筆者因閱讀范文瀾《唐代佛教》一書，發現該書全依馬克斯主義觀點批評佛教，對佛教諸多漫罵誤解之詞。再閱讀同時代的任繼愈、侯外廬、唐長儒等人相關著作，也存有相同的特點。上述學者對佛教之研究，雖然學術價值頗可商榷，但若由學術發展史角度言，吾人可以透過這些著作，了解在馬列思想影響下的中共學者，他們是如何理解佛教的。本文除以范文瀾這本書為分析範例外，為全盤掌握中共統治下的學者如何從事佛教研究，所以在資料引用上，也涉及相關學者的論著。全文從：以馬克斯理論研究佛法、馬克斯理論解釋下的佛教、改革開放以後的佛教研究等議題，論述中共學者解釋佛教的理論依據，以及他們筆下所呈現出來的佛教面貌。文中最後指出，近年來中國大陸學者，已能逐漸擺脫馬列教條束縛，在質與量上業有相當成果，但其中也隱含一些值得檢討與改進的問題。

This article originates from my reading of Fan Wenlan’s work, Buddhism in Tang Dynasty, in which the author slanders Buddhism with abandon from a Marxist point of view. Similar abuses or misunderstandings are also rampant in works written by Fan’s contemporaries such as Ren Jiyu, Hou Wailu and Tang Changru. Although the academic merit of these writings remains to be defined, from the historical perspective of academic development, a careful scrutiny of these publications provides an opportunity to better understand how Chinese Communist scholars undertook the research on Buddhism. Taking Fan’s book as a case study, this article also takes into consideration other essays by Fan’s contemporaries for giving a comprehensive outline of Chinese scholars’ view of Buddhism under Communist rule. The main issues in this article include how Buddhism was investigated and interpreted within the context of Marxism, and how Buddhism research evolved since the introduction of the reform and opening policies in China. Through these key issues, the article seeks to inquire into the theoretical framework adopted by Chinese Communist scholars to interpret Buddhism, and gives an overview how Buddhism was shaped in such a context. The article concludes that, in recent years, Chinese Communist experts on Buddhism have been gradually liberated from the fetters of Marxist-Leninist dogma and gain outstanding research achievements in both quality and quantity standard, despite the fact that there is still room for further improvement.