Contemporary Neo-Confucian expositions of Buddhist philosophy touch upon a broad range of philosophical issues, but in terms of carefully examining the Da-zhi-du-lun (Mahāprajñāpāramitopadeśa)-a text which has had a significant influence on Chinese Buddhism-the works of Xiong Shili and Mou Zongsan stand out. Xiong Shili employs a double-track approach of 'blending Confucian and Buddhist interpretation' and 'restraining Buddhism for the sake of advocating Confucianism', while deliberately extracting certain portions of this text for exposition in order to accomplish his goal of advancing Confucianism. Mou Zongsan, on the other hand, explains key philosophical issues of the Da-zhi-du-lun from a Kantian perspective and applies Tiantai Buddhist theory to his interpretations of the text, and then uses those outcomes to appraise Chinese philosophy. This paper points out that the importance of the Da-zhi-du-lun with regards to contemporary Neo-Confucian views on Buddhism stems from Xiong Shili and Mou Zongsan's concern for a return to ontology. Through their explications of this text, they come to a position to better evaluate the merits of Confucian and Buddhist theory, and to favour strongly the Confucian ontology.
