美國當代詩人加里．斯奈德受中國文化影響主要在三方面：一、寒山詩;二、禪宗哲學；三、儒家的入世思想。有人據此認為是“東方詩，尤其是中國詩歌的影響”“使斯奈德在垮掉派中一支獨秀”。 事實並非如此。在斯奈德與中國文化對話的過程中，他的本土意識起了很重要的作用。本土意識的核心是民族文化意識，在特定的時代和特定的個人身上分別表現為時代意識和個體意識，包括體現在個體意識中的階級意識。對斯奈德來說，民族文化意識來自美國文化傳統和美洲印第安文化傳統。他用中國《詩經，伐柯》中的詩句"伐柯伐柯，其則不遠"來比喻民族文化傳統作為一種規範在塑造一代又一代新人時所起的重要作用。他宣稱造成他這把斧柄的“美國斧子”有惠特曼、威廉．卡洛斯．威廉斯、羅伯特．弗洛斯特、王紅公、華萊土．斯蒂文斯等。的確，斯奈德翻譯寒山詩有時就像龐德譯漢詩一樣，有目的地進行改寫。王紅公的西部山野詩為斯奈德接受並融會寒山的“野性”鋪平了道路。(但斯奈德並非像某些中國學者所說的那樣是王紅公的“門徒”。)惠特曼的泛神論與莊子的契合之處成了斯奈德接受禪宗影響的中介。梭羅在沃爾登湖的隱民生活為斯奈德後來把西艾拉．內華達山當作寒山並在該地隱居伏下了契機。當洲印地第安文化與中國古代神話共有的薩滿色彩則成為斯奈德迅速吸收中國古代文化的催化劑。至於本土意識的另一方面，即個體意識，則是由個人的經歷和生活方式決定的。斯奈德從小與印第安人有接觸，在大學學的是文化人類學，研究印第安民謠，深受印第安文化熏陶。讀大學時還研究馬克思主義，由關心社會發展到關心整個人類，這一點使他很容易接受儒家入世思想的影響。 總之，在研究和借鑒中國文化的過程申，加里．斯奈德自覺或不自覺地將本族文化特點作為參照項，或者作為接受外來影響的中介，或者作為選擇器以決定取舍，對斯奈德的個案研究表明本土意識在文化對話中起著制約作用。

　　　　　The influence of Chinese culture on Gary Snyder may be mainly viewed from three aspects: 1. The poems of Han Shan; 2. The philosophy of Zen Buddhism; 3. The public-spiritedness of Confucianism. In the published writings on Snyder in China, however, the influence of Chinese culture on him is overemphasized to a degree that betrays their authors' ignorance of his strong sense of nativeness. Gary Snyder holds that 'the sense of “nativeness”, of belonging to the place...is critical and necessary'(Snyder 1980:86). In his dialogue with Chinese culture, his sense of nativeness plays a very important part. The core of the sense of nativeness is the sense of one's cultural inheritance, in specific periods of time it can be transformed into the spirit of the times or the sense of individuality, including the class consciousness as embodied in the individual. As to Snyder, his cultural inheritance consists of the American literary tradition and American Indian lore. He compared it to the ax used as the model while an ax handle is shaped, which is a metaphor taken from The Book of Songs. He said that his teacher was the ax, and he was the handle, and that he was the ax, and his son the handle. He listed the American axes that shaped him, such as Walt Whitman, William Carlos Williams, Robert Frost, Kenneth Rexroth, and Wallace Stevens. Snyder's experience and life style also determine the uniqueness of his sense of nativeness. To sum up, Snyder's assimilation of Chinese culture is controlled by his sense of nativeness. As Snyder defines it, the essence of a writer's sense of nativeness is the historical roots, or in other words, the cultural tradition, which begins to be insinuated into his mind along with acculturation from his childhood. When confronted with a foreign culture, his sense of nativeness sets out to react. Sometimes it serves as a monitoring device, determining what are the congenial exotic elements for his acceptance. Often it turns out to be the intermediary that smoothes the way for the incorporation of the foreign culture with his own tradition. This I conceive to be a law governing cultural contact.