| My dissertation examines Emerson's dialogue with Hinduism and Buddhism in the context of nineteenth-century America and Euro-American orientalism, focusing on his later writings. While deploying Edward Said's conception of orientalism as the West's predominant representation of the East, I contest the applicability in Emerson's case of Said's assumption that orientalism is the primary Western strategy to hegemonize the East. I argue instead that although Emerson's understanding of Hinduism and Buddhism was significantly influenced by orientalist representations of these religions, Emerson did not approach the Orient with a will to dominate the Other, and at times he diverged significantly from the orientalist discourse. An integral part of his spiritual quest, Emerson's assimilation of Indian religious thought served both his continuing project of creating an American self and his effort to shape a new form of religious belief commensurable with the positivism and scientism of his times.;Contextualizing Emerson's dialogue in relation to his spiritual crisis, his commitment to constructing American identity, and such cultural phenomena as denominational conflicts and the emergence of evolutionary science and comparative religion, I demonstrate how Emerson's response to Indian religious thought was influenced by his own cultural and religious values. Tracing the evolution of Emerson's dialogue with Hinduism and Buddhism from early misunderstanding, through increasing comprehension and appreciation, to the view that Indian religions are essentially one with other traditions, I argue that this dialogue is characterized by a pattern of rejection and assimilation. This pattern was, however, more pronounced in his dialogue with Buddhism. While Emerson tended to find an affirmation of his own beliefs in Hinduism, he resisted certain Buddhist concepts, trying to modify and assimilate them within Transcendental philosophy. Despite his dismissal of non-duality, he assimilated the other Hindu concepts of pantheism, illusion, the immortality of the soul, and universal identity of God and all things. He resisted, yet turned to his own use, the Buddhist notions of mutability and non-self. Finally, his later writings show how he assimilated both traditions' moral concept of causality and karma, the ethics of self-renunciation, mindfulness in the present moment, and moral duty. |
