Nian Fu said: "Hey! Speaking of which, it is strange that these times are uncertain, and the harmful ancestors have belittled themselves and want to integrate with the three religions of these foreign cultures! ”

Xiao Tianshu said: "This is also in line with the Tao, one yin and one yang, even if we Taoism conforms to the way of heaven, there are always times when luck is bad!" At this time, the ancestors had to transport this time to favor unity, since they are united, they can also survive in the cracks! ”

Nian Fu said: "When did you have this idea of three religions in one? ”

Xiao Tianshu said: "The first sentence in the Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms: "The general trend of the world, divided for a long time, must be united, and a long time must be divided." Yes, it's the same now, after being separated for a long time, you want to be up, and after being together for a long time, you want to be separated. Historically, the three religions have blossomed and scattered their own leaves, but in the end, the three religions have become one. During the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, Buddhism and Taoism spread rapidly, and Confucianism faced a crisis; During the Sui and Tang dynasties, Confucian scholars put forward the idea of the integration of the three religions, absorbed the spirit of Buddhism and Taoism, and achieved new development; In the Song Dynasty, a Neo-Confucian system with "Li" or "Tianli" as the core was gradually established, that is, Lixue.

Representative figures: Northern Song Dynasty - Cheng Hao, Cheng Yi; Southern Song Dynasty - Zhu Xi, Lu Jiuyuan; Ming Dynasty - Wang Shouren (Wang Yangming) Cheng Zhu Lixue: "Reason" is the origin of all things in the world; "Reason" is embodied in the society is Confucian morality and ethics, and in human beings is human nature; To grasp "reason" is to "learn from things" (only by touching everything can we understand "reason").

Lu Wang's Psychology: Lu Jiuyuan believes that "the heart is reason", and seeking "reason" is to carry out inner introspection; Wang Shouren's doctrine of "to conscience" believes that conscience is the original heart, that is, reason, and that heavenly reason is in one's own heart, and that as long as you overcome selfish desires and restore conscience, you can become a sage.

Xiao Tianshu said: "These people have taken advantage of negativity -- using the three platforms and five constants to maintain autocratic rule, suppressing and stifling people's natural desires, and have had a negative impact. On the positive side, it attaches importance to subjective willpower, pays attention to integrity and morality, stresses rationality, self-control, and determination, emphasizes human social responsibility and historical mission, and highlights the solemnity of human nature, which plays a positive role in shaping the character of the Chinese nation. ”

From the perspective of integration, the meaning of "three religions combined" is undoubtedly a step further than that of "three religions." The key lies in the understanding of "oneness". If we regard "unity" as the intrinsic doctrine of Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism, especially in the orientation of moral standards. A trend towards integration, of course, is possible, but at least before the Ming Dynasty, it was called "the convergence of the three religions" or "the integration of the three religions". In fact, this is what is meant when the three religions are said to be in one in general academic writings.

Nian Fu said: "Perhaps it is the vagueness in the understanding of the name of the unity of the three religions, the ancients rarely used the word "unity of the three religions," at least no one used this word before the Ming Dynasty. The author once asked a friend Professor Wu Songdi of Fudan University to search through a computer CD-ROM search, and the name of Sanjiaohe only appeared eight times in the entire "Siku Quanshu", and all of them were after the Yuan Dynasty. That is to say, before the Ming Dynasty, there was only the concept of the three religions, and there was no popularity of the concept of the unity of the three religions at all. In other words, before the Ming Dynasty, people had not yet realized the possibility of unity of the three religions in their external form. Of course, the "unity" mentioned by the people of the Ming Dynasty can still be divided into two levels, one of which is still the meaning of "three religions into one" and "three religions and one family" in the past, that is, it mainly refers to the moral values of the three schools. For example, Gu Xiancheng said in the "Epitaph of Wenshi Zhang Jun, the Director of the Ritual Department of the Ministry of Rites and Rites of the Ming Dynasty, and the Judge Wenshi Zhang Jun of Dengzhou, Nanyang Prefecture": "Dongming manages the southeast of the public advocacy road, and marks the three religions together--the sect." It is difficult to say hundreds of words about the gentleman's appearance and quality, and the public is bent". However, from the Ming Dynasty, a superintendent of the imperial history Lu Longqi said, "Today's people say that the three religions are one, isn't it Zhu Zizhi's sigh." It is also said that the three religions cannot be combined but each has its own subtlety, and those who may coexist may be combined with each other, and it is especially coincidental to include those who are in harmony." The difference between Lu's so-called two kinds of unity of the three religions is precisely manifested in the external form, that is, people at that time did advocate mixing the three religions into one. ”

Xiao Tianshu said with a smile: "When the concept of the integration of the three religions was put forward in the Ming Dynasty, it must have been that there was already some actual form of the integration of the three religions in the society at that time, even if it was a vague existence. It is worth noting that at that time, there was indeed a common --。 of the three religions in society For example, in the Ming Dynasty, the gods worshiped by the three religions became more and more popular, the most popular of which was the belief of Emperor Guan, which was written in the middle of the Ming Dynasty in the "Three Realms of the Demon Guan Shengdi Jun Loyalty, Filial Piety, Loyalty, and Righteousness Sutra" said that Guan Yu was in the Three Realms, "holding the power of Confucianism and Taoism, and managing the handle of heaven and earth." Another example is Lin Zhaoen in the late Ming Dynasty, who even founded the "Trinity Religion", a religion of three religions with Confucianism as the main body, claiming that through means such as "refining the heart", "worshipping rites" and "relief", "the three religions are returned to Confucianism, the purpose of the three outlines is retro, and the future generations of the world are thought of", and even "the statue of the three religions is built in the temple: Shakya is in the center, Lao Tzu is on the left, and the statue of Confucius and Bodhisattva is in the west, and it is in the last seat." The gentlemen and famous scholars also believe in it." The unity of the three religions in the system of faith and worship was implemented. As a result, there has been a qualitative leap in the connotation of the concept of the integration of the three religions. ”

Lin Zhaoen's "Trinity Religion" is based on the purpose of openly flaunting the merger of the three religions into one religion, and some other folk religions also use this as a banner, which can be seen in the classic "treasure scrolls" of those folk religions. For example, the cloud of "Selling the Enlightenment and Returning the Source Treasure Scroll to Leave the Three Teachings of the Scriptures": "From now on, compassion comes to you, and only then does it leave the Three Teachings of the Three Teachings": "The Treasure Scroll of Happy Results" has the "Three Teachings Bodhisattva Products"; "Mixed Yuan Red Yang Linfan Piao Gao Sutra" also has "Taking the Character of the Three Sects of Saints" and so on. This shows that in the second generation of the Ming and Qing dynasties, there were more nameless and real religious organizations of the three religions. The above-mentioned folk religions were active at the time. Yan Xizhai saw this very clearly in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, and he said: "All cult people say that 'the three religions are returned-' or all laws are one." In the treasure trove of these folk religions, the original differences between the three religions have blurred or even disappeared, as Anna Seidel says, "These Buddhist scriptures originated in the social pyramid, in the secular circles at the bottom, where the doctrinal distinction between the two religions became more and more blurred."

Nian Fu said: "This is indeed the case, as Luo Qing, the founder of Luojiao, in his "Five Parts. In the "Breaking the Evil Manifestation Key Scroll Breaking the First Buddha Product at Home", it is further explained: "One monk is one - Confucianism, and the same heart is empty and the first Zen. Like the flow of water, the sun, moon and stars are a total of one day. Originally, the avenue was the same, and Nai Yuan was paranoid and didn't talk about the mysteries. If you don't think about it, the three religions are always average." Mr. Tadao Sakai once researched the quotations of the "Five Books and Six Volumes" and found that there were not only Buddhist scriptures such as the "Diamond Sutra", "Huayan Sutra" and "Lotus Sutra", but also Taoist classics such as "Tao Te Ching" and "Wuzhen Chapter" and Confucian "University" and "The Mean", which shows that these so-called treasure scrolls are completely integrated with the three religions. ”

Xiao Tianshu smiled: "Generally. That is to say, if folk religion still often shows Buddhist colors in the form of worship, the code of conduct of the people in the present world advocated by it is the Confucian ethics of loyalty, filial piety, benevolence, and righteousness, such as the "Treasure Scroll of Virtue and Virtue in the Interpretation of Meng Jiang's Loyalty and Martyrdom", "Twenty-four Filial Piety and Gratitude to Mother", "Treasure Scroll of Righteousness", and so on. ”