Positive and Negative

I've been sucked in by a tragic novel (and a TV show adapted from it) lately. The story is almost like an illustration of Tsangyang Gyatso, the 6th Dalai Lama's poem:

First, it's best not to meet, so then you may not love.
Second, it's best not to know each other, so then you may not lovesick.
Third, it's best not to be in accompany, so then you may not owe .
Fourth, it's best not to sympathize, so then you may not recall.
Fifth, it's best not to love,so then you may not abandon.
Sixth, it's best not face to face, so then you may not greet.
Seventh, it's best not to wait for each other, so that you may not let down.
Eighth, it's best not to promise, so that you may not continue.
Ninth, it's best not to depend, so that you may not snuggle.
Tenth, it's best not to encounter, so that you may not reunite.
But to meet is to know. Better never having met than have.
How do I sever myself from you, to avoid missing you in my life and death.

This is more or less The Beatles' "To Know Her is to Love Her" (and various "To Know Him is to Love Him") stated in the negative, which reminds me of the Golden Rule.

In Christianity, the Golden Rule is stated as "so in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you." (Matthew 7:12) In Confucianism, the Golden Rule is "do not do unto others what you do not wish for yourself." (Confucius, The Analects, XV: 24)

I remember when Professor Tu Wei-ming mentioned these Golden Rules in class, he said that these words, though ancient, can shed light on not just individual, but state behavior in history as well as in the modern world. For instance, the expansion of the European empires lead to colonialism, U.S.' power made it assume a leadership role in the global order with active presence in the Middle East as well as Asian Pacific, executing policies informed by the idea of "promoting democracy", leading the war on terror and  intervention in Libya, in contrast, even when the ancient Chinese empire had ships reaching far lands, instead of colonialize those people, the emperors were typically content with a nominal recognition as the "son of Heaven" and would splurge for some exotic gifts as tributes in return.

Is there any linguistic or cultural study of why the Chinese tend to state things / act in a negative sense -- "do not"; but Western countries the opposite?