- Taoism: the philosophical-religious tradition of ancient China

Lecture

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historiography, the theme of the doctrinal interaction of Buddhism and Taoism is likewise touched upon only episodically, mainly in works on the history of Buddhism in China, as well as on Chinese syncretic sects. This problematic is examined in more detail in Western sinology. Here one may name a whole series of researchers dealing with questions of the penetration of Buddhism into China and its subsequent transformation in the process of adaptation to the Chinese mentality: A. Wright, E. Zürcher, H. Welch, W. Pachow, and others. A holistic picture of the interaction of Buddhism with the autochthonous Chinese philosophical-religious systems is still lacking, and without this, attempts to resolve any specific questions of such interaction appear unproductive. If one approaches the resolution of the problem of Taoist-Buddhist interaction comprehensively, using the method of systemic analysis, then the first step in this direction should obviously be the systematization of the information on this question accumulated by domestic and foreign researchers. One of the conditions for such work is the determination of a periodization of the process of interaction of the two philosophical systems. Dividing the entire period of interaction into relatively small segments should facilitate the study of the said process, and also help to grasp the logic of its development.

There exists only one scheme of periodization of the interaction of Buddhism with the Chinese social and cultural milieu, proposed by the American sinologist A. Wright. As the basis of his scheme, A. Wright took the place and role of Buddhism in Chinese society. This scheme describes the process of the interaction of Buddhism with Chinese culture as a whole. A. Wright, striving to encompass all aspects of this process, paid primary attention to the sociopolitical aspects of the acceptance and rooting of Buddhism in China. In doing so, a number of particularities of the interaction of Buddhism specifically with Taoism were not fully taken into account, in particular those connected with the mutual influence and mutual interpenetration of ideas. If one places the ideological interaction of Taoism and Buddhism at the forefront, then Wright's scheme will require substantial correction. It is necessary to take into account the general characteristics of the said process as a whole. Then substantial changes in the parameters of these characteristics in this or that lengthy period of time may serve as a basis for the periodization of this process.

The following features are characteristic of the process of Taoist-Buddhist interaction: a bidirectional process of interaction; an elite and a popular level of interaction; direct and indirect influence (folk culture, xuanxue, and Neo-Confucianism as mediating substrates).

On the basis of the considerations presented, one may propose the following periodization of the ideological interaction of Taoism and Buddhism: 1. The period of the ideological-worldview adaptation of Buddhism in China (2nd-5th centuries). 2. The period of active interaction of Buddhism and Taoism in the sphere of ideology and religious practice (5th-11th centuries). 3. The period of Taoist-Buddhist mutual influence in a situation of cultural-religious syncretism (11th-19th centuries). 4.

The period of ideological interaction of Taoism and Buddhism under conditions of the penetration of Western culture into China (the second half of the 19th century to the present day).

At first Buddhism borrowed Taoist terminology, trying not to borrow Taoist ideas, although this was quite difficult, given the extensive terminological borrowing; it is entirely logical that a number of Taoist ideas, introduced along with the terminology, were not slow to appear in the teachings of the very first Chinese Buddhists. At the second stage, Buddhism gradually abandons its Taoist props, creating its own terminology. A whole series of purely Chinese schools of Buddhism arise. Buddhism begins to turn to originally Taoist themes, while Taoism uses Buddhist terms and concepts. During the third stage, the formation of religious syncretism occurs, the foundations of which had already been laid at the first stage. During this period, religious sects are created in whose teachings Buddhist and Taoist doctrines are intermingled. At the fourth stage, Buddhism finally becomes implanted in the fabric of Chinese culture. Under the threat of Western ideological invasion, Buddhism actively absorbs everything Chinese. A blurring of the boundaries between the schools of classical Chinese Buddhism occurs.

By the beginning of the 20th century, Buddhism is perceived as something authentically Chinese. At the same time, this interaction was accompanied by an increase in the «massification» of this process, with a simultaneous lowering of the level of discourse. In the contemporary world, ideological interaction occurs mainly in mass consciousness, capable of perceiving and easily mixing doctrines and concepts that are sometimes incompatible. In the future it will be necessary to resolve a number of questions that may help expand knowledge about the ideological interaction of Buddhism and Taoism in China. Such questions include the borrowing of Taoist concepts by the first Buddhist translators, the origins and use of Taoist «internal» alchemy in the Buddhist meditative practices of the Tiantai and Chan schools, the influence of Buddhism and Taoism on the transformation of statist thought and laws in the Tang era, and the particularities of the correlation of Taoist and Buddhist concepts in the teachings of syncretic schools.