英文翻译稿如下：

 

　　It is obviously to find the function of Buddhism in basic belief of emperors, kings, nobles and the average people, and in the aspect of spiritual comfort of the classes in the society as a religion, and in the promotion of bloom of Chinese civilization. At the same time, as culture Buddhism's contributions of enriching Chinese traditional culture and role played in inheriting and promoting Chinese traditional culture, in promoting the vigorous development of culture in these days, and in the building of the powerful cultural country, are needed to pay particular attention in our times and in particular to be tapped and reached the consensus on them, and only in this way can we take full advantage of the function of benefiting the world and guiding the people of Buddhism in cultural form.

 

　　1. Comprehension and Interrelations of the Three Concepts of Religion, Buddhism and Culture

 

　　Former sages of Chinese Buddhist community including lay Buddhist Zhao Puchu, Master Taixu, and Mentor Yinshun possessed many illuminating views on that Buddhism is both a religion and culture. Especially, the two great conceptions of Buddhism are constituted by the religious and Cultural functions. What is religion? This is an open question which is difficult to give a single answer, but indeed is a vital question, and I do not want to discuss it in details in this article. However, it has the function of spiritual comfort and Ultimate Concern for people which is its most important characteristic and is the public basic agreement on religion. Culture, based on my glimpse of the truth, is the generalization and description of the process and the results of people's activities in the material production and the Spiritual creation. Culture is a dynamic and realistic course of activities, while civilization is the solidified narrative of this course and a historic recount of it. From the above, in the long history of two thousand five hundred years after Buddha founded Buddhism, Buddhism really assumes the religious function which provides the spiritual comfort and Ultimate Concern for the people, and shoulders the responsibility to multiply spirit forest of human by guiding people's activities in the material production and bloom of Spirit creation. In this sense, Buddhism is both a religion and culture.

　　By its religious activities, Buddhism highlights powerful mechanism of soothing and calming down the human mind; and by its cultural activities, Buddhism demonstrates the extraordinary function of benefiting the world, guiding the people and Social conscience; without its religious function, it is impossible to talk about spiritual comfort and Ultimate Concern of Buddhism, and without cultural functions, Buddhism can not be made use of the advantage of benefiting the world, guiding the people and Spiritual leading. In short, without religion and culture, either individual or social responsibility of Buddhism exists.

　　The history of human social development, first of all, is the activity in material production followed by increasingly richness and complication of means of Spiritual living, from this, as a result, the history of human civilization is expanded. From the above, a higher level of spiritual demand is the principal feature of human civilization. The most typical model of Spiritual demand is religion. Religion is a product of the early Spirit activities of human beings, and is also the Spiritual Home which has a potentially wide application for human beings. Mr. Toynbee, the famous British historian, in the process of his study on forms of civilizations of human society, deep uncovered that the important historical position of religion as a vitality source of civilization, and that the form of civilization itself is the reflection and exhibition of religious belief which is inherent in the civilization. Obviously, religion and culture are the core elements of human civilization. Hence, Buddhism as an important component of the Chinese civilization, should make its own contributions to the prosperity of Chinese culture, and should have a positive response to the vigorous development of the culture which is currently undertook in full swing.

　　A review of the history will show, since the Eastern Han Dynasty when Buddhism was introduced to China, Buddhist Culture from India injected fresh vitality into ancient and profound Chinese civilization, and monks from countries in Central Asia and China who actively translated scriptures, gave lectures around and explained doctrines, overwhelmingly enriched the Spiritual connotation of Chinese civilization. After full absorption and accumulation from the Eastern Han Dynasty, Wei Dynasty, Jin Dynasty as well as Southern and Northern Dynasties, in dynasties of Sui and Tang, the localized Chinese Buddhist sects, with the efforts of many Masters and great men, had been deeply rooted in the profound soil of Chinese culture. In Buddhist worship rituals, Buddhist festivals and architecture of thinking system, localized Chinese Buddhism integrated many elements of Chinese culture, and is especially closely adapt with the national customs and national mode of thinking; at the same time, the method of compilation of Buddhist classics, linguistics pronunciation rules of four tones, especially its extensive philosophical thinking style, meticulous logical mode of reasoning, the unique perspective of analysis of life, natural and psychology, and successful methods of mental adjustment and others promote the change of Confucian culture, Taoist culture, and the Confucian School of Principles and the successive School of Mind in and after Song Dynasty, the assembly of Taoist classics Collected Taoist Scriptures, are all profoundly penetrated by the influence of Buddhist Culture. Whether in the Chinese literature and arts, in architectural style, in philosophical analysis, or in life philosophy and other aspects, the influence of Buddhist Culture can be found everywhere, and Buddhism has already been an important integral part of Chinese traditional culture, and is an essential one among three Spiritual resources of Chinese civilization, i.e., Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism.

　　Therefore, in the process of Chinese civilization, specific functions of Buddhism as a religion and culture are not only religious emotions of spiritual comfort and Ultimate Concern which provided a totally new belief experience for the people in the society; but also, as Culture, combining with the traditional Chinese culture in such fields as the specific artistic conception of the literary creation, the means of expression of arts, the construction of the thinking system, and the connotation of national customs, formed precious cultural flowers with unique means of expression and thoughts, profoundly influence the thoughts and life of the Chinese people. Thousands of volumes of Buddhist classics translated from Sanskrit, which themselves are great and precious literary works, brought new things such as artistic conception, literary style and diction methods to traditional Chinese literature; the Lotus Flowers Sutra, the Vimalakirti Sutra, and the Sutra of One Hundred Fables and other classics inspired the creations of the fictions in dynasties of Jin and Tang and plays, comic strips later; thoughts of Prajna and Chan are particularly notable in influence of enriching the artistic conception of Tang Poems, Song Iambic Verses and Yuan Songs after dynasties of Wei and Jin; Buddhist impressions which can not be erased in the scholars' mind can be found everywhere in creations of poems and verses of these scholars such as Mr. Tao Yuanming, Mr. Wang Wei, Mr. Bai Juyi, and Mr. Su Shi. The simple and easy understanding means of expression of Buddhist literature such as stories, lectures and the quotations of Chan Masters shares the same origin which is hard to break away from the Chinese folk literature. In calligraphy and paintings, the moving stories in Buddhist sutras often become the source of creation of artists, Mr. Cao Buxing, Mr. Gu Kaizhi, Mr. Zhang Sengyou, Mr. Zhan Ziqian, Mr. Yan Liben, Mr. Wu Daozi, even four painters Mr. Shi Tao, Mr. Bada Shanren, etc. in the early Qing Dynasty, all these ancient famous artists were famous because of being good at Buddhist paintings; that Chinese Painting developed from the school of Literati Painting led by Mr. Wang Wei to Impressionist Painting which is prevalent in and after the Song and Yuan dynasties has closed connection with Chan thoughts. In music, when Mr. Cao Zhi composed poems in Yushan in the third century, Buddhist music was already popular in China; music of Tang Dynasty absorbed the music of Buddhist countries and regions such as India, Qiuci and Anguo, till now there is a small part of music of Tang Dynasty remained in chants of some Buddhist temples. In architecture, most ancient architectures in China which remains till now are pagodas of the Buddhist monasteries, and many Buddhist buildings have become prominent signs of scenic spots in different places of our country; Lingshan Buddhist Palace where we stayed now is a masterpiece of contemporary architectural art of Buddhism. Delicate constructions of Buddhism added infinite glory to the beautiful land of our motherland.

　　Which are amplified above only give some ideas of literature and arts of Chinese Buddhism over the past two thousand years. From the above, Buddhism not only enriches the themes and methods of expression of creation of the Chinese traditional literature and arts, but also sublimates philosophical conceptions and connotations of thoughts and left a brilliant cultural heritage in Chinese history. On the one hand, by many forms of expression of literature and arts it shortens the distance between Buddhism and the people in the society, the principles, belief, thoughts of Buddhism were much more easily accepted by the society.

 

　　2. Buddhist Culture in the Contemporary Era Plays the Role of Benefiting the World and Guiding the People

 

　　Until the present days, China has already become a powerful country which has profoundly influence on international affairs, whether in land area, in total economic output or in the total population, China has become a responsible powerful country in today's world and is already an important factor for safeguarding world peace and promoting world harmony and stability. To promote truly China to become a member which can play a responsible role in the international community, not only depends on our total economic output, but also more importantly on that China can become a powerful cultural country, and on we constantly carry forward the Chinese traditional culture with great impact and impetus to the harmony of the world, and effectively to mitigate and resolve modern Syndromes which are faced by human society such as the crisis of belief, moral decline and spiritual emptiness. For Buddhist Culture, it is the subject of spreading Buddhist belief and promoting Buddhist Culture to make use of its role of benefiting the world and guiding the people in contemporary society. In these days when current Chinese government advocates and concerns the building of the powerful cultural country, Buddhism can play its role and certainly can. The reasons are listed below:

　　A. Along with reform, opening and economic development in China, Chinese Buddhist Culture of three major languages has also been developed unprecedentedly, in this sense we may say that this period is the golden era of prosperity and development of Chinese Buddhist Culture. Buddhism organizations at all levels very highly concern the building of the Buddhist Culture, publication of Buddhist Sutras, issue of hundreds of kinds of regular and irregular Buddhism magazines, organizing different forms of the academic seminars about Buddhist Culture, exhibitions of Buddhist Calligraphy and Paintings, Buddhist music performances, not only spread the outstanding Buddhist Culture, but also played positive roles for purifying people's minds and promoting the construction of Harmonious Society.

　　B. In this period of more than thirty years since the policy of reform and opening was introduced, the bloom of Buddhist Culture provides a proper basis for overseas exchange of Chinese Buddhist Culture, under the guidance of the departments of government in charge of this work, according to unified dispositions of China Buddhist Association, China Buddhist Association and Buddhist Associations of provinces and municipalities organized abroad for many times Buddhist Exhibitions of Calligraphy and Paintings which were rich in content, and Buddhist Music Bands from different places brought timeless Buddhist music which sounds like heaven music to countries in Europe, America and Southeast Asia, and Buddhist music shows on the international Vesak Day and on the Friendly Exchange Conference of Buddhism of China, Korea and Japan, and they won broad admiration and play the irreplaceable role for the prosperity of China's multi-culture and promoting understanding and friendship among one another.

　　C. During the previous two World Buddhist Forums which were hosted in our country, the participating overseas delegates felt the charm of the architectural art of Buddhist temples in China, and also tasted spiritual enlightenment in large Buddhist Dharma Assemblies for peace prayers, furthermore, the large scale Buddhist Music Performances which were held in Shanghai and Wuxi were widely praised by believers at home and abroad. These Buddhist cultural activities made positive contributions to announce the China's policies of reform and opening, peaceful development and freedom of religious belief, and the Buddhist concept of harmony of the Compassion, Mercy and benefiting the people, and to extend our country influence abroad, and to announce our country's diplomatic line of peaceful development.

　　Of course, if we really want Buddhist Culture take full advantage of the role of benefiting the world and guiding the people and produce positive effects in society which can be perceived, Chinese Buddhist Community must concern their own construction. More specific acts should be done in accomplishing and strengthening the following four areas in the future

　　1. The development of Buddhist literature and arts can not be separated from the training of personnel, and the training of personnel of Buddhist literature and arts is an important guarantee to enhance the developmental level of Buddhist literature and arts in China. Thereupon, Buddhist organizations and the Buddhist Colleges at all levels should pay serious attentions to the training of personnel of Buddhist literature and arts; at the same time, to combine the literary and artistic characteristics of Chinese Buddhism of three major languages (such as Buddhism statues, Calligraphy, paintings, music and dance, Thangka paintings and butter sculpture, sculptures of Pattra Sutras and others), and we should constantly tap the talents of Buddhist literature and arts, expand training channels of personnel, improve the long-term regime of training of personnel, and for the building and development of Chinese Buddhist literature and arts, make contributions for training more talents of literature and arts who love the country and love Buddhism for spreading of Dharma and benefiting all sentient beings.

　　2. In the process of reform, opening and economic development of our country and implementation of the policy on freedom of religious belief, the present period is a golden era for the development of Chinese Buddhist Culture, Buddhist organizations at all levels under the unified leadership of China Buddhist Association should highly concern the protection and inheritance of intangible cultural heritage of Buddhism, further tap and integrate the resources of domestic literature and arts of Buddhism, make use of advantages of literature and arts of Chinese Buddhism of three major languages, and through prosperity and development of Buddhist literature and arts, should play a positive role to promote the Buddha's idea of peace, to guide right faiths and right behaviors of Buddhist believers, to purify people's minds, and to promote social harmony.

　　3. The compatriots from China mainland, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, can be said that they belong to the same clan and the origin and that their beliefs of Buddhism share the same Dharma origin, although the construction modes of Buddhist literature and arts are different, have the same effects and are the excellent literature and arts to promote Buddhism, and are good for purifying people's minds and harmonious society. According to the unified disposition of China Buddhist Association, under the guidance of governments at all levels, friendly connection and cooperation with Buddhist Community of Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan should be further improved, by expanding the exchange channels of Buddhist literature and arts, and by Buddhist literature and arts and forms of spreading Dharma, to enhance mutual understanding and to consolidate blood kinship and friendship of sharing common ancestry and origin.

　　4. Buddhist literature and arts have always been our important ways of spreading Dharma and benefiting all sentient beings, and its literary categories and forms of artistic expression are multiple and colorful. Such as the publication and circulation of Buddhist Sutras, issue of Buddhist magazines, seminars about Buddhist literature and arts, recitation and chant of Buddhist Sutras, Buddhist ceremonies and Dharma Assemblies, Exhibitions of Buddhist Calligraphy and Paintings, Buddhist music shows, Buddhism statues, products of Buddhist arts and so on. Buddhist organizations at all levels did a great deal of work in the construction of Buddhist Culture and made Significant progress which widely praised by the Public. The construction of Buddhist literature and arts should constantly advance with the times in the progress of the development of times and society. We need to carefully review the rich experience accumulated over the building of literature and arts before, relying on advantages of that Buddhism of three major languages is available in China and the eight major sects of Han Buddhism boom, with the spirit of seeking common grounds and reserving differences, the Spirit of breaking fresh ground and embodied breadth of Visions of the Great Compassion without Conditions and the Great Mercy as One Body; based on the spirit of A Synergy of Conditions and meeting the requirements of society, we further integrate the resources of literature and arts of Chinese Buddhism, seek the position and role of Buddhist literature and arts in the golden era, and in order to further promote prosperity of Buddhist literature and arts, to serve economic and social development,  to serve establishing and putting into practice the Scientific Outlook on Development, and to serve the over-all situation of national Peaceful Development, under the leadership of China Buddhist Association, we should arouse the enthusiasm of Buddhism Associations at all levels, combining with characteristics of the current construction of Buddhist literature and arts timely run the delicately fashioned, varied and interesting literary and artistic activities of Buddhism, academic seminars, and further promote prosperity and development of Buddhist literature and arts and academic researches.

 

　　To sum up, we have entered a momentous century turning period in the history of mankind, world peace, The growth of economy, environmental protection, World Multi-polarization, Culture Multi-polarization are opportunities and challenges and pressure, and it is necessary to pay attention to the integration of the cultural connotations and the compatibility of artistic forms in the process of that we advocate and promote Buddhist Culture. The integration not only consists of the internal integration of Buddhism of three major languages i.e., the Yunnan Theravada Buddhism, Han Buddhism which developed from Indian Mahayana Buddhism and Tibetan Buddhism which developed from Indian Esoteric Buddhism and absorbed Bon Religion, but also consists of the integration of literature and arts of different religions, different nations and different regions. Therefore, we have the necessity and the responsibility to always bear the aim of exchange and cooperation harmoniously without problems in mind and the attitude of letting hundreds of flowers Blossom and develop together, and to create a favorable environment and a good situation for the prosperity of Chinese Buddhist Culture and cultural harmony.
 

Juexing
 

 

(责任编辑：张国铭)