Barrett Sarah American Lit I Prof. Staud February 20, 2008 The Zen in "Nature" For, seen in the light of thought, the world always is phenomenal; and virtue subordinates it to the mind. Idealism sees the world in God. It beholds the whole circle of persons and things, of actions and events, of country and religion, not as painfully accumulated in an aged creeping Past, but as one vast picture, which God paints on the instant eternity, for the contemplation of the soul.1 Emerson is revered, in part, for the way he challenges and investigates formal traditions of philosophic and religious writing, insisting on the interpenetration of the ideal and the real, of the spiritual and material. The philosophical and religious philosophies of Emersons works have been traced to many sources, including Unitarian theology, German philosophical idealism, British Romantic poetry, and Hindu scriptures, each of which emphasizes the unity of nature, humanity, and God. Emersons philosophy can, as such, be understood as a collage that finds unity from disunity amidst global revolutionary upheaval of rationalism and aesthetics. With the publication of his first book in 1836, Emerson shunned divisive ideologies in favor of a theological dialectic that could purify religion so as to unite all men, individually and thus communally, through a meditative oneness with nature. Aptly named, Emersons "Nature" shows the natural world to be a symbolic language that can reveal the mind of God, open the mind of Man, and provide the path to a heightened, enlightened union of the two; through the experience of oneness with nature, a communion with God is possible. Emersons temporal focus in "Nature" inherently rejects western theology, man-made meaning, and separation from God, instead choosing to champion principles of eastern spirituality, in particular Zen Buddhism as it concerns meditation, virtue and wisdom training on the path to achieve Enlightenment. It is only appropriate to note how Emersons reflection is sincerely American in outlook (rather than
1
"Nature." The Norton Anthology of American Literature, 1820-1865, 6 (B). Ed. Nina Baym. New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 2003. 14.
seen or intended to look elsewhere for tradition) in that Nature established a new way of looking at America and its raw, natural environment. In this essay, I intend to examine a number of the significant similarities -- intellectual and experiential -- between Emersonian transcendentalism and [the spirit of] Zen Buddhism, as they appear in his essay "Nature." While Emersons knowledge of Zen was most likely sketchy, the similarities that appear in his work show its relevance to the American tradition within which Emerson wrote, with its heritage of self-reliance, accessibility of divine truth and trust in an ultimate benevolence of Nature and God. In this essay, I do not wish to argue that Zen is the key to the entirety of Emersons thought or, that his central ideas derived from Zen; instead, I argue that Emersonian psychology has striking resemblances to Zen Buddhism in its revolutionary overhaul of dominant theology, its emphasis on the experiential process through which man unites with God, elimination of other-directed dualisms in favor a monistic view of an ontological-cosmic unity, concentration on the inherent powers (of Nature and Buddha), and underpinnings in existentialism. America, as Emerson was writing in the nineteenth century, is to be seen as a clean slate that, by virtue of its youth and untamed nature, enables Emerson to see nature through new eyes and rebuild its role in the world. "It is Nature communing with the seer. 1" Emerson begins "Nature" asking his readership: "Why should not we have a poetry and philosophy of insight and not of tradition, and a religion by revelation to us, and not the history of theirs" (Norton, 1106)? Emerson was a pioneer of a new theology, one that allowed individuals to have a direct relationship with God and a relationship that was cleansed entirely of preconceived requisites except, of course, complete devotion and proper seeing. Probably the most famous passage in all of Emersons prose is his description of himself in Chapter 1 of "Nature" as a "transparent eyeball." He writes,
In the woods, we return to reason and faith. There I feel that nothing can befall me in life, -- no disgrace, no calamity, (leaving me my eyes,) which nature cannot repair. Standing on the bare ground, -- my head bathed by the blithe air, and uplifted into infinite space, -- all mean egotism vanishes. I become a transparent eye-ball. I am nothing. I see all. The currents of the Universal Being circulate through me; I am part or particle of God... I am the lover of uncontained and immortal beauty.2 Neither philosopher nor conventional moralist, Emerson was first and last an artist who attempted to create a vision of the world and man's place in it. His essay, then, is not a logical demonstration of truth or explicit dialectic on Buddhist philosophy (or anything else for that matter), but rather an aesthetic revelation that speaks to readers and reminds them of their direct, personal, and Absolute relation to the Divine -- their ability to see, and such seeing suggests an awakening or enlightenment, much like that of Zen. It is by venturing into nature, night after night, to look up at the stars and around him at the beauty of the natural world, that Emerson attains this transcendent ability to see -- not with the mental eye that provides the experience, but his physical eye in a transformed condition (OKeefe, 34). Similarly, the practice of meditation in Zen provides the individual with a practical method of transforming the mind. This transformation is not a new form of awareness, but rather a return to the fundamental basis of awareness prior to all the constructions of self and reality developed over a lifetime. This transformation from a dualistic perspective to a non-dual perspective, once man has experienced a world of non-opposition, awakens him to the unity, or oneness of all things. Emerson describes this oneness as the Oversoul, the Universal Being that is the spiritual unity of all forms of being with God, Humanity, and Nature all sharing a universal soul. To the transcendentalists, Nature was a reflection of the Oversoul and the way to communicate with it. Contemplation of Nature enables Man to move beyond the knowledge we obtain from our senses, reason, logic, or laws of science and find Truth through our intuition or Divine Intellect. This intuition is part of each man; it is an innate understanding of what is right and good; the
2
"Nature." The Norton Anthology of American Literature, 1820-1865, 6 (B). Ed. Nina Baym. New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 2003. 14.
direct line of communication between God and man. Intuition allows us to know the existence of our own souls and their relation to a reality beyond the physical world and to understand the abstract, non-material reality. In essence, this Oversoul that is gained through the Divine Intellect is comparable to the Zen intuitive awakening to ones Buddha-nature. Intuition for the Zen Buddhist is the experience that identifies man consciously with God whereby man comes to see himself and all things as they truly are, realizing his innate Buddha-nature. Zen seeks to keep both the transcendent and the immanent, the absolute and the conditioned, the universal and the particular, the temporal moment and the eternal Unity together in one integral consciousness that locates itself in our existential present. The reality of neither side in any of these dichotomies is to be sacrificed to the other, or even subordinated to it.... This view is further expressed in the conviction that the True Buddha Nature is within us, indeed is us; and that satori is only the existential realization that we are -- in our very living ordinariness and without waiting for some personal transformation or future age -- that Buddha-nature itself (King, 223). The central focus in Emersonian Transcendentalism is on Nature (as a Form) as a metaphor of the human mind and a vehicle for communication with God. Emerson writes: "The laws of moral nature answer to those of matter as face to face in a glass," and "a life in harmony with nature, the love of truth and of virtue, purge will the eyes to understand her text" (Norton, 1117, 1118). As such, the individual who is open to nature will lose his individual identity in a momentary sense of wholeness, a mystical union with the universe/Spirit, when he becomes a "transparent eye-ball" and allows the mind to become "a faithful thinker, resolute to detach every object from personal relations, and see it in the light of thought" (Norton, 1134). In order to achieve such detached level of consciousness, both Zen doctrine and Emerson postulate that man must make it integral to his total manner of existence, venturing into nature and rejecting socially created dualisms of good-evil, sacred-profane, objective-subjective, and time (presentpast-future) to achieve integral subjective freedom. In Zen, this experience is meditation -- the pursuit of self-realization, of Buddha-nature as immanent in all beings, to experience the unity of all things and working for the benefit of all
things. Zen is a branch of Mahayana Buddhism, which means "great vehicle [to Enlightenment or communion with God]." In Zen, one gains freedom from thought pollution -- "no mind" -- with mediation being the experiential realization of nonseparation of oneself and the world. This affirms that the "I" and "not-I" are ultimately not oppositional, but rather are one, having no substantial/autonomous reality. At the point of such realization, called Enlightenment, there is a sudden realization of the oneness of all things and can only be found through abandoning intellect, social construction, and temporal desire or will. It leaves the individual with the peace and serenity of nearness to deity. At the intersection of Zen and Emersonian Transcendentalism we find many similar qualities --emphasis on the individual, virtue, wisdom and soul, a rejection of conformity, temporal concern, and ritualistic religious tradition that places a distance between God and the individual. In "Nature," Emerson writes: "Every scripture is to be interpreted by the same spirit which gave it forth," -- is the fundamental law of criticism. A life in harmony with nature, the love of truth and of virtue, will purge the eyes to understand her text. By degrees we may come to know the primitive sense of the permanent objects of nature, so that the world shall be to us an open book, and every form significant of its hidden life and final cause" (Norton, 1118). In his "Introduction to Transcendentalism", George Hochfield explains the peculiarly American, democratized Transcendentalism: ...here is virgin soil, an open field, a new people, full of the future, with unbounded faith in ideas, and the most ample freedom. Here, if anywhere on earth, may the philosopher experiment on human nature and demonstrate what man has it in him to be when and where he has the freedom and the means to be himself. Such language underscores the closeness of 19th century Transcendentalism to a native American vision -- the fullest, most radical, rashest expression of the ,,American dream. At its core, Transcendentalism was a youth movement, making eloquently obvious one of the first generation gaps in American history. Emerson wrote, "This deliquium, this ossification of the soul, is the Fall of Man. The redemption is lodged in the heart of youth." On the foundational
American assumption that the future can be better than the past through imagination and effort, the Transcendentalists envisioned a culture that would foster further acts of culture-making, a community that would also liberate the individual, a way of thinking that would also become a way of doing. In Transcendentalism emerged a peculiarly American disposition towards knowing, as Daniel Boorstin writes: "We sometimes forget how gradual was the 'discovery' of America; it was a by-product of the occupation of the continent. To act, to move on, to explore also meant to push back the frontiers of knowledge; this inevitably gave a practical and dynamic character to the very idea of knowledge. To learn and to act became one." This vision is at the center of Emerson's 1838 address, "The American Scholar," which reunifies divisions that have plagued western philosophy, allowing the individual to have a direct experience with the divine without any preconceived scriptures, requisite rituals, or attached fears and stigmas. Emersonian Transcendentalism replaces the Christian doctrine of "redemption spirituality" with a notion of "creation spirituality." A subliminal premise in "Nature" is its condemnation of the Christian notion of redemption, in which each soul ultimately fends for itself and constantly looks toward another world, thus neglecting the wonders of creation -- the fact that all souls sprung from a single source and are recipients of the beautiful goodness inherent in Nature. In the introduction to Spirit and Nature, Rockefeller and Elder note, "a theology can obstruct development of a respect for nature or foster it" (3). Up until the mid-nineteenth century, Christianity had been an obstruction. It saw Nature, or the wilderness, as an alien, fearful entity that must be dealt with according to the Puritan moral obligation to tame it. Wild nature is where individuals found themselves after being dismissed from the Garden of Eden -- its chaotic state and darkness reflected their sin. Additionally, its view of nature as a frontier and resource translated as opportunity -- "frontier" carrying with it an almost sensual connotation of primal freedom. This concept of frontier grew as Puritanism
waned. The Judeo-Christian tradition is overturned in Emersonian Transcendentalist philosophy insofar as it restores the unity between God and Man and Nature while encouraging both individualism and universal communion, a synthesis and balance of internal and external reality. The Dalai Lama addresses the matter of balance in much the manner of Emerson. The state of the environment -- the outer world -- reflects the state of the inner world; the main concern of both Zen and Emerson is a purification of the inner world. Nature is valuable in itself, yes -- for beauty, serenity, even life, generally speaking -- but its true importance lies in its symbolism: the outward signs of Nature represent inner harmony and spiritual well-being. Buddhist philosophy, like Emersonian Transcendentalism is highly individualistic, calling man to question everything, look deeply, and then act from that insight. It is sublimated concurrently by an implication of an individual environmental responsibility that is related to social well being. As in "Nature", this Buddhist maxim draws correlation between the religion of consumerism that erodes spiritual strength as also what is most damaging to the environment. Air and water pollution, the depletion of species, destructive forestry and land management practices can all be traced to avid consumerism -- the facts of the natural world at present are symbolic of spiritual decay, and inherently a direct result of it. As such, both Emersonian Transcendentalism and Buddhism stress the importance of moral and ethical virtue, condemning exploitation, confrontation, and competition. To the senses and the unrenewed understanding, belongs a sort of instinctive belief in the absolute existence of nature. In their view, man and nature are indissolubly joined. Things are ultimates, and they never look beyond their sphere. The presence of Reason mars this faith. The first effort of thought tends to relax this despotism of the senses, which binds us to nature as if we were a part of it, and shows us nature aloof, and, as it were, afloat. Until this higher agency intervened, the animal eye sees, with wonderful accuracy, sharp outlines and colored surfaces. When the eye of Reason opens, to outline and surface are at once added, grace and expression. These proceed from imagination and affection, and abate somewhat of the angular distinctness of objects. If the Reason be stimulated to more earnest vision, outlines and surfaces become transparent, and are no longer seen; causes and spirits are seen through them. The best moments of life are these delicious awakenings of the higher powers, and the reverential withdrawing of nature before its God (Norton, 1123-24).