Chuang-Tse’s “Tao” Reflected in the Writings of American Romantics in the 19th Century〔*〕

Du Xuan,Hong Zengliu

(1.School of Liberal Arts Nanjing University,Nanjing Jiangsu 210046;2.School of Foreign Studies Anhui University,Hefei Anhui 230601)



Chuang-Tse’s “Tao” Reflected in the Writings of American Romantics in the 19th Century〔*〕

Du Xuan1,Hong Zengliu2

(1.School of Liberal Arts Nanjing University,Nanjing Jiangsu 210046;2.School of Foreign Studies Anhui University,Hefei Anhui 230601)

Having done a comparative analysis,the author finds out the reason why American romantics as well as their writings in the 19th century held a similar firm belief that people should obey and follow the objective natural law and rules,and establish a harmonious relationship between man and nature,and between individual and other people.Chuang-Tse,one of the main representative figures of the Taoist school in ancient China,gradually submerged himself in nature while in his tough struggle for enjoying his inner peace.The purpose of exploring the reason is of course to help the people all over the world further become aware of man’s common future and destiny,and try to do every thing possible to solve the common severe problems of increasingly grave environmental pollution and ecological protection brought about by the rapid development of technology.

ecosystem;Taoism;American romantics;natural aesthetic spirit

Ⅰ.Chuang-Tse’s Taoist natural aesthetic spirit embodied in the writings of American romantics in the 19th century

In the nineteenth-century,American romanticists like Fennimore Cooper,Ralph Waldo Emerson,Henry David Thoreau,Herman Melville,Walt Whitman,and Emily Dickinson,took pains to call on the masses to live a simple life by returning to and embracing Mother Nature.In their masterpieces,they all appreciated nature from the bottom of their hearts,thinking that the lives in the cities were inevitably monotonous,boring and dull while considering simple and sincere nature as their source of energy with tremendous amount of optimism.

However,it is easier for us to see the formation of Taoist natural aesthetic spirit reflected in the works of American romantic writers in the 19th century:

Firstly,God in American romantics’ minds was like a Taoists’ “Tao”,which was regarded as the source of all things,and the value of the order and metaphysics.Secondly,American romantic writers in the 19th century abandoned the thoughts of Western science,which advocates judgment,reasoning,concepts,and definitions.They stressed that people should rely on a priori intuition,inspiration,and meditation to communicate with the objects in nature.Their cognitive approach is very similar to Taoists’,which insisted on people’s relying on their intuition and comprehension to grasp the existence and significance of natural objects.Thirdly,American romantic poets in the nineteenth century were strongly against the human physical and mental alienation under the modern industrial civilization.Emerson believed that man was his own gnome,which means that it is the people who have dwarfed the development of the human society,so they called on people to return to nature.This of course shares the same idea as that of Taoist’s.Deconstructing the reality of social civilization,Taoists pursued a harmonious coexistence between man and nature.

Fourthly,American romantic writers in the 19th century were in the opposition to practical utilitarian mentality to possess,plunder and conquer nature.They believed that all animals and plants in nature should be given equal attention for they belonged to an important part of the ecosystem,and had inner spiritual communication,which is quite similar to Taoist’s idea “Heaven and man are united as one”.Lastly,American romantic writers in the 19th century called on people to achieve the fulfillment of spiritual pursuit,instead of material interests.They were worried about promoting of people’s pursuit of material success while ignoring the spiritual joy,so as to resist the temptation of material gains.And they shared the same belief as Taoists’.Taoists’ ideal personality was free from all external material temptation,got rid of all spiritual shackles,and was indifferent to fame and even to life and death.

Through the above discussion,we can also find out that American romantics in the 19th century reflected nearly the same natural aesthetic spirit as the Taoist’s.Instead of taking nature as a cold dustbin filled with man’s different unwanted wastes,they considered nature as their intimate friend,and revealed their yearning for staying close to nature for good.They all expressed their passionate yearning for breaking away from the bustling and hustling society to return to nature.

The perspectives on the ecological environment American romantics were coincided with that of Taoists.Both believed that all objects and creatures on the earth were supposed to enjoy the same status and be in harmony with the entire ecosystem,which led to the integration of man and natural environment.We can see very clearly that their idea on the relationship between man and nature is,in essence,much like that of Taoism “man is an integral part of nature”.Only by taking the ecological environment as an organic whole can man solve the problems of environmental pollution and ecological destroying,and strike a balance between harmonious development and natural protection.

Ⅱ.Chuang-Tse’s idea of anti-technology expressed in works of American romantics in the 19th century

1.Chuang-Tse’s idea of anti-technology

Chuang-Tse focused on the negative side of technology which he regarded as the opposite to nature.Believing that various artificial articles penetrating into natural space environment would undermine social steadiness,kill the joy and glee of life,and aggravate uncertainty to people’s life,he either aimed to unveil the threat technology posed to the problems of environmental pollution,or concentrated on how it would make people alienated from the natural world.He attempted to figure out a way to cope with the embarrassment and spiritual confusion caused by the progressive technology,and tried his utmost to find the best solution to shunning away from it.Chuang-Tse’s essay Protest against Civilization is conventionally read as a proof for his inclination to rejecting a technological world.What he really concerned is that the artifacts and technological products which would make people feel nullified.

Though technology is of great importance to promoting economic prosperity in a society,Chuang-Tse had a deep-seated abhorrence of technology and once fought vehemently against it.He held that technology and all of the advances that it brought about might degrade,enslave,and even deprive man of his desires to communicate with Taoists to receive the grace of nature.And in turn,insecure,gloomy and despairing atmosphere would come into being.He lamented over the fact that his peers having taken alarming interest in material accumulations,intended to make his followers to abandon ugly thoughts to achieve a higher level of human perfection.

2.American romantics’ ideas of anti-technology

“Before 1860 the United States had begun to change into an industrial and urban society.The word “technology” was coined in 1829.”〔1〕New progress in technology had given people many products,but conversely deprived man of his integrity,and resulted in decreasing man’s sanity and well-being.With the rapid development of economy,Americans were inevitably in the pursuit of material wealth while ignoring their spiritual pursuit.The prosperity of industrialization and urbanization inevitably resulted in destroying nature.As a result of pollution and other ecological problems,“The desire for an escape from society and a return to nature became a permanent convention of American literature…”〔2〕

Fennimore Cooper’s works show his apathy of the bustling and hustling city life.At the end of The Leatherstocking Tales,the kind,friendly and innocent hero trudges off toward the forest,intending to live a free life in nature.“He persuades himself,as he does in some of his prefaces,that the great lakes are,for instance,good places,linking them with art and character.”〔3〕Hence we can see that he seemed to share the similarity with the saints in Taoism in that they had the faith in spiritual virtues of man,and the belief that the most significant thing for men to do was to be independent and tried to realize the dreams of personal spiritual perfection.

Whitman also showed,at the same time,his negative attitude toward technology.Deeply enraged by the thought of the fruitlessness of technology and materialism devoid of humanity,he illustrated in his poems how economy and technology destroyed the lives of the people having energy,power,and mind,and how life eventually became fragmented,unbearable and meaningless.“Material gains are fruitless without personal morality;individualism without brotherhood is suicide.”〔4〕Therefore,we can say that what he stressed is people’s morality and brotherhood instead of personal material gains brought about by technology.

Thoreau felt keenly a strong desire to reject and retreat from the modern world with a belief that technology would smother all human endeavors and achievements,and believed that people could no longer feel secure and happy and hopeful in his world.His work is simple and natural,powerful and increases communication between man and nature.In his masterpiece Walden,he said with disapproval:“Let us spend one day as deliberately as Nature,and not be thrown off the track by every nutshell and mosquito’s wing that falls on the rails.Let us rise early and fast,or break fast,gently and without perturbation;let company come and let company go,let the bells ring and the children cry — determined to make a day of it.”〔5〕This statement further proves that he also felt a sense of futility and purposelessness of life,noticed the fact that modern society was at its most disgusted with an enduring effect brought by technology,and would like to have a rational and healthy enjoyment of a simple life each day.

Like Chuang-Tse,the American romantics in the 19th century were overwhelmed by the negative role of technology played in the human society,and were also disgusted with technology since they considered it as a barrier thwarting exchanges and development between man and nature.Furthermore,technology would keep injuring people’s health,increase men’s sense of meaninglessness,and finally make them lose their physical and psychological health.

Ⅲ.Conclusion

Through the above analysis and discussion,we are able to come to the conclusion that Chuang Tse’s Taoist ecological ethics is also coincidentally reflected in the writings of American romantics in the 19th century and both called on people to be free from the intrusion of poverty,industrial pollution,racial conflicts,violence and so on by returning to nature,and treated other living things as their equals.And in the meanwhile,they also adopted a negative attitude toward technology for fear that it might give rise to human physical and spiritual disintegration.Obviously their ideas,as a matter of fact,have a great similarity to each other.However,the significance of the analysis and discussion lies in the fact that nowadays the environmental problems such as globe warming,climate changing,and air and water pollution are deteriorating,and the people all over the world have begun to realize that it is high time we spared no efforts to work together to solve our shared problems?of natural environment and ecological protection,and keep a harmonious development between man and nature,which is not only the common desire and destiny of the whole mankind,but also our unshirkable?responsibility.In addition,the reason why those great minds think alike lies in the fact that the civilizations in the world have many things in common.

〔1〕Wu Weiren,History and Anthology of American Literature,Vol.1,Beijing:Beijing:Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press,1990,p.52.

〔2〕Wu Weiren,History and Anthology of American Literature,Vol.1,Beijing:Beijing:Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press,1990,p.58.

〔3〕Chang Yaoxin,A Survey of American Literature,Tianjin:Nankai University Press,2008,p.54,92.

〔4〕Chang Yaoxin,A Survey of American Literature,Tianjin:Nankai University Press,2008,p.92.

〔5〕Tao Jie,Selected Readings in American Prose,Peking:Peking University Press,2009,p.48.

About the author：Zhang Li(1972—),associate professor of the Law School,Dalian Maritime University.

〔*〕The paper is the interim achievement of the research topic of the Department of Justice.The topic name is the Legal Questions Research on Seafarers’ Social Security in China.The topic number is 14SFB50041；The paper is the interim achievement of the research topic of the National Social Science Foundation Project.The topic name is the Studies on the Legal System Security on the Electronic Port and Shipping of the 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road Strategy。The topic number is 15BFX193.