Emerson's “God-Within” and the Buddhist “Buddha-Womb”
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EMERSON’S “GOD-WITHIN” AND THE BUDDHIST “BUDDHA-WOMB” Yoshio Takanashi Abstract: Emerson wrote with excitement of his discovery of “God-within” in his poem “Gnothi Seauton”: “There doth sit the Infinite embosomed in a man.” He furthermore preached in his sermon “The Genuine Man” that “the essential man” dwells in the innermost soul, and that this indwelling essential self is a higher self, God’s image, and “Reason.” The doctrine of “Buddha-womb,” tathāgatagarbha meaning “essence of self” or “Buddha-nature,” buddhadātu meaning “true self,” is an important teaching in Mahāyāna Buddhism, which affirms that each sentient being contains the indwelling potency for attaining Buddhahood and enlightenment. This notion is explained when referring to the boundless, nurturing, sustaining, and deathless Self of the Buddha. The affinities between Emersonian Transcendentalism and Mahāyāna Buddhism, especially Zen, have often been pointed out. In this article the comparison between Emerson’s “God-within” and Mahāyāna Buddhism’s “Buddha-womb” or “Buddha-nature” will be examined. 1 Introduction Daisetsu Suzuki (1870–1966) is well known as a Japanese Zen Buddhist teacher and scholar. He made a significant contribution to Western philosophical thought by bringing the teachings of Zen Buddhism to the attention of the Western world through his numerous books in English and lectures made in America and European countries. Suzuki was undoubtedly the principal figure driving the popularization of Zen in the West during the middle of the 20th century. In his college days, when he began to develop his own Zen ideas while training himself in Zen exercise, Suzuki turned to reading Emerson’s essays. The first essay he wrote was “Emāson no zengaku ron” [Zen Theory of Emerson] (1896). In this essay he deeply sympathized with Emerson, exclaiming, “It is becoming clearer that Emerson preached on the cultivation of the mind in the same way as Zen does.” 2 About fifty years later, at the age of seventy- seven, Suzuki recollected his first experience of reading Emerson’s essay “Self- Reliance” in Tōyō teki na mikata [Oriental Points of View] (1959): I was deeply moved when I first read this essay. This is self-reliance! This is freedom! This is true independence! We don’t need to feel mean only because we are little. We can express anything we have regardless of our great or little ability. This is sincerity! In this way I was deeply impressed. (Suzuki, 1979, 277) Suzuki, discovering the remarkable affinity between the Zen spirit and Emersonian Transcendentalism, had a feeling of great intimacy with Emerson throughout his life. Van M. Ames, finding Zen spirit in American thought and calling Emerson the Dr. YOSHIO TAKANASHI, Professor of English and American Literature, Culture, and Language at Nagano Prefectural College, Japan. Email: [email protected]. 1 This research is supported by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Grant No. 15K02373. 2 Zen shū 14, separate vol. 1 of Suzuki Daisetsu zenshū, 17-25. Journal of East-West Thought 2 YOSHIO TAKANASHI “American Bodhisattva,” writes the following in his book Zen and American Thought: Here, in the first paragraph of his essay on “Spiritual Laws,” Emerson expressed the insight of Zen, much as it was put by Tao-hsin, the Fourth Patriarch of Zen Buddhism in China. Tao-shin said: “When the mind is tranquillized in its deepest abode, its entanglements are cut asunder. … Therefore, let a man discipline himself first of all in the realization of a perfect state of quietude in his mind and also in his world. …” Such a parallel between Zen and Emerson would account for his appeal in China and Japan. (Ames, 1962, 277) Kenji Miyazawa (1896–1933), a poet, author of children’s literature, and agricultural scientist in northeastern Japan, read Togawa Shūkotsu’s translation of Emerson’s essays. 3 He is known to have been influenced by Emerson’s ideas, especially regarding poetry, art, and the Over-Soul, in developing his pantheistic view that all beings can embody the nature of the Buddha and teach their Dharma here and now, based on the Lotus Sutra, one of the most important scriptures of Buddhism. (Nobutoki. 131-50) Emerson also had the opportunity to take an interest in Buddhism when he read the Preaching of Buddha (“White Lotus of the Good Law”) printed in the “Ethnical Scriptures” section in the Dial published in January, 1844. 4 As has been described, the affinities between Emersonian Transcendentalism and Mahāyāna Buddhism, especially Zen Buddhism, have often been pointed out by some literary men, thinkers, and scholars. In this article a comparative examination will be made from the viewpoint that one of the reasons for the comparison may be that there are similarities between Emerson’s “God-within” and the Buddhist “Buddha-womb.” I．Emerson’s “God-within” Emerson wrote in his journal dated July 6, 1831, with excitement of his discovery of “God-within” in his inner soul in his poem “Gnothi Seauton”: If thou canst bear Strong meat of simple truth 3 Togawa Shūkotsu (1870–1939), a literary critic and essayist, published Emāson onbun shū, a translation of Emerson’s essays in two volumes, in 1911 and 1912. Emerson’s prestige in Japan reached its apogee in the Taisho period with the publication of the eight volumes of Emaason zenshū [Complete Works of Emerson] in 1917, translated by Hirata Tokuboku (1873–1943), an essayist and scholar of English literature, and Togawa Shūkotsu. 4 The Dial: A Magazine for Literature, Philosophy, and Religion (New York: Russel & Russel, 1961), vol. (No. 3, January 1844), 391-401.The original work in Sanskrit was discovered by M. Hudgson and examined by M. Eugène Burnouf (1801–52), a French scholar and orientalist. “The White Lotus of the Good Law” is a translation of chapter five “Herbs” in the Lotus Sutra into English from a French translation. John G. Rudy writes in his book Emerson and Zen- Buddhism: “From this work alone, Emerson would have become substantively familiar with two important concepts of Buddhism: first, in the words of Robert Linssen, that “Everything moves, is transformed, both materially and psychologically” and second, that all things are void or empty of identity, that, to borrow again from Linssen, “There is not really any continuous entity always identical with itself but perpetually changing succession of ‘cause and effect’” (9- 10). Journal of East-West Thought EMERSON’S “GOD-WITHIN” AND THE BUDDHIST “BUDDHA-WOMB” 3 [Type the company name] 3 If thou durst my words compare With what thou thinkest in the soul’s free youth Then take this fact unto thy soul ―― God dwells in thee. ―― … He is in thy world But the world knows him not He is the mighty Heart From which the life’s varied pulses part Clouded and shrouded there doth sit The Infinite Embosomed in a man … … (Emerson, 1960-82, 3:290-29) Emerson, moreover, confessed to the audience that he had received a revelation from God in his sermon “Religion and Society” delivered on October 27, 1833: “Man begins to hear a voice in reply that fills the heaven and the earth, saying, that God is within him, that there is the celestial host” (Emerson, 1989-92, 4:215). He then said, “I recognize the distinction of the outer and the inner self,―of the double consciousness, … there are two selves, one which does or approves that which the other does not and approves not; or within this erring, passionate, mortal self, sits a supreme, calm, immoral mind” (Ibid., 215). Emerson’s “God-within” is closely related to his view of Jesus Christ. During his time as a Unitarian minister, he adhered to the Unitarian doctrine of the unity of God, denying the divinity of Jesus Christ. In his sermon “The Authority of Jesus” delivered on May 30, 1830, he thus dismisses Jesus’ divinity as the source of his authority. Rather, he declares that the source of Jesus’ divine authority is the moral truth of his teachings: A great error to which we are liable on this subject, is, that we are apt to separate the truth taught by Jesus from his office, and suppose that it was his divine authority, his peculiar designation to the office of Messiah that gives authority to his words, and not his words that mark him out as the Messiah. The utterance of that Truth is his office. It is his Truth that made him Messiah. (Ibid., 2:364). Emerson thus elevates moral truth above the historical Jesus as the core of Christian faith and the universal and eternal principle. He furthermore asserts that Jesus holds no monopoly on moral truth, but rather that anyone may possess it, sharing in the authority it confers: [A]s this authority belonged to this truth and not to any person, so it is not confined to the pure and benevolent Founder of Christianity but may and must belong to all his disciples in that measure in which they possess themselves of the truth which was in him. Jesus has not monopolized it. (Ibid., 364-65) Therefore, for Emerson, Jesus represented not a special object of worship as the Son of God, or the mysterious and supernatural Messiah, but rather a great religious man who has embodied to the highest degree the moral truth inherent in any person. Emerson views Jesus as a mediator between God and human beings; people, united with the truth taught by Jesus, save themselves. Hence, Emerson refers to Jesus as a “friend,” “teacher,” and “fellow,” employing such expressions as “the soul’s personal Friend” (Emerson, 1989-92, 2:119), “our Common Teacher” (Ibid., 362), and “thy fellow worshipper” (Emerson, 1960-82, 5:231).