佛教于东汉初期传入中国,经魏晋,至南朝梁武帝时达到鼎盛,兰若众多,规模宏大;法会常设,上至帝王公卿名士,下至黎民百姓,崇信佛教蔚然成风。而皇侃的《论语义疏》正是完成于这一时期,尽管是对儒家经典《论语》作解释,然时风所及,其不可避免地受到佛学思想影响,无论是在用词、体例,还是在思想阐释等方面都留有佛学思想之痕迹。
Buddhism was first introduced to China towards the early Eastern Han Dynasty,and after the Wei and Jin dynasties,it reached its heyday in the regime of Emperor Wu of the Liang Dynasty between AD 420 to 589.At that time,there were numerous grand temples and dharma assemblies.All over the country, emperors,officials,celebrities and common people believed in Buddhism.Huang Kan’s The Annotation and Interpretation of the Analects of Confucius was just completed in this period.Although it was used to ex-plain the Confucian classics,it could be inevitably influenced by Buddhism.The later scholars can find the traces of Buddhist thought in his choice of words,annotative style and ideological interpretations.