漢魏佛教初傳時期，與印度文明交接所產生的文化衝突，「孝」的定位已是極重要的議題。最初對佛教的批判，著重在以下兩點：剃髮之毀身體髮膚，及出家之絕子無後，而牟子《理惑論》、孫綽〈喻道論〉等也已略加回應。此下儒家論孝大有進展，佛家又將如何對應和會？ 本文就晚明中國佛教復興時期，考察當時僧侶對孝在起始、修行與證果的定位。以《梵網經》的相關著作為例，包括有雲棲袾宏、三昧寂光、蕅益智旭、木人弘贊、今釋澹歸等，呈現釋家定位「孝」並吸納中國傳統的各式努力與視野。袾宏有《菩薩戒義疏發隱》，弘贊、澹歸皆曹洞宗徒，並各有《梵網經》相關著作；寂光為律師，有《梵網經直解》；智旭則以《四書解》在釋家融攝儒家中最見成績與精采，著有《梵網經玄義》一卷、《梵網經合註》七卷等，以上五人正可作一極佳的對照。 將「孝」分為世孝與出世孝，乃晚明佛教諸家的共識。這是僧徒試圖在更大的基礎上，收納中土本有的思想與倫理。所謂世孝，乃自三義斷之：其始點之限於生身父母，其行為之非期於解脫，其極致終不免於輪迴之故。是則上述大德之論斷，主就「孝之真義當在佛門」之立場說，如袾宏在佛教復興的目標下，高推佛理與切近士庶之苦心。所謂出世孝，如例以智旭各種發願文所見，乃以累世父母為對象，以同證菩提為心意，以同登極樂為祈願，以「孝子不匱，永錫爾類」為相應。在融會的意態中，議題更切中儒佛交涉的核心，理論也達致相應的高度。透過梵網經的註釋，在戒定慧三學中，孝的意識竟成為學佛之始初起點，成就無上正覺之心地法門，殆是漢魏時人始料未及的。

The definition of filial love has been an issue of great importance since the introduction of Buddhism into China in the periods of Han and Wei. Early criticism of Buddhism aimed at two points: that tonsuring was tantamount to the damage of the body and that to become a monk meant the discontinuity of ancestry. Among the most powerful arguments of Confucianism are those asserted by Zhang Zai in his Ximing. Of great interest may it be therefore to call some attention to the responses of Buddhism to these criticisms. What concerns in this study is an examination of how the monks of late Ming, a period of Buddhist revival, designate various meanings of filial love for a person who is nonBuddhist, cultivating oneself, or who has attained Buddhahood. To take their commentaries on Sutra of Brahma’s Net as an example, great efforts are made to mediate the significance of filial love in Buddhist original scriptures and Chinese Confucian heritage. To describe filial love in secular and Buddhist terms at once is a methodology commonly agreed and adopted by the late-Ming masters. By definition, secular filial love is the concerns for our biological parents of this incarnation only and has little to do with the final liberation of the soul. Whatever we do, it can hardly extricate ourselves from the quagmire of samsara, let alone help our parents of endless incarnations. Buddhist filial love therefore is an extension of attention to our countless mothers and fathers in the whole stream of time. With them we aspire to get bodhi and enjoy beatitude. Obviously, the annotation of Sutra of Brahma's Net shows that the clarification of filial love is a springboard of Buddhist practice and a guaranteed access to ultimate truth. Perhaps it is a development that goes contrary to the Han-Wei critics.