慧 境 神 遊
Journey to Different
Levels Of Wisdom
-From
Chinese Religions/Philosophies
to Christian Faith
基督信仰與儒釋道境界
Prof. Thomas Leung
梁燕城教授
生活境界
Horizon of everyday life
Ordinary people is just living ,
working ,but also suffering ageing and
dieing.What then is the meaning of life.
生存、工作、追求成功、
痛苦、衰老、死亡、
問為何有這一切？
為何有人生？
The horizon of emptiness
In reflecting the meaning ,the first
enlightenment is that everthing is
changing ,all things are in the state of
impermanence .
This is the heart of Buddhism :The
recognition of the horizon of emptiness
無常，空的境界
Horizon of Emptiness
覺悟生滅變化，緣起性空，破除執著
生活境界
Horizon of everyday life
The Dao(Tao)
The second enlightenment: From emptiness to the
awareness of the dao.
All things are not only changing ,but there are
unchangeable ways to direct the developing.
There should have an ontological Way to arrange
the development of everything.This is call the
Dao.
規律，道的境界
Horizon of The Dao
萬有循道各路而發展，宇宙有奇異設計
有一偉大的道，架構變化中的不變規律
空的境界Emptiness
生活境界Everyday life
human goodness
The third enlightenment: From
awareness of the Dao to pursuit
of human goodness . The
recognition
recognition horizon of human
nature and its ontological
foundation : Heaven .Heaven is
the source of goodnes and
creativity This is the central idea
of Confucianism.
生生不息，天的境界
Horizon of Creativity
創造性力量，貫串在人性與宇宙當中
道的境界 Dao
空的境界 Emptiness
生活境界 Everyday life
Great God of the highest
Heaven
The fourth enlightenment: If Heaven is the
origin of human compassion and
goodness , then Heaven must has
personal feeling and compassion . In
ancient time , it is call the great God of
the highest Heaven(皇天上帝).
有情天，皇天上帝境界
Horizon of a Personal God
宇宙中的人具情格，其來源亦應具親情，
為有位格的真理。
天的境界 Creativity
道的境界 Dao
空的境界 Emptiness
生活境界 Everyday life
上帝 Real God
There is a gap between the God of philosophy
and the God in reality . Is it possible that
this personal God can reveal Himself and
bridges the gap?
人
的
上
溯
皇天上帝境界 Personal God
天的境界Creativity
道的境界 Dao
空的境界 Emptiness
生活境界 Everyday life
人
思
考
與
修
為
盡
頭
A revealed God
The fifth enlightenment: human
being encounters a God who
directly revealed and
communicated to human
being. A compassionate God
who acts in human history.
Through the incarnation and
salvation of Jesus Christ , an
I-Thou relationship between
God and human being can
be estublished.
上帝 Real God
真神的啟示 REVELATION
人
皇矣上帝境界 Personal God
天 的境界Creativity
道的境界 Dao
空的境界Emptiness
生活境界Everyday life
God of Trinity
救贖 Salvation
皇矣上帝境界 Personal God
天的境界 Creativity
道的境界 Dao
空的境界 Emptiness
生活境界 Everyday life
上
帝
從
道
創
造
世
界
神靈超級市場
中國民間信仰的來龍去脈
Supermarket of the
gods
Understanding of the Chinese
Folk religions
根源篇 The Roots
天壇 Altar of Heaven
皇
天
上
帝
天
壇
內
景
求
民
之
莫
監
觀
四
方
臨
下
有
赫
皇
矣
上
帝
詩
經
皇
矣
篇
How great is our God (Lord in the
highest)
He looks down from Heaven with
glory
He watches over the four corners of
the world
And pursues good fortune for the
people
昭
事
上
帝
小
心
翼
翼
維
此
文
王
詩
經
周
頌
文
王
篇
Only the great Emperor
Wen
As careful as possible
To serve the Highest
Lord
不
敢
不
正
予
畏
上
帝
夏
氏
有
罪
書
經
湯
誓
King Tang spoke to his army :
The family of Emperor Xia
committed to sin .I am the one
who fear God ,so that I must
raise an army to revolt against
them.
祖先崇拜
The Rites of Paying Respect to
the Ancestors
祖先是配上帝而祭
禮記
萬物本乎天 All things originate from the
heaven
人本乎祖Humanity originated from the
ancestor
所以配上帝也It has to be respected
together with God
郊之祭，報本反始也 The rites of Jiao
（worshiping God ），is for returning to the
origin 。
論語
孔子：「未能事人，焉能事鬼」
曾子：「慎終追遠，民德歸厚矣」
Confucius says ，“If I can not serve man
better ，how can I serve the ghosts。
Zeng Zi says“（Respecting the ancestor）is
for caring on the matter of the death and the
past。It is to help cultivate the human moral
consciousness 。
西溪叢話：
行香於經書無載，
起於胡人習俗
Burning incense is not from Chinese
tradition，it is imported by the north
western Buddhist tribes during the
time they invaded and hence stated in
China after 316 AD.。
印度有「中陰身」 (Antara-bhava)之說，為
吃香之鬼物
後佛教以人死後變成中有狀態，即中陰身，
留在地上四十九天，第七天回魂，故以香
祀之。
The Indian Buddhist believes that the ghost
(Antara-bhava) need to eat incense and
stay 49 days on earth.
秦始王自稱皇帝，統治者成爲
皇天上帝。
人民卻失去上帝和永生的盼望。
The Emperor Zhing proclaimed
himself as God (Lord in the
highest),then the concept of
God was identified with the
ruler.Chinese people hense
lose the understanding of
God.
道教起源
Origin of Daoism,
the Immortals
and the quest
for eternal life
Heavenly
teacher
Zhang Dao Ling
道教起源
The Three
Highly Pure
Immortals
supernatural administration
北
天界
Heaven
東
西
南
被封神仙的人
Immortals
自然現象諸神靈 gods of nature
Heaven
北 north
west
西 west
南 south
東 east
The Greatest Jade Emperor
Southern Old Immortal
Western Mother
Eastern Father
北
東
西
南
北
General Rain
天界
Uncle Wind
Lady Lightening Uncle
Thundering
天界
被封神仙的人 Human Immortals
道教神靈行政圖 1.2
 被封神仙的人 Appointed humans as
immortals
Supernatural administration 2
地界
earth
 河海界 Sea
and river
冥界
Under
World
地界 gods of earth
Goddess of the toilet (not washroom) god of the stove,
god of the moat, god of the earth, god of the mountain
three gods of the
heaven , earth and
water
god of heaven
god of money
The black and
white demons
of death
god of local
land
god of local
mountain
God of the local land
lady of the toilet (not
washroom)
gentleman of the stove
 河海界 gods of sea and river
 冥界 gods of under world
The demons of death (the bull
head and the horse face
demons)
民間佛教 Local
Buddhism
The life of Buddha :Myth or
Fact?
One of the first biographies was the
Buddhacarita which is written in second century
A.D. ,seven hundred years after the historical
Buddha .
The first buddhist text was written in 8 B.C. , five
hundred years after the Buddha.
There are four councils for gathering the word of
the Buddha , but is only setting up an oral
tradition .From the perspective of scholarly
research , all the Buddhist texts presents myth
rather than fact.
Buddha
Written in second
century A. D.
When born ,he stood up
and walked seven steps
said “I am the only one
who is the best in all
heavens as well as on
the earth .”
By profound understanding
of suffering ,Gotama left
home and searched for way
of liberation .At the age of
35 , he attained
enlightenment.
He promoted his teaching
everywhere .At the age of 80 ,
he died of stomach disease
佛像的起源 The origin of
Buddha statues
In 120A.D. Kushan king
Kaniska control northern India ,
started to build the Buddha
statues.
They invented the Buddha’s
image from the descriptions of
the buddhist texts .
菩薩的起源 The origin of
Bodhisattva
 菩提薩多
 Bodhisattva means the one who
searches for enlightenment
 原意:覺有情
 原是指佛的前生, 大乘佛教創造各
種不同的菩薩
 The Jataka created more than
500 stories of Buddha’s precious
life for the integration of other
Hindu gods ,hence describes this
pre-exist states as the half
Buddha ,that is Bodhisattva
觀音菩薩 (Guanyin)
 梵名Avalokiteśvara原
意是觀自在, 來自印度
教的慈悲神Aysin, 加
上自在神Iśvara, 兩神
結論合而被佛教創造
出來
 It is a combination of
two Hindu gods :
Aysin and Iśvara.
印
度
的
男
性
千
手
觀
音
中
國
變
成
性
女
性
觀
音
佛教宇宙觀
Buddhist
cosmology
Three realms and 28 mortal
heavens
無色界
色界
欲界
共
二
十
八
天
The four heavenly kings
四大天王長常各執一物，
譬喻「風、調、雨、
順」。刀劍比喻為
「風」；手彈琵琶，有
「調」順之義；手握傘
蓋，比喻為「雨」；手
擒龍者，喻為「順」。
東方持國天王。
西方廣目天王。
南方增長天王。
北方多聞天王。
佛教宇宙觀 1
The ruling
god of the
land
佛教宇宙觀 1
Maitreya
共
二
十
八
天
Reincarnation
The under world
Kshitigarbha
The under world 2
Buddha and his disciples
三世佛Three Buddhas
in time and space
(
燃燈佛
)
豎
三
世
阿彌陀佛 - 釋迦佛 - 藥師佛
(橫三世)
彌勒佛
四方佛 Buddhas of the four
corners
彌勒佛
阿彌陀佛
藥師佛
釋迦佛
彌勒佛Maitreya
阿彌陀佛 Amitabha 藥師佛
釋迦佛
Manla
滿
天
神
佛
Tibetan Esoteric Buddhism
Mantra : A secret magical spell that can
gain power and merit through
communication to certain Buddhas ,
Boddhisattvas or spiritual beings .
Tantra: A secret and mystical branch of
Buddhism which practiced mantra and
inflenced Tibetan Buddhism.
The cosmic supreme Buddha
(Mahavairocana ) taught Nagarjuna the
secret knowledge of mantra.
The tantra Buddhism spread to Tibet in
eighth century by Padma-sambhave.
Tsong Khapa (1357—1419) reformed
Buddhism and created the Gelugpa school
( the yellow sect ).
Dalai Lama : The first one in history was
the disciple of Tsong khapa and being
proclaimed as the one who shall
reincarnate after dead . The third
reincarnated body was called by the
Mongol khan as Dalai , which means
ocean of wisdom , and Lama means
superior monk . The khan gave Dalai
political power to rule eastern Tibet .
佛神天滿
Dalai and Pan-chen
The fifth Dalai was called living
Buddha ,then came the tradition of
reincarnation of the living Buddha.
Pan-chen Lama was the other disciple of
Tsong Khana . Pan-chen means great
wisdom , he gained political power to rule
western Tibet latter .
Chan (Zen) Buddhism
Chan is a translation of the Sanskrit dhyana
which means meditation. It changed its
character in China ,chan is neither sitting
meditation nor concentration ,but direct
enlightenment of the mind-heart .
Bodhidharma (460—534 ) brought Chan
Buddhism to China .
Shen-hsiu’s verse
The body is the tree of perfect wisdom.
The mind is the stand of a bright mirror.
At all times diligently wipe it .
Do not allow it to become dusty.
Hui-neng’s verse :
Perfect wisdom is not a tree.
Nor has the bright mirror any stand.
Fundamentally it is nothing there .
Where the dust can lay on .
超越性格
神
三位一體真神
救恩
天
數
創造的內在天理
道
空
神的永能和神性
諸天