儒学究竟是一门什么学问?这个问题对于许多儒学或国学的研究者来说,并不是一个十分容易回答的问题。记得二十多年前,我在北京参加一个儒学会议。在正式讨论之前,有学者建议:我们能否先给儒学下一个定义再讨论?大家认为这是一个好的建议。于是,到会的学者纷纷发表自己认可的儒学定义。几个小时以后,与会学者一下子就给儒学下了二十多种不同的定义。有的是从儒学的传统涵义下定义,包括将儒学看作是仁 What kind of learning is Confucianism? This question is not a very easy one for many researchers in Confucianism or Sinology. I remember twenty years ago, I attended a Confucian conference in Beijing. Before the formal discussion, some scholars suggested: Can we discuss the next definition of Confucianism first? We think this is a good suggestion. As a result, scholars who have come to publish their own definition of Confucianism. A few hours later, the participating scholars suddenly gave more than twenty different definitions of Confucianism. Some are defined from the traditional conception of Confucianism, including Confucianism as benevolence