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Humanity as ‘‘A Part and Parcel of Nature’’ A Comparative Study of Thoreau’s and Taoist Concepts of Nature a i m i n c h e n g  A prominent aspect of Thoreau’s philosophy of nature, which makes his view different from that of many Americans, is his absorption of the Chinese conception of the relationship between humanity and nature.1 His belief in humanity as ‘‘a part and parcel of Nature’’ clearly demonstrates his affinity with Chinese philosophical tradition. Lin Yutang once said, ‘‘Thoreau is the most Chinese of all American authors in his entire view of life. . . . I could translate passages of Thoreau into my own language and pass them off as original writing by a Chinese poet without raising any suspicion.’’2 Gary Simon also remarked that ‘‘Thoreau . . . evidenced, in my opinion, a greater affinity for Taoism than for any other Oriental religion.’’3 It is well known that the Western understanding of humanity’s relationship with nature is quite different from that of the Chinese. In the West, it is generally held that nature, like humanity, was created by God and should be conquered and used by humanity, whereas in China, humanity is believed to come from nature and will eventually return to it — therefore, humanity is regarded as part of nature. In Western natural philosophy, the relationship between humanity and nature exists often as the confronting ‘‘I-Thou’’ relationship, while in Chinese philosophy it presents a harmonious ‘‘part-whole’’ relationship. It is difficult to pinpoint exactly when this Western concept of nature began. In the Bible, the Book of Genesis (1:28) relates how God, after creating Adam and Eve in his image, said to them: ‘‘Be fruitful, and multiply , and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that 207 moves upon the earth.’’4 Traditionally, it was thought that the confrontation between humanity and nature was the result of the Fall. Because of the Fall, the harmonious state between humanity and nature in the Garden of Eden was broken. Clarence Glacken points out, ‘‘In the Politics, Aristotle expressesclearly but in disappointingly crude fashion the idea of purpose in nature, including the relation of plants and animals to the needs of man. . . . Plants must be intended for the use of animals; animals, we can infer, exist for man; the tame for use and food, the wild — if not all — for food, clothing , and various instruments. ‘Now if Nature makes nothing incomplete, and nothing in vain, the inference must be that she has made all animals for the sake of man.’’’5 Glacken continues: ‘‘In this anthropocentric conception of interrelationship in nature, the distribution of plants and animals is directly related to the needs and uses of man; the idea has been repeated countlessly in modern times, although many writers on natural theology in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries protested against it as being incompatible with the Christian religion, maintaining that it was but another example of man’s pride’’ (48). Max Oelschlaeger also argues that ‘‘Aristotle wanted to gain rational knowledge and thereby control over nature, rather than to maintain harmony with it.’’6 Ralph Waldo Emerson, founder of American transcendentalism, de- fined nature in this way: ‘‘Nature, in its ministry to man, is not only the material, but is also the process and the result. All the parts incessantly work into each other’s hands for the profit of man. The wind sows the seed; the sun evaporates the sea; the wind blows the vapor to the field; the ice, on the other side of the planet, condenses rain on this; the rain feeds the plant; the plant feeds the animal; and thus the endless circulations of the divine charity nourish man.’’7 In modern times in the West, according to our Chinese understanding , nature denotes very often the power external to humanity which includes the sky, the earth, the sea, and all that is in them except human beings. There is a fixed great gulf between the natural world and human society, between conscience and science, and between emotion and reason . Nature has alternately been execrated as humanity’s cruelest enemy or worshipped and sung as its kindly mistress or benign saint.8 In Chinese philosophy, however, nature itself is believed to possess divinity, and humans are born to be part of it. On top is heaven...

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