Confucian-Buddhist-Christian Dialogue: Taking Han Yu's "Lun Fogu Biao" and Matthias Xia's "Paozhi Pi Wang Pi" as Examples

Based on the text of Han Yu's () "Lun Fogu Biao" ( < >, "Treatise on the Bone of Buddha") and Matthias Xia's ( "Paozhi Pi Wang Pi" (< > , a treatise to refute monk Pu jen's writing in defense of Buddhism titled Pi-wang Pi-lueh Shuo < >), this paper aims to explore different perspectives of original Confucianism (Yuan Ru, ) and Confucianism-Christianity (Ru Yeh,) on Buddhism. From different viewpoints of Confucian-BuddhistChristian dialogue, this paper examines the progress how genetic and structural inculturation of monotheism (Christianity) develops among multiple others in Chinese culture. Following are the discourse points of this paper, 1) the preface: the reason why this paper discusses the inculturation under the meaning of Chinese culture from ConfucianBuddhist-Christian dialogue. 2) The dialogue between Confucian and Buddhist: Han Yu's "Lun Fogu Biao." By analyzing the content of`Lun Fogu Biao," for Tang Emperor Xianzong ( ), who represented Buddhist, the dialogue between Confucian and Buddhist was valuable. Moreover, this paper discusses and analyzes Han Yu's position of trying to figure out Tang Emperor Xianzong's mind and meeting his own intention with the idea of his text. 3) The dialogue between Confucianism-Christianity and Buddhism. By analyzing the text of Matthias Xia's "Paozhi Pi Wang Pi", Confucianism-Christianity, which means applying Confucianism into Christianity, on the inner side can be regarded as a joining together of small ecosphere of Confucianism and Christianity, and on the external side the dialogue between Confucianism-Christianity and Buddhism can be a possible approach to eliminate the myth of "empty," which means the spirituality is an illusion, and prove the idea of the "being," the existence of God. 4) Integrating and developing a large ecosphere of Confucianism, Christianity, and Buddhism: by the perspectives of original Confucianism and Confucianism-Christianity on Buddhism, it integrates the circuitousness among Confucianism, Christianity, and Buddhism, and develops a large ecosphere of the three. These perspectives include: original Confucianism claims that the "nature" is the essence of humanity, and Confucianism-Christianity affirms that the spirituality is given by heaven. 5) The conclusion: from the dialogue between multiple others (Confucianism, Buddhism, and Christianity), the paper explores how monotheism (Christianity) works on inculturation in Chinese culture without incongruity.