A Comparative Study of the Heroic Boldness Style of Li Bai and Su Shi—From the Perspective of Religious Spirit

The poetry of Li Bai and Su Shi is renowned for “heroic boldness” (haofang), yet their spiritual orientations are distinct. From the perspective of religious poetics, this research examines how the Daoist spirit and the Confucian-Buddhist-Daoist syncretism dominated by Chan Buddhism shaped different styles of their heroic boldness, focusing on spatial experience, temporal consciousness, and identity. This paper argues that Li Bai developed a “breaking-free” heroic boldness from the Daoist identity of the banished immortal, in contrast, Su Shi formed a “settling-in-place” heroic boldness through the integration of the three teachings. The two modes of heroic boldness represent different aesthetic orientations of the Tang and Song dynasties, offering two complementary spiritual paths for later Chinese literati. By researching literary creation styles via religious thought, this study attempts to understand the spiritual world of Tang and Song literati and to reveal the transformation of the zeitgeist behind.