You Bin: historical self-confidence in the Sinicization of religion
2022-04-02
"If there were no 5000 years of Chinese civilization, where would there be any Chinese characteristics? If it were not for Chinese characteristics, where would there be such a successful path of socialism with Chinese characteristics today?" As a religious work of special importance in the construction of socialism with Chinese characteristics, it is particularly necessary to find the source of wisdom and build historical self-confidence from the 5000 year history of Chinese civilization. An important task of actively guiding religion to adapt to socialist society is to support China's religion in adhering to the direction of Sinicization. Under the guidance of the religious theory of socialism with Chinese characteristics, further promoting the Sinicization of religion is carried out in the historical context of 5000 years of Chinese civilization, backed by the wisdom condensed by the long-term social and cultural practice of the Chinese nation on the vast land of China. The historical confidence in the Sinicization of religion comes from the confidence in the 5000 year history of Chinese civilization. In history, China has formed a religious mutual learning civilization in which local culture and foreign religions interweave and communicate with each other. Chinese religion contains various belief elements, both ancient and modern; Both foreign and local; It originates from both agricultural settlement life and nomadic life or marine life, forming a religious mutual learning civilization in which local culture and foreign religions interweave and communicate with each other. At the beginning of ancient times, Chinese civilization showed a pattern of "stars in the sky". Civilizations in different regions not only form their own characteristics, but also learn from each other in exchanges, forming a higher-level complex in in in-depth learning. The Chinese civilization in the Central Plains not only absorbed the Hongshan Culture in the north and south of Yanshan, but also deeply learned from the Liangzhu civilization in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River. After the formation of the unified Qin and Han Dynasties, foreign religions began to enter China through the Silk Road, porcelain road and spice Road on land and sea. After Buddhism came to China, eight sects were formed in the process of deep Sinicization. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Christian religion (mainly Catholicism at that time) and Islam opened their respective ways of Sinicization through the cultural communication forms of "supplementing Confucianism and combining Confucianism" and "Iraqi Confucianism". Adhering to the spirit of "harmony but difference", these cultures are constantly reorganized and agitated with each other within the matrix of Chinese culture. They will blend, push through the old and bring forth the new, and radiate their endless vitality. The spirit of tolerance of Chinese culture runs through the history of Chinese religion. Since the ancient stone age, the origin of civilization, the spiritual life of Chinese people has shown rich diversity, including coastal flora facing the Pacific Ocean and inland flora facing Eurasia; There are rice civilization in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, millet civilization in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River, and nomadic civilization in the north and south of Yanshan. By unifying the diverse cultures with such significant differences and strong tension into a community, Chinese culture shows unparalleled tolerance. When various foreign religions such as Buddhism, Christianity and Islam came to China along the land and Maritime Silk Road, the inclusiveness of Chinese culture continued to deepen. Buddhism, which came to China earlier, intersected and merged with Confucianism and Taoism, and finally became an integral part of Chinese traditional culture. Later, Islam in China also experienced a similar process. In particular, Wang Daiyu, an Islamic educator in the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties, embedded "Taiyi", one of the core symbols of Chinese culture, into his ideological system, and expounded the creation and protection of all things by the ultimate reality of Islamic faith with "true one", "number one" and "body one". They came to China in the way of "real faith" instead of "real faith" in China in the 16th century. They came to China in the way of "real faith", but after the third day of transliteration of their "faith in God". In the 19th century, Christianity came to China under a special background, but when translating and interpreting the Bible and expressing the core of its belief that God was born into man, it embedded the belief in "Tao" in Chinese culture and translated the birth of Jesus into "Tao into flesh". In short, the inclusiveness of Chinese culture has inspired these foreign religions to integrate into the discourse and conceptual system of Chinese culture in the depths of their beliefs, not only maintaining their own independence, but also showing a distinctive Chinese style. A history of Chinese religion is a history of mutual learning between Chinese culture and Chinese religion, and a history of the continuous Sinicization of Chinese religion. The tolerance and openness of Chinese culture make it a huge magnetic field, attracting all religions to give full play to their potential in China. Whether it is the Sinicization of Buddhism, the popularization of Islamic Confucianism, the supplement and integration of Catholicism and Confucianism, and the localization trend of Christianity, all really prove the great attraction of Chinese culture to foreign religions. The history of religious mutual learning in China is also a history of exchanges and blending of the Chinese nation. In the history of exchanges and blending of the Chinese nation, Chinese religions have strengthened the spiritual and cultural ties among ethnic groups in accordance with the law of their own development. Confucianism integrates the Chinese nation in the form of heaven and earth worship, filial piety to ancestors, respect for saints and sages of patriarchal traditional religions, and becomes a bridge for cultural dialogue and integration with ethnic minorities. Taoism provides a theoretical basis for the spiritual beliefs of many ethnic minorities, such as the Bai nationality's own belief and the Zhuang nationality's Buluotuo belief. Buddhism plays an important role in the exchange and integration of national cultures. The Hui Confucians introduced the Confucian thought resources originated from the Chinese nation into the belief system of Chinese Islam through the "association of Iraqi Confucianism and Confucianism". In history, scholar bureaucrats and Christians inherited and developed Ricci's line of "supplementing Confucianism and combining Confucianism", which enriched the diversity of Chinese culture. Mutual learning and communication among Chinese religions, Chinese culture and religions will help build the common spiritual home of the Chinese nation. The historical confidence in the Sinicization of religion is not only the confidence in the historical achievements of our ancestors, but also the confidence in our adherence to the direction of the Sinicization of religion in our country in the new era. Religious work in the new era with the Sinicization of religion as an important content should be considered under the "two overall situations" of the great changes in the world that have not occurred in a century and the overall strategic situation of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. In fact, the 5000 year history of Chinese religion has always revealed to us the significance of "viewing the world with China and China with the world". Chinese religion, which is deeply embedded in Chinese culture, has a model of religious pluralism and integration. It itself has universal significance for the world deeply divided by multiple religions. Adopting the new viewpoint and method of "viewing the world with China and viewing China with the world" to reorganize and write the history of Chinese religion will be dedicated to a model of mutual learning of civilizations for reference to the world. The historical self-confidence of the Sinicization of religion needs to look at the relationship between religion and culture from a dialectical perspective. Under the influence of Radical Enlightenment and rationalism, a series of so-called "religious substitution theories" have been put forward in modern cultural history, such as "replacing religion with aesthetic education" and "replacing religion with morality". To further promote the Sinicization of China's religion, we need to understand religion as a social and cultural system, which has a profound impact on China's social culture, and recognize the decisive impact of the overall Chinese social culture on the nature and historical path of China's religion. "Chinese religions, whether local or foreign, are deeply embedded in the Chinese civilization with a history of more than 5000 years and deeply integrated into our social life." Chinese religion and Chinese culture are both the products of the Chinese nation in the process of great social practice. They are "nature molded by the Chinese spirit". They are a dialectical relationship of mutual exterior and interior, mutual achievement and unity of body and use. This is the "theory of mutual formation" between religion and culture. Exploring how and why Chinese religion and Chinese culture interact will effectively promote the Sinicization of religion. To further promote the Sinicization of China's religion, the most long-term and fundamental point is to form a religious ideological system with Chinese characteristics that is integrated with Chinese culture and consistent with modern spirit. Combing the development history of the thoughts of major religions in China, exploring their ideological resources, innovative spirit and successful experience, and then deeply grasping the basic religious classics, basic belief core, main religious rules and doctrines, universal etiquette system, etc. of each religious system, we can support major religions with academic support, take the socialist core values as the guide, and conduct in-depth dialogue with Chinese culture, Do a good job in the interpretation of religious classics in China's social and cultural department, and build a religious ideological system with Chinese characteristics. (outlook new era)
Edit：Yuanqi Tang Responsible editor：Xiao Yu
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