In the latter part of his life, the great writer was
considerably influenced by eastern religions. How did these teachings affect
Tolstoy's writing and his own philosophical ideas?
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Tolstoy continued writing and publishing on Buddhism towards the end of his life. Source: Lori / Legion Media
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Tolstoy
continued writing and publishing on Buddhism towards the end of his life.
When Leo
Tolstoy was 19, he was admitted to a hospital in Kazan for a minor illness.
There he met and befriended a Buddhist monk who was recovering after suffering
a violent assault at the hands of a robber. The young Tolstoy was astonished by
the fact that the monk had not fought back, as he adhered to the Buddhist
principle of non-violence. This early experience had a profound effect on the
writer, who maintained an interest in Buddhism and other eastern teachings
throughout his entire life.
A great mind
in search of meaning
Like most
people born in 19th-century Russia, Leo Tolstoy was baptized
into the Russian Orthodox Church. However, religion didn't play a big role in
his youth, and it was only after finishing his masterpiece “Anna Karenina”
that Tolstoy began to feel what he described as an existential crisis. Life,
mankind and the Universe all seemed futile and meaningless to him.
Tolstoy
described this crisis in detail in “A Confession,” an autobiographical account
of his emotional struggle. Written in 1879-80, when Tolstoy was in his mid-50s,
the book explores his childhood disillusionment with religion, his mastery of
willpower, and how he had achieved wealth, fame and status only to feel that
his life was meaningless.
Tolstoy was
initially drawn to the Russian Orthodox Church, but he soon decided that
Christian churches were corrupt and falsified Christ's message. He believed
that he understood the real teaching and began to propagate a new faith. While this
new faith was not overtly Buddhist, many scholars see it as the start of the
writer's move towards eastern religions and philosophies. Tolstoy referenced
Buddhism directly in “What I Believe” (1883), “A Confession” (1884), and “What
Then Should We Do” (1886), mentioning the Buddha alongside spiritual and
philosophical figures such as Moses, Mohammed, Socrates, Zoroaster and Christ.
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From royal favorites to outcasts:
The shifting fates of
Russian Buddhists |
The writer
narrowed his focus for the 1889 essay “Siddartha, Called the Buddha, That is
the Holy One: His life and Teachings,” and began expressing Buddhist ideas in
his correspondence. Author James Hilgendorf cites the following passage from a
letter Tolstoy wrote in 1892 in reply to questions on Buddhism and karma. “Just
as we experience thousands of dreams in this life of ours, so is this life one
of thousands of such lives which we enter into from the more real, actual, true
life from which we come when we enter this life, and to which we return when we
die.”
Tolstoy
continued publishing on Buddhism towards the end of his life, including works
such as an article called “The Buddha” for his anthology “The Circle of
Reading,” and a translation of “Karma,” written by American Paul Carus. He
turned vegetarian, became a champion of non-violence, and generally tried to
live a simpler life – choices that show an affinity with Buddhist practise.
However, this was not the only eastern religion that influenced Tolstoy's beliefs:
he also took an active interest in Hindusim.
Hindu texts
and stories
According to
the English academic and Sanskrit scholar Bruce Wilkinson, “Tolstoy used to
read the Vedic Magazine at his estate in Yasnaya Polyana.” He
explains that “there are extracts from the Vedas and Upanishads (ancient
Sanskrit texts) in 'The Circle of Reading'.” Tolstoy also read the two epics,
“The Ramayana” and “The Mahabharata,” which have become central to national
identity in many countries across Southeast Asia.
In “A Letter
to a Hindu,” where Tolstoy replies to letters from the editor of the
Free Hindustan journal seeking his support for the end of British rule in India,
the Russian writer repeatedly refers to the Vedas, and shows a clear
understanding of the sayings of Krishna. Tolstoy also makes references to Swami
Vivekananda, one of India’s greatest philosophers, and emphasizes the
importance of religious principles in the freedom movement.
“From your
letter and the articles in Free Hindustan, as well as from the very interesting
writings of the Hindu Swami Vivekananda and others, it appears that, as is the
case in our time with the ills of all nations, the reason lies in the lack of a
reasonable religious teaching which by explaining the meaning of life would
supply a supreme law for the guidance of conduct and would replace the more
than dubious precepts of pseudo-religion and pseudo-science with the immoral
conclusions deduced from them and commonly called 'civilization,'” Tolstoy
wrote. This can be seen as a swipe at both the British Empire and Tsarist
Russia.
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| The Life and Philosophy of Leo Tolstoy |
Tolstoy’s
letter was widely circulated and was eventually read by Mahatma Gandhi, who was
a young legal representative in South Africa at the time. Gandhi appreciated
the letter so much that in 1909 he wrote to Tolstoy seeking advice and
permission to republish the article in his South African newspaper Indian
Opinion. The two men began exchanging letters and grew close through this
correspondence.
Gandhi was
inspired by the Russian philosopher's ideas and set up a cooperative colony
called Tolstoy Farm near Johannesburg. In his diary, Tolstoy wrote that Gandhi
“is a very close person to me, to us. He thinks that the strongest resistance
is passive resistance.” Indeed, the Tolstoyan ideal of non-violence and passive
resistance was the backbone of the Indian independence struggle.
Appreciation
of Taoism
Tolstoy was
also fascinated by Chinese philosophers, particularly Lao Tsu, the founder of
Taoism. According to Rosamund Bartlett’s “Tolstoy: A Russian Life,” Tolstoy’s
follower Yevgeny Popov translated Lao Tsu’s “Tao Te Ching” (The Way and its
Power) from German into Russian; the original dates from the 6th century BC,
but Victor von Strauss had produced a German translation in 1870.
Tolstoy
checked the translation and wrote an introduction explaining that the basic
teaching in Lao Tsu’s book was the same as in all great religions.
Bartlett writes that Tolstoy was drawn to Lao Tsu’s “lapidary insights, which
accorded so much with his hard won beliefs.” Central to these beliefs is
the idea of living a harmonious, principled existence, which is also the basic
tenet of the Chinese religion.
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| Leo Tolstoy’s greatest plot of all |
It is not
exactly clear when Tolstoy discovered Taoism, but “War and Peace” (1869) contains
elements of its philosophy. The book describes how fate controls history, and
how people have little control in the sequence of events while playing their
part in the grander scheme of things. As per Taoist principles, all someone can
ever truly control is their mind.
The idea of
destiny in the work is shown through the relationship between the Russian
Prince Andrei and Napoleon Bonaparte, two characters whose fate is ultimately
out of their hands. Andrei used to be an admirer of Bonaparte but becomes his
enemy and unsuccessfully tries to kill him at the Battle of Austerlitz;
following this he catches a glimpse of the emperor's silhouette and is elated
in his semi-conscious state.
Tolstoy goes
on to describe the later meeting between the two: “Looking into Napoleon’s
eyes, Prince Andrei thought about the insignificance of grandeur, about the
insignificance of life, the meaning of which no one could understand, and about
the still greater insignificance of death, the meaning of which no one among
the living could understand or explain.” In a Taoist reading, both the mighty
French emperor and the proud Russian prince are mere players in the Tao – their
seeming grandeur nothing more than an illusion.
In “War and
Peace” Tolstoy shows that great individuals' ability to control circumstances
decreases even as they become more important. Hence Napoleon cannot
control his French army after a certain point in Russia. The emperor is
imprisoned by his false belief in his own importance. In contrast, a man like
Pierre is truly free because – despite being physically imprisoned by
Napoleon’s army – he has control of his mind and does not seek total control
over others.
How much
Buddhism, Hinduism and Taoism influenced Tolstoy is a matter of interpretation,
but their principles are certainly present in the philosophy he created, known
as tolstovstvo. Its core concept was that mankind should live in peace,
harmony and unity, which is a very Buddhist ideal. The same is true of his
rejection of luxury and his stance against the exploitation of peasants.
However, he also supported the idea of surrendering to the inevitable,
predestined flow of life’s events – a concept familiar to anyone who has read
“Tao Te Ching.” Like all great thinkers, Tolstoy was able to assimilate his
influences and create a unique philosophy of his own.
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