(Ask from East and West) Ji Fangtong: What is the enlightenment of the "Eurasian-Russian communication" on the exchanges and mutual learning of civilizations between the East and the West?

　　China News Service, Beijing, November 15th, title: What is the enlightenment of the "Irish-Russian communication" on the exchanges and mutual learning of civilizations between the East and the West?

　　Author Ji Fangtong, Professor and Doctoral Supervisor, School of Public Affairs, Nanjing University of Science and Technology

　　From the Ming and Qing Dynasties to the early days of the Republic of China, Chinese Muslim sages connected the foreign Islamic culture with the local culture dominated by Confucianism, and realized the sinicization of Islam, which was known as the "combination of Islam and Confucianism" in history.

As an important link in the history of exchanges and mutual learning between Chinese civilizations, what are the characteristics of the "Irish-Russian communication"?

What's the enlightenment for the current exchanges and mutual learning between Eastern and Western civilizations?

What is "Iru Communication"?

　　As a historical event, the “I-Ru Huitong” refers specifically to the culturally conscious activities of Chinese Muslim sages that occurred during the Ming and Qing Dynasties and lasted to the early Republic of China. The culture meets the local culture dominated by Confucianism.

　　The "Irish-Russian Communion" is an activity of Sinicization of Islam, which points out a direction for the development of Islam and Muslims in China, or blazed a path.

"Iru Communication" is not only a piece of history in the past, but it can also be regarded as a direction of work now and even in the future.

　　As a historical cultural conscious activity, the Muslim scholar Wang Daiyu in Jinling (Nanjing) is the pioneer of "E-Russian Communion", and he published the first Islamic work "Orthodox True Interpretation" in Chinese, etc., The first to communicate the Yi-Ru culture; Ma Zhu and Ma Dexin in Yunnan are the promoters of the activity. Their books "Halal Guide" and "Dahua Zonggui" have greatly promoted the breadth of the "I-Ru culture". And depth; while Liu Zhi, who is also in Jinling, and his book Tian Fang Xing Li are the highest representatives of the achievements of the "I-Ru Hui Tong" activity.

　　This group of Muslim scholars have experience in studying or discussing Confucianism, Buddhism, Taoism, and Islamic classics in their lifetime.

For example: Liu Zhi self-reported that he read Confucian classics for eight years, Islamic works for six years, Buddhist classics for three years, Taoist classics for one year, and read 137 Western books.

Although Wang Daiyu's reading time and order are slightly different, the works of the four religions (Iraq, Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism) have also been read and discussed, and he is known as the character of the "Four Religions".

Academic experience and academic achievements are two aspects, but the results can also prove that their integration is often the integration of the four teachings rather than just the two teachings.

The views and achievements of the four churches can be found in Wang Daiyu's three books and Liu Zhi's representative work.

　　It can be said that the "I-Ru Communion" literally refers to the fusion of the two religions, but in essence includes the fusion of the four religions. The areas involved are first the fusion of Islamic and Confucian doctrines, and then Islam. Sufi's meritorious service is interlinked with Taoism and Buddhism; the other is the interlinkage of Islamic rules and canons with Confucian etiquette.

In other words, the communication activities are mainly carried out in these three areas, and the results are mostly concentrated in these areas.

Of course, this event lasted for about three hundred years, and this group of people has achieved so many achievements that it is difficult to describe them all.

The greatest result is the construction of a Chinese-language Islamic system, which includes both a system framework and a series of concepts and categories, which has laid a solid theoretical foundation for the Sinicization of Islam.

Data map: Yangxing Mosque in Urumqi, Xinjiang.

Photo by China News Agency reporter Tomita

Will it still be Islam after "community"?

　　Communication between different cultures is a general trend in the development of world culture.

Looking around, there is no exception for Confucianism, Buddhism, Christianity, or Islam.

A culture can only develop better and promote cultural development to a new peak only if it continuously communicates and communicates with other cultures.

This is the basic fact and trend of the development of world cultural history.

　　Islamic culture is a worldwide culture. Although it originated in Arabia, it will certainly go to the world, and it will inevitably communicate with Persian culture, Indian culture, and even Chinese culture in the East. This is not based on human will. Trend.

Some people worry that once they "communicate", will they still be Islam?

In fact, this worry is unnecessary.

Take Iran’s Persian culture as an example. After Islamic culture and Persian culture are connected, isn’t the Persian Islamic culture that forms part of the Islamic culture?

In history, no one has been worried about the "Ipo Communication". Why are they worried about the connection with Chinese culture?

　　As a historical event, the "Iru-Russian Communication" has a consistent history, but the significance and influence of this movement transcends a specific historical period, and is persistent or eternal.

As everyone knows, the "Irish-Russian Communion" played an important and fundamental role in promoting the sinicization of Islam.

After the founding of New China, especially after the reform and opening up, the theory of "Irish-Russian Harmony" spread and popularized throughout the country, but the development of Sinicization in various regions was uneven.

For example, Islam in Xinjiang region uses the Uyghur language, so there is less contact with the ideological achievements of the Chinese system of "Iru Communication", and the process of Sinicization of Islam is slightly slower than in other regions.

In order to change this situation, the national common language should be promoted in Xinjiang, so that it can more deeply accept the infiltration of Chinese excellent traditional culture, and speed up the process of Sinicization of Islam.

Of course, in the historical process of Sinicization of Islam in Xinjiang, learning and absorbing the results of the "Irish-Russian" is one of the options, not the only one.

In other words, it does not exclude other plans that are conducive to the sinicization of Islam.

　　From a practical perspective, the results of the "Islam Communication" include not only the fundamental content of Islam, but also the achievements of Chinese excellent traditional culture, in terms of doctrine, merit, and canon, thus speeding up the process of Sinicization of Islam.

At present, the Islamic circle is building the theory of sinicization, and an important part of it is the construction of the Confucianism system of Chinese Islam.

In fact, the construction of the Islamic Confucianism system cannot build high buildings on the ground, cannot engage in historical nihilism, and can only continue to advance on the basis of its predecessors.

Therefore, it is necessary to inherit the theoretical results of "Irish Confucianism", or build and improve it further, and try to absorb and draw on the excellent results of international Islamic Confucianism.

The influence of the theory of "Irish Confucianism" on the sinicization of Islam has always existed.

It is not only the past tense, but also the present tense and even the future tense.

Data map: Confucius Museum exhibits.

Photo by Wang Fei

What is the enlightenment of the "Iranian-Russian Harmony" for mutual learning between Eastern and Western civilizations?

　　The experience of the "Irish-Russian communication" also has some enlightenment for the mutual learning between Eastern and Western civilizations.

"Irish-Russian communication" is mainly to absorb each other, learn from each other, and improve together.

This also includes mutual criticism and contention.

If you blindly praise it, you can see its strengths but not its weaknesses, and it is not conducive to academic development.

Therefore, in their writings, you can find criticisms of certain viewpoints of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism.

Wang Daiyu pointed out that filial piety or filial piety is an ethical issue, whether there are children is a physiological issue, and it is a logical error to classify a physiological issue as an ethical issue.

It should be said that this review is very in place and very accurate.

But why did the Confucian, Taoist and Buddhist scholars living in the Chinese social environment fail to discover or point out this problem?

It may be due to the stereotypes of thinking, without thinking or discriminating existing traditional ideas.

Once there are exchanges and mutual learning between different cultures, there are different opinions or criticisms, of course it has a positive meaning for the improvement of Confucianism.

This experience should also apply to mutual learning between Eastern and Western civilizations.

Of course, the Eastern and Western civilizations should learn from each other and learn from each other.

Only in this way can we find shortcomings, promote their own reflection, promote their own development, and ultimately achieve the goal of mutual learning.

　　From a micro perspective, mutual learning between Eastern and Western civilizations is inseparable from the translation of works, especially the translation of classics.

The representative figures of the "I-Ru Huitong" are mostly those who have learned through the four religions, and among the four religions, three religions (Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism) belong to the traditional Chinese culture.

In other words, they all have a solid foundation in Chinese traditional culture before they can translate and communicate, and they have achieved good results.

Since the 1980s, many people have thought that as long as they are familiar with the Western classics, they can translate them. They have ignored the absorption and accumulation of the essence of local culture, thinking that they are Chinese people who are naturally familiar with Chinese traditional culture. As a result, Not only did the essence of Western civilization not spread in, but the translation was also incomprehensible or even incomprehensible.

What's more, the re-translation of many classics is far less than the original translation. The biggest problem may be that they are not familiar with the traditional Chinese civilization.

The above-mentioned positive and negative experiences and lessons tell us: the work of mutual learning between civilizations is to systematically learn and be familiar with the two civilizations of the East and the West, not one civilization; as a Chinese, if you are not familiar with the Eastern civilization, you will naturally It is impossible to be familiar with Western civilization, so how can we learn from each other?

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About the Author:

　　Ji Fangtong is a professor and doctoral supervisor of the School of Public Affairs of Nanjing University of Science and Technology, the chief professor of the Saudi Research Center of Nanjing University of Science and Technology of the Ministry of Education, and the host of the 2020 National Social Science Fund major project "I-Russian Thought Communication Research".