Download - “NATURE”: AN EAST ASIAN VIEW
“NATURE”: AN EAST ASIAN VIEWReview: •3 meanings of “nature”•4 ways of conceiving of “nature”•Buddhism: 3 characteristics of existenceI.Nature as processII.Nature as interrelationshipsIII.Natural as action based on true inner nature.
Review: two main meanings of “nature” in Western culture
Dualistic: nature as what is not created, controlled, or changed by humans (nature as opposed to humans or culture).
Monistic: nature as everything in the phenomenal world (nature as opposed to the supernatural).
“Nature” & “natural” in East Asian culture
Adverbial: Nature refers to one’s true inner nature, and
“natural” refers to acting on that true nature (thus “adverbial”).
Everything has its true nature: animals, plants, water, rocks.
Most humans do not act on their true nature because it is clouded by will, reason, desires, & distinctions.
Review: Four major ways of conceiving of “nature”
1. Collection2. Web of relationships3. Process4. Gaia
Review: The three characteristics of reality
in Buddhism
Radical interrelatednessChange, impermanenceNon-self
I. NATURE AS PROCESS
1. The turning of the seasons.
2. The inevitable passing away of things.
3. Creative, chaotic, beautiful change.
4. The process of things coming into being
1. The turning of the seasons
We are always within a particular season, which is always temporary and in the process of becoming another season.
Each season has its own distinctive characteristics.
Animals, plants, people, and human cultural activities co-exist as parts of the turning seasons.
“Another Spring”
The seasons revolve and the years changeWith no assistance or supervision.The moon, without taking thought,Moves in its cycle, full, crescent, and full.
The white moon enters the heart of the river;The air is drugged with azalea blossoms;Deep in the night a pine cone falls;Our campfire dies out in the empty mountains.
The sharp stars flicker in the tremulous branches;The lake is black, bottomless in the crystalline night;High in the sky the Northern CrownIs cut in half by the dim summit of a snow peak.
O heart, heart, so singularlyIntransigent and corruptible,Here we lie entranced by the starlit water,And moments that should each last forever
Slide unconsciously by us like water.
--Kenneth Rexroth
2. The passing away of things Mujō: impermanence. Aware: a bittersweet sorrow at the transience of
beauty. Various forms
Passing away of seasonsSteady aging of beautyThe rise and fall of gloryThe imminence of sudden death and destruction
. . . Believe in all those fugitiveCompounds of nature, all doomedTo waste away and go out.Always be true to these things.They are all there is. . . .
--Kenneth Rexroth
3. The unpredictable creative and beautiful changes of nature
The unpredictable (“chaotic”) changes from moment to moment that are beautiful and spontaneously skillful like a cosmic artist.
The “Creative” (zōka)
4. The process of things coming into being
“Nonbeing”: a creative, formless dimension of reality beyond space and time, beyond our senses and intellect.
Things arise into form and then disappear again like waves rising from the ocean and then falling away.
II. NATURE AS WEB OF RELATIONSHIPS
1. A metaphysics of interrelatedness.2. Dynamic interrelationships.3. Ideal: fulfill one’s niche; fit harmoniously into
the system.
1. A metaphysics of interrelatedness The Western ecological view as metaphysics: the
universe is fundamentally a net of relationships and a dynamic system of mutual conditioning.
Interrelatedness is primary, distinctness secondary: our distinctness is our unique set of interrelationships.
“Interbeing”: each of us “interexists” with others.
2. Dynamic interrelatedness
The system is dynamic and ever-changing. Individuals: everyone’s set of relationships
changes from moment to moment. Whole: each moment is a new web of
interdependence.
“Spring”
There are no images hereIn the solitude, onlyThe night and its stars which areRelationships rather thanImages. Shifting darkness,Strains of feeling, lines of force,Webs of thoughts, no images,Only night and time agingThe night in its darkness, justMotion in space in the dark.
It is a night full of darkness,And space, and stars, and the hoursGoing by, and time going by,And the night growing old, and allThe webs, and nets, of relationshipsChanging, and it is Spring nightIn Provence, here where I am,And under the half moon the almondBuds are ready to burst. . . .
--Kenneth Rexroth
THE COMMUNAL CHARACTER OF LIFE
All things share these aspects of change: people, plants & animals,
mountains & rivers. We are all part of one system.
So…
3. Ideal: deeply fitting in
One’s social and spiritual goal is to fulfill one’s particular niche in the system. This is human fulfillment.
Such a fitting-in grounds one in the universe; you find your place rather than impose your desires.
The overriding goal is the harmony of the system (not self-benefit or justice)
III. THE NATURAL: THAT WHICH ACTS
ACCORDING TO ITS NATURE An “adverbial” concept of nature.
All things have an inner nature. To act according to your inner nature is to be natural.
Humans tend to act on their desires or intentional will rather than their inner nature.
This causes inner disharmony, anxiety, and clumsiness.
It also causes outer disharmony: social disorder.
The ideal is to act spontaneously out our true nature.
However, this requires great discipline of spiritual practice over long periods of time.
The same is true of other living things. To see the true nature of a pine tree, we need to see an old tree buffeted by cliff winds. Or we need to train it in order to reveal its true nature.