source spirit keeps improving, and the spirit will return to wonderful results. The wonderful fruit is very permanent and the spirit is inevitable. " The so-called "God" here refers to the human soul; "Constant" means eternity; "Wonderful fruit" means becoming a Buddha. The meaning of this sentence is that a person's soul can only be called "essence" if it is cultivated to immortality; This "refined" "God" will eventually achieve Buddha's fruit. Buddha fruit is a savvy body, so it will never change; The spirit is still in the process and cannot be separated from the changes in flow. Ji Shen's evaluation of this sentence is: "God has everything, why not be God?" Therefore, as the saying goes, I see that the dead are gone, but the body is immortal. At that time, Confucian and Taoist scholars put forward the viewpoints of "the unity of form and spirit", "the use of form and quality in spirit" and "the death of form", not to mention that Buddhism talks about karma, especially the third generation of karma, which is also inconsistent with China's traditional concept. Buddhist karma emphasizes the karma planted by oneself and the consequences borne by oneself. Some are newspapers for this life, some for the afterlife, some for two generations, and even thousands of times. In China's traditional concept, it is popular that "if there is a good house, there must be Qing Yu;" If you don't accumulate a good family business, you will encounter many disasters "(Zhouyi," Kun Gua Classical Chinese "). That is, ancestors accumulate good and bad, and future generations will bear the blessings or disasters, not the main ones. Therefore, during the period of Jin, Song and Qi and Liang Dynasties, there was a fierce struggle around immortals, immortals, karma and other issues.

While there are contradictions and conflicts between Buddhism and Confucianism and Taoism, it is more noteworthy that Buddhism and Confucianism and Taoism penetrate and merge with each other. Here, let's look at this infiltration and integration from the perspective of Buddhism. At the beginning of the introduction of Buddhism, in order to make China people understand the thought of this foreign religion, a large number of traditional terms and concepts of Confucianism and Taoism were borrowed to explain some terms and concepts of Buddhism. This is the so-called "Ge Yi" method. For example, there are three fears (The Analects of Confucius Ji Shi): "Confucius said: A gentleman has three fears: fear of destiny, fear of adults and fear of the words of saints." ) Put forward to return to Buddhism, Dharma and Monks, and the five precepts (killing, stealing, adultery, nonsense and drinking) are represented by the five permanent members (benevolence, righteousness, propriety and wisdom). This borrowing phenomenon is inevitable in the early stage of foreign cultural translation. However, due to the early introduction of Buddhism, people don't know much about it, and the borrowing of this term and concept has brought many misunderstandings to ordinary people. This misunderstanding also makes Confucianism and Taoism permeate Buddhism. Mr. Chen Yinque quoted Liu Xiao's note from Shi Shuo Xin Yu in the article "A Textual Research on the Theory of Support" and said: "The intellectual body is too weak. You can know whether you are empty, but you can respond that you are not empty. Living in the extreme, is it nothing? " Then he commented: "This is exactly the same as Laozi's quotation ("Between heaven and earth, is it still ambiguous? "Virtual but unyielding, move out." ), "easy copula" ("easy to think without thinking, doing nothing. Silent and motionless, I feel the reason why I know this world. If it is not the highest god in the world, how can it be here? " The purpose of) is the same, not the meaning of Prajna paramita. "Mr. Chen's comments are profound and correct.

If this initial integration was unconscious, then later Buddhism made a conscious and active integration in order to take root in China. First of all, in translation, Buddhists summed up the defects of the method of "fixing the mind" and ignored its ideological significance in translation, and actively absorbed and advocated the method of "forgetting the image" in metaphysics to understand the fundamental purpose and ideological spirit conveyed by Buddhist scriptures. As a famous monk student in the Eastern Jin Dynasty said, "Husbands like to do their best, but they like to get carried away. Words are explained by reason, and when you enter reason, you will say interest. Since the classics spread to the east, translators have paid more attention to them, staying behind more articles and rarely seeing round meanings. If you forget to take the fish, you can tell them! " Another example is Seng Zhao, a famous monk in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, who is proficient in Zhuangzi and Metaphysics. In his book Zhaolun, he used the words and styles of metaphysics of Laozi and Zhuangzi to discuss the bird's eye view of Prajna. In the use of China's traditional nouns and words to express Buddhist theory, it has reached a very wonderful situation, which is carried away and profound. Therefore, metaphysics has a far-reaching influence on Buddhism and plays an important role as a bridge between Buddhism and China traditional culture. Of course, in turn, Buddhism has a great influence on metaphysics. During the Jin Dynasty, metaphysical scholars took Buddhist principles as their help, and the integration of metaphysics and Buddhism became an important trend in the development of metaphysics in the Eastern Jin Dynasty.

Under the influence of Confucianism, Taoism and metaphysics in China, many features of Indian primitive Buddhism have changed greatly. For example, the complicated analysis of Indian Buddhist names has gradually been replaced by the traditional way of thinking of simply forgetting words; Indian Buddhism emphasizes the liberation method of asceticism, but it has turned into a liberation method based on intellectual understanding and epiphany; The birth spirit of Indian Buddhism is more unique to the world, even replaced by the positive spirit of joining the WTO, and so on. Theoretically, it has widely absorbed the Confucian mind, the doctrine of the mean, the natural inaction of Taoism, and even the five elements of Yin and Yang. It is through these numerous changes that during the Sui and Tang Dynasties, Buddhism completed its self-adjustment in form and theory, realized its basic coordination with China's traditional culture, and formed a number of Buddhist sects with China characteristics, such as Tiantai Sect, Huayan Sect, Zen Sect and Pure Land Sect. Buddhism finally took root in China, blossoming and bearing fruit. At the same time, the influence of Buddhism has also penetrated into people's daily life, such as food, clothing, housing and transportation, language, thought, literature, art, architecture, and even medicine and astronomy. At this point, Buddhist culture has become an integral part of the whole China culture that can keep pace with Confucianism and Taoism. Intellectuals since the Tang and Song Dynasties, whether they believed in Buddhism or opposed to Buddhism, all went in and out of Buddhism. In other words, Buddhist culture at this time has become an indispensable part of the knowledge structure of ordinary intellectuals. It is no exaggeration to say that without Buddhism, it is impossible to truly understand and grasp the history and culture of China since the Eastern Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, especially after the Sui and Tang Dynasties.

5. The root and development of Buddhist culture in China has also had a profound impact on China's traditional Confucianism and Taoism, prompting them to adjust and develop themselves in form and theory.

Due to the establishment and development of Taoism at the end of Han Dynasty, the problems of Taoism became complicated. Taoism was established on the basis of Taoism Laozi's theory on the basis of mixing primitive religion, fairy witchcraft and folk beliefs. Later, influenced by Buddhism, he imitated Buddhist precepts and rituals and classic organizations. , constantly improve yourself. Taoism respects Laozi as the leader and takes the works of Laozi, Zhuangzi, Wenlie and Liege as the most fundamental classics, such as Laozi as the moral truth, Zhuangzi as the Jiangnan truth, Wen Zi as the Xuantong truth, and Liege as the Xu Chong ultimate truth. Therefore, in this respect, Taoism and Taoism are inseparable, so what people usually call Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism is generally vague, and it is not strictly limited to whether it refers to Taoism or Taoism.

In fact, there are fundamental differences between Taoism and Taoism. In short, Taoism is an academic school and Taoism is a religion. Taoism in the pre-Qin period, especially the natural inaction advocated by Laozi, said in describing the situation of Taoism: "Taoism is as deep as the ancestor of all things." ..... Zhan Xi seems to have it, and I don't know whose son seems to be the first emperor "(Chapter 4 of Laozi); When praising Tao's lofty moral character, he said: "Help the nature of all things and dare not do it" (the same as in the previous sixty-four), "Be born without it, do without relying, and be long without killing" (the same as in the previous fifty-one) and so on. At that time, these discourses had certain anti-religious significance. Even after the appearance of Taoism, there are still differences between Taoism and Taoism in form and theory. For example, people will never say that they are talking about Taoism, but they will definitely put them in the category of Taoism. Scholars of metaphysics in Wei and Jin Dynasties, such as Wang Bi, Ji Kang, Ruan Ji, Guo Xiang and Zhang Zhan, on the other hand, the ideas of Laozi and Zhuangzi expounded by Ge Hong, Tao Hongjing and Kou must be said to be Taoism, not Taoism. This is not because Ge Hong and others have the status of Taoist priests, but mainly because they have religiousized Laozi and Zhuangzi's thoughts. Specifically, it is to combine Laozi and Zhuangzi's thoughts with various religious sustenance and goals of Taoism, such as belief in Buddhism, worship of God, cultivation of internal and external elixirs, and turning corpses into immortals. These are not found in the Taoist thoughts played by metaphysical scholars. Based on this, it should be very clear to judge thousands of annotation works of Lao, Zhuang, Wen and Lie after the end of Han Dynasty, which should be classified as Tao and which should be classified as Tao. Of course, this distinction does not involve the evaluation of the theoretical value of these works. In fact, under the stimulation and influence of Buddhist theory, Taoist theory has developed greatly in breadth and depth. Many Taoist works have enriched and developed Taoist thoughts in some aspects, and some even contributed to the development of traditional culture in China.

In short, the so-called Taoism in Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism includes Taoism and Taoism. Even when people call Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism "three religions" together, Taoism is not just Taoism. (It should be added here that the so-called "teaching" of China's "three religions" has traditionally been a teachable teaching, not a religious teaching. Therefore, when we talk about the "Tao" in the "three religions", we should pay attention to both Taoism and Taoism, and we should not be paranoid; When we study and grasp a specific work or thinker, we should distinguish between Taoism and Taoism, and we can't generalize.

Under the impact and influence of Buddhism, Confucianism has also undergone great changes and development. As mentioned earlier, after the Eastern Jin Dynasty, Buddhist thought penetrated into all fields of social life, especially the intellectuals after the Song and Yuan Dynasties, all of whom were Buddhist and old. These are just descriptions of the phenomenon. In fact, the most important influence of Buddhism on Confucianism is that it urges Confucianism to deeply explore the development and establishment of metaphysical theory. Compared with Buddhism, primitive Confucianism pays more attention to the discussion and establishment of practical principles in theory. Although there are some metaphysical propositions, they are not deliberately played. Therefore, in terms of metaphysical theory, primitive Confucianism is not even as good as Taoism. After Buddhism was introduced, its rich and profound metaphysical theory had a great impact and stimulation on Confucianism, which once attracted a large number of outstanding intellectuals to explore its mystery in Buddhism. Moreover, a group of Confucian scholars who actively explore metaphysical theory have indeed emerged from this. Liu Zongyuan, a famous scholar in the Tang Dynasty, commented on Han Yu's theory of excluding Buddhism, saying that Han Yu's charges for Buddhism were superficial things in Buddhism, but he didn't understand the essence of Buddhism at all. Therefore, Han Yu is completely "angry and forgotten, knowing the stone but not Yu Yun". In fact, "there are blameless people who are sincere in floating pictures and often combine the Book of Changes and The Analects of Confucius to enjoy themselves, because their temperament is natural, just like Confucius." This passage shows that Liu Zongyuan saw the consistency between Buddhism and Confucianism through the obvious contradiction between Confucianism and Buddhism, and his knowledge was obviously superior to that of Han Yu. In fact, although Han Yu tried his best to reject Buddhism, he could not completely get rid of its influence. The Confucian orthodoxy he quoted has nothing to do with Buddhism's thought of teaching and passing on the light.

People often attribute the germination of Neo-Confucianism in Song and Ming Dynasties to Han Yu and his disciple Li Ao. Han Yu's influence on Neo-Confucianism in Song and Ming Dynasties mainly lies in his orthodoxy. Li Ao's contribution to Neo-Confucianism in Song and Ming Dynasties is that he pointed out a way to explore the metaphysics of Confucian theory of mind and nature. In Han Yu's view, he still followed the traditional Confucianism, that is, he paid more attention to the discussion of specific moral principles. For example, in the article The Original Road, he said: "Benevolence is the name, but morality is empty", which greatly criticized the morality of Buddha and Lao, revealing that he was not interested in discussing metaphysical issues. However, his disciple Li Ao showed great interest in exploring metaphysical theory. Influenced by Buddhism, he wrote three renaturation books to explore the metaphysical theory of Confucianism. Explaining the intention of writing this article, he said: "Although there are books of life, scholars can't solve them, so they all enter the village, column, old age and history. Those who don't know, that is, master's disciples, are not poor enough, and believers are also. If you have questions for me, I will spread them with what I know. Written in books, there are sources of openness, and there is a lack of ways to abandon and not promote, which can be passed on to the time. " So, what books did he find that gave full play to the Confucian way of life? Judging from the contents he quoted and enumerated in Renaturation Book, mainly Yi and The Mean. Since then, Neo-Confucianism in Song and Ming Dynasties has played the role of Confucian theory of human nature to compete with Buddhism, and its basic classics are mainly Yi and The Doctrine of the Mean. The five philosophers of the Northern Song Dynasty (Zhou Dunyi, Zhang Zai, Shao Yong, Cheng Hao and Cheng Yi) who initiated Neo-Confucianism all established their own theories by expounding Yi-ology. Zhu, a master of Neo-Confucianism, further elaborated systematically, adding four books, namely, The Great Learning, The Doctrine of the Mean, The Analects of Confucius and Mencius, to the basic classics of Confucianism on the way of life. Therefore, it is very reasonable to trace the germination of Neo-Confucianism in Song and Ming Dynasties back to Han and Li in Tang Dynasty.

Sixth, to sum up, Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism (or "three religions") in China culture absorb and blend with each other in the conflict; While maintaining their basic positions and characteristics, you have me and I have you. The development history of the three schools fully embodies the spirit of cultural integration in China. After more than a thousand years' development, until the middle of the 9th century, China culture continued the coexistence and progress of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism. The cultural policies pursued by the rulers of past dynasties also emphasized the combination of the three religions in most periods. Zhao Shen, a southern Song Xiaozong, said: "Treat the mind with Buddhism, the body with Taoism, and the world with Confucianism." This is a very representative view (quoted from Liu Mi's "Three Religions and Nine Streams"). Therefore, when people casually say that China culture is Confucian culture, please don't forget that there are two cultures, Buddhism and Taoism, which play a huge role in the spiritual life of China people. It is no exaggeration to say that China's humanistic spirit was formed under the joint cultivation of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism.