佛教的歷史哲學因在經典中缺乏明確表述,所以很少引起學者的關注。本文通過對佛傳等文本的分析,系統梳理了佛教教義本身所包含的歷史哲學和思想,批評了認為佛教缺乏歷史觀念的見解,指出歷史觀作為一條隱含的線索,對佛教哲學產生了重要影響。如對佛陀本質的探討、大小乘涅槃學說的轉變、大乘佛教入世精神的提倡等,都有歷史哲學及其思想在其背后發揮作用。本文還通過佛教歷史哲學與基督宗教歷史哲學的比較研究,揭示了佛教歷史哲學的特色及其價值和意義。

Buddhist philosophy of history is rarely discussed by scholars because of its limited exposition in the Buddhist canon.Based on an analysis of the Buddha’s biography,this paper seeks to summarize the content of Buddhist philosophy of history.It argues that,far from being lacking,the philosophy of history plays an important role in several crucial philosophical problems in Buddhism——e.g.the nature of the Buddha and the evolution of the concept of Nirvana from Hinayana to Mahayana Buddhism——and also in the origin of the Mahayana Buddhist social engagement movement.This paper compares the Buddhist philosophy of history to that of Christianity in order to indicate the characteristics and value of the former.