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Chinese Concepts of Nature and
Man |
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The harmony of man
and nature, as is already discussed, is one of the most fundamental
philosophical concepts of our cultural legacy. It keeps us in close
touch with nature. It is a great asset for modern tourism. It can
be an eye-opener for you. Therefore, further development of this idea
should not be unwelcome here. Some aspects of this concept are:
Man and nature form an indivisible whole.
There are very strong affinities between them.
They are in sympathy with each other.
They are references and functions of each other.
Nature has all the virtues of man.
Man should seek the absolute freedom of body and mind.
We will expound these points briefly. They help us to derive the greatest
pleasure from tours of natural scenery.
The unity of man and nature is best found in the creation myth of
Pan Gu, a god living in an egg-like cosmos. He kept growing for thousands
of years in this chaos, splitting it into heaven and earth. When he
died, various parts of his body became various parts of physical world.
To reduce this myth to simplest terms, Pan Gu is nature and nature
is Pan Gu. To the Chinese mind, nature and man is an organic entity.
Extensions of this theory are: Man can not be isolated or separated
from nature, man can not keep a distance from nature, man can not
set himself in opposition to nature.
To explain this myth in Zhuangzi's words, heaven and earth coexist
with man, the myriad things in the world and man are united as one,
Man has spiritual communication with heaven and earth, the human soul
can make happy excursions to the beginning of the world.
Two fables by Zhuangzi describe this ideal state of the unity of man
and nature. One is his dream of a mythical butterfly, the other is
his sympathy with swimming fish.
When Zhuangzi the saint-philosopher woke up from a dream, he could
not tell whether he was human transformed into a butterfly or a butterfly
transformed into a human.
When he took a walk with his logician friend Huishi on a brook, enjoying
the swimming fish in the clear stream, they had a debate. He said
the little creatures were happy. When challenged how without being
the fish he could know they were happy, he retorted: "You were
not me, how could you claim that I can not feel they are happy?"
According to the Han Dynasty scholar Dong Zhongshu and philosophers
of the Yin-Yang school, man and nature are similar to and in sympathy
with each other. In their minds, nature and man are one; nature has
the feelings and the mind of man; man is the exact copy of nature;
together nature and man give birth to the myriad things.
These concepts of the relationships of man and nature are shared by
various other schools of Chinese philosophy as well. The affinities,
similarities, sympathy, references and functions of man and nature
bring us so close to nature. They make a tremendous asset of modern
tourism.
Chinese philosophers, especially Confucianists, assign all the virtues
of man to nature. With both man and nature sharing the same virtues,
it naturally follows that man breathes and feels with nature and its
beautiful objects, his soul makes happy excursions with them, he emphasizes
with them, he is totally identified with them, eh and the beautiful
things he is viewing reach the state of "mutual forgetfulness".
In the case of Zhuangzi, he and the butterfly were totally identified
so that he could not tell whether he was a butterfly turned into a
human or a human turned into a butterfly.
Confucius is quoted as saying that the benevolent love mountains,
the knowledgeable love waters. In the minds of Chinese scholars, nature
is human and intelligent; heaven is masculine and virile; earth is
feminine and gentle. Mountains and waters have all the virtues of
man: benevolence, righteousness, courtesy, wisdom, faithfulness.....
The noted patriotic poet Qu Yuan 2300 years ago compared himself to
beautiful plants and flowers, auspicious birds and animals. Since
then, it has become a tradition of literature to assign various virtues
of man to animals and plants. The tiger is majestic, the lion matchless
in prowess, the horse valiant; the cattle are hardworking and uncomplaining,
the dog is symbolic of faithfulness, the monkey is agile and intelligent,
the turtle and the crane are signs of longevity, the love birds Yuanyang
are symbol of eternal love and ideal marriage.
In the plant kingdom, man has "three winter friends", the
pine, the bamboo and the winter-sweet; there are the "four gentlemen
",the winter sweet, the bamboo, the orchid and the chrysanthemum.
Here is very modest list of plants and flowers and their related virtues:
pine-unyielding integrity
orchid-secluded gentleman
chrysanthemum-modest gentleman
wintersweet-braving winter snow
bamboo-noble integrity and modesty
lotus flower-purity against dirty environment
The personification of nature as a tradition makes Chinese feel close
to nature. There have been recluses married to nature. The majority
who could not be liberated from a busy secular life could bring nature
into their gardens and courtyard. The Song Dynasty scholar official
Su Dongpo left us a rich legacy of travelogue, and poetry portraying
the magnificent beauty of nature. His closeness to nature is best
expressed in his two verses "I'd rather go without meat, but
my home cannot go without a bamboo garden".
The absolute freedom of body and mind in Zhuangzi's teaching has been
inherited and developed in Chinese philosophy, medicine, regimens
and literature. This wish is projected onto celestials, fairies and
immortals, who are able to ride clouds and winds and wander beyond
the boundaries of lands and seas. Since Zhuangzi, natural beauty is
said to be the work the celestials, fairies and immortals. Literary
and artistic works are said to have the bones and elegance of superhuman
beings. All scenic spots are interpreted by their association with
gods and fairies enjoying absolute freedom.
There is a tinge of mysticism in these Chinese concepts of man and
nature. It gives a tint of mysterious beauty to nature. At the same
time, it endows us with a mysterious ability to appreciate natural
beauty.
Armed with this ability, we can now turn to the other aspect of natural
beauty-the more tangible and describable beauty. |
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