On The Relationship Between Daoist Body And Nature

Man' s existence shows firstly the existence of body, without which nothing could exist, but he still neglects it and denies its existent meaning. The oblivion and non-body-thinking will cause lose of body, the mechanization of society and the damage to the environment. Therefore, it' s necessary for us to deeply understand our body. In my essay, I try to explore the relationship between Daoist body and nature, elucidating that the fact that Daoism cherishes the body does not cause human-centralism, but integrate cherishing man with nature together.Chapter One: comparison of body views between China and the West. It includes three parts. Part One: outline of body views in the west. Through tracing historically back to body views of the west, we can see that the west are paying attention to the meaning of the body while leaping gradually out of the hedge of body-mind dualism. Part Two: summary of body views in ancient China. Compared with the long detachment of body and mind in the west, human body is syncretic with mind all the time in ancient China. Cherishing human body is the main tide. Part Three: the state of studying human body. Why does human body become the focus of the contemporary? One reason is the meaning the body shows is beyond itself, the other is the degeneration of the environment, so that it' s necessary for us to see ourselves clearly. That' s also why I choose this topic.Chapter Two: characteristics of body views in Daoism. It alscincludes three parts. Part One: characteristics of Daoist body views. Daoist views about body originate from Chinese traditional culture. Generally speaking, they come from Daoist special religious spirit integrated with the thoughts of "Central Harmony" from Confucianism, Correspondence between man and heaven from Yinyang, the cosmology of Dao from Daoist philosophy. There are five characteristics, which show its integrity, oneness, universe, and the close relation between body and nature. Part Two: practical basis of Daoist body views. Daoism also refines human body with its special ways, which is not detached from nature. Part Three: changing cause of Daoist body views. The reasons that Daoism focuses on human body and its forever existence in reverse with the negation of traditional culture are social factors, recognition of body and spirit, and inheriting the views of Daoist philosophy.Chapter Three: analysis of pathology mode of mutual infection between man and nature. It includes three parts. Part One: Daoist annotation on pathology. Part Two: theoretics construction of heaven' s disease infecting man. Part Three: essence and mechanism of man' s disease infecting heaven. The pathology mode of mutual infection between man and nature makes Daoism think that it can cure heaven' s disease through curing man.Conclusion: ecological meaning of Daoist body views. From above we can see Daoists always put human being into the background of the universe and value both man and nature no matter they view human body macrocosmically, microcosmically and theologically. They regard nature as part of human being. And that, the more man thinks a lot of his own existential value, the more he should pay attention to his environment. Doist body views provide not only an ideal way to the harmony between man and nature, but also a practical way.