Befriending Things on a Field of Energies

with Dōgen and Nietzsche

Graham Parkes

Universität Wien

pp. 115-137

in: Laura Langone & Alexandra Ilieva (eds), Dynamic Encounters Between Buddhism and the West, East Asian Journal of Philosophy 3 (1), 2024.

Abstract

A major factor behind the current ecological crisis is our dysfunctional relationship with the things we deal with in our everyday lives. This pathology derives mainly from our utilitarian perspective, through which we see things as mere means to our ends, and more broadly from a sense that they consist of “inanimate” matter. But this worldview is relatively recent and quite parochial, as becomes clear when we consider the East-Asian philosophical tradition with its idea of the world as a field of qi energies. Confucian, Daoist, Buddhist and Neo-Confucian thinkers developed sophisticated accounts of how humans and things share a common nature, which culminate in the philosophy of Zen Master Dōgen. A comparison with corresponding ideas in Friedrich Nietzsche suggests that these accounts may have general validity. More friendly attitudes toward things can enrich our experience and reduce the damage we inflict on the natural world.