文章從一個方面，即從中國佛教典籍的傳譯和著述方面，論述了中國佛教宗派形成的歷史進程. 大體說，東晉 時代道安和鳩摩羅什創造性的譯經和著述活動是中國佛教宗派創立的最直接的源頭，也是佛教中國化的真正開始. 由道安開創的，由鳩摩羅什及其門徒們推廣起來的中國佛教的義理之學，實實在在地為中國佛教宗派的創立奠定了 基礎. 可以這樣說，在道安，羅什前，佛教真正的義理還沒被中國僧人所闡釋，佛教在中國還沒形成一種 獨立的學術思潮; 自道安，羅什始，中國佛教才有了自己獨立的形態. 這種形態就是南北朝時代在中國的南北廣為發展的佛教的義理之學. 南北朝時代澎勃興起的義學風潮和眾多的學派，把中國佛教的發展推上了高潮，而中國佛教也正是在這種風潮 中成熟起來. 中國佛教經過南北朝近三百年的發展，已逐漸從理解和詮釋印度佛教的傳統中走出來，以求探尋中國佛教自己的發展道路，並最終借南北一統的形勢，創造性地建立起中國佛教自己的佛學體系，並在不斷完善這種體系的過程中，確立自己的傳承道統，建立自己的傳法基地，組織自己的僧團，這就是隋唐時代中國佛教宗派的創立. This paper discusses the historical route of formation of Chinese Buddhist schools with a special view of translation and transmission of Buddhist scriptures coming from the Western Region. As a whole，the direct source of the Chinese Buddhism in the real sense can be traced back to the two great figures establishing the theoretical ground for Chinese Buddhist sectarianism. They were Master Dao-an and Buddhist missionary Kumarajiva. Their translating and exegetical activities in propagation of Buddhist scriptures threw a far reaching influence upon the academic study of philosophical and theological dcotrines in Chinese Buddhism. Each of the Chinese Buddhist schools theoretically based itself upon one or a few Buddhist scriptures that originally came from India, but actually none of them understood the texts word by word as in the homeland of Buddhism. The way the Chinese Buddhist schools dealt with the sutra was different from Indian monks.Master Dao-an is the pioneer of the typical methods of interpreting Buddhist scriptures and Kumarajiva carried forward the exegetical way. Before the two figures, there was no one expounded Buddhism with Chinese terminology to such a deep degree in the Chinese Buddhist community. Thus, only at Kumarajiva's times, there appeared an independent academic Buddhist ideology in China. It is Master Dao-an and Kumarajiva that bestowed Chinese Buddhism with its distinctive exegetical format which primarily expressed itself in the systematic studies of Buddhist texts in the Northern and Southern Dynasties (C. 300 ~ 589 CE). During the period，there emerged a member of Buddhist academic schools in the North and South China. Owing to their common expounding activities, Chinese Buddhism become further more matured and finally reached its zenith. During the historical process of the 300 years, Chinese Buddhism gradually got rid of the previous tendency of seeing Buddha's teachings with the Indian eyes. It learned to place its understanding upon a new ground in order to construct a set of self-satisfying religious and philosophical notions and institution within a totally different cultural atmosphere. At the end of the Northern and Southern Dynasties, with the reunification of the northern and southern parts of China, Buddhism came to permeate Chinese society at all levels and its clergy had become a distinct group with unique spiritual and cultural influence.In the coming Sui and T'ang Dynasties, Chinese Buddhist schools would eventually set up their own dharma lineages and academic traditions which economically based upon a certain number of big monasteries and institutionally upon distinctive Buddhist communities.
