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Buddhist, Daoist, and Christian Perspectives University of Massachusetts Amherst ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst Masters Theses Dissertations and Theses December 2020 LITERARY PORTRAYALS OF RELIGIOUS AWAKENING THROUGH SUFFERING AND LOSS - BUDDHIST, DAOIST, AND CHRISTIAN PERSPECTIVES Robert Canning University of Massachusetts Amherst Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umass.edu/masters_theses_2 Part of the Chinese Studies Commons Recommended Citation Canning, Robert, "LITERARY PORTRAYALS OF RELIGIOUS AWAKENING THROUGH SUFFERING AND LOSS - BUDDHIST, DAOIST, AND CHRISTIAN PERSPECTIVES" (2020). Masters Theses. 956. https://doi.org/10.7275/19201462 https://scholarworks.umass.edu/masters_theses_2/956 This Open Access Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Dissertations and Theses at ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. It has been accepted for inclusion in Masters Theses by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. For more information, please contact [email protected]. LITERARY PORTRAYALS OF RELIGIOUS AWAKENING THROUGH SUFFERING AND LOSS - BUDDHIST, DAOIST, AND CHRISTIAN PERSPECTIVES A Thesis Presented by Robert G. Canning Submitted to the Graduate School of the University of Massachusetts Amherst in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS September 2020 Chinese © Copyright by Robert Canning 2020 All Rights Reserved LITERARY PORTRAYALS OF RELIGIOUS AWAKENING THROUGH SUFFERING AND LOSS - BUDDHIST, DAOIST, and CHRISTIAN PERSPECTIVES A Thesis Presented by Robert G. Canning Approved as to style and content by: ___________________________________________ David K. Schneider, Chair ___________________________________________ Zhongwei Shen, Member ___________________________________________ Jessica Barr, Member ________________________________________ Bruce Baird, Unit Director East Asian Languages and Cultures Program Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures ________________________________________ Robert G. Sullivan, Chair Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures DEDICATION To Family ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank my advisor, Professor David K. Schneider for all of his time, help, and encouragement over the course of this thesis project. He has been enthusiastically supportive, has suggested supplementary reading that has greatly- enhanced my own learning, and has helped me greatly with the writing of this thesis. I would also like to thank committee members Professor Shen Zhongwei and Professor Jessica Barr for all of their help and patience in reviewing and commenting on my thesis. Their advice, suggestions, questions, and comments have also helped greatly to enhance the quality of this project. Marc Cameron, the EALC Office Coordinator, has also been very helpful throughout, from responding to my initial inquiries into the Chinese Master’s program at the University of Massachusetts to helping finalize preparations to submit my thesis. He has always been prompt, professional, and friendly. It has been a pleasure to work with him and know him. My family members have also been very supportive of my decision to undertake such a major endeavor as this one – pursuing a master’s degree at an out-of-state college. This has had no small impact on their lives, but they have been supportive and helpful in more ways than I can count. I could not have done this without them. v ABSTRACT LITERARY PORTRAYALS OF RELIGIOUS AWAKENING THROUGH SUFFERING AND LOSS - BUDDHIST, DAOIST, AND CHRISTIAN PERSPECTIVES September 2020 Robert Canning, B.A. University of Maine at Orono M.A., University of Massachusetts Amherst Directed by: Professor David K. Schneider The focus of this study is on portrayals of religious awakening in four short works of literature: a Chinese play, two Chinese short stories, and an American short story. In all of these works, the protagonists attain religious awakening, but only do so because they experience suffering and loss. The experience of suffering and loss in these works helps to bring about the protagonists’ willingness to leave the worldly life. This is because the experience of suffering and loss clears the minds of the protagonists and helps them to realize the bitter nature of worldly existence. In addition, these works portray worldly concepts from the perspective of a mystical, transcendent order of reality. Things that appear normal from a worldly perspective are abnormal from the mystical perspective, and vice versa. Thus, the wise may appear foolish, the sane crazy, and the successful materially destitute, to name a few examples. vi In these works, religious heroism (a characteristic of the protagonists) also appears unheroic because of this distorted perspective. Religious heroism may appear cowardly, for example, and religious success may appear to be a failure or a tragedy. These literary portrayals of religious awakening through suffering and loss may thus help to shed light on religious concepts common to Buddhism, Taoism and Christianity, and also on the differences between the worldly and mystical perspectives. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS………………………………………………………………v ABSTRACT……………………………..………..….…………………………………vi CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION……………………………………………………………………1 1.1 The Unseen Order of Reality…………………………….……….…………4 1.2 Characteristics of Religious Heroism….……..………………..…….…….8 1.3 Suffering as a Means to Religious Awakening…………………….……..11 1.3.1 Pedagogical Suffering…………………….…………………….12 1.4 Four Portrayals of the Unseen Order of Reality………..…………………15 1.4 Perspectives on Suffering……………………………..….………..….……16 1.4.1 Buddhism………………………………………………………..…16 1.4.2 Daoism……………………………………………………………..21 1.4.3 Christianity…………………………………………………………35 1.5 The Nature of Evil.…………………….……….…………………………..44 1.6 Conventional Heroism and Unconventional Religious Heroism…………….48 1.6.1. Conventional Heroism: Xu Xun 許遜............................................51 1.6.2. Unconventional Religious Heroism: Zhen Shiyin 甄士隱……..55 1.7 The Elements of the Story………………………………………………….59 1.7.1 The Reluctant Protagonist………………………………………..59 1.7.2 The Intrusion of the Unseen Order of Reality…………………61 1.7.3 Suffering and Loss…………………………………………….61 1.7.4 Change of Mind and Transformation…………………………….62 2. “ZHONGLI OF THE HAN LEADS LAN CAIHE TO ENLIGHTENMENT”……………….….……………….63 2.1 Note on Translations……………………………………………..…63 2.2 Introduction……………………………………………………….…64 2.3 Synopsis……………………………………………………..……..65 2.4 Sudden and Unwelcome Intrusion of the Unseen Order of Reality….65 2.5 The Role of Suffering………………………………………….……70 2.6 Religious Heroism………………………………………………….75 2.7 The Superficial Becomes Realized……………………………..….80 2.8 A Personality Transformed………………..………………………83 2.9 Attachments and Illusion…………………………………………85 2.10 Conclusion…………………………………..………………….…90 3. “CHEN KECHANG BECOMES AN IMMORTAL ON THE DAY OF THE DRAGON BOAT FESTIVAL”………………….92 3.1 Note on Translations………………………………………………92 3.2 Introduction…………………………..…………………..……….92 3.3 Synopsis………………………………………………….………..94 3.4 The Intrusion of the Unseen Order of Reality…………….…..…..95 3.5 The Reluctant Protagonist………………………….……………..97 3.6 Suffering and Loss – Means to Transformation…………………..102 3.7 Religious Heroism…………………….……………….…………..105 3.8 Rectifying an Injustice……………………………………………106 3.9 Worldly Morality and True Morality……..…………….………112 3.10 Change of Mind: Paying a Karmic Debt and Thanking One’s Persecutors………………………..………….……..119 3.11 Conclusion ……………………………………………………..130 4. “MADAM WHITE IS KEPT FOREVER UNDER THE THUNDER PEAK PAGODA”……….……….……………………….131 4.1 Introduction … ………………………………….………….…..131 4.2 Synopsis … …………………………………… …..………..….132 4.3 The Intrusion of the Unseen Order of Reality ……………..…133 4.4 The Reluctant Protagonist …………………………..………..139 4.5 “It Is beneath Good Fortune That Disaster Crouches”……..…140 4.6 Appearance and Reality……………………….………..……..145 4.7 Religious Heroism …………………………..…………………150 4.8 Portrayal of Evil …………………………………….…………163 4.9 The Transformation of the Mind ……………..…..………….171 4.10 Imprisonment and Release ………………. ………. ……….177 4.11 Conclusion ……… ……………………………..…………..178 5. “A GOOD MAN IS HARD TO FIND”………………….…………..181 5.1 Introduction ……………………………………….……….1 81 5.2 Synopsis … ……………………………………….. … … … . 1 8 2 5.3 The Reluctant Protagonist ……………………….. …… …..18 2 5.4 Religious Heroism ……………………………. ……………184 5.5 The Role of Suffering a n d t h e Grandmother’s Process of Transformation …………..……..198 5.6 The Misfit’s Process of Transformation ……………..…….204 5.7 Conclusion ……… ….. ……… ……………………. … … … . 2 1 3 6. CONCLUSION…………………..…………………………………………………216 7. BIBLIOGRAPHY……………………….……………………………..…………..226 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION The focus of this study is on three short Chinese works, and one English work, all dealing with the protagonists’ realization of enlightenment, or of some form of transformative religious awakening. In these literary works that portray enlightenment themes, there are a number of factors that help bring about enlightenment for the protagonists, yet in none of them is enlightenment achieved without either some form of suffering, or the threat of suffering. In addition, the willingness of the protagonist is a necessary prerequisite to enlightenment in each of these stories, and it is through suffering and loss that the protagonists’ minds are changed, and that they become willing to give up the worldly life and accept enlightenment. The protagonists of these stories may be religious people, and may profess religious beliefs, but they may still not fully comprehend the true nature and depth of what those beliefs
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