Shantih, shantih, shantih: Global Consciousness in The Waste Land
In 1957, R. Baird Shuman writes: “Buddhist elements have been found in the poetry of T.S. Eliot, notably in Part Three of The Wasteland.”1 Much early criticism regarding Eliot and Indic traditions, including Shuman’s work, focused on source studies and the “mystic” nature of eastern religions. More recent critics, however, have moved beyond fascination to consider the complex and subtle ways that Eliot engages with Indic traditions throughout his career. Eliot studied Sanskrit and Indic metaphysics for two years at Harvard University, working with some of America’s most renowned scholars of Buddhism and word religion. The poet’s deeply meditated interaction with these philosophies deserves equally complex attention from scholars who wish to understand his critical and creative works.
What I find lacking in criticism on The Waste Land is a willingness to combine research on Indic traditions with other theoretical modes of reading the text. This paper attempts to integrate a cultural-historical reading of the poem as public elegy for World War I with a consideration of how Indic philosophies fundamentally shape this elegy. Specifically, I look at “The Fire Sermon” and “What the Thunder Said” (with brief analysis of earlier sections) to analyze the way in which Eliot concludes his poem. What does it mean to end with the chanting of “shantih,” which Eliot transcribes as “peace which passeth understanding”? What does it mean to reference a religious faith based on reincarnation and karma, the great law of cause and effect? I argue that Eliot utilizes Indic texts and a secular notion of “wisdom” to urge nations in mourning to recognize the communal wholeness of suffering. The message of the Buddha’s fire sermon, in part, is that the entire world is one fire with hatred and infatuation. Through suffering, the world in united. In suffering, Eliot envisions a reparation and making of peace.
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