Be Spring to All Things

By WANG KEPING

One old saying that is particularly rooted in the Chinese consciousness is "Spring is the most meaningful season." It has particular significance in rural regions, where spring is the time for plowing, and for planning the work for the coming year. In urban areas, peach and plum blossom and the fresh green shoots that clothe winter-denuded trees signify the time for outings and enjoyment of the warmer weather. One aspect of this season that adds greatly to the overall aesthetic is the sight of young girls, having finally put aside their warm winter wear, dressed in light colorful fabrics that display their maidenly charms to full effect. All in all, from the Chinese point of view, spring is a time of color, charm and cheer.

A developed appreciation of the resplendent beauties of spring can lead to being "spring to all things" (yu wu wei chun). This concept reflects the naturalistic humanism of Daoist Zhuangzi. The word "to" (yu) indicates the interaction between X and Y, a subject and an object, or put another way, a human contemplator of that under contemplation. "Things" (wu) means nature in all its glory -- mountains and waters, flowers and trees, animals and birds, stars and clouds, and moonlight and sunshine. These aspects of nature are manifestations of pure beauty. Their negative counterparts are seen in the artificial distinction, in the holistic sense, between life and death, fortune and misfortune, wealth and poverty, worth and worthlessness, and praise and blame. These comparisons are based on relative value judgments. They link up all too neatly with everyday preoccupations with gain and loss that distress and pervade the consciousness, banishing any prospect of spiritual tranquility.

Then, what is meant by "be spring" (wei chun) in this context?  "Spring" (chun) is the season of vitality, warmth and joy. It is often a symbol of hope, of fresh prospects and aspirations. Here, however, it refers specifically to a harmonious interrelationship between man and nature, an interactive current of optimism and good will between the perceivable environment and the inner self. In this sense, if you love nature, it will never betray you. Yours is a symbiotic relationship. A tree planted in springtime brings a blessedly cool shade in high summer. Hence, to "be spring to all things" is to be in harmony with one's surroundings and so enjoy their beneficence. It denotes a naturalistic awareness of the role all things in nature play, and a humanistic attitude toward the super-moral development of the human "perfect character" (cai quan).

This "perfect character" is attained when the consciousness successfully sustains a state of peace, born of the contentment that a true appreciation of nature brings. It entails freeing the mind from value-oriented egoism. In following the laws of nature it is possible to observe the paths of destiny, and avoid suffering the social ills and human troubles stemming from a blinkered assessment of right and wrong from the standpoint of personal favor and interests. The ultimate ideal is Zhuangzi's concept: Insignificant and small is that by which you belong to humanity (miaohu xiaozai, suoyi shuyu ren ye). Grand and great is that by which you identify with nature (aohu dazai, ducheng qi tian). In the former sense, a person is trapped within the confines of the "small I" by taking man as the measure of all things and bound exclusively to human affairs, unaware of the greater role of all-embracing nature. In the latter, sublimation has occurred from moving out of the "small I" to the "Big We" and a conscious identification with nature. In other words, your horizon broadens to a holistic outlook on the interdependence between humankind and nature, rather than making judgments based on material egoistic values. This stage brings the kind of spiritual freedom to take, in Zhuangzi's terminology, "the happy excursion" (xiao yao you), whereby you may "Wander, free and at ease with all things around" (chengwu yi youxin), and "mount the clouds of heaven, ride on the sun and the moon, and thus roam at ease beyond the four oceans" (chen yunqi, qi riyue, er youhu sihai zhiwai). All this signifies a momentum that transcends the finite human world, allowing entry into the cosmic world of infinitude. The ultimate enlightenment is where "Heaven and Earth and I come into existence together, and all things are one with me " (tiandi yuwo bingsheng, er wanwu yuwo weiyi). This phantasm of absolute freedom without boundaries is characterized by the oneness of man and the universe, which is attainment of the omnipotent Dao, or in a similar sense, the ideal life.

Even though Zhuangzi's advice to "be spring to all things" is inspiring as regards promoting awareness of the mutual beneficence of the interrelationship between humans and nature, I personally find it exaggeratedly idealistic, and therefore practically unachievable. But it may still be adopted as a general attitude, wherein nature is regarded in a fourfold manner: in the ontological sense, where humans are a part of nature, which in turn nourishes humankind as a whole; in the epistemological sense, where nature constitutes a body of knowledge requiring boundless investigation, and which is a constant source of new discoveries; ecologically, where nature is to be properly protected and utilized in order to achieve sustainable development; and aesthetically, where nature is the primal source of all beauty. The aesthetic aspect relates to the Kantian concept of "disinterested contemplation," wherein discovery of the myriad forms of nature's beauty makes possible the projection of feelings and emotions into such aesthetic contemplation. The mundane is thus sloughed off, and human empathy is exchanged for natural sympathy, which brings psychical catharses. In today's world, where we are so vulnerable to such real threats as terrorist attack and SARS-like scourges, it is all the more necessary for us to maintain the spirit of spring and all that is beautiful in nature.

WANG KEPING is vice director of the Institute for Transcultural Studies under the Beijing Second Foreign Languages University.