The Construction of a Buddhist-Confucian Discourse Community: A Discourse Analysis of the Family Ethics Propagated by Hwadzan Pure Land Association=儒佛論述社群的建構:中華華藏淨宗學會所宣揚的家庭倫理的論述分析
Pure Land Buddhism=淨土法門; Taiwanese Buddhism=臺灣佛教; Jingkong=淨空法師; Michel Foucault=米歇爾‧傅柯; Discourse Analysis=論述分析
摘要
This paper aims at analysing the creation of an exclusive discoursive community regarding the lay education of 'Hwadzan Pure Land Association' (huazang jingzong xuehui 華藏淨宗學會) by applying Michel Foucault's theoretical concept of 'discourse.' Hwadzan displays distinct characteristics in terms of its advocated path towards rebirth into Amitābha's Pure Land. The recitation of Amitābha's name (nianfo 念佛) is not enough to achieve rebirth, instead, monastics and laypeople have to focus on this-worldly cultivation based on Confucian and Daoist scriptures to build a foundation that allows them to advance towards higher levels of spiritual cultivation. Discourse analysis helps us understand the societal level of meaning that lies beyond grammatical minutiae and how individuals, although already being part of certain discourses, are able to utilise power, knowledge, and truth to construct a discourse that provides a religious identity and existential meaning. Reality shapes discourse but the individual and collective reality is also transformed by discourse. Discourse, as an institutionalised pattern of knowledge, manifests itself in disciplinary structures by connecting knowledge and power, it includes the process of writing, reading, and exchange. Hence, central questions are (1) what can be spoken of, (2) where and how one may speak, and (3) who may speak. In other words, what is the doctrinal foundation referred to, where and how can be spoken about it, and who controls the discourse to speak about it? I argue that the umbrella terms 'Traditional Chinese Education' and 'Buddhist Education' are at the centre of the Buddhist-Confucian discourse of Jingkong's Pure Land movement and Hwadzan's lay education. Both terms are broad enough to structure the temporal meaning of the mundane world in Confucian terms, while at the same time opening a Buddhist path out of suffering, leading to rebirth into Amitabha's Pure Land.
II. Moving Along Discursive Structures: The Individual and Discourse 168
III. Regulation or Renunciation of the Family:Combining Confucianism and Buddhism 172 1. The Formation of Rooted Education 174 2. The Ubiquity of Filial Piety 183
IV. Constructing a Buddhist-Confucian Discourse 186 V. Conclusion 197 References 200