每一个在世界历史上起过重要作用的民族,都有其自己的文化传统。中国文化、西方文化、印度文化、阿拉伯文化,是世界上几个重要的文化类型,每一个文化类型更有其独特的文化传统。不同民族的不同类型的文化传统,彼此之闻,相互影响,交光互映,这是文化发展的正常情况。摄取外来文化,从而丰富自己的文化传统,这是文化发展的一个正常途径。在中国历史上,有两次大规模的中外文化接触,一次是魏晋隋唐时代佛教的输入,一次是明代后期和近代以来的西学东渐。这两次中外文化接触,表现了不同的性质。佛教输入,开始于两汉之际,到魏晋南北朝时代,佛教影响逐渐扩大,到隋唐时代达到高度的繁荣。但是佛教思想始终没有成为中国政治伦理的主导思想。佛教的输入,标志着中印文化的接触。当时中国和印度都处在封建时代, Every nation that has played an important role in world history has its own cultural tradition. Chinese culture, western culture, Indian culture, and Arab culture are some of the most important cultural types in the world. Each cultural type has its own unique cultural tradition. The different types of cultural traditions of different ethnic groups, which are different from each other, influence each other and deliver each other’s light. This is a normal situation of cultural development. Ingesting foreign cultures to enrich their own cultural traditions is a normal way of cultural development. In Chinese history, there are two large-scale cultural contacts with China and foreign countries. One is the input of Buddhism in the Wei, Jin and Sui dynasties. The first is the gradual progress of Western learning in the late Ming and modern times. The two contacts between Chinese and foreign cultures show different characteristics. Buddhism input, began in the Han Dynasty, to the era of Wei, Jin and Northern and Southern Dynasties, Buddhism gradually expanded influence to the Sui and Tang dynasties to achieve a high degree of prosperity. However, Buddhist thought has never been the dominant ideology of Chinese political ethics. The input of Buddhism marks the cultural contact between China and India. At that time, both China and India were in the feudal era,