Please be careful to say "three religions are of the same origin"

"The enlightenment of the three religions is also in the sea, with the same origin of reason and parallel but not contradictory Tao."

At present, when many friends talk about traditional culture, they will invariably sigh that "the three religions are of the same origin". The above sentence (or its meaning) often becomes the initial form of "homology theory".

Next, the Confucian "human nature is good", the Buddhist "all beings have Buddha nature" and the Taoist "red lotus and white lotus root all have one root" are superimposed to prove the consistency of the three religions. During this period, some friends will also quote some records related to the founders of the three religions, such as Confucius visiting Laozi and Laozi turning Hu into Buddha.

Finally, add or quote some conclusive sentences, such as Wang Zhongyang's conclusion that "red lotus, white lotus root and green lotus leaf, three religions are one".

From the perspective of moral education, I am not opposed to the "homology theory", and even the author himself will use the above writing method when doing articles or speeches on similar topics.

Because the purpose of moral education is to improve people's moral quality and maintain social stability. The viewpoint of "three religions are of the same origin" and even "cultural exchange between China and the West" is not only conducive to eliminating contradictions and stabilizing people's hearts, but also conducive to the harmonious development of China's traditional culture.

However, from an academic point of view, the author believes that some problems still need to be discussed in depth. Moral education and academic research are "coexisting" but also "different" and cannot be confused.

Many Buddhist legends and case-solving stories, like western fables, have their educational value and significance, but they should not be studied and quoted as historical facts.

Objectively speaking, how can Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism coexist for two thousand years without intercommunication, but this intercommunication is not a "homologous" relationship, but a "return to the original" development.

Confucian culture is a humanistic thought with people as the core, which embodies the cultural characteristics of China's philosophy that attaches importance to reality. Therefore, Confucianism attaches importance to the present, this life, and the world, "not talking about Machamp's confusion" and "not knowing how to live and know how to die".

As far as the origin of "Confucian" is concerned, Mr. Feng Youlan also pointed out in "The History of China Philosophy" that the predecessor of "Confucian" was often a knowledgeable aristocrat or attendant in the Warring States period.

Taoist culture, like Confucian culture, is an inherent culture in China. As far as the origin of Taoism is concerned, I support Mr. Feng Youlan's view that Taoism was often a hermit during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period.

Taoist thought holds that inaction "Tao" is the origin of the world, and learning from inaction and letting nature take its course becomes the "outlook on life" of Taoist thought.

There are also several records in The Analects of Confucius. At that time, some hermits did not approve of Confucius' trip to the Six Kingdoms. They think that the world is like this, and human resources cannot be recovered, so they should conform to nature and have nothing to expect.

Taoism, with religious nature, recognizes the authenticity of the body. From the beginning, it tried to ensure the longevity of the body through alchemy, spiritual training and spiritual cultivation, and even "dragon and tiger reconcile and hurdle to fill the gap", thus integrating with nature and becoming immortal together with body and spirit.

Buddhist culture originated from Indian Buddhism and was gradually introduced to China in Han Dynasty. Indian Buddhist culture is reborn and attaches importance to the other side. It thinks that human nature is troublesome, this side is filthy and the world is illusory. We must leave this life and seek liberation in the afterlife.

In terms of behavior, Indian Buddhism's behaviors of "monks don't kneel to the king" and "becoming monks" are incompatible with China Confucianism's inherent view of "monarch, father" and "family", and Buddhism's thought of treating the body as dirty skin is also different from Taoism's thought of "preserving health and living forever", so Indian Buddhism was attacked by both Confucianism and Taoism at the beginning of its introduction into China.

It can be seen that the thoughts of the three religions are very different from the beginning, and the word "homology" is out of the question. Of course, if the three religions are "homologous" because they all teach people to do good and eliminate evil, then all religions are "homologous". And this "homology" is at the moral level, not at the ideological and academic level.

Many scholars of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism, based on their own culture, especially Buddhism, also realized the value of "learning from each other's strengths to make up for each other's shortcomings", and made unremitting efforts to reconcile the cultural contradictions of the three religions based on the Central Plains and seek integration in opposition.

The similarities among Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism tend to focus on the theory of mind and nature, because it not only conforms to the connotation of China's cultural introspection, but also is the easiest area for the three schools to reach reconciliation. Therefore, China culture focuses on the cosmology in Han Dynasty, humanism in Wei and Jin Dynasties, and life philosophy of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism after Tang Dynasty.

"Benevolence" put forward by Confucius and Mencius leads China culture to the humanistic thought of attaching importance to "people", rather than being confined to the field of vision of "heaven and earth".

Confucians in the Song and Ming Dynasties, whether Neo-Confucianists or Neo-Confucianists, held a critical position on Buddhism and Taoism, but it is undeniable that they absorbed the nutrients they needed from Buddhist thought, which prompted Confucianism in the Song and Ming Dynasties to gradually focus on practical and harmonious learning of mind and nature.

For example, Zhu once criticized the theory of mind as "full Zen". Although it is exaggerated, Zen Buddhism has a great influence on Lu Wang's psychology.

At first, Taoism attached importance to health preservation and longevity. With its development, its focus gradually shifted to the study of moral life. After the Southern Song Dynasty, the new school headed by "Quanzhen Taoism" tried to innovate, arguing that Taoist scholars should base themselves on the transcendence of inner thoughts and spirits, rather than the appearance of the body, and further maintained their integration with Confucianism and Buddhism.

As for the Buddhist thoughts of foreign cultures, the changes are more remarkable, and a completely different Buddhist culture has been formed in China.

Institutionally speaking, Indian Buddhism is a bowl system, while China Buddhism gradually forms a jungle system, and the temple industry is self-sufficient; Indian Buddhist monks "don't worship when they see the king", while China Buddhism accepts China's "monarch-father system" and worships the king; China attached great importance to family inheritance, so China Buddhism catered to the idea of father-son inheritance in a disguised form of sectarian patriarchy.

In terms of mind, after Buddhism was introduced to China, Buddhist scholars in China often used Taoist thoughts or terms to explain Buddhist classics: Taoist emptiness, Taoist bodhi and Taoist inaction.

Based on the Yin-Yang theory of metaphysics in Wei and Jin Dynasties, this paper proves that "one interpretation and one mention" also has the nature of Buddhism. Huineng Zen also borrowed from the Taoist thought of "nature and nature" to a great extent. Based on the Taoist thought of "doing nothing without doing anything", this paper expounds the Buddhist Zen principle of "breaking without repairing"

In view of Confucianism's emphasis on the humanistic characteristics of real life, Buddhists gradually combined Buddhism with human heart in the process of development, emphasizing that "self-mind is Buddha" and "heart is no different from Buddha".

There are also cognitions of good and evil in Buddhism, but China's mainstream Buddhist thought is a theory of recognizing truth, goodness and beauty, which can't be said to cater to the mainstream thought of "goodness in nature" of Confucianism.

It combines the Confucian thought of "extreme brightness and moderation" and puts forward the Zen thought of "normal mind is the Tao" in Buddhism. In order to reconcile the contradiction between heaven and reality, it is put forward that "the peace of mind leads to a pure land"

Now scholars with certain knowledge of Chinese studies can tell an analysis of harmony by opening the classics. The development of Chinese studies really has a lot in common so far. However, we must make it clear that this kind of communication is not due to "homology", but the interaction and consultation among Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism in the development process, which is a selective integration and the result of "returning to nature".

Clarification of some problems in China's culture is conducive to objective and rational moral education in the future, so that Chinese studies can develop steadily in the balance of "academic left and belief right".