唯心思想帶來晚近中國佛教之衰微嗎？－印順法師觀點之檢視=Does Doctrine of the Tathāgatagarbha lead to Degradation of Modern Chinese Buddhism?- A Reflection on the Views of Master Yin-shun
Following in the footsteps of Tai-xu, Master Yin-shun advocated a reform of Chinese Buddhism. Yet unlike Tai-xu, he identified certain Buddhist views (drsti) as the main cause for the decline of Buddhism in both India and China, and thus wrote extensively in an effort to address the problem. The doctrine of the tathāgatagarbha became the main object of his reflections, a point which coincidentally has come to resonate with Critical Buddhism in Japan about fifty years later. In Yin-shun's view, the doctrine of the tathāgatagarbha tends to undermine the spirit of the bodhisattva, which has gradually led to the degeneration of the exalted spirit of the Mahayana, and consequently, the decline of Buddhism. But is this a reasonable claim? Is there a causal relation between the doctrine of the tathāgatagarbha and the decline of Buddhism in China and India? If so, then why? And if not, what exactly were Yin-shun's ideas trying to convey? It is worthy to note that Yin-shun took a Middle-Way approach in his view on the tathāgatagarbha, neither regarding as the ultimate truth as traditional Chinese Budhists do, nor disregarding it entirely like scholars of the School of Critical Buddhism do. Instead of completely rejecting the doctrine of the tathāgatagarbha, he merely points out its limitations. As a sincere follower of the Buddha and Nagarjuna, he was mainly concerned with the distinction between uttara and upaya teachings and it is under this interpretative framework that he intended to consolidate all the Buddhist teachings and guide beings towards the Buddhist path. To deny the doctrine of the tathāgatagarbha, and portray the teachings on emptiness (śúnya) as the only truth, would also violate the teaching of the Buddha. When Buddhist theory becomes inaccessible to the majority of people, the teachings are in danger of declining or even disappearing altogether. Hence, a true follower of the Buddha will never completely reject the expedient teaching of the tathāgatagarbha. Yin-shun's aim was to emphasize the middle-way approach during the dialectical process between the ultimate teachings and provisional teachings of the Buddha.
