對於佛家輪迴思想，不同時期的儒者各有回應。羅近溪明確承認存在輪迴，然而近溪依其儒學立場，由於良知徹古徹今而提出「死固不死」試圖超越佛家的輪迴，繼而提出「生則入聖，歿則還虛」的生命哲學。熊十力則視輪迴思想為佛家出世法體系之骨髓，以「生生不已」的宇宙本體論破除「萬有皆幻」和以一一滅盡為主旨的佛家輪迴觀。羅、熊二人分別基於心性本體論和宇宙本體論回應、超越了佛家輪迴之説，這代表了儒者在面對佛家輪迴之說的挑戰時所采取的兩種典型進路。

Confucian scholars in different periods have their own responses to Buddhism’s idea of reincarnation. Luo Jinxi clearly acknowledged the existence of reincarnation, but according to his Confucian standpoint, Jinxi put forward “Sigubusi” due to his profound conscience, trying to transcend the reincarnation of Buddhism, and then put forward the life philosophy of “Born to be a saint, and return back to vanity after death”. Xiong Shili, on the other hand, regarded the thought of reincarnation as the marrow of the buddhist worldly dharma system, and broke away from the buddhist view of reincarnation with the cosmic ontology of “Shengshengbuyi” and the theme of “everything is illusion”. Luo and Xiong, based on the ontology of mind and the ontology of universe, respectively, respond to transcend the Buddhist theory of reincarnation, which represents the two typical approaches taken by the Confucians in the face of the challenge of the Buddhist theory of reincarnation.