Nature and Spirituality: east meets west

摘要

The two traditions of eastern and western thoutht offer sharp contrast in presenting man's relation to nature. In most traditions in Eastern thought-from Hinduism to Buddhism to Taoism to Shinto-humans are regarded as beingendowed with spirituality which is immanent in the universe and which, therefore, is the vital link between man and all the other thingsin nature. Even confucianism, for that matter, sees human nature as embodyin heavenly nature which is inherently good nad divine, despinte its apparent preoccupation wiht establishinghte social order in this world. I ncontrat, most traditions in Western thought have treated spirituality as an entity which is separate fro mthe physical world. In fact, the Judeo-Christian tradition, which sees nature as an entity which needs to be managed and controlled by humans, has long been the dominant view of man and nature in the West.