Born
in Long Island, New York, Whitman was the son of a humble Quaker carpenter
and farmer. In the course of his lifetime, he worked as a teacher, printer
and journalist, and during the American Civil War (1861-1865) did extensive
volunteer service as a hospital nurse tending to sick and wounded soldiers
while living on a government clerk's salary and modest royalties from
his writings. He spent all of his extra income on supplies for the patients
he nursed, and to support his widowed mother and mentally handicapped
brother.
During
the Civil War in the U. S., Whitman also sympathized strongly with the
efforts to end slavery and save the Union, while fervently advocating
the liberty, equality and unity of all beings in the universe. At the
heart of many of Whitman's poems is a radically new, sympathetic view
of women and African Americans and their significance to his vision
of an egalitarian society.
Whitman's
masterpiece is the inspired verse collection Leaves of Grass,
published in various editions from 1855 to 1892, and widely considered
the first uniquely American work of poetry. It contains a distinctive
blend of spirituality and science that was unique in his time. Such
writing has led some scholars to compare Whitman with the great spiritual
writers of the East, including the Persian Sufi poet Rumi and the Indian
poet-saint Kabir.
Also,
in both his poetry and prose, the similarity between Whitman's writings
and Master Ching Hai's words is often quite striking. Whitman's Leaves
of Grass, like Master's lectures and poetry, reveals a positive
attitude toward life and the universe, a robust belief in the unity
and goodness of all beings, and profound spiritual wisdom. Like Master
Ching Hai, Whitman espouses the universality of the Truth underlying
all religions. For example, in one of Her lectures Supreme Master Ching
Hai says, "You may call it Buddhism, Catholicism, Taoism or
whatever you like; I welcome all of them. I will tell you that all religions
are good. All religious Masters are good, speaking the Truth and leading
you to it." Similarly, in one of his poems Whitman says he accepts
"a hundred, a thousand Saviors and mediators and Bibles."
And about himself he states, "Of every hue and caste am I, of every
rank and religion."