The New England Puritans brought with them to America a middle way, a philosophy that balanced the extremes of religious, political, economic, and social life. Though first developed by Reformed theologians on the European Continent, the middle way made its way to England where it gained adherence among Puritan ministers who balanced pastoral and prophetic roles. The first generation of English emigrants to New England, having fully expected their zeal to flourish in the free air of America, quickly realized that theirs was not only a mission to reform society but to establish and maintain it. In such an environment, the middle way proved an essential philosophy for Massachusetts Bay's civil and ecclesiastical authorities who faced challenges from Antinomians in America and Arminians in England. This study first defines the middle way, demonstrating its particular relevance in America among emigrants who felt both the burden· of the past and the promise of the future. The first chapter offers the middle way as a philosophy of history to modern historians who, like the New England Puritans, find themselves balancing obligations to both objectivity and historicism. The second chapter explores the often contentious world of Puritan historiography through the lens of Niebuhrian irony. The third chapter approaches the first generation of New England Puritans on their own terms, drawing on their written records in order to understand the challenges, real and perceived, from both Antinomianism and Arminianism. The conclusion reflects on the middle way's legacy and continued endurance as the New England mind faced both continuity and change in later centuries.

Cette monographie invite à une étude de la pensée de la frontière chez Walter Scott (1771-1832) à partir d’une analyse textuelle détaillée de ses romans écossais — dont l’intrigue se déroule en Écosse, près des Borders ou de la faille frontalière des Highlands, principalement aux XVIIe et XVIIIe siècles autour de l’Union des deux royaumes anglais et écossais. Elle découvre un ensemble d’interactions entre les concepts de limite et de frontière en s’appuyant sur une stratégie particulière, élaborée par l’auteur, fervent opposant à tout manichéisme. Ce dernier fixe les frontières envisagées comme des limites, des bornes immuables et infranchissables, pour ensuite les déconstruire, c’est-à-dire les traverser, les déplacer et les brouiller avant de les dissoudre dans le but d’atteindre un état d’entre-deux parfait où les contraires s’unissent harmonieusement. Cette thèse permet de dégager une voie du milieu scottienne faisant de Scott un écrivain d’avant-garde pour son époque, et qui reste très novateur aujourd’hui encore, car il annonce bien des préoccupations postmodernes. / This monograph is dedicated to the question of limits and borders in Walter Scott (1771-1832)’s Scottish novels — thus called because the stories are set in the Borders or near the Highland line mostly in the 17th and 18th centuries at the time of the Union between the two kingdoms of England and Scotland. A very detailed analysis of the texts of the novels helps us to discover a series of interactions between the two concepts of limit and border which are grounded in a particular strategy developed by the author — a fervent opponent to Manichaeism. He sets boundaries, seen as fixed and impassable limits, and then deconstructs them, i.e. has them be crossed, moved, blurred before dissolving them in order to reach a perfect in-between state where all opposites mingle harmoniously. This thesis enables us to define a Scottian middle way, which makes Scott an avant-garde writer in his own time, and still nowadays since he paves the way for many a postmodern concern.

圓教是中國佛學獨有的概念，圓主要指圓滿和圓融二義，圓教即圓滿究竟、圓融無礙地總攝一切法的教法。對天台宗來說，這圓教是如何可能的呢﹖智者大師透過教相門與觀心門來講圓教，教相門就是以判教理論，分判、判定有佛一代的說法，何者為權，何者為實，而最後必以天台圓教為實。觀心門就是通過智者大師自心所行法門，點出一念三千的教說，由此一念心即具三千法以明圓教之義。 　　另外，佛性是中土佛教思想的核心概念，主導著整個中國佛學的發展方向，然則在天台圓教浸潤下，會顯出何種形態的佛性理論﹖我們發現，在天台宗之思想中，佛性圓滿無盡地具足一切法，可以說和圓教義理是一致的，實則兩者之關係本來就密不可分。 　　總之，天台圓教和佛性思想表顯著中國佛教哲學的高峰，亦充份地開顯了大乘佛教的精神，實為人類思想文化的一大寶庫。

本論文研究材料為佛教經典中與文殊菩薩相關論述的典籍，研究之主題為不二中道之義理思想，並就生命境界的提升與轉化為焦點，呈顯不二中道思想對生命問題的實踐。 佛教經典中與文殊菩薩有關的經典數量非常多，為了對文殊法門能整體地掌握，因此首先將大乘佛典中文殊菩薩的相關典籍及其同本異譯作全盤地整理，並且從中探究文殊菩薩在佛教經典中所扮演的角色。 文殊菩薩在大乘經典中出現得很早，他所顯現的身分也很特殊，一方面他是十地菩薩，另一方面他因為智慧第一而堪為諸佛之引導者，是過去、現在、未來諸佛之「佛母」，然而文殊菩薩又以「童真菩薩」的樣貌實踐菩薩道。另外，他也是菩提道上淳熟的修行者，能入聖道，能入出菩薩「正性離生」，並且已經決定不退墮。在禪定方面，他已久修三昧，是甚深三昧的實證者。再者，文殊菩薩身具超越二元對立的圓滿智慧，能「達無礙智慧彼岸」，具有「超越智慧的完成」，也是智與行融合的實踐者。 「文殊法門」的內容是以空義為基礎，以不二中道思想為主軸，意指為不落入於任何的極端，捨離二邊，又不執著於二邊，是一種不偏於任何一方的觀點或方法。「不二」是依於法性平等的原則而突破認知所形成的框架，進而讓每個生命體放捨因對立所造成分離、孤立、二元的主觀評價，以中道的角度面對各種問題，避免讓個體生命落入一般認知的苦樂、迷悟、生死、聖凡等二元對立中，超越「分別」所造成的侷限，並且朝向更廣闊的生命視野。 本文並藉由經典中的例示闡述不二法門的實踐面向，說明超越二元對立的中道思想可以在面對人、事、物時，提供另一種適切的行為態度，避免陷入極端的對立狀態。不二法門對於生命困頓的問題正好能提供更開闊的思維角度，因此阿闍世王有機會可以跳脫罪惡感的枷鎖；娼妓金色女能轉化生命中受到貪欲煩惱所困擾的瓶頸；惡魔波旬也有可能得以超越心靈「束縛」與「解脫」的兩邊。 文殊類經典中所提出的例示，正顯示著不二法門對各種不同社會階層的生命關懷，是具有普遍性及平等性。這種關懷表面上看來是針對經典中的人物，然而事實上這正是經典向讀經者傳達著對生命體的關懷，期望所有的生命個體面對生命困頓的境界時，能在有限與無限的掙扎中超脫，使生命的寬廣度更向上開拓。 / This thesis utilizes and explores the Mañjuśrī scriptures, which discuss the doctrine of “non-duality”, and which are associated with the concept of the “Middle Way”. It is the purpose of this thesis to explore “the dharma-door of non-duality” (advaya-dharma- paryāya / mukha). The method adopted by Mañjuśrī, especially so, the focus on the study of sentient beings practicing “non-duality” to overcome the difficulties in life, is central to this study. To fully comprehend the Mahāyāna scriptures which expound on the subject of Mañjuśrī, this thesis studies and compares many textual sources, including the sutra itself, which has been translated by different translators spanning many different periods of history. In the Mahāyāna scriptures, Mañjuśrī appears very early, and plays an important role in inspiring aspirant Buddhas and Bodhisattvas in cultivating the “Bodhi-Mind”. On one hand, Mañjuśrī plays the role of a Bodhisattva, and on the other hand, he is the supervisor of all Buddhas in the past, the present, and the future. As the embodiment of the perfection of wisdom, Mañjuśrī, out of great compassion, devotes himself to support and assist all sentient beings in overcoming obstacles, and does this systematically by preaching the doctrine of non-duality. The dharma-door of Mañjuśrī, non-duality, is a method of attaining the Middle Way, based on emptiness (wunyata). The Mañjuśrī scriptures elucidate the concept of the “Middle Way” by means of transforming erroneous dichotomous cognition into the cognitive state of non-duality. To illustrate the theme of practicing non-duality, I will give three concrete illustrations of how king Ajatawatru applied non-duality to solving the paradoxes of guilt and guiltlessness. For example, how did a prostitute make use of non-duality to transcend the conflicting natures of greed and purity, and how did the demon utilize the actuality of the “Middle Way” to overcome the contradiction between mental restraint and unrestrained conceptualization? In brief, this study examines the main idea of the Mañjuśrī scriptures depicting non-duality, which can help sentient beings free themselves from dilemma. In other words, the Mañjuśrī scriptures take non-duality as a guideline to concern all kind of living beings in different social conditions.

[pt] Tese em que se desenvolve um modo de interpretar o ceticismo Antigo, especialmente o pirrônico, e que isenta a dýnamis cética da acusação de apraxía. Essa via média interpretativa emerge como um modo de superar as aporias entre as interpretações rústica e urbana e tem sua eficácia testada quando aplicada como ferramenta exegética para Contra os Retóricos. / [en] Thesis in which we develop a way to interpret the Ancient skepticism, especially the pyrrhonic one, and we exempt the skeptical dýnamis of the apraxia’s accusation. This interpretive middle way emerges as a mode to overcome the aporias between the rustic and urbane interpretations, and it has its efficiency tested when applied as an exegetical tool for Against the Rethors.