Body and Nature: A Comparative Cultural Study of Trans-Corporality and “天人合一” (Tianren Heyi, the Integration of Humanity and Nature)

ABSTRACT

Recent studies on the relation between the body and nature have become increasingly prominent due to the environmental issues confronting the whole of mankind. This paper, based on the comparative cultural analysis of the two concepts, argues that “trans-corporality” demonstrates that views on the body in the West, or more specifically, the relation between the body and nature, have begun to take a theoretical path similar to those in ancient Chinese culture; for instance, the concept of “天人合一” in this paper, which has yet to receive global recognition despite its value and inspiration for ecological critique and research. What’s more, the mutual elaboration between the East and West on the relation of the body and nature could offer, for one thing, a dialogue platform between the Chinese and Western body of eco-poetics in the Anthropocene era, and for another, more importantly, be inspirational for handling the difficulties and conflicts that mankind now faces.

摘要

由于人类面临的环境问题，近年来对身体与自然关系的研究日益突出。本文在对“通体性”与“天人合一”进行文化比较分析的基础上，指出“通体性”的提出表明西方的身体文化观，或者更具体地说，身体与自然关系的观念，开始接近或趋同于中国古代文化中的身体文化观，而后者尽管对生态批评和研究具有价值性和启发性，仍未得到世界性的关注和探讨。再者，借由比较两者所进行的东西方对身体与自然关系的相互阐发，一方面可以为“人类世”时代的中西身体生态诗学提供一个对话平台，再者对于处理人类现在面临的环境问题及文化冲突等议题亦具有一定的启发性。

KEYWORDS:

• Body
• Tianren Heyi
• Trans-corporality
• Stacy Alaimo
• Zhuang Zi

关键词:

• 身体
• 天人合一
• 通体性
• Stacy Alaimo
• 庄子

1.

Different views on the body in Chinese and Western cultures yet represents, to some extent, convergent trends and logic on the issue of the relation between the body and nature. A brief historical lookback could well illustrate that. The body has existed secondary to the spirit or soul since Plato’s advocating of the “separation of body and mind” in the West, believing that “there are two types of existence, one is the soul and the other is the body. The soul is superior to the body…The first type of existence is rational, and the second type, irrational” (13). Obviously, the body is only the servant of the soul. Descartes further strengthens the dualism of the body and mind. His declaration of the well-known motto “I think, therefore I am” demonstrates the close following of the ancient Greek philosophy that suppresses the body. He regards human existence as rational existence, and the body as a “shackle” of the mind. This shackle came to be only slightly unbuckled until the “phenomenology of the body” by Maurice Merleau-Ponty. Research on the body later, due to Foucault and others in the West, began to turn toward the cultural dimension, with the dichotomy between the body and mind gradually moving toward the unity between the two. The materiality and constructability of the body was then discovered, where the subjectivity of the body have been highlighted tremendously.⁶

The shift in the views on the body in the West in turn highlights the implicit body culture in traditional Chinese thought that cherishes no tradition of the opposition between the body and mind. In Chinese philosophy, the body and mind are two sides of the same coin. As Qian Mu (1895–1990), the well-known contemporary Chinese historian, says that “individualism can exist in the West, but not in the East. The ultimate aspiration of individualism is the immortality of the soul. Orientals focus on the eternality and immortality of the human mind. In the West, there is a dichotomy between the spirit and the flesh, which leads to the dichotomy between sensory experience and idealistic speculation, thus with a dichotomous worldview. In the East, there is no such dichotomy, and rational speculation and sensory experience are not divided into opposing domains” (10). Therefore, Orientals do not have a distinction between the ontological and the phenomenal, the spiritual and the material worlds, or the above-mentioned “dualism.”

In ancient Chinese culture, everything reveals its essence through phenomena. The ancient Chinese view on the body never regards the opposition between matter and the “self” as a self-evident matter, but rather upholds a holistic body that combines the two into one. This paper, based on the comparative analysis of the two concepts, argues that views on the body in the West, recently in particular, began to demonstrate a theoretical path similar to those in ancient Chinese culture, and the mutual elaboration of the two concepts offers a dialogue platform between the Chinese and Western body of eco-poetics in the Anthropocene era, which could also be quite useful for handling the difficulties that mankind now faces, especially the issues of environment and cultural conflicts.

1. The materiality of nature – the concept of “Trans-corporality”

The proposal of “trans-corporality” by Stacy Alaimo in the book Bodily Nature: Science, Environment, and the Material Self in 2010 continues her research and reflection on “material feminism” and “material self,” emphasizing the materiality and interconnectedness between the body and nature from the perspectives of feminism, body politics, environmental justice, and environmental health, so as to explore “how feminist corporeal theory, disability studies, environmental humanities, and science studies productively engage with the materiality of human bodies and nonhuman nature” (3). The concept of “trans-corporality” has since been quite essential in the material turn of ecological criticism in the West.

In Bodily Nature, Alaimo defines “trans-corporality” in several complementary ways. First, she uses this concept to analyze various experiences or patterns that reflect porosity. “trans-corporality” not only requires combating the permeability of the human body and the fragility of life brought about by such openness, but also means fighting against the infiltration of factors such as economic, sociopolitical, and cultural structures. Different factors, due to their different attributes, lead to an uneven trans-environment. Secondly, she believes that “trans-corporality” represents a trans-disciplinary theoretical approach that draws on a wide range of sources, including cultural studies, philosophical studies, scientific and medical research, and popular scientific texts. The coining of “trans-corporality” derives, to a large extent, from her “trans-corporeal” understanding of the world.

If one accepts the transcendence of the human body over the category of human, frequently affected by non-human forces such as toxins and bacteria, it is clear that such a view places humans at the “supreme center.” Alaimo holds that this epistemological shift can also become an ethical issue, since “trans-corporeal subjects must also relinquish mastery as they find themselves inextricably part of the flux and flow of the world that others would presume to master” (17). Understanding that a human’s body is deeply shaped and constrained by the environmental conditions in which he/she lives, makes one realize that caring for one’s own health is caring for the health of the world – including the health of all non-human creatures. In other words, the strict distinction between the world and the body should and cannot exist in the very beginning.

Starting from the concept of “trans-corporality,” Alaimo opposes the approach of treating matter as something that can be defined, constrained, and written by humans, arguing that humans actually obscure the true “nature:” matter, the vast stuff of the world and of ourselves, has been subdivided into manageable “bits” or flattened into a “blank slate” for human inscription. The environment has been drained of its blood, its lively creatures, its interactions and relations – in short, all that is recognizable as “nature” – in order that it becomes a mere empty space, an “uncontested ground,” for human “development” (Alaimo, 102). In contrast, her concept of “trans-corporality” is both an ethical and a political category, as it emphasizes the actual contact between the human and the environment. “trans-corporality” holds that both the body and nature have the characteristic of being “trans-corporeal,” thus closely connected. Like the body, nature is not devoid of life, nor is it empty space or pure resources that can be arbitrarily utilized by humans, but rather filled with various flesh-and-blood living beings. Nature also has their own opinions, needs and actions, constantly interacting with us. It is clearly an ecological position of “thinking with the body.”

Obviously, nature has been “activated,” “corporealized,” and “materialized” here with an “ethical” dimension. Through the materialization of nature, Alaimo is concerned with the degraded nature, those “despised and silenced” objects. This is why she repeatedly emphasizes that this concept responds to “the two high-profile movements of environmental justice and environmental health that emerged at the end of the 20^th century” (3). No wonder that she believes that there is never a time in which the human can be anything but trans-corporeal, connected to all things, thus opposing the ideal of humans as the center or spirit of all things, and extending the scope of ethical care to all animals, plants, ecosystems, and the earth. She explicitly states that cultural theorists and social constructivists only view Haraway’s “cyborg” as a social and technological construct, ignoring its material components. In fact, cyberspace is not only technological, but also biological; not only electrical, but also physical, since “cyborg encourages human ‘kinship with animals’ as well as with machines” (Alaimo, 12). Post-human thought represented by “cyborg” thus began to open up its ecological perspective. “Trans-corporality” is therefore known as “one of the most influential concepts in the field of environmental humanities in the past decade” (Ruby, 1), promoting a material shift in relevant studies.

Alaimo believes that this “material turn” can divert the attention of the academic community to the importance of material reality and the physical body. She opposes the binary opposition between nature and culture, calling on people to redefine nature and not to regard nature as a lifeless place constructed by human culture. In other words, nature should not be viewed as a pliant resource that can be exploited by industrial production or constructed by society, but rather as a subject with agency. Nature also acts upon humans, causing profound impacts on both human and non-human worlds, being not a passive social construct, but a subject with the power to interact with humans and act. It has the power to transform and “fight back” against humans. Just as the need to redefine the human body, we also need to clarify the interaction between culture and matter. Following such a vein, feminists began to explore the relation among non-humans, post-humans, and humans, revealing the dynamic nature of the body and nature.

After proposing “trans-corporality,” Alaimo expands the scope of the research text to literary works, popular science and popular literature related to environmental justice and environmental health in the 20^th century. Her publication of Exposed: Environmental Politics and Pleasures in Posthuman Times follows also the approach of neo-materialist ecocriticism, focusing on the environmental political connotations of nude protests, and extending the application of “trans-corporality” to areas such as the ocean, with a view to constructing the research theory of blue humanities.

2. The Chinese “Trans-corporality:” “天人合一” (Tianren Heyi, the integration of humanity and nature)

The shift and changes in the theorization of the body in the West diverts one’s attention to similar concepts in traditional Chinese thought, which has yet to receive global recognition despite its significance on the relation between the body and nature. The most representative is “天人合一,”¹ a concept that focuses on the relation between man and nature and emphasizes that the two are not alienated and antagonistic, but closely related, interdependent, and intrinsically unified and inseparable. Such a mentality expresses the structure and rationale of the Chinese “trans-corporality.”

The origin of “天人合一” can be traced back to the Western Zhou Dynasty (1046 B.C.E.-771 B.C.E.), as recorded in Shangshu (the Book of History): “what the heaven sees comes from what the people see, and what the heaven hears comes from what the people hear” (Wang, 436). During this period, the concept of “yide peitian” (以德配天)² by Duke Zhou already had the trace of “天人合一” within itself. Dong Zhongshu in the Han Dynasty (206 B.C.E.-220) further expounded upon this concept in his interpretation of the interaction between heaven and man in the lines that “heaven and man are one in terms of integration of categories” (445). The first one to explicitly propose this concept is the philosopher Zhang Zai in the Northern Song Dynasty (960–1127). Zhang, in his Enlightenment Through Confucian Teachings (Zhengmeng《正蒙》), states that “a Confucian scholar is sincere because of his understanding of feudal ethics, and he achieves such understanding due to his sincerity. That is why man and nature are united as one. One can become a sage through study, and master nature’s law without losing the understanding of man’s law” (65). Despite the various views by Laozi, Zhuangzi, Confucius, Mencius and Xunzi on the relation between man and nature, the basic inherent feature of this concept is unity rather than the opposition between man and nature.

It is no exaggeration to say that “Tianren Heyi” (天人合一) is one of the greatest contributions of Chinese culture to mankind, where “the Chinese people adopts a holistic view of ‘man’ and ‘nature,’ believing that the ‘mandate of nature’ is revealed in one’s ‘life.’ Without ‘life,’ there is no way to talk about the ‘mandate of nature,’ and vice versa” (Chen, 481). Ji Xianlin (1911–2009), the famous Chinese philosopher, further elaborates the essence of Chinese philosophy from “Tianren Heyi (天人合一).” What is “tian” (天)? There are many explanations in the history of Chinese philosophy: “I personally believe that ‘tian’ refers to nature, while ‘ren (人),’ to human beings. ‘Tianren Heyi’ is the unity of man and nature” (27 + 36). In fact, this concept has developed into multiple meanings.

The first dimension lies in the similarity between “tian” (天 nature) and “ren” (人 man). In the early Chinese thought, “ren” was seen as a replica of “tian” in its own image. The Yellow Emperor’s Internal Classic (Huangdi Neijing《黄帝内经》) states that “man is born with the breath of the universe and grows with the laws of the seasons” (Yao, 230). Therefore, “since heaven is round and the earth is square, man’s the head is round and his feet are square. Heaven has the sun and the moon, and humans have two eyes. The earth has nine states, and humans have nine orifices. Heaven has wind and rain, and humans have joy and anger” (Yao, 1347). Everything man owns is correspondent to a certain “thing” or element in nature. Nature creates man after its shape, and man understands nature through its appearances. Dong Zhongshu in his Spring and Autumn Annals (Chunqiu Fanlu《春秋繁露》) also holds such views: nature is the ancestor of humans, and human bodies, blood, virtue, endowments, emotions, and joys and sorrows are all shaped by the rules of change in nature (398). This is why humans are similar to nature. Man and nature are of the same shape and feature. The four seasons of the year in nature match with the four affairs of celebration, reward, punishment, and penalty in human affairs, illustrating the two sides’ affinities.

The second derived meaning is that “tian” and “ren” are the same, one more step further on the basis of the similarity between the two. The concept of “Tianren Heyi” stems from the idea that “tian” and “ren” share the same essence and can influence each other, mainly deriving from the theory of yin (阴) and yang (阳), and the five elements (五行). Qi, (spirit, energy气) is the medium between man and nature. It is traditionally believed that “nature has yin and yang, so is the man. When the yin of nature rises, the yin of man does so accordingly. The same principle applies to Yang” (Dong, 484). In ancient China, the sun was regarded as yang and the moon as yin. The human body also has a distinction between yin and yang, with men being yang and women being yin. The yin and yang of nature can interact with those of the human body. Therefore, the ancient Chinese often turn to nature for predicting auspiciousness and disasters for monarchs, such as “nature will endow auspiciousness for people before an emperor that rules them rises” (Lu, 375). All things inevitably manifest the same laws, and the survival of a country’s chaos can be predicted by the good or bad fortune of its people. The ancients also predict the destiny of an emperor through his deeds and words. If the monarch’s behavior was proper, good omens would naturally appear. This is actually an expression of the political meaning of “Tianren Heyi,” which could regulate the monarch’s behavior through the idea of “Wangzheng Tianshun” (王正天顺).³ In addition, man and nature are of the same character. The Book of Rites (Liji《礼记》) says that “only the sincerest person in the world can fully unleash his/her innate nature, who in turn can fully utilize the innate nature of others, and consequently make use of the innate nature of all things in the world; if so, he/she can help cultivate life in nature and be ranked parallel with heaven and earth” (Wang, 815).

The traditional Chinese “Tianren Heyi” is itself a multi-level and dimensional -cumulative concept. “Tian” and “ren” also have the same meaning of “Dao,” under the influence of Laozi and Zhuangzi’s, that is, to discuss why “the way of man is also the “way of nature” from the perspective of ontology. Laozi says that “man must follow the characteristics of nature, and the principle of nature is to follow the rule of heaven. Heaven operates based on the rule of Dao, which is natural and not artificial” (95). The very important Confucian thought of “rites and music” also regards the Dao of heaven, earth, and man as the same. The Book of Rites records that “music expresses the harmony between heaven and earth; rites represent the order thereof. Because of harmony, all things can be nurtured and grown; because of order, all things can be distinguished from each other. Music is composed according to the way of heaven, and rite is formulated based on the way of earth” (Wang, 552). So, over-emphasis on rites can cause chaos, while indulgence in music can lead one off track. Only by understanding the principles of heaven and earth, can man properly formulate rituals and enjoy music.

The concept of “Tianren Heyi” in Chinese philosophy develops along the historical line of Mencius’ concept of “xingtian xiangtong” (性天相通inner-connection between man and nature), Dong Zhongshu’s “tianren xiangji” (天人相际analogy between man and nature), all the way down to the scholars such as Zhang Zai of the Neo-Confucianism school in the Song Dynasty (960–1279). Although the concept of “tian” presents complexity and ambiguity in its semantic core, the relation between “tian” and “ren” always belongs to unity and harmony. All things are the same, so are “tian” and “ren,” leading to the traditional reverence for nature in Chinese ecological thought, where humans are of the same kind and essence as nature. Man follows the universal laws of nature, thereby achieving the transformation of yin and yang and continuous growth. The relation between the body and nature can also be inspired by that between man and nature. The body and nature are not opposing sides, but interdependent, transformative, and continuous. In this sense, one can find the trace of “consensus” between the two concepts cultivated under different cultural backgrounds.

3. The similarities between “天人合一” (Tianren Heyi) and “Trans-corporality”

A comparative cultural study reveals three aspects of similarities between the two concepts. Firstly, both emphasize the connection and consistency between man and nature. “Trans-corporality” emphasizes the inseparability between human “material” bodies and “nature” or “environment,” where “environment” actually becomes a physical world with its own needs, propositions, and actions. However, in the perspective of traditional dualism “man/nature,” “nature” is often seen as an empty and untapped “resource” that waits to be exploited by humans. “Trans-corporality” breaks through this barrier between the body and nature, establishing a material exchange and connection between the human body and non-humans. Alaimo claims that the human body is porous, allowing for subtle material exchange between itself and nature. For example, elements can unknowingly enter the human body. The body and nature are not bounded, but interconnected, with the body constantly exchanging substances and energy with the environment. “Trans-corporality” opens up an epistemological space, making us aware of the unimaginable transformations and links between humans and non-human organisms, as well as the entire ecosystem, chemical agents, and other factors.

The interconnectedness between man and nature, or the universe as represented by “tian,” in “Tianren Heyi” can be interpreted in the term “shengsheng” (生生 changes and new births in life), also the thought of “transformation” in “Tianren Heyi.” The Book of Changes (Yijing《易经》) regards “sheng” as being related to inner-connection between man and nature in their birth, which helps form aging and death in one generation after another and the natural ecological cycle. There are three layers of meanings for the character “yi” (易) in The Book of Changes: “jianyi (简易, simplicity), bianyi (变易, change) and buyi (不易, invariance)” (Kong, 7). Or more specifically, change refers to the alternation of the four seasons, the movement of the five elements, the smooth flow of the weather, and the constant growth and development, etc. Invariance means the fixed position and status for heaven and earth, for the emperor facing the south and subjects the north, and so on. Simplicity means the laws of nature that are simple and easy to understand and follow. Obviously, in this semantic structure system, change emphasizes “transformation,” invariance means “fixed,” and simplicity focuses on the rules of and relation between change and invariance. The overall energy of all things is fixed with a “simple” law between change and invariance. The theoretical characteristics of such thinking are: unity between man and nature, no distinguishment between oneself and things, opposite transformation of opposing sides, and overall connection among everything in nature.

Secondly, both concepts emphasize the “bond of medium.” The relation between man and nature is not a physical fusion, but rather relies on biological or conceptual media to transmit material energy. When describing human “trans-corporality,” Alaimo mentions “viscous porosity, then, with its emphasis on mediating membranes, which may be biological, social, and political” (15). She deliberately modifies porosity with viscosity rather than fluidity, emphasizing the mutual forces between the two sides of the medium. The human body is not only under the influence from biological elements such as skin, body, organ system, neural network, etc., but also under the various forces in the world such as society, politics, culture, and so on. Without such forces, the world would be irrelevant to humans, and humans would become abiotic beings. Alaimo’s book uses Nancy Tuana’s essay “Viscous Porosity” to illustrate that Hurricane Katrina is not only a natural phenomenon, but also a social practice as “it swirls together wind, rain, floods, flesh, racism, politics, psychology, hydrology, poverty, and PVCs” (14). This natural phenomenon is referred to by Nancy as the viscous porosity of the body. Alaimo extends this to demonstrate the mutual influence of membranes between man and nature, which could be the human skin or body, as well as cultural biases, habits, or even the symbolic imagination.

For “Tianren Heyi,” qi (气) is the link that connects man and nature, for which Laozi states that “the Tao generates one, one produces two, two creates three, and three give birth to everything. All things turn from yin to yang, and in the mutual agitation of yin and yang, they form a new harmonious entity” (165). The ancient Chinese used concepts of jingqi (精气)⁴ and yuanqi (元气) since the pre-Qin and Han Dynasties, which means that the vital energy of the universe can been transformed into human beings, as recorded in The Book of Changes: “jingqi is fixed matter, and spirit is changing. Therefore, we can know the state of ghosts” (Li, 399). Ancient “jingqi” theory believes that human beings are the combination of “jingqi” from the universe. “jingqi” is the origin of the human body and of the universe. The accumulation of yang forms the heaven, and the accumulation of yin, the earth. The two kinds of “qi” interact and intertwine, forming into all things. Human beings, when they die, return to nature and become “jingqi” again. According to Zhuangzi, “the life of man is the accumulation of qi. When qi is concentrated, it is life; when it is dispersed, it becomes death” (359). Since “jingqi” is the fundamental driving force for all life activities, “qi” becomes the medium of connection among all things in nature. The book Shengji General Record (Shengji Zonglu《^圣济总录》) states that “all things grow and decline with the rise and fall of qi” (183). The theory of “jingqi” has had a great influence on both traditional Chinese medicine and fengshui (风水).⁵ The way wind and water flows can influence the functioning of natural ecosystems, thus with a significant impact on human health and fortune.

In addition, recognizing the interconnectedness between man and nature, both “trans-corporality” and “Tianren Heyi” emphasize the harmonious co-existence between the two. Alaimo’s “trans-corporality” offers a venue for integrating together material theory, environmental theory, and scientific research. The concept of “trans-corporality” negates the sovereignty and centrality of traditional Western anthropocentrism. It, from the perspectives of “eco-cosmopolitanism” and “a sense of planet,” not only acknowledges that everything is interconnected, but also recognizes the materiality of the human body, in order to redefine the interdependent relation between humans and nature, so as to cast away the idea of “human beings being the measure of all things, the measure of the existence of things that exist, and the measure of the absence of things that do not exist” (A Compilation of Ancient Greek and Roman Philosophy 138), which is no longer prevailing.

The concept of harmony in “Tianren Heyi” is more evident since “universal harmony” constitutes the basic proposition of “Tianren Heyi.” Such harmony is not only reflected in the harmony between man and nature, but also among “all things in nature, among people, and between the internal and external sides of the human body itself” (Tang, 78). The concept of harmony in “Tianren Heyi” is a holistic one. When facing nature, it emphasizes conforming to nature rather than unilaterally conquering it, and respecting the laws of nature, because man and nature ultimately will communicate with each other, and therefore their influence is mutual rather than unilateral. This requires a good relation between man and nature. “Tianren Heyi” has also led to the development of thoughts such as “harmony in diversity,” “harmony among nations,” “the solidarity of all people and all things” and so on, which can still be of significance for the difficulties and conflicts that mankind now faces.

4. The differences between “Tianren Heyi” (天人合一) and “Trans-corporality”

Due to the cultural differences, even when faced with the same “body-nature” relation, the two concepts still demonstrate great diversities in terms of the referents and cultural connotations. The first difference lies in the definition of “things” in nature. The “thing” or matter that the human body wants to “communicate” in “trans-corporality” is called “body,” that is, a specific scale of group. Only in the exchange of mutual substances, this trans-corporality is equal, since “the human body is radically open to its surroundings and can be composed, recomposed and decomposed by other bodies” (Alaimo, 13). Alaimo completely materializes or embodies “nature” and “environment,” thus buffering the prominence of human subjectivity.

When introducing this concept into China, it is usually translated such as “跨肉体性” (kua routixing, 跨 “kua” means “trans-”). In fact, in terms of Alaimo’s intention to “generalize” the materiality of the body, the translation of “通体性” (tongtixing) is more accurate, where the character “通” (tong) signifies more the implication of “inter-connectedness,” which “跨” (kua) is devoid of. After successfully defining the material attributes of man and nature, she extends the human body to the bodies of all things in nature, forming a new “ecological self.” This “self” belongs to the sense of ecological community, where the boundary between humans and all things or matters in nature is lifted. The constant exchange of substances such as water, air, and food between the human body and non-human nature means that only a wholesome environment can ensure a healthy body. Tracking the toxic substances in the body can better reveal the “global networks of social injustice, lax regulations, and environmental degradation” (Alaimo, 15). If the environment is filled with toxic substances, the human body in material exchange will certainly and inevitably become so.

In contrast, “tian” in “Tianren Heyi” has the multiple meanings of heaven, god, fate, morality, nature and so on, that is, almost referring to everything in the world and rule of nature. Feng Youlan (1895–1990), in his A History of Chinese Philosophy, summarizes the meaning of “tian” in ancient China into five categories: the material “tian” is correspondent to the earth; the natural “tian” that operates based on Dao, just as Laozi holds that man follows the earth, the earth follows the heaven, the heaven follows Dao, and Dao follows the law of nature; “tian” with personality, similar to God in the West; fate, free from the control of human will, just as Mencius believes that if a man succeeds, then it is because of tian; the highest principle of the universe, such as “tian” in the phrase “the endowment bestowed upon man by ‘tian’ is one’s disposition” (45) in the book The Doctrine of the Mean (Zhongyong 中庸). Thus, “tian” in “Tianren Heyi” demonstrates the features of naturalness, humanism, and inclusiveness, thus demonstrating a holistic sense of nature.

The second difference lies in that “trans-corporality” views nature as an equal existence, emphasizing the interconnection between subjects. The original intention of Alaimo’s proposal of this concept is to resist anthropocentrism and even the emphasis on the “material body” of feminism. In her envisioned “trans-corporeal space,” body and nature are composed of the same materials: “I would suggest, however, that dwelling within trans-corporeal space, where ‘body’ and ‘nature’ are comprised of the same material, which has been constituted, simultaneously, by the forces of evolution, natural and human history, political inequities, cultural contestations, biological and chemical processes, and other factors too numerous to list” (257), thus making rigid distinctions between “mind” and “matter” impossible and complex.

But “Tianren Heyi” regards “tian” as a higher-level existence, so that man needs to feel and follow “tian,” which has absolute and authoritative power. Similarly, there exists an “omniscient and omnipotent” God as the belief and spiritual source of human life in Western Christianity. Although “tian” cannot be directly equated to God, it has also been endowed with a religious complex by the ancient Chinese. Under the premise of “Tianren Heyi,” people always maintain a mentality of respecting, following, and imitating “tian.” For example, views such as “those of the important rank or high status will achieve the virtue of constantly striving for self-improvement in harmony with tian; they are as bright and open as the sun and moon in their daily behavior; they formulate the decrees in accordance with the laws of the four seasons; they cherish a reverence for ghosts and gods, and bear all good and bad with equanimity” (Yang, 24). All these display the compliance and obedience of the Way of man to that of “tian.” Man is one of the “three talents” that are parallel to “tian” (heaven) and “di” (earth). Although the concept of “Tianren Heyi” advocates for the harmonious co-existence between man and nature, its core still contemplates on the position of man in the universe, the relation between humans and all things, and the behavioral norms and spiritual life regulated by the Way of “tian.” If described in terms of the coordinate axis, “trans-corporality” regards man and nature as physical substances that exchange and co-exist harmoniously on a horizontal plane, while man in “Tianren Heyi” seems to vertically accept the harmony that comes from the higher “tian,” and man still occupies the most prominent position among all things.

What’s more, the ways that man communicates with nature in the two concepts vary. The concept of “trans-corporality” is based on the physiology of humans and all things. All living and non-living organisms are considered as elements, and the traces of material exchange between flesh bodies can be marked through scientific and technological means. Alaimo takes Christina Fredengren’s paper “Posthumanism, the Trans corporate and Biomolecular Archaeology” as an example, pointing out that DNA and allelic labeling can be used to track the exchange process of substances in the body, in order to demonstrate the interaction between human bones, organs, and the environment. That is, exploring the co-creative relation between the human body and climate, water, and soil through technical testing, and observing “via some ideal microscopic time-lapse video, we would see water, air, food, microbes, toxins entering our bodies as we shed, excrete, and exhale our processed materials back out” (Alaimo, 13). At a higher level, toxin tracking is crucial for subverting people’s ecological and environmental ethical awareness, displaying a new sense of planet that combines “politics, economy, technology, society, culture, and even ecology” (15) for eco-critical research.

In contrast, the direct contact between man and nature in “Tianren Heyi” is super-logical and -conceptual. In the traditional Chinese thought, “tian” is the universe, and humans are a small “universe” within that bigger “one” (nature). Humans are born with the yin and yang “qi,” so “man-heaven-earth” is essentially interconnected. Only by following the laws of nature can we achieve a state of harmonious co-existence with nature, which is also the unique “pictographic thinking” in Chinese culture. In this sense, “Tianren Heyi” still regards humans as independent individuals, rather than biological or chemical substances or elements. “Tianren Heyi” has been continuously interpreted by Chinese philosophers, and the idea of a community where man and nature co-exist has become the “collective unconscious” of the Chinese people. Man and nature are an internal not an external relation, organically unified as a whole, rather than mechanically opposed. In one’s own life experience, people feel the life of nature and communicate with nature, which cannot be simply quantified by current technological means.

5. Conclusion

The early modern Western philosophy, represented by Descartes and Hegel, generally belongs to the philosophy of consciousness, with a basic tendency to elevating the mind and suppressing the body. In post-modern philosophy, especially from Merleau Ponty, Foucault and others, the body has become increasingly important. The rediscovery of the body in various disciplines makes its complexity and importance more prominent, as Merleau Ponty says that “I understand others through my body, just as I perceive ‘objects’ through my body” (239). Merleau Ponty’s “objects” becomes “nature” for Alaimo. Alaimo’s “trans-corporality” both introduces the “body” into ecological criticism and restores the materiality of nature, liberating the “solid-state” body in the traditional sense of life science, and extending it into a porous, permeably ecological and material one. By using the concept of “trans-corporality,” the subjectivity of the human body is removed, thus focusing on the interaction between the body and nature. The human “toxic violence” behavior suffered by nature will eventually return to the human body in the form of material exchange, making the human body a natural physical one.

The “common and connected” fate between man and nature can also be interpreted from “Tianren Heyi” from the Chinese side, which has been elaborated since ancient times, such as on the topics of “what is tian,” “what is man,” and “the relation between the two.” In the pre-Qin period of China, “harmony” became the ideal mode of interaction between man and nature. People realized that humans could become the most “heavenly” creatures among all things, but they could never violate the principles of nature. Humans are only a part of nature and are by no means independent beings beyond nature, contrary to the infinite display of the abilities of “humans” advocated by Western rational philosophy, though the West began to share the same understanding as the ancient Chinese after thousands of years.

So conclusively, by distinguishing between “trans-corporality” and “Tianren Heyi,” this paper finds that “trans-corporality” regards humans as “things” or matter, while “Tianren Heyi” treats humans as the spirit of all things, which however, is not anthropocentrism. Can humans speak on behalf of all things instead? The concept of the body often bears the imprint of power and convention for Nietzsche and Foucault. Alaimo’s material body is an “ecological body” that embodies the ecological nature of environmental science and expresses “resistance to power” everywhere. However, this emphasis on the materiality of humans and the corporeal nature of all things makes one question whether it is a bestowal of another human concept, from which “trans-corporality” shows the tendency toward another implicit sense of “deep anthropocentrism.”

Man in the “Tianren Heyi” bears more of the responsibility as the spirit of all things, so there comes practice: “when ‘tian’ wants to bestow heavy responsibilities on someone, it must first make them mentally distressed, physically exhausted, starving, impoverished, and unhappy. This will stimulate their spirit, strengthen their patience, and empower them capabilities that they do not previously possess” (Fang, 253). Human abilities though beyond all things, are not innate, but bestowed by “tian.” Thus, the concept of “Tianren Heyi” was often used for social governance, in order to regulate the words and deeds of ancient emperors. Although “ren” (man) and “tian” (nature) can co-exist harmoniously, “tian” always exists before “ren.” The Dao of “tian,” like an invisible hand, constantly restricts the arbitrary expansion of human subjectivity, which for the most part “trans-corporality” lacks and can be of help for solving the conflicts and controversies that permeate our life and society.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. It a concept that focuses on the relation literally means the integration of humanity and nature, and some philosophers interpret “Tian” here as heaven, or God.

2. It means only those virtuous men can shoulder or bear the ordains from the heaven.

3. If an emperor’s just and fair, his country would be stable and prosperous.

4. Vitality or energy giving birth to life.

5. The location of a house or tomb is supposed to have an influence on the fortune of a family.