Gary Snyder’s Buddhist Ecology In Turtle Island

Gary Snyder, a great poet and environmentalist, is famous for his ecological poems in America. The ecological thinking in his works promotes the development of the ecological movement. His ecological vision is deeply influenced by oriental culture, especially Buddhism. The author of this thesis holds the view that Snyder’s ecological vision is a fusion of Buddhism and deep ecology. In1972, the poetry collection Turtle Island was published, in whcih Snyder fully expresses his ecological vision.This thesis mainly analyzes the Buddhist ecological vision in Turtle Island from three perspective:non-self, Indra’s net, and great earth sangha. The thesis is divided into six chapters. The first chapter gives a brief introduction of Gary Snyder and his Turtle Island. His life experience has made him a great ecological poet. Besides, it gives a introduce of ecological philosophy, deep ecology and Buddhist ecological philosophy, which will serve as the theoretical foundation for the analysis of Turtle Island. The ecological philosophy starting in the20th century, has developed several schools, in which the deep ecology influences Snyder most. Snyder combines the Buddhist thought with the deep ecology and forms his own ecological philosophy. The second chapter will discuss Snyder’s ecological awareness. He realized the root of ecological crisis is Human-centered culture. In the third chapter, based on theory of non-self, the author will analyze the chosen poems from Turtle Island. In the fourth chapter, it will analyze the thought of Indra’s net reflected in Turtle Island, which includes the idea of food web and interrelateness. The fifth chapter explores Snyder’s ecological viewpoint of practice. Snyder expands the boundary of Sangha and combines it with the Bioregionalism, holding the concept of reinhabitation. The sixth part of this thesis is conclusion. With the outstanding of ecological problems, the Buddhist ecological philosophy is increasingly concerned. Enlightened by Buddhist wisdom, Snyder develops his own ecological philosophy and calls upon people to reinhabitation. As the ecological crisis is getting worse, it is urgent that we transform our attitude towards nature.