SUBSTANCE, SHADOW,
AND SPIRIT
By
T’ao Ch’ien
Geschke/English IV
"Substance, Shadow, and Spirit"
SUBSTANCE, SHADOW,& SPIRIT
• Introduction
– Begins with prose
• Explains purpose of poem
–Demonstrates flaws of Substance
and Shadow
–Demonstrates how Spirit puts
people on the right path
Geschke/English IV
"Substance, Shadow, and Spirit"
SUBSTANCE, SHADOW,& SPIRIT
• Introduction
– Substance
• Body/materials
– Shadow
• Fame/reputation
– Spirit
• Soul?
Geschke/English IV
"Substance, Shadow, and Spirit"
SUBSTANCE, SHADOW,& SPIRIT
• Introduction
– Message of T’ao Ch’ien
• It is a mistake to hoard up the
moments of life
• Substance and Shadow result in
bitterness
• Spirit eliminates that bitterness
Geschke/English IV
"Substance, Shadow, and Spirit"
Substance Speaks to Shadow:
• Substance to Shadow
– Premise
• Immortality of nature versus the
mortality of humans
–“Fortuitously appearing for a
moment in the World/ He suddenly
departs, never to return” (9-10)
Geschke/English IV
"Substance, Shadow, and Spirit"
Substance Speaks to Shadow:
• Question
– If we are mortal, how will we be remembered?
• Answer
– The things we leave behind will remind people
of us; therefore we still exist in some manner
• Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18
–“As long as men can breathe and eyes
can see,/ So long lives this and this
gives life to thee.”
Geschke/English IV
"Substance, Shadow, and Spirit"
Substance Speaks to Shadow:
• Advice
– “When you can get wine, be sure to
drink it” (18)
• Carpe Diem
• “Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow
you will die”
Geschke/English IV
"Substance, Shadow, and Spirit"
Shadow Replies to Substance
• Premise
– “There is no way to preserve life” (19)
• Commonality of all three philosophies
• Death comes to us all
–The great equalizer
Geschke/English IV
"Substance, Shadow, and Spirit"
Shadow Replies to Substance
• Philosophy
– “That when the body decays Fame should
also go
Is a thought unendurable, burning the heart.
Let us strive and labor while yet we may
To do some deed that men will praise.
Wine may in truth dispel our sorrow,
But how compare it with lasting Fame?”
(29-34)
Geschke/English IV
"Substance, Shadow, and Spirit"
Shadow Replies to Substance
• Philosophy (continued)
– Do something by which we will be
remembered (Fame)
– Drinking wine (Carpe Diem) is
temporary
– Fame is forever
Geschke/English IV
"Substance, Shadow, and Spirit"
Spirit Expounds
• “God can only set in motion:/ He cannot
control the things he has made” (35-36)
• Diction
• God=Tao=Life Force
• Whatever created us does not control us
• Similar to the concept of free will in
western culture
Geschke/English IV
"Substance, Shadow, and Spirit"
Spirit Expounds
• “Though I am different from you,
We were born involved in one another:
Nor by any means can we escape
The intimate sharing of good and ill.”
(39-42)
• Duality?
• Absence of Duality?
• Paradox
Geschke/English IV
"Substance, Shadow, and Spirit"
Spirit Expounds
• Three emperors
– All were famous and good men
– Where are they now?
– “And late or soon all go:/ Wise and
simple have no reprieve” (47-48)
• Death is the great equalizer
• Hamlet
–A poor man can eat a king
Geschke/English IV
"Substance, Shadow, and Spirit"
Spirit Expounds
• Critiques of other philosophies
• Substance
– “Wine may bring forgetfulness,/ But
does it not hasten old age?” (49-50)
• Shadow
– “If you set your hearts on noble deeds,/
How do you know that any will praise
you?” (51-52)
Geschke/English IV
"Substance, Shadow, and Spirit"
Spirit Expounds
• “By all this thinking you do Me injury” (53)
• Taoist belief concerning education
• Taoist belief concerning not encouraging
the clever to act
• Taoist belief concerning simplicity
Geschke/English IV
"Substance, Shadow, and Spirit"
Spirit Expounds
• “You had better go where Fate leads-Drift on the Stream of Infinite Flux,
Without joy, without fear:
When you must go—then go,
And make as little fuss as you can.”
(54-58)
• Introduction to a major theme
• Fate
Geschke/English IV
"Substance, Shadow, and Spirit"