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Nature, Spirituality and Place: Comparative Study between American Transcendentalism and...
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Special Issue "Nature, Spirituality and Place: Comparative Study between American Transcendentalism and Chinese Religions"

A special issue of Religions (ISSN 2077-1444). This special issue belongs to the section "Religions and Humanities/Philosophies".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (28 February 2023) | Viewed by 4861

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Shan Gao

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Philosophy, Soochow University, Suzhou 215123, China
Interests: comparative religions; environmental aesthetics; comparative environmental ethics
Dr. Benjamin Coles

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Philosophy and Social Development, Huaqiao University, Quanzhou 362021, China
Interests: Wei-Jin dark learning; comparative philosophy; pre-Qin and Han Dynasty Confucianism and Daoism; Ming Dynasty thought; modern European philosophy

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to invite you to contribute to Special Issue titled "Nature, Spirituality and Place: Comparative Studies between American transcendentalism and Chinese religions”. Deeply influenced by five thousand years of agricultural civilization, Chinese culture, which is greatly shaped by Confucianism, Daoism and Zen Buddhism, has formed a unique feature that spirituality is formed through living in harmony with nature. However, with the fast process of urbanization, and creation of national park system, more and more people have to move into cities or towns. The change of physical living place causes serious spiritual crises, since spirituality in Chinese culture is deeply related to the land. Given this situation, it is very important to examine why American transcendentalism and Chinese religions both find spirituality in nature and how this pursuit has influenced people’s aesthetic appreciation of different types of physical nature and self-identity. This examination will have a tremendous influence on various ecological practices, which include urban design, environmental restoration, agricultural heritage and wilderness conservation.

This Special Issue aims at examining why American transcendentalism and Chinese religions such as Confucianism, Daoism and Zen Buddhism all find spirituality in nature, and how their interpretation of nature generates great difference on people’s aesthetic perception of agricultural land, gardens and wilderness.

In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome. Research areas may include (but not limited to) the following:

  1. Comparison between Emerson and Zhuang Zi in their different interpretation of nature and its influence on aesthetic appreciation of different types of physical nature (wilderness, farmland, and gardens) and place attachment;
  2. Comparative study between Chinese religions and transcendentalism in metaphysics and its influence on nature interpretation;
  3. Spirituality in Confucianism and aesthetic appreciation of nature;
  4. Daoism’s revolution and reinterpretation of the concept of nature;
  5. Wilderness and its relationship with Daoism’s spiritual cultivation;
  6. Emerson’s religious revolution and pursuit of spirituality in returning to nature;
  7. Spirituality in Zen Buddhism and its influence on Suzhou Garden design and aesthetic perception of Suzhou Gardens;
  8. Spirituality in Zen Buddhism and its influence on agricultural practices;
  9. Nature Aesthetics in Emerson and Zhuang Zi.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Shan Gao
Dr. Benjamin Coles
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Religions is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • spirituality
  • God
  • Dao
  • Qi
  • nature

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Article
Chinese Chan Buddhism and the Agrarian Aesthetic in the Garden
by
Yun Wang
and
Yaoxuanzi Xiao
Religions 2023, 14(5), 681; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14050681 - 19 May 2023
Viewed by 609
Abstract
As the most important Buddhist school in the history of Chinese Buddhism, the philosophy of Chan Buddhism and its agricultural Chan practice have had a profound influence on the lives of the literati and scholars. Both historically and logically, the term “Chan Dharma [...] Read more.
As the most important Buddhist school in the history of Chinese Buddhism, the philosophy of Chan Buddhism and its agricultural Chan practice have had a profound influence on the lives of the literati and scholars. Both historically and logically, the term “Chan Dharma 禪法” is extremely rich in connotations. The so-called “agricultural Chan 農禪” is a transformation of Chinese farming culture into the “Chan practice” by practising meditation through farming activities. The “garden farming 園耕” refers to the farming activities of the literati and scholars in the gardens, which were driven by the style of agricultural Chan. Under the influence of agricultural Chan, “garden farming” took on a new spiritual attitude towards crops and created a natural aesthetic realm of life in the act of farming. This article consists of three main sections. I start with an introduction to the religious thoughts and practices of Chan Buddhism, pointing out that the underlying colour of Chan Buddhism is the aesthetics of life, while gradually evoking its special practice of Chan. The second section discusses the concept of agricultural Chan and farming activities in gardens, to figure out the characteristics of agricultural Chan and how farming activities in gardens are carried out. In the third section, I argue for the beauty of farming in gardens, pointing out the essence of the beauty in garden farming and what aesthetic possibilities the act of farming in gardens may embody. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nature, Spirituality and Place: Comparative Study between American Transcendentalism and Chinese Religions)
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Article
Nature Prescribes Laws to Humans: The Ziran of the Myriad Things in Early Daoism
by
Jing Liu
Religions 2023, 14(5), 646; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14050646 - 12 May 2023
Viewed by 608
Abstract
This essay examines the nature of things in early Daoism via the lens of comparative philosophy. Daoism uses ziran 自然 (spontaneity) to express the nature of things. I explore the ziran or spontaneity of the myriad things through the analysis of de 德, [...] Read more.
This essay examines the nature of things in early Daoism via the lens of comparative philosophy. Daoism uses ziran 自然 (spontaneity) to express the nature of things. I explore the ziran or spontaneity of the myriad things through the analysis of de 德, sheng 生 (xing 性), and freedom (ziyou 自由). The sections on de 德 and sheng 生 reveal that the spontaneity of things is the ultimate reality, which contains the oneness of one and many, essence and appearance, change and changelessness. The section on freedom revolves around two essential questions in metaphysics: What are things? What is the relation between things and humans? Different from the motto of modern metaphysics, “humans prescribes laws to nature”, early Daoism believes that human existence belongs to the constant ziran. I call this “nature prescribes laws to humans”. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nature, Spirituality and Place: Comparative Study between American Transcendentalism and Chinese Religions)
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Article
Chinese Thought and Transcendentalism: Ecology, Place and Conservative Radicalism
by
Matthew Crippen
Religions 2023, 14(5), 570; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14050570 - 24 Apr 2023
Viewed by 1165
Abstract
My central claim is that resonances between Transcendentalist and Chinese philosophies are so strong that the former cannot be adequately appreciated without the latter. I give attention to the Analects, the Mengzi and the Tiantai Lotus Sutra, which Transcendentalists read. Because [...] Read more.
My central claim is that resonances between Transcendentalist and Chinese philosophies are so strong that the former cannot be adequately appreciated without the latter. I give attention to the Analects, the Mengzi and the Tiantai Lotus Sutra, which Transcendentalists read. Because there was conceptual sharing across Chinese traditions, plus evidence suggesting Transcendentalists explored other texts, my analysis includes discussions of Daoism and Weishi, Huayan and Chan Buddhism. To name just some similarities between the targeted outlooks, Transcendentalists adopt something close to wu-wei or effortless action; though hostile to hierarchy, they echo the Confucian stress on rituals or habits; Thoreau’s individualistic libertarianism is moderated by a radical causal holism found in many Chinese philosophies; and variants of Chinese Buddhism get close to Transcendentalist metaphysics and epistemologies, which anticipate radical embodied cognitive science. A specific argument is that Transcendentalists followed some of their Chinese counterparts by conserving the past and converting it into radicalism. A meta-argument is that ideas were exchanged via trade from Europe through North Africa to Western Asia and India into the Far East, and contact with Indigenous Americans led to the same. This involved degrees of misrepresentation, but it nonetheless calls upon scholars to adopt more global approaches. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nature, Spirituality and Place: Comparative Study between American Transcendentalism and Chinese Religions)
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Article
The Realm of Tianfang Advocated by the Daoist Philosophy of Naturalism
by
Shaojun Wang
Religions 2023, 14(4), 519; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14040519 - 10 Apr 2023
Viewed by 967
Abstract
More and more people talk about so-called Daoist ecological thought. Actually, Daoism does not have a ready-made ecological thought. However, it indeed can act as a vital theoretical resource for constructing such thought. In this article, I will argue how this is possible, [...] Read more.
More and more people talk about so-called Daoist ecological thought. Actually, Daoism does not have a ready-made ecological thought. However, it indeed can act as a vital theoretical resource for constructing such thought. In this article, I will argue how this is possible, and what realm Daoism can attain in the relation between human and nature. I will mainly employ such methods as original problem research, literature analysis and comparative research in the inquiry. Compared with traditional Western metaphysics, Daoist ontology can provide stronger philosophical support for the value and significance of empirical things. In addition, Dao does not dominate things like a personal god with will, but gives them the chance to grow and develop according to their own nature. Lao-Zhuang called on people to imitate this character of Dao. They believed that the primitive nature itself was worthy of respect, and urged us to set limits for ourselves and never to distort things’ natural propensities to suit us. Consequently, natural things are neither overshadowed by a noumenon, nor are they subject to humans’ conquering and abuse, so they are capable of flourishing freely. This is precisely the realm of tianfang which Daoism seeks. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nature, Spirituality and Place: Comparative Study between American Transcendentalism and Chinese Religions)
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Article
Sites of Solitude: Situating the Wilderness of Nature in Wei-Jin Dark Learning and Emerson
by
Benjamin Coles
Religions 2023, 14(4), 455; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14040455 - 28 Mar 2023
Viewed by 560
Abstract
For Daoism, the wilderness of nature beyond human society has often been viewed as a site for eremitic retreat in spiritual solitude, a realm where an individual can transcend the limits of social existence. While this tradition flourished in the early medieval Wei-Jin [...] Read more.
For Daoism, the wilderness of nature beyond human society has often been viewed as a site for eremitic retreat in spiritual solitude, a realm where an individual can transcend the limits of social existence. While this tradition flourished in the early medieval Wei-Jin period, Daoism-inspired Dark Learning thinkers of the time also explored ways in which such a realm of solitude could be attained and enjoyed without the necessity of leaving behind the mundane world, an endeavor that has clear parallels with the function of solitude in Emerson’s Transcendentalism. This paper focuses on three sites where both Emerson and Dark Learning thinkers located such access to solitude: aesthetic appreciation of nature, metaphysical speculation, and authentic social relationships. In both Emerson and Dark Learning, the universal implications of metaphysical speculation provided a path by which the solitude and independence attainable in the wilderness of nature could be connected to individuals in social life, providing a foundation for ethics outside of traditional authority that led both Emerson and Dark Learning to face similar criticisms from more conservative contemporaries. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nature, Spirituality and Place: Comparative Study between American Transcendentalism and Chinese Religions)
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