魏晋南北朝时期佛教对科学的影响

【作者】 李小花；

【导师】 赵士林；

【作者基本信息】 中央民族大学 ， 宗教学， 2009， 博士

【摘要】 魏晋南北朝是一个分裂动荡、战乱纷争的时代;但又是一个思想自由,百家争鸣,宗教大发展的时代;一个科技不断创新,成果迭出的时代。佛教传入中国,成为中国文化史上的一件大事,而魏晋南北朝是佛教发展史上的黄金时代。论文从文化学、哲学、文献学等角度,对这一时期佛教对科学特别是天文历算和医学的影响作了初步的探讨,希望进一步拓宽中国宗教史和科学史的研究领域。魏晋南北朝时期的佛教主要以译经为主,佛教经典大批的、高质量翻译出来,吸引了众多信徒。作为不同文化之间交流的媒介,在数量庞大的佛经中,包含了大量的科学技术信息。作为文化交流最活跃的主体,中外僧人既是佛学理论丰富的信仰者,也是各种知识的拥有者,在译经弘法的过程中,在佛教私学教育中扮演了重要的角色,客观上为科学的交流和传播发挥了重要的作用。从佛教对天文历算的影响来看,佛经中有很多关于宇宙模式、宇宙生成、天体星象、历法计数的知识破介绍到中国来。新的宇宙观时空观启发了中国人的思维,激发了中国人的想象力。许多中外僧人都懂得天文历算,佛教的传播带动了这方面知识的交流,并对中国的天体理论、历法算学等产生了实际的影响。从佛教对医学的影响来看,佛教经、律、论三藏中保存了大量的医药学知识,佛教僧人参与医疗的行为日益普遍,成为推动医学发展的一支不容忽视的力量,在灾害频发的时代,佛教寺院一度成为施药救治的场所。中国传统医学无论是在理论方面,还是在实践方面都受到了外来医学的影响,内容更加丰富,视野更为开阔。由于佛教传入而引起的与中国固有传统文化引起的冲突、交流和融合,为科学发展提供了深厚的思想基础和文化背景。儒佛道之间虽然存在碰撞与冲突,但主要表现为理论上的平等探讨和自由论辩,大大解放了人的思想,促进了这一时期各领域包括科学领域学术的繁荣。作为一种哲理性很强的宗教,佛教理论的发展与玄学有密切的关系,佛玄互动为科学思想注入了新的活力。因佛教的传入,带来了大量辩证逻辑的知识和理论,进一步提升了思维水平。但从佛教哲学的转向和佛教哲学的本质来看,其思维模式并未深刻影响中国的科学思想。关于神灭神不灭的争论是科学史上也是佛学史上的重大论题,由于神不灭论与中国传统的形神观更契合,所以较神灭论的思想影响更广泛。佛教中的一些哲学思想在一定程度上提升了思维水平,拓展了思维领域,但并不能从根本上提供全新的科学思维和方法,中国传统科学的几大领域天、医、算并未突破其科学范式,而是在一定范围内、一定程度上持续发展。更多还原

【Abstract】 Wei, Jin, and Southern and Northern Dynasties was an era in which splitting and unrest, wars and disputes were filled with; while it was also a thought-free period in which a hundred schools of thought contended and religions developed greatly; scientific and technological innovations and outstanding achievements kept occurring in this period, too. The introduction of Buddhism was a great event in the history of Chinese culture, and Wei, Jin, and Southern and Northern dynasties period was the golden age in the history of Buddhism development. This paper makes preliminary discussion on Buddhism’s impact on science during this period from the perspectives of culturology, philosophy and philology, hoping to expand the research field of Chinese religious history and science history.The main achievements of Buddhism were scripture translation in Wei. Jin, and Southern and Northern period, large quantities of Buddhism scriptures with high quality were translated, which attracted a lot of Buddhists. As the communication medium between different cultures, a lot of scientific and technological information was included in large Numbers of Buddhism scriptures. As the most active subject of cultural communication, Chinese and foreign Buddhists were not only believers of Buddhism theory but also knowledge owners, in the process of translating scriptures and Dharma propagation, they played important roles in private Buddhism education and science’s communication. From the influence of Buddhism on astronomy, calendar and Mathematics, there were a lot of knowledge on cosmological model, cosmological formation, celestial stars and calendar introduced to china, the new theory of universe and Chronotope enlightened Chinese thought and inspired Chinese imagination, many Buddhists from foreign countries or china knew astronomy and calendar, the broadcasting of Buddhism promoted the communication of knowledge on this aspect, which actually influenced celestial theory and calendar.From the perspective of Buddhism’s effects on medical science, tripitaka preserved a lot of medical knowledge, it was increasingly common that Buddhists involved in the conduct of health care and became force that can not be ignored, during the period of disasters, Buddhism temple had ever been a place where medicines and treatment were offered. Chinese traditional medicine was influenced by foreign medicine on theoretical and practical perspectives, so the traditional medicine had richer content and broader view.The introduction of Buddhism led to the conflicts, communication and fusion between Buddhism and Chinese inherent traditional culture, which supplied deep thought foundation and cultural backgrounds for scientific development. Although there were some conflicts among Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism, which mainly took the form of equal discussion and free argument in theoretical level, and this emancipated people’s thought greatly and promoted the prosperity in various fields including academic prosperity of this period. As a strong philosophical religion, the development of Buddhism theory was closely related to Xuanxue, the communication of Buddhism and Xuan injected fresh energy to scientific thought. The introduction of Buddhism brought about substantial knowledge and theories on dialectical logic and further improved thinking level, but the thinking mode of Buddhism didn’t affected scientific thought in china according to the direction and essence of Buddhism. The argument on spiritual perishability and imperishability had been an important topic in history of both science and Buddhism, theory of spiritual imperishability corresponded to view of body and spirit in Chinese tradition, so this theory was more influential. The philosophical thoughts of Buddhism improved Chinese people’s thinking level and expanded thinking fields to some extent, however, the thoughts couldn’t provide brand-new scientific thinking and methods, heaven, medicine and mathematics as the traditional fields of Chinese science kept the same paradigm, they developed sustainably within a certain range and degree.更多还原