在中國詩學傳統中，陶淵明首先在作品中大量呈現飲酒的境界與趣味，使酒在詩歌中顯題化，並使酒與詩的交融成為一個文學的議題。由於陶淵明一生以「復返自然」作為人生的歸依，故本文嘗試以陶詩為核心，深入「從飲酒到自然」的議題，探討陶淵明如何由飲酒而「復返自然」，以及此種復返途徑何以可以開出詩境。 文分四個主要段落，第一節「飲酒與自然的關係」，以魏晉玄學為背景、陶淵明的〈形影神詩〉為例，說明陶淵明的飲酒具有與名教之士及嵇阮舊自然說的兩層對話關係，是其「發自己身」 、 「漸近自然」的生命歷程。第二節「居息於酒：〈止酒詩〉的雙重意涵」，以自古以來酒的雙重作用及矛盾性，重新詮釋〈止酒詩〉，藉以說明陶淵明居息於酒的整全意蘊，以彰明「止於所當止」的深意。第三節「飲酒與身心情境的變化」，則逐步探討酒的物性對身心的基本影響、人際空間的投射、想像世界的變形，並援引身體圖式的概念詮解飲酒之後所達到的合和境界。第四節「醉境與詩境的交融」，說明醉境的「大適融然」，正是神思活動得以神與物遊的情境，也具現在陶淵明與物冥合，宇宙遨避的詩境中。酒通過循環周貫全身，以最根源的身體圖式，集聚歷史、神話的遼遠，而重組世界的圖象，此一飲酒境界即莊子所謂「得全於酒」。陶淵明經由飲酒所體現的新自然說，以自然之理冥合名教與自然的爭辯，將最樸質最根源的人倫之禮實踐在鄉里田園之間。

In the tradition of Chinese poetry, Tao Yuan-Ming was the first to write extensively on the subject of the states and delights of drinking wine. By doing so, Tao not only carved out a prominent place for liquor in Chinese poetry writing, but also made the fusion of liquor and poetry an important issue in the history of Chinese literature. Since Tao saw the "return to nature" as the ideal of his life, this article proposes to study his poetry with a special reference to the issue of "from drinking to nature." It intends to explain how Tao used drinking as a path to "return to nature," and why this path of returning can create poetic states. The article is divided into four sections. In the first section, "The Correlation between Drinking and Nature," taking Tao's "Xing-Ying-Shen Poem" (Flesh, Shadow and Spirit) as an example against the backdrop of the metaphysics of Wei-Jing periods, I demonstrate that Tao's drinking can be viewed as his way of dialoguing with both Confucian ritual ethics and the old theory of nature advocated by Ji Kang and Ruan Ji. I argue that encoded in these dialogues are the two life processes of "starting from the self" and "approximating nature." In the second section, "Dwelling in Liquor: The Dual Meaning of the 'Biding in Wine' Poem," I begin with a discussion on the double functions and the contradictory character of drinking as found in Chinese history since the ancient times. On the basis of this discussion, I reinterpret the "Biding in Wine" poem to reveal the full meaning of Tao's ideas of "dwelling in liquor" and "biding as it should be." In the third section, "Drinking's Impacts on the Body and Mind," I discuss the influences of alcohol on the body and mind, and on the interpersonal relationships. I use Merleau-Ponty's concept of body image to explain the harmonic state achieved via drinking. In the last section, "The Fusion of Intoxicative and Poetic States," I show that the "total relaxation" yielded by intoxication is also a state in which the spirit can freely flow with the external world and be united with the primordial numerous things, that is to say, a poetic state of free wandering in the universe. Just as alcohol circulates around the whole body, so does it penetrate deeply into the body image and employ the image to capture all the far and wide in history and mythology, thus making possible the reorganization of the world image. Such intoxication is what Zhuang-Zi called "Gaining the Wholeness in Wine." I suggest that via the mediation of drinking Tao Yunan-Ming had invented a new theory of nature which not only appeased the controversy over conformity and naturalness, but also pointed to the practical plausibility of leading in the countryside a simple yet ethical life full of primordial human joys.