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

Abstract

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.