Most of the existing studies of the Buddhist‐Christian encounter during the Ming and Qing dynasties emphasize the conflict and contrast between Chinese Buddhism and Catholicism. The present study tends to focus on the intra religious dialogue of the participants. It will indicate that the problem of next‐life or life after death was not only one of the foci of dialogue, but also one of the key aspects of the transformation of faith caused by intra‐religious dialogue of the Chinese intellectuals at that time. During the late Ming period, under the influence of traditional Confucianism, the matters of life and death became a focus of debate. At that time, the escapist Ch’an Buddhism became an ethos, and interactions took place between Buddhism and Confucianism. When Catholicism was introduced into China, it offered a spiritual alternative to the Chinese intellectuals who cared about matters of life and death. In contrast to the relatively more speculative and mysterious Ch’an, many Chinese found Catholicism a more genuine, concrete and practical system of thought. With regard to the Buddhism during the Ming and Qing dynasties, an important trend of development was the combination between Ch’an and Pure Land Buddhism, particularly the gradual integration between the Amitabha Pure Land and the Heart‐Only Pure Land. Dual cultivation of Ch’an and Pure Land was very popular among the Chinese intellectuals. For this reason, the Chinese intellectuals’ understanding of the Catholic view of life and death related not only to Ch’an, but also to Pure Land Buddhism. The governmental policy of Ming dynasty made the ritual monks stand on equal footing with the lecturing monks, and the Buddhist rituals, including those related to Pure Land Buddhism, integral part of the daily life of the intellectuals. The critique of these rituals formed an important aspect of the Catholic view of next‐life. Many Chinese Catholics took the problem of next life as one of the limitations or neglect problems of Confucianism, and made it one of the major contents for the strategy of "supplementing Confucanism and replacing Buddhism".
