---
title: "太虛大師全書．第二編　五乘共學 · 三　佛學之歷史遷變"
description: "太虚大师著《太虛大師全書·第二編 五乘共學》成书于民国时期，是近代佛教革新运动的重要文献。作者太虚为民国高僧，倡导人间佛教。本编以五乘（人、天、声闻、缘觉、菩萨）佛法为框架，系统阐述佛教基本教义，强调人乘正法为出世之基，融通世间与出世间法。该书为现代佛教教育及人间佛教实践提供核心理论依据，在近代佛教复兴中具有承前启后的重要地位，是研究中国佛教现代化转型的必读经典。"
url: "https://rushiwowen.co/en/r/cmpjj97jl00nqt1thwbf31i8l"
---

### 三　佛學之歷史遷變

> The Historical Evolution of Buddhist Studies

現行今此地球人類間之佛學，乃發源於二千餘年前現身印度之釋迦牟尼佛者。當時印度民族之文化思想，則承襲或反動於婆羅門教之「各求個人解脫」之心習也。雖不無文殊、彌勒、維摩、善財等少數大乘之士，能領受探求佛陀圓覺之真理，而一般束於民族心習者，則格格不入。佛陀以之只能依外道之有我個人解脫，而易之以小乘之無我個人解脫，使真能得到個人之解脫（涅槃）。佛示寂後，雖文殊、彌勒等所聞大乘法，亦同結集傳持，而形成為教團以住持當時之佛教者，則為小乘眾。歷四五百年，以小乘諸部分裂，傳大乘思想者乃乘隙興起。歷五六百年，性、相代興；後至密宗盛行，始漸成大乘教團，而印度之佛教即衰亡矣。佛教之來中國，以先有軌範人生之儒教，與祭天、祀鬼、求神仙之道教。故承受發揮者雖在大乘思想，然以人生社會已為儒化所專有，故佛法應乎少數儒道之玄學者，則為禪宗與天台、賢首，游方之外；應乎一般民眾之習俗者，則由淨土、密宗而流為專度亡靈及鬼神禍福之迷信。隨俗之習，而真正之佛法未能成中國之人群化也。且反受中國宗法社會、家族制度之影響，而將原來六和僧眾之僧團，亦化成變態之家族制。觀此印、中佛史之沿革，可知大乘佛學在印度與中國，皆未嘗成立教團及成為民眾化矣。

> Present-day Buddhism among humans on Earth originated with Shakyamuni Buddha, who appeared in India over two thousand years ago. At that time, the cultural and intellectual climate of the Indian people was shaped by—whether through inheritance or reaction against—the Brahmanical tradition's inclination toward "seeking individual liberation." Although there were a few Mahayana-minded figures like Manjushri, Maitreya, Vimalakirti, and Sudhana who could grasp and explore the Buddha's perfect enlightenment, most people, bound by their ethnic and cultural habits, found it incompatible. The Buddha thus had to adapt, shifting from the externalist pursuit of individual liberation to the Hinayana approach of liberation through selflessness, enabling true personal liberation (nirvana). After the Buddha's passing, although the Mahayana teachings heard by Manjushri, Maitreya, and others were also compiled and transmitted together, it was the Hinayana followers who formed the established order and sustained the Buddhism of that era. Over the following four to five hundred years, as the Hinayana schools split, proponents of Mahayana thought took advantage of the situation to rise. After another five to six hundred years, the schools of Essence and Characteristics rose in turn; later, with the flourishing of Esoteric Buddhism, a Mahayana order gradually took shape—but by then Indian Buddhism was already in decline. When Buddhism came to China, it encountered a society already shaped by Confucianism, which governed ethical human relationships, and by Daoism, with its practices of worshipping heaven, venerating spirits, and seeking immortality. Consequently, although the Mahayana ideas were embraced and developed, since human society and daily life were already monopolized by Confucian norms, Buddhism found its expression among the few scholarly Daoist-inclined intellectuals through Chan (Zen) and the Tiantai and Huayan schools, which transcended worldly affairs. For the general populace, it flowed through Pure Land and Esoteric practices, devolving into superstitions focused on liberating the dead and seeking blessings from ghosts and spirits. Following these popular customs, true Buddhism never became fully integrated into Chinese society as a whole. Moreover, under the influence of China's patriarchal clan system and family structures, the original six-harmony monastic community was transformed into a distorted family-style institution. Looking at the historical development of Buddhism in India and China, it becomes clear that Mahayana Buddhism never truly established a unified order nor became widely embraced by the masses in either region.