ABSTRACT
This chapter explores connections perceived between gardening, the arts, and the good life in two main Chinese philosophical traditions: Confucianism and Daoism. I begin by elaborating an ‘edificationist’ account of gardening, then distinguish three conceptions of the significance of gardens to the good life. These conceptions fill out the connections between gardens, self-cultivation, and the arts which are then explored with the cases of Confucianism and Daoism. I propose that Confucians are ‘reluctant gardeners’ for whom the connections between gardens, self-cultivation, and the arts are contingent. For Daoists, the connections are necessary, which confirms their description as the ‘gardeners of the cosmos’.
