柳宗元の文學作品に見る合理主義的側面と非合理的側面の交錯

Abstract

Although Liu Tsung-yüan 柳宗元 (773-817) is highly esteemed today because of the rational quality of his thought, he suffered because of it during his lifetime when rationalism had not yet become a powerful force. By supporting his suffering honesty, however, he was able to make his view of life deeper and more complex. His main concern was with mankind, which can be seen by the fact that the word sheng-jen 生人, "the common people", appears again in his writings. He believed in mah's strength, but he slso refused to ignore man's responsibility. His belief in man's strength, however, is not always firm and, upon occasion, we hear his anguished cry towards "Heaven", t'ien 天 towards something that transcends man's strength, The profundities and complexities of his thought are studied as they are expressed in his literary works, and particularly in his funerary inscriptions, his biographies and his verse expressing indignation (sao 騷).