Beauty and Human Existence in Chinese Philosophy 9789811617133, 9811617139

Table of contents :
Preface
Acknowledgments
Contents
1 The Pictographic Character and Totemism
The Pictographic Character for Beauty
The Big-Goat Image: Flavor and Taste
The Goat-Man Image: Rituality and Spirituality
The Dynamic Beauty: Two Totemic Symbols
2 The Pottery and Bronze Art
The Expressive and Significant Form
The Ferocious Beauty
The Grotesque Beauty
The Symbolic Beauty
The Chime-Bells and the Galloping Horse
3 Ethos of the Rites-Music Tradition
The Beauty of Music and Rites
The Multifunction of Music
The Performance of Rites for Harmony
The Aesthetic and Moral Interaction
Cosmological and Quasi-Religious Implications
4 Confucian Ideal and Equilibrium Harmony
The Beauty of the Ideal Personality
A Further Enhancement of the Ideal
Basic Methods of Personality Development
A Dual Expectation of Artistic Perfection
Equilibrium Harmony as Beauty
Moderation of Emotional Expression
An Integrated Interpretation of Poetry
A Moralized Principle a Priori
An Extended Scope of the Literary Mind
Three Modified Theories of Poetic Beauty
5 Critique of Mohist Utilitarianism
A Challenge to Confucian Values
Against Music and Negative Utilitarianism
For Music and Positive Utilitarianism
Reflections on the Opposing Views
From Joy-Consciousness to Optimistic Spirit
6 Daoist Pursuit and Spontaneous Naturalness
The Beauty of the Daoist Personality
The Pragmatic Way of the Sagely Person
The Spiritual Freedom of the True Person
The Mind-Heart Excursion for a Good Life
The Beautiful and the Ugly
Beautiful Words Versus True Words
The Great Beauty of Silence
Contemplative Attitude and Mutual Production
Spontaneous Naturalness as Beauty
Soundless Music and Stylistic Creation
7 Beyond Poetic Sentimentalism
Personality Beauty of Qu Yuan
Grotesque Imagery as a Tour de Force
Expression of Heart-Felt Emotions
A Sentimental Concern in Question
8 Chan Buddhism and Subtle Void
The Idea of Chan as Dhyāna
The Poetic Wisdom of Gāthā
Sudden Awakening and Chan Sense
Subtle Void as Beauty
The Poetic Art of Chan Realm
9 The Water Allegory and Waterscapes
The Hidden Stream
The Water Allegory
The Moral Symbolism
The Beautiful Waterscape
The Majestic Waterscape
The Musical Water Sounds
10 The Art of Painting Landscape
The Synthetic Beauty
The Six Rules
A Hierarchy of Five Levels
The Four Attainments and the Three Distances
The Three Steps of Painting Landscape
The Absence of Self and the Presence of Self
11 The Rise of Modern Chinese Aesthetics
Fragmentary Account
Systematic Framing
Intellectual Enlightenment
Transcultural Rediscovery
Theoretical Incorporation
Comprehensive Praxis
The Poetic State Par Excellence
The Theory of Art as Sedimentation
12 How-to-Live Concern and Fourfold Engagement
The How-to-Live Concern
The Structure of Human Capacity
Beyond Aesthetic Engagement
Illuminate the True Through the Beautiful
Furnish the Good Through the Beautiful
Make Life Worthwhile Through the Beautiful
Create the Beautiful According to the Proper Measure
Epilogue
References
Index

Citation preview

Beauty and Human Existence in Chinese Philosophy Keping Wang

Beauty and Human Existence in Chinese Philosophy

Keping Wang

Beauty and Human Existence in Chinese Philosophy

Keping Wang Chinese Academy of Social Sciences Beijing, China

ISBN 978-981-16-1713-3 ISBN 978-981-16-1714-0 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-1714-0 Jointly published with Foreign Language Teaching and Research Publishing Co., Ltd The edition is not for sale in China Mainland. Customers from China Mainland please order the print book from: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Publishing. © Foreign Language Teaching and Research Publishing Co., Ltd 2021 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publishers, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publishers, the authors, and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publishers nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publishers remain neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Cover credit: Maram_shutterstock.com This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. The registered company address is: 152 Beach Road, #21-01/04 Gateway East, Singapore 189721, Singapore

To the medical doctors and nurses who are most beautiful of all for their heroic and kind protection of human existence across the world during the anti-COVID-19 campaign.

Preface

As acknowledged in the world philosophy, Socrates’ persistent questioning about “what is beauty” is found difficult to answer, explain and define, which is somewhat corresponding to the Hellenic proverb— “χαλεπα τα καλα” cited at the end of the debate between the two interlocutors in a Platonic dialogue.1 The question as such gets Hippias trapped on the occasion where he seems feeling at ease to tackle mistakenly “what is beautiful” rather than “what is beauty”. Naturally, the answers that he has given in terms of appropriateness, usefulness, beneficialness, and pleasantness are neither satisfactory nor acceptable to Socrates himself. Just imagine, if Socrates happened to stroll into ancient China and directed the same question to some of his Chinese contemporaries, he might encounter a situation that could be paradoxically similar and different. By “similar” herein is meant his Chinese colleagues might tread on the beaten track as Hippias did, and ensue a blurred distinction between “what is beauty” and “what is beautiful” when giving their replies. By “different” is meant that they would talk about “what is beautiful” with reference to attractive object, picturesque landscape, and ideal

1 Plato, Greater Hippias 304e (trans. H. N. Fowler, Cambridge, MA. & London:

Harvard University Press, William Heinemann Ltd, rep. 1977). The Hellenic proverb can be translated into English as “Beautiful things are difficult” (H. N. Fowler) or “what is fine is hard” (Paul Woodruff). I tend to render it as “what is beautiful is difficult”.

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personality, account for the primary aim of “what is beautiful” with reference to teleological pursuit and personal cultivation, and elaborate the rich properties of “what is beautiful” with reference to the fundamental rationales of art making and evaluation in Confucianism, Daoism and Buddhism, among other schools of thought. Frankly speaking, it would be hard to predict whether Socrates would leave the country satisfied or disappointed upon hearing all this. Yet, it would be plausible to assume that he would grow curious about it, take up a second reflection, and probably proceed to have a further discussion with other interlocutors during a forthcoming symposium somewhere on his return to Athens. No matter what would occur at this point, the ontological issue of “what is beauty” differs by nature from the phenomenological one of “what is beautiful”, even though both remain open to varied formulations and observations. In respect to the Chinese concept of mei as beautiful or beauty, aesthetics as a discipline was translated into mei xue that literally means “studies of beauty” or “beautology”. The neologism of “beautology” may remind us of its Greek counterpart kallology derived from the word kallos as beauty plus the suffix—logy meaning study or studies. Generally speaking, kallos and its adjective kalos bear three basic meanings as such: beautiful and fair when referred to the outward look or appearance of a thing or being; fine and auspicious when referred to serving a good purpose; noble and righteous when referred to moral virtue, good act, right conduct, and spiritual pursuit of some greater and more extraordinary goal than ever. Noticeably, what kallos means partly overlaps agathos that was used in Homeric epics for the brave and noble virtue of heroes, and employed in later period to signify good and virtuous in a moral sense. To the extent of this explication, one aspect of the kallos denotes an object of aesthetic value and moral consideration in particular. In Plato, the idea of kallos in itself is taken as the ultimate cause of whatever is beautiful, and the idea of agathos in itself is taken as the original cause of whatever is good. These two ideas are interrelated in a metaphysical sense due to the overlapping features of the beautiful and the good. Regarding the Chinese notion of mei as beautiful, it is supposed to bear such major implications as follows: beautiful or good-looking when referred to the appearance or image of a thing or being; fine and inviting when referred to the taste or flavor of food, beverage, and artwork; good

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and appropriate when referred to words, deeds, and moral conduct; excellent and elegant when referred to the graceful manners of a well-cultivated person or the virtuous charm of ideal personality. As to the beautiful as an aesthetic category in Chinese heritage, it usually covers four types of things: (1) beautiful or aesthetic objects such as picturesque landscape, excellent artwork, and so forth; (2) the elementary properties of what is beautiful such as harmonious, moderate, natural, symbolic, suggestive, and heuristic characteristics; (3) aesthetic and moral cultivation of fine taste, good conduct, and personality beauty; (4) fundamental rationales of creating the beautiful in such arts as music, poetry, landscape painting, calligraphy, literati garden designing, and so on. In most cases, these rationales are, respectively, originated from equilibrium harmony in Confucianism, spontaneous naturalnessin Daoism, and subtle void in chan Buddhism. As discerned in Chinese aesthetic tradition, there are far less metaphysical speculations of the beautiful in terms of articulated definitions and conceptual analyses, but far more phenomenological descriptions of the beautiful in terms of art appreciation and criticism. Such descriptions pertain to an organic integration of aesthetic phenomenon and aesthetic welfare, which involves three aspects at least: perceptual apprehension, inward experience, and spiritual freedom. In brief, the perceptual apprehension is pointed to what is appealing to the eye and the ear, the objects of which are visually beautiful and acoustically pleasant in form. By virtue of perceptual apprehension at this stage, human individuals will be prone to perceive and appreciate them in contrast with what is visually ugly and acoustically unpleasant. They will therefore become joy-conscious with an increased awareness of improving the status quo of human existence or the quality of life. In respect to the inward experience, it is associated with culturalpsychological formation that is consisted of cognitive, moral, and aesthetic dimensions. It keeps much more emphasis on inward cultivation instead of epistemological investigation and logical inferring. Grounded on human emotions and free play of intuitive faculties at large, it tends to work during the process of contemplating what is appealing to the mind and the wish. The objects of this category are aesthetically significant, intellectually meaningful, and morally heuristic in kind. With the help of inward experience, human individuals will be enabled to attain insights into the aesthetic, moral, and cultural values of what is contemplated. They are

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therefore inclined to feel themselves into them, detach themselves from external bondages, and find out a new alternative to live a worthwhile life. When it comes to the spiritual freedom, it is related to the free and easy wandering, the becoming of independent personality, and human convergence with nature or the universe. It is largely embodied in the aesthetic transcendence in light of the highest realm of Heaven-Human oneness. On this account, it is pointed to what is appealing to the will and the spirit. The objects in this domain are structurally magnificent or sublime, philosophically enlightening and spiritually illuminating in essence, for example, the great beauty of silence, the heavenly joy of eternal peace, and the starry night over the sky. A serene contemplation of them engages the will and the spirit in a boundless communion with all under the heaven. In this case, it serves to foster spiritual life and preserve physical health at the same time. It is sometimes tallied with the art of breathing exercise so as to nourish and harmonize the dynamic of qi (气) as vital energy or living force through the system of meridians within the body. It usually calls for concentration on inward listening, intra-Erlebnis and introspection through sitting in meditation. All this entails mental purification, spiritual freedom and aesthetic sublimation or transcendence, so to speak. Along this line of thought, this book is intended to offer a historical sketch of the Chinese concept of beauty in connection with human existence or human living. In order to render it more readable and accessible, it does not tie itself to a chronological survey of the concept itself as though it was to build up an ivory tower or labyrinth of conceptual progression in the long course of history. Instead, it attempts to examine it by looking into the beautiful in nature and art, and reconsider it in terms of its contribution to human becoming and human existence. As seen in the structure transposed in the table of contents, it sets out to explore the etymological implications of the pictographic character for beauty (beautiful), the dynamic beauty of totemic symbolism, the significant form of painted pottery, the ferocious beauty of the bronze art, the aesthetic education of the rites-music tradition that leads to the beauty or excellence of the ideal personality. Further on, it proceeds to explore the conceptual progression, primary properties, or aesthetic features of what is beautiful in such main schools of thought as Confucianism, Daoism and Chan Buddhism, among others. Then, it continues to illustrate through music, poetry, and painting the leading rationales of equilibrium-harmony, spontaneous naturalness and subtle void that are applied to creating, evaluating, and appreciating artworks in distinct genres and styles. All this can

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be both traditional and modern from the perspective of inheriting, innovating and creative transformation. As demonstrated in the rise of Chinese modern aesthetics, what has come out of creative transformation or transformational creation are such fruitful theories as poetic state par excellence and art as sedimentation. Regarding the last episode of this study project, a discussion of modern changes and transcultural reflections is conducted with particular reference to the four-fold engagement in the beautiful, which provides a new key to the how-to-live concern, say, an aesthetic alternative to enrich and better human living per se. Incidentally, the book in your hand took me a year to finish. A large part of it was written during the special period of the global campaign against coronavirus or COVID-19. It was a hard time for all the peoples, especially for the medical doctors and nurses across the world when they were engaging themselves in the life-and-death struggle in order to save more human lives. In striking contrast to the human weaknesses under whatever conditions and for whatever reasons, those medical staff members demonstrated the best of humanity through such virtues as courage, commitment, dedication, and self-sacrifice, among many others. In my view, they are the most beautiful of all for their kind protection of human existence at the most critical moment ever since the Second World War. Their heroic deeds are deeply stamped in our memory, and stay alive for humankind at confrontation with any possible catastrophes and crises in the time to come. Now the coronavirus is subdued by social capacity, cooperative mechanism, and scientific technology. Yet, a kind of panpoliticovirus as a byproduct grows even more infectious and detrimental, for it is largely rooted in the polluted soil of powerthirsty games, name-dropping conspiracies, self-interested exceptionalism, post-imperialist mentality, racist bias, nationalist hubris, and so on. What should be done with this case? Sure enough, there is no quick panacea for it at all. What can be taken as a long-term alternative is none other than developing more humane compassion, global understanding, and international collaboration for the common good of human community as a whole. Otherwise, the probability of causing more damages and mortalities would arise out of unreasonable chaos and regional conflict on such a trivial planet. At this point, it is needless to ask for whom the bell tolls after anything sorrowful. It is just for all of us at any rate. This being true, let us do what we can do so as to turn away the worst and hope for the best in this regard.

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As the brief preface is drawing to its close, it would be better to shift to something delightful and fruitful as a result of solid international cooperation. It is about the publication of this study project. Hence I would like to take this occasion to extend my heartfelt thanks to Miss Lin Wang, the editor from Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press, and Connie Li, the editor from Palgrave Macmillan Press. Without their timely support and assistance, this book could not have come out in print so smoothly as it was scheduled. However, the responsibility for any blemishes that have survived in it is naturally left to the author alone. Beijing, China 2020

Keping Wang

Acknowledgments

I would first of all like to extend my heartfelt gratitude to Professor Zehou Li (李泽厚) who has been encouraging me for years to write more in English about Chinese thoughts and aesthetics for the sake of intercultural communication and global understanding. Meanwhile, I would like to express my greatest appreciation to some of my international colleagues who have offered me generous advice and insightful observations during our conversations or conference discussions held in different countries. They are Professor Roger Ames, Rick Benitez, Arnold Berleant, Nicholas Bunnin, David Cooper, Alison Denham, Stephen Halliwell, Peter Lamarque, Karl-Heinz Pohl, Tom M. Robinson, Jana S. Rosker, Georgios Steiris, Wolfgang Welsch, and Robert Wilkinson, among many others. The autumn of 2019 witnessed my visit to National University of Athens. During my stay at the Department of Philosophy there, I was invited to co-conduct with Prof. G. Steiris a seminar on Chinese philosophy with reference to its Greek counterpart. It was so rewarding an experience that my sincere thanks are extended to all the participants in the seminar for their thought-provoking questions and free discussions related to the lectures given. Moreover, my weekend walking around the brilliantly-lighted Acropolis of Athens gave me much inspiration and joy each time. Sure enough, αγαθoι τα καλα, I believe.

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Contents

1

The Pictographic Character and Totemism The Pictographic Character for Beauty The Big-Goat Image: Flavor and Taste The Goat-Man Image: Rituality and Spirituality The Dynamic Beauty: Two Totemic Symbols

1 1 3 6 10

2

The Pottery and Bronze Art The Expressive and Significant Form The Ferocious Beauty The Grotesque Beauty The Symbolic Beauty The Chime-Bells and the Galloping Horse

13 14 21 23 25 28

3

Ethos of the Rites-Music Tradition The Beauty of Music and Rites The Multifunction of Music The Performance of Rites for Harmony The Aesthetic and Moral Interaction Cosmological and Quasi-Religious Implications

33 34 36 43 46 51

4

Confucian Ideal and Equilibrium Harmony The Beauty of the Ideal Personality A Further Enhancement of the Ideal Basic Methods of Personality Development A Dual Expectation of Artistic Perfection

55 56 62 68 74 xv

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CONTENTS

Equilibrium Harmony as Beauty Moderation of Emotional Expression An Integrated Interpretation of Poetry A Moralized Principle a Priori An Extended Scope of the Literary Mind Three Modified Theories of Poetic Beauty

75 79 84 86 92 95

5

Critique of Mohist Utilitarianism A Challenge to Confucian Values Against Music and Negative Utilitarianism For Music and Positive Utilitarianism Reflections on the Opposing Views From Joy-Consciousness to Optimistic Spirit

99 99 101 106 112 115

6

Daoist Pursuit and Spontaneous Naturalness The Beauty of the Daoist Personality The Pragmatic Way of the Sagely Person The Spiritual Freedom of the True Person The Mind-Heart Excursion for a Good Life The Beautiful and the Ugly Beautiful Words Versus True Words The Great Beauty of Silence Contemplative Attitude and Mutual Production Spontaneous Naturalness as Beauty Soundless Music and Stylistic Creation

119 120 127 130 134 142 144 147 151 154 158

7

Beyond Poetic Sentimentalism Personality Beauty of Qu Yuan Grotesque Imagery as a Tour de Force Expression of Heart-Felt Emotions A Sentimental Concern in Question

175 176 178 181 183

8

Chan Buddhism and Subtle Void The Idea of Chan as Dhy¯ana The Poetic Wisdom of G¯ath¯a Sudden Awakening and Chan Sense Subtle Void as Beauty The Poetic Art of Chan Realm

187 187 189 191 194 198

9

The Water Allegory and Waterscapes The Hidden Stream

205 205

CONTENTS

The The The The The

Water Allegory Moral Symbolism Beautiful Waterscape Majestic Waterscape Musical Water Sounds

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208 212 216 220 225

10

The Art of Painting Landscape The Synthetic Beauty The Six Rules A Hierarchy of Five Levels The Four Attainments and the Three Distances The Three Steps of Painting Landscape The Absence of Self and the Presence of Self

231 232 234 237 240 242 245

11

The Rise of Modern Chinese Aesthetics Fragmentary Account Systematic Framing Intellectual Enlightenment Transcultural Rediscovery Theoretical Incorporation Comprehensive Praxis The Poetic State Par Excellence The Theory of Art as Sedimentation

251 252 254 256 262 267 269 271 275

12

How-to-Live Concern and Fourfold Engagement The How-to-Live Concern The Structure of Human Capacity Beyond Aesthetic Engagement Illuminate the True Through the Beautiful Furnish the Good Through the Beautiful Make Life Worthwhile Through the Beautiful Create the Beautiful According to the Proper Measure

281 283 286 292 299 301 303 306

Epilogue

313

References

317

Index

325

CHAPTER 1

The Pictographic Character and Totemism

As noticed in the ancient Chinese language, the pictographic character mei (美) literally means either beauty or beautiful as there is no distinction between its noun and adjective forms in spelling. When evolved into a notion later in the Chinese history of ideas, it is referred to the beauty of a thing, a being, a scene, an institution, a personality, and the like. Accordingly, it is to be assessed in terms of different kinds of object, pleasure, and good in the aesthetic and moral domains. In short, it is used to express a trifold meaning in aesthetic, ethical, and spiritual scopes, somewhat similar to the Greek concept of kallos (kalos ) in spite of their different modes of thinking. As observed in the Chinese cultural heritage, some totemic symbols stay alive from past to present, because they embody the conception of what is beautiful that is deeply rooted in Chinese mentality and aesthetic awareness. Typical examples in this regard are lóng (龍)and fèng (鳳) as are easily available across China today.

The Pictographic Character for Beauty Etymologically, Chinese language consists of a special system of picturewriting based on pictographic characters. Most of the characters can be divided into certain minimum parts as meaningful units. Take the pictographic character mei, for example. Its etymological formation is © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021 K. Wang, Beauty and Human Existence in Chinese Philosophy, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-1714-0_1

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composed of two parts, referred to different but interlinked things. It becomes what it is when the two parts are synthesized together as a whole. According to the first Chinese dictionary called Shuo wen jie zi, the explication of the given word follows: Mei (美)[means what is] delicious and good. The word itself is made up of yang (羊) as goat and da (大) as big. The goat is one of the six species of domestic animals, and the main supplier of food. Mei as beautiful and shan (善) as good are identical in meaning.1

What can be drawn from the statement are four points at least. In the first place, mei as beautiful is referred to a “delicious and good” flavor and taste. It entails a human experience of enjoying a meal served with mutton in particular. Secondly, the formation of mei reveals an etymological structure of two components: yang (goat) and da (big), fairly distinctive and observable because the Chinese language is by nature a type of pictographic or picture-writing system. Thirdly, yang as a goat that forms the essential part of mei as beautiful is one of the six domestic animals including pig, ox, goat, horse, fowl, and dog. As “the main supplier of food” for humankind then, it is of great importance with regard to the possibility of human existence and food enjoyment as well. Last but not least, mei as beautiful and shan as good share the similar meaning in practical usage under certain circumstances. Take a bid goat, for example, it produces more mutton due to its size and weight. When well roasted, it looks both beautiful and good because of its tempting outlook, flavor, and taste. Extended from this case, the character of mei is gradually enriched in meaning. Now it means what is beautiful, fair, and fine when used to describe something artistic and attractive in appearance or form, what is good and auspicious when applied to moral conduct and social norms, and what is delicious and tasteful when employed to depict the food and beverage and their related experience of enjoyment. According to recent explications from an aesthetic point of view, the Chinese pictographic character for what is beautiful is made up of two minimum parts, which in turn incur two conjectures: one is the big-goat image and the other the goat-man image. 1 Xu Shen, Shuo wen jie zi [The First Chinese Dictionary edited in 121 A.D.] (Beijing: Zhonghua Shuju, 1963), vol. 4, p. 78. “美, 甘也, 从羊从大。 羊在六畜, 主给膳也。美与善 同”。

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3

The Big-Goat Image: Flavor and Taste The two conjectures are derived from extended implications according to the two separable parts of the character mei as beautiful. One of them is the big-goat image that is perceived as beautiful.2 Based on the pictographic structure composed of yang (goat) and da (big), it follows such a formula as yang (goat) plus da (big) makes mei (beautiful or beauty).3 This conjecture is largely originated from Xu Shen’s explanation with a stress on the sensuous quality in accord with a primordial experience of enjoying mutton as a delicacy. Just imagine, some tribesmen around a campfire are roasting a biggoat while chatting and singing in high spirits. When the goat is ready, it presents an alluring color, spreads an appealing smell, and appears in an inviting form that is crisp outside but tender inside. On this occasion, the notion of mei as beautiful is referred to the delicious mutton as a kind of nice food for an enjoyable feast. It hints upon an aesthetic impulse of the beautiful outlook of the roasted goat, and gives rise to a vague sense of beauty or aesthetic awareness on this occasion. Accordingly, it also activates the senses of sight, smell, and taste altogether. The sense of smell herein overlaps the sense of taste in spite of the fact that the former appears more objective and the latter more subjective. However, both of them pertain to the aesthetic experience and appreciation of what is “delicious and good.” In Chinese language, the word for both taste and flavor is wei (味) that is more significant in the history of Chinese aesthetics and art theory (including culinary art). More often than not, flavor is deployed as a sensuous and artistic standard, and applied to evaluating works in poetry, painting, and music, not to speak of the rich diversity of cuisine styles all over China. At this point, flavor is mixed up with taste to the extent that it demands an artwork to be

2 It is expressed in Chinese as yang da wei mei (羊大为美). According to the structure of the pictographic character mei (美), it is composed of two separable parts or characters known as yang (羊) and da (大). Yang (羊) as goat is placed in the upper part, and da (大) as big in the lower part. When put together, they make the character mei (美) as beauty or beautiful. As for its English translation “the big-goat image as beauty,” it means two things in the main: the etymological root of the character mei that is made up of goat and big, and the semantic implication of the character mei that is related to the beauty in the big-goat image (i.e. the image of the big goat itself or the big goat roasted for a feast). 3 The formula in Chinese is 羊 + 大 = 美.

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rich in flavor as an appealing power, and meanwhile expects the viewer to cultivate a good taste in light of aesthetic sensibility. That is why the viewer tends to comment on a painting by saying that it has some flavor or something tasteful (you wei). By “something tasteful” is meant that it is artistically engaging and suggestive owing to its aesthetic attraction and worth. This is also relevant to assessing a theatrical performance, natural scenery, and so forth. Hence there is a crucial principle of art criticism in terms of “purifying the mind and tasting the image.”4 It is proposed by Zong Bing (375–443 A.D.) in his essay about the art of painting landscape. Hereby the word “tasting” (wei) means appreciating and evaluating the image of the painting in one sense, and contemplating and apprehending the truth of the Dao in the other. The idea as such underlines his doctrine of spiritual detachment (chang shen) as a kind of inward cultivation for artistic creation and aesthetic contemplation. Insofar as the Western notion of taste is concerned, it is often rendered in Chinese either as qu wei, xing wei or pin wei. Literally and, respectively, it purports at interesting, inspiring and appreciating taste or flavor, often used to denote either the power of aesthetic judgment or the engagement in aesthetic experience. Yet, it is thus emphasized in terms of the Chinese notion of wei as a result of cultural tradition, perceptual convention, and language habit. All this serves to prove this point: what is beautiful as a thing like a big-goat comprises visual and sensuous pleasure at least. The visual pleasure comes from the tantalizing image of the big-goat well roasted, and the sensuous pleasure from the delicious flavor and taste of its meat. These two kinds of pleasure are perceived as goods to satisfy the bodily needs. Today, they may be utilized to meet the aesthetic needs of daily life if the cooking of mutton is up to the high standard of culinary art and also served in an artistic setting. On this account, it is etymologically defined that the big-goat image is beautiful according to the first conjecture mentioned above. Of course, the interpretation given is grounded on the etymological source of the pictographic character mei as beautiful. The old form of this character was found amidst the oracle bone inscriptions. At that time, the ancient Chinese would have a crude sense of beauty or no matter how 4 Zong Bing, “Hua shan shui xu” [Preface to Painting Landscape]. “澄怀味象……夫 以应目会心为理者, 类之成巧, 则目亦同应, 心亦俱会。应会感神, 神超理得。” “圣贤暎于绝 代, 万趣融其神思。余复何为哉, 畅神而已。神之所畅, 孰有先焉。 ”.

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5

simple, naïve, or obscure it was, because they were already exposed to the picture-writing system as an evidence of their primordial abstractive thinking and creative capability at an elementary stage. Historically, the oracle bone inscriptions came into maturity during the Yin and Shang Dynasties (1600–1046 B.C.), much later than the earliest inscriptions on bones and potteries, which are recognized as writing signs and verified in 1960s by archaeological findings at Jiahu of Henan province in China. These signs can be traced back to the Neolithic era over 9000 years before.5 Talking about the big-goat image as beauty from an aesthetic perspective, we should not overlook the living reality of homo sapiens during the prehistorical phase prior to the emergence of picture-writing system in oracle and bone inscriptions. At that time, the primitives seemed to have some aesthetic impulse to the beautiful aspect of the roasted goat concerned as they did with other kinds of food. What interested them more than anything else were food and children owing to their paramount importance. Insofar as in the reality according to common sense, if man the individual is to live, he must have food; if his race is to persist, he must have children. As James Frazer has well said, To live and to cause to live, to eat food and to beget children, these were the primary wants of man in the past, and they will be the primary wants of men in the future so long as the world lasts.6

Nevertheless, “the primary wants” could not be what they were alone. They would go with other things involved. Other things like the aesthetic impulse to the beautiful food, say, the roasted goat, may be added to enrich human life then, even though they were not as important as the two basic needs concerned. Generally speaking, food is for preserving life, and children for generational reproduction. The need of food is the first priority and preconditions the need of children. With the advancement of human culture and civilization, the need of food entails a practical

5 Xueqin Li, Garman Harbottle, Juzhong Zhang & Changsui Wang, “The Earliest Writing Sign Use in the Seventh Millennium BC at Jiahu, Henan Province, China,” in the Antiquity, Mar. 2015. 6 Cf. Jane Ellen Harrison, Ancient Art and Ritual (London: Williams & Norgate, 1913), p. 50.

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craft, producing such things as beautiful delicacy, beautiful wine, beautiful dinnerware and the like; meanwhile, the need of children leads to somatic aesthetics, generating such notions as beautiful girl, beautiful boy, beautiful spouse, and so on. In antiquity, productivity was low and backward. Food and children were often in short supply but in great demand, thus growing into something vital and sacred. Under such circumstances, they “were what men chiefly sought to procure by the performance of magical rites for the regulation of the seasons. They were the very foundation-stones of that ritual from which art, if we are right, took its rise.”7 Coincidentally, the Chinese character of mei as beautiful also implies something related to magical ritual as is to be clarified subsequently.

The Goat-Man Image: Rituality and Spirituality Compared with what is stated above, the other conjecture is presumed to be the goat-man image as beauty.8 Grounded on the pictographic structure segmented into yang (goat) and ren (man), it descends from such a formula as yang (goat) plus ren (man) makes mei (beautiful or beauty).9 In brief, the conjecture of the goat-man image as beauty springs from the hypothesis, if not imagination, of ancient rituals in tribe culture. In the formula given, ren as man is assumed to be a big man (da ren) not only in size and age, but also in power and divinity. The goat-man image as such is intended to signify a big man wearing a goat head over his shoulder. The man could be either a shaman or tribe chief, the two roles of which

7 Jane Ellen Harrison, Ancient Art and Ritual, p. 50. 8 This conjecture is initially proposed by Xiao Bing (1933-) and shared by some others.

It is expressed in Chinese as yang ren wei mei (羊人为美), which is an extended explication of the pictographic character mei qua beautiful according to the study of ancient rituals. Structurally, the character mei is composed of two separable parts or characters known as yang (羊) and da (大). Hereby da as big is perceived as the image of a man standing apart with a broad shoulder that appears like a big man (da ren大人). When put together, the character mei as beautiful arises out of the upper part yang (羊) as goat and the lower part ren (人) as man standing apart with a broad shoulder. The English translation “the goat-man image as beauty” denotes two things at large: the etymological root of the character mei that is made up of goat and man, and the semantic implication of the character mei that is pointed to the beauty in the goat-man image (i.e. the image of a big man wearing a goat head as a totemic symbol over his shoulder). 9 The formula in Chinese is 羊 + 人 = 美.

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would be integrated into one according to Shamanism. The goat head could be an animal specimen, and used as a symbolic totem worshipped. Respected as a quasi-religious, spiritual, and political leader, the goat-man was believed to possess magic power to communicate with the divine spirits, and pray for secret oracles or prophets. This man would perform a special role of dancing and murmuring incantations when it came to celebrating, praying, and mourning rituals at a sacred spot. Afterwards he would pass on what occurred to his mind as oracles or prophets to the tribal members. Such oracles or prophets would be decisive with regard to their fortunes and misfortunes, requirements and imperatives, immediate events and future happenings, among others. All this was mystical and mysterious, pertaining to the synthesis of quasi-religious ritual and spiritual divination. To the extent of such an occasion, mei as beautiful is referred not only to the image of the goat-man, but also to his magic power characterized with rituality and spirituality. From my point of view, the beautiful dimension of the goat-man gives rise to visual, audio, and spiritual pleasure at large. The visual pleasure is drawn from the mystical image of the big man or tribe chief who is wearing a goat head over his shoulder, the audio pleasure from his singing and dancing when performing the rituals or prayers, and the spiritual pleasure from both the shaman-like communion with the divinities and the gratification of the spiritual needs in the tribal community. To the extent of this interpretation, the goat-man image may appear beautiful to the eyes of primitives in general. Moreover, as shamanist tradition is fairly strong and consistent throughout Chinese history, the goat-man could be seen as a shaman with magic power who was originally called wu. In a tribal community, a shaman would occupy a very important position, as he would play a role like a prophet, fortune-teller, a quasi-divine messenger with deities, spirits. and late ancestors. He could be powerful and influential for certain. In many cases, the shaman and the chief were one in the tribal community. As the Chinese character wu (巫) as shaman is phonetically and semantically pointed to wu (舞) as dance, both of them are allied with ancient dancing as one of the ancient rituals. With respect to the goat-man, he is alleged to perform the goat dance, a kind of beast dance. This hints on the primitive form of dance as a genre of art to some extent, which is associated with a diversity of events and ends in the living activities and experiences of the primitives.

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Such dance can be deemed as a budding ritual and a spiritual activity alike. It bears two leading features: rituality and spirituality. Rituality grows out of the attentive performing and watching of the repeated mode of the goat dance for practical interests and spiritual ends. Spirituality is quasi-religious and shaman-oriented by nature. It comes from such emotions as admiration, reverence, fear, and faith extended to the goatman who is believed to possess magic power. It works to enhance the communal cohesion and solidarity among the tribesmen and tribeswomen in particular. Rituality and spirituality are, formally and teleologically, interrelated with and even interdependent upon one another. At this point, the goat dance may turn out to be a reminder of the Greek word dremenon for “rite done,” which is claimed to set out the historical transition from dremenon to drama through miming. With particular reference to such plays as the Birds, Frogs, and Wasps by Aristophanes, we can see men as actors imitating birds and beasts, dressed in their skins and feathers, mimicking their gestures. If we look at the beginning of things, we find an origin and an impulse much deeper, vaguer, and more emotional… The beast dances found widespread over the savage world took their rise when men really believed, what St. Francis tried to preach: that beasts and birds and fishes were his “little brothers.” Or rather, perhaps, more strictly, he felt them to be his great brothers and his fathers, for the attitude of the Australian towards the kangaroo, the North American towards the grizzly bear, is one of affection tempered by deep religious awe. The beast dances look back to that early phase of civilization which survives in crystallized form in what we call totemism. “Totem” means tribe, but the tribe was of animals as well as men.10

Quite naturally, this depiction leads us to imagine the attitude of the Chinese tribesmen toward the goat despite that there were many other tribes worshipping other beasts (e.g., bear, eagle, snake, imagined dragon, phoenix, etc.) across the vast area of ancient China. Yet, the Chinese tribesmen tend to go beyond their intimate and affective relationship with the goat in this specific case. They are liable to worship it because they may be unable to distinguish the goat and the goat-man at the early stage. In their eyes and minds as well, the two entities are combined into one

10 Jane E. Harrison, Ancient Art and Ritual, pp. 45–46.

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under certain conditions of ritual praxis. As a rule, the tribesmen have their admiration, reverence, love, and even fear for the goat-man as a great shaman with magic power. When they are going out for a hunt, a harvest, a journey, a battle, or any event that has caused their deep concern and enthusiasm, the goat-man will react to the goat dance and pray for a good result on behalf of the tribal community. When they return from all these events triumphantly and delightedly, the goat-man will repeat the performance, probably in a modified manner but in a happy mood. It can be envisioned that in front of the rest of the tribesmen, women, and young children sitting around the campfire at night, there arises the prime time for the goat-man to demonstrate the goat dance as the primordial form of action art under the ritual umbrella. It is definitely an involving celebration saturated with festive ambiance. As it is well put, The cause of this worldwide custom is no doubt in great part the desire to repeat a pleasant experience; the battle or the hunt will not be re-enacted unless it has been successful. Together with this must be reckoned a motive seldom absent from human endeavor, the desire for self-exhibition, selfenhancement. But in this re-enactment, we see at once, lies the germ of history and of commemorative ceremonial, and also, oddly enough, an impulse emotional in itself begets a process we think of as characteristically and exclusively intellectual, the process of abstraction.11

To my understanding, the process as such can be allegorically likened to a hotbed, employed to hatch the upcoming birth of totemism, ritual, and art altogether during the early phase of human civilization. Nowadays, one aspect of the goat-man legacy might be hidden in a transformed engagement in gig festivals around a bonfire at a sparse prairie under the moonlit sky, so appealing and inviting in an aesthetic and social sense. However, the goat-man as a totem or shaman is hardly available owing to its extinction in the course of history. What we often encounter across China today are such symbols as lóng and fèng due to their persistent existence and popularity. These two symbols were stemmed from ancient totems worshiped among varied clans and tribes during and after prehistorical times.

11 Jane E. Harrison, Ancient Art and Ritual, p. 42.

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The Dynamic Beauty: Two Totemic Symbols As mentioned above, totem means tribe made up of animals and men. More specifically, it is a symbol of one group, mainly in order to distinguish one group from the other. From a totem one can draw interferences about an ethnic group’s myths, historical records, and customs. In primitive eras, it was believed that certain natural objects or animate beings had a blood connection with their ethnic heritage. Therefore, a kind of animal or plant could be used as the image or sign of the ethnic group. Totem could be seen as a personified worship object at large. As read in Chinese totemism and mythology, the lóng (龍) as so-called dragon is assumingly originated from the prototype image of snake. This cold-blood animal was found too difficult to subdue, because it was and still is more adaptable to the living environment, more intelligent to hide itself in secret places, and more powerful to attack its rivals of other species. Hence the primitives took it as a worship object. However, the story of the totem has been developed continuously. In more cases, the lóng is perceived as an imagined animal with divine and unique power. It is described as mystically visible and invisible. That is, it is alleged to show itself off when flying into the sky on the Day of Spring Equinox, and to hide itself up when going under waters on the Day of Autumnal Equinox. It is bestowed with the supernatural power to produce clouds and rainfalls. Its totemic image has become more complicated than it came out first during the process of its fictional development. As described in the Book of Mountains and Seas (Shan hai jing ), there were a number of archetypal images of lóng (龍) in distinct colors and shapes. One of them lived as the god of Zhongshan Mountain in such a mythical manner: When it opens its eyes, it is day; when it closes them, it is night; when it blows, it is winter; when it exhales, it is summer. It does not eat or drink or breathe; when it does breathe, its breath is the wind. Its body is a thousand miles long….It is red, and has the face of a man and the body of a snake.

Such an incredible and monstrous lóng may embody the Creator of the universe and the prehistorical ancestor of Chinese nation. Meanwhile, it may symbolize a common ideological or conceptual system of many clans, tribes, and tribal alliances over the indefinite period of time across China.

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Recent research in this sphere tends to arrive at a tentative but more agreeable conclusion: The lóng that has become the symbol of the Chinese nation is mainly a snake, to which parts of other animals have been added. It has the body of a snake, the legs of a deer, the paws of a dog, and the scales and whiskers of a fish. This may indicate that ancient China’s clans and tribes, whose totems were mainly snakes, had conquered and assimilated other clans and tribes, in the course of which the snake totem incorporated the features of other totems and gradually evolved into the “dragon.”12

As claimed in Chinese tradition, the lóng would be an overriding totem in North China, and the fèng (鳳) an important totem among various tribes in East China. The advent of the lóng was a bit earlier than that of the fèng. As noted in the documents available, the lóng as an imagined animal is allegedly composed of dear-like horns, camel-like head, hare-like eyes, snake-like neck, clam-like belly, carp-like scales, eagle-like claws, tiger-like palms, and ox-like ears. It is assumed to be collective of different totems from different tribes in the remote antiquity. The fèng is also an imagined creature and chiefly described as phoenix, a bird of divinity. It resembles in some way the rooster image in rich colors and also boasts a natural gift of singing and dancing. Amidst all the descriptions there are two most popular ones given below: The fèng (鳳) as phoenix is a supernatural bird. Heaven says it has the breast of a wild goose and the rump of a unicorn, the neck of a snake and the tail of a fish, the scales of a dragon and the back of a turtle, the chin of a swallow and the beak of a chicken; it possesses all the colors and comes from the country of gentlemen in the east [China].13 In the great wilderness…there were nine gods who had the faces of humans and the bodies of birds. They were called the Nine Phoenixes.14

12 Li Zehou, The Path of Beauty: A Study of Chinese Aesthetics (trans. Gong Lizeng, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1994), p. 6. 13 It is cited from a translated quotation from Li Zehou, The Path of Beauty: A Study of Chinese Aesthetics, p. 7. 14 Ibid. Cf. Shan hai jing [Book of Mountains and Seas]. It is a collection of Chinese legendary stories and myths in antiquity.

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In the long course ranging from the Paleolithic Age via the Neolithic to the early slave society of the Xia and Shang Dynasties, the two totemic symbols had gone through a process of deification, transformation, and enculturation. They were gradually imbued with other meaning and significance. According to the cosmological vision of the Yin-Yang school in Chinese thoughts, for instance, the lóng is used to signify the Yang whereas the fèng used to indicate the Ying. Moreover, both of them are presumed to herald peace over the world, and symbolic of good fortune in a positive sense. In any case, the two totems underwent a process of change with the passage of time. They became moralized to the extent that the lóng symbolized the supreme nobility while the fèng the highest virtue. Thus, they were often used metaphorically to mean a number of things such as the imperial features of the emperor, the outstanding talents of individuals, the great bliss and good fortune, among others. As detected in the residues of Chinese totemism, the lóng and fèng are granted as badges or logos peculiar to the royal family. Their transfigured images are ubiquitous in different shapes, sizes, and materials as seen in the Forbidden City and many other historical sites. The lóng in the image of dragon often appears together with the fèng in that of phoenix, which are deployed as royal symbols. The former stands for the emperor who was proclaimed to be the “real dragon and heavenly son” (zhen lóng tian zi) with mighty power while the latter for the empress of nobility and graceful charm. When they are circulating around one another, they are perceived as an auspicious sign and a mystical synthesis of harmonious and dynamic beauty. All this is also denoted in such old but still popular sayings as “the dragon is playing with the phoenix” (you lóng xi fèng ), “the dragon and phoenix together accomplish the auspicious” (lóng fèng cheng xiang ) and “the flying dragon with the dancing phoenix are all dynamic and magnificent” (lóng fei fèng wu). As a result of the expressiveness and impressiveness of its image, the lóng is used frequently to illustrate the hexagrams in the Book of Changes. It is passed on from past to present, conducive to the lóng culture and folk art. For instance, the majority Han people in China claim themselves as the offspring of the long, for they worship and appreciate the dynamic beauty of the flying dragon. They have also transfigured the lóng or dragon dance in varied styles. Such dance is performed with massive collaboration when celebrating some nationwide festivals such as Chinese New Year and Lantern Festival nowadays.

CHAPTER 2

The Pottery and Bronze Art

The early sense of beauty in tangible objects is embodied in the painted pottery during the New Stone Age. Many objects of this kind are excavated out of some Neolithic ruins across China, among which the Yangshao and the Majiayao are most famous. These two sites are situated along the Yellow River region, and separated apart by a distance of over 900 km. The archaeological finds therein not only reveal a cultural linkage, extension, and change, but also an involving expression of realistic images and human feelings. For instance, some of them evince the transition from concretization to abstraction or from representation to expression; some manifest the pragmatic wisdom and living experience of the primitives; and some display evident hints and traces of the primordial dance performed by the primitives. They all appeal to modern viewers owing to their expressive and significant form. What came into being after pottery was the Bronze art that could be traced back to the Xia Dynasty (e.2070–1600 B.C.) and Shang Dynasty (e. 1600–1040 B.C.). Comparatively speaking, the bronze art was technically refined and widely produced during the Zhou Dynasty (1046 B.C.–256 B.C.). Used as ritual vessels, power symbols, food containers, and so forth, many bronze works consist of such artistic elements as unique forms, grotesque patterns, and engraved characters in pictographic styles.

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021 K. Wang, Beauty and Human Existence in Chinese Philosophy, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-1714-0_2

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The bronze art signifies not simply a historical phase, but also a miracle of human invention. According to the legendary stories, the casting of the Nine Vessels in the Xia Dynasty is hypothesized to be the outset of the Bronze Age in China proper. The hypothesis is supported by increasing evidences from the archeological finds in Erlitou, Longshan and elsewhere in modern Henan province. The maturity of the bronze art is largely verified by a huge number of objects unearthed in the area of Baoji and Xian in Shan’xi province. This area used to be the capital district of the Zhou Dynasty. Now it is called “the home of bronze ware.” The year 2010 witnessed the opening ceremony of Baoji Bronze Art Museum, where there are over 7500 vessels on display apart from the growing number of new archeological finds. A rich collection of bronze artworks is available in other big museums of many megacities like Xian, Shanghai, Luoyang, Beijing, and the like. Moreover, a new style of bronze art in Guanghan of Sichuan province was discovered in late 1920s, and excavated at a large-scale in 1980s. It is dated back to the period from 2800 B.C. to 1100 B. C. The Sanxingdui Museum was accomplished and opened to the public in 1997. All these museums located near the historical sites receive millions of visitors every year from home and abroad.

The Expressive and Significant Form All arts, from past to present, are based on the development of formal relations aligned with shapes, figures, colors, lines, patterns, and the like. This being true, beautiful form or formal beauty derives from the “will to form” through creative arrangements of the parts into an organic whole, which features a relevant degree of regularity, symmetry, proportion, diversity in unity, and so forth. As regards pottery, for example, it is plastic in its most abstract essence. As it is well put, pottery is the simplest and the most difficult of all arts. It is the simplest because it is the most elementary; it is the most difficult because it is the most abstract. Historically it is among the first of the arts. The earliest vessels were shaped by hand from crude clay dug out of the earth, and such vessels were dried in the sun and wind. Even at that stage, before

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man could write, before he had a literature or even a religion, he had this art, and the vessels then made can still move us by their expressive form.1

Again, what moves us is their form, their “expressive form” that arouses the human emotions of living experiences, such as wonder, admiration, sympathy, and empathy. If we look into the prehistorical or historical context of pottery objects of different kinds, their “expressive form” can be identified with their “significant form” at large. According to Clive Bell, significant form is the only quality common and peculiar to all the works of visual art that move me, and I will ask those whose aesthetic experience does not tally with mine to see whether this quality is not also, in their judgment, common to all works that move them, and whether they can discover any other quality of which the same can be said.2

The “significant form” as the only quality arises out of the combinations and arrangements of lines and colors, their relations and quantities and qualities in such works of visual art as pictures, sculptures, buildings, pots, carvings, textiles, and so forth. These works provoke a particular kind of aesthetic emotion different from other ordinary feelings. Derived from and identified with the “significant form,” this aesthetic emotion is the essential quality common and peculiar to all works of visual art that vary with each individual, move the person who contemplates them, and distinguish themselves from other classes of objects that cannot arouse the same emotion mentioned above. Moreover, the emotion and quality alike involve aesthetic judgments as matters of taste. They are therefore subjective and indisputable in principle. Bell sees the “significant form” as the combinations and arrangements of lines and colors that move us in a particular way. He firmly believes that this aesthetic hypothesis has a merit as it “does help to explain things.”3 Actually, it once brought forth a historic effect soon after its advent, and became a catchphrase widely applied to art criticism over the first quarter of the twentieth century. Nevertheless, a closer examination of it leads us to find it falling into a 1 Herbert Read, The Meaning of Art (London: Penguin Books, 1st ed. 1931, rep. 1961), p. 22. 2 Clive Bell, Art (Kindle edition, 2012), p. 6. 3 Clive Bell, Art (Kindle edition, 2012), p. 8.

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circular interpretation as though it were tautologically bridled. Say, the “significant form” is defined as the “only quality” common and peculiar to all works of visual art, and the quality as such is directed to the “aesthetic emotion” concerned; this being the case, it follows that the “aesthetic emotion” originates only from the “significant form.” All this turns out to revolve on a merry-go-round. On this account, it reminds us of a cynical critique by Curt John Ducasse. As read in his essay, Significant Form, like the X in a mathematician’s equation, turns out to be but the name Mr. Bell proposes to give to what he is looking for. Naming the baby before it is born is indeed a legitimate and amusing pastime, but unfortunately it does not tell us whether it is a boy or a girl, blue-eyed or black, or anything else about it. However, it might be thought that the simile is not fair, for while a baby’s name is a proper name and does not describe, Significant Form appears to be a descriptive name; and thus it perhaps does of itself constitute an answer after all. But this possibility is left open by Mr. Bell…only to entice us along to the second installment of the joke. The cunning of the man is truly devilish: he, so to say, trips us into the river; then holds out to us a pole; and when we seize it in our agony he pushes us under with it.4

In Ducasse’s opinion, the hypothesis of “significant form” appears somewhat helpful to resolve the aesthetic property or metaphysical matter with visual art in particular, but it remains a catchword merely due to its popularity among some art critics during the period of time. It can be seen as a clever device, for it has neatly and quietly robbed the term of all intelligible meaning. However, it does not work when applied to dealing with the issues concerning the aesthetic emotion arising out of the beauty of other objects, natural or artistic, except the lines and colors and their combinations. Notwithstanding all this, the theory of the “significant form” can be valid to some extent in my judgment when applied to the pottery vessels in the Neolithic Age. As seen through the museum items on display, many of the pots are exposed to seemingly pure geometric patterns and lines distinct from other ordinary forms and lines because

4 Curt John Ducasse, The Philosophy of Art (Norwood, MA: The Dial Press, 1929), Appendix: “The Significant Form,” pp. 308–309.

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they evolved from realistic images and incorporated their socially defined content or meaning. They are “significant form” because human feelings towards them incorporated special conceptual and imaginative elements— feelings so different from ordinary emotions, perceptions, and experience that they are a special kind of “aesthetic emotion”…But it should be noted that, as time passed, what was originally significant form gradually lost its significance through repetition and imitation. It became ordinary, standardized, formal beauty—and aesthetic emotion became a general feeling for form. Thus the geometric patterns became in time the earliest models and specimens of decorative and formal beauty.5

The process of evolution aforementioned was progressive and timeconsuming. Realistic images were drawn mainly from frog, fish, bird, homo sapiens, and so on. Just imagine, when seeing frogs and fishes swimming in the water, birds flying in the sky, and humans dancing around a campfire on the occasion of celebrating an event, the primitives may find their modes of movement all miraculous, and undergo a mixed experience of wonder and curiosity, which may in turn drive them to outlet their feelings through the pots they happened to make as necessary and practical objects for daily life or productive activities. In other words, they may create, consciously and unconsciously, something on the pottery so as to express what occurred to their minds. Further on, this may conduce to create realistic images that would be mixed up with human feelings and wishes related to primitive magic and ritual. These images were more concrete and identifiable at the beginning, and slowly became more abstract and geometric. The process of change was vital owing to gradual evolution and sedimentation in the development of human civilization and culture. It went through a transition from concretization to abstraction, from representation to expression, and from realism to symbolism. Meanwhile, it helped the primitives nurture their aesthetic impulse of formal beauty in what they made and utilized for labor and life. Let us take for example the designs on the painted pottery unearthed at the Yangshao and Majiayao ruins. Briefly, the Culture of Yangshao emerged and continued approximately from 5000 to 3000 B.C. As a further development of the same origin, the Culture of Majiayao extended from the middle to the northwest of China along the Yellow River region,

5 Li Zehou, The Path of Beauty: A Study of Chinese Aesthetics (trans. Gong Lizeng, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1994), p. 21.

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and ranged from about 4200 to 3300 B.C.6 As observed on the painted pottery during the Yangshao period, some geometric patterns evolved from fish-shaped, bird-shaped, and frog-shaped designs. The fish body, for instance, became more stylized while its head became more simplified. It is the same case with the frog and the bird. Both the Banpo ruins in Xian and Miaodigou ruins in Gansu belong to the Yangshao culture. In comparison, the geometric patterns on the Banpo painted pottery were derived from fish-shaped designs, while those on the Miaodigou painted pottery derived from bird-shaped designs. This explains the reason why the former consisted of simple straight lines whereas the latter of wavelike curves. Moreover, the designs on the pottery were not pure decorative art at all, but an expression of the material culture of the clan community. In the majority of cases, they existed as clan totems or other symbols of worship.7 In my observation after visiting museums in Greece, Britain, Iran, and Turkey, the Majiayao pottery excavated up till now demonstrate geometric patterns that procure a kind of dynamic harmony. Their swirling curves are interlinked, seemingly bursting out of the limited surface. Some are so lively and expressive, stimulating vicariously emotional responses beyond any verbal description. They are so engaging and impressive, extending the imagination of modern viewers to the extent that they may activate their memory of the sensational images of swirling nighty stars as portrayed by Vincent van Gogh in some of his master pieces. Talking about the significant form of the painted pottery again, we should never neglect the pragmatic wisdom and living experience it embodies. Nowadays, visitors to the Banpo ruins have easy access to the pottery in different size but in similar shape. Being cone-shaped at the bottom, each of them has two big ears at the upper top to hold up a piece of strong strap made of animal skin with an appropriate length for practical usage. They were used to fetch water from the river outside the clan community. An experiment shows that this type of vessel can easily dip into the water and let it fill up so long as you drop it into the flowing current. Chen-Ning Yang, a Nobel Laureate for physics in 1957, 6 Johan Gunnar Andersson, An Early Chinese Culture, 1923; Children of the Yellow Earth: Studies in Prehistoric China, 1934. 7 A number of citations are available in Li Zehou, The Path of Beauty: A Study of Chinese Aesthetics, pp. 17–19.

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was amazed with the sparkling wisdom of the primitives at the sight of the cone-shaped vessels during his first visit to the historical site. He expressed his astonishment about the wonderful use of the principle of liquid pressure. According to the formula P = F/S, when F stays unchanged, the smaller S is, the greater P grows. Simply put, a cone-shaped vessel just has a reasonably big mouth at its top but merely a tiny sharp point at its bottom, it naturally bears a large quantity of pressure such that it can easily get into the water and fetch it without any difficulty. It would be a different story if it were made with a flat bottom. In antiquity, water source was vital to human existence. The way of fetching water by the homo sapiens reflected their pragmatic wisdom and living experience to some extent. When contemplating the pottery objects in association with the excavated site and its nearby surroundings, the visitors today tend to envision an enhanced awareness of historical space–time of the primitive inhabitants and a corresponding sense of vicissitudes of their struggle for existence. Attributed to the Majiayao culture, a painted pottery basin unearthed at Sunjiazhai of Qinghai province in 1973 provides an interesting scene of three groups of dancing figures. The basin is made of red clay, elegantly potbellied, and lip-curved. It is totally 14.1 cm high, with a caliber of 29 cm wide and a flat bottom smoothly shrinking back by a centimeter or so. It is decorated with three lines around its outer surface, and four lines circulating around its inner surface. As noted inside it, there are three dancing groups, each of which has five figures of hand-in-hand dancers. When the basin has some water poured in and gets gently rotated, the water starts to move, and so do the dancers with their inverted images reflected in the water. It is amazingly dynamic, vigorous, and graceful for the time of the primitives. The whole scene as such is assumed to be the earliest representation of primitive dancing and singing that would go together on most of the occasions. All the dancers are facing the same direction, each with an oblique line at the side of the head that seems to be a braid of hair. The outer arms of the dancers at the two ends of each group are represented by two lines, which may suggest that the movements of their free arms were greater and more rapid than those of the other dancers in between. As to the three lines below the body, two of them stretching to the ground are undoubtedly the legs, one of them slanting aside may be some kind of tail-like ornament. An analysis follows:

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The vivid and lively postures of the dancers, their light, orderly, and harmonious movements, their vitality and charming naïveté, all suggest that the basin was made during the legendary epoch of Shennong, a period of relative peace and tranquility in the heyday of the matriarchal society…The basin design is both realistic and allegorical. Certain similarities can be found between its regular, pattern-like images and the realistic imagery in the later European cave murals—both were accurate depictions of lively movements but crude in outline. However, being a product of the Neolithic, the basin design had to conform to the idea of geometric lines that was predominant at that time; consequently, it possessed a far more abstract form and mystical significance than did the cave murals. It was not, as modern observers might believe, a portrayal of leisurely moments but a realistic expression of solemn and serious rituals. Dancing was the form of activity in magic and rites; and primitive songs and dances were exercises in the worship of the dragon and phoenix totems.8

The analysis above is relevant to a considerable degree. Yet, there are two points that require further verification. Firstly, the basin design is deprived of its possibility to portray the “leisurely moments” of the primitives at that time, and merely confined to “a realistic expression of solemn and serious rituals.” This argument holds water only when the basin design is proved to be a kind of sacrificial offering used on special occasions to invoke or pray for help from gods or ancestors’ spirits. Otherwise, it stays open to the activities of leisure moments when the primitives attempted to relax and enjoy themselves after work, holding hands with one another while singing and dancing under the trees or by the riverside. It could be particularly so when the basin and its design were used practically for daily life, for instance, used to contain water, rinse cereals, and wash hands and face, etc. Secondly, it is a bit too conclusive to affirm that “primitive songs and dances were exercises in the worship of the dragon and phoenix,” because it needs more specific proofs. Even though the dragon and phoenix are considered to be prevailing totemic symbols employed from antiquity onward, it still demands reliable evidences to attest that they were predominant during the Neolithic period in the remote area of Qinghai province far away from the cradle of the dragonphoenix culture in the Mid-China. As luck would have it, the basin design of dancing figures does give a solid example of the primitive songs and

8 Li Zehou, The Path of Beauty: A Study of Chinese Aesthetics, pp. 12–13.

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dances described in ancient writings in one sense, and touch upon the early birth of Chinese rites-music tradition in the other.

The Ferocious Beauty The bronze designs are presumably associated in a way with the pottery designs in that the origin of both can be traced back to the pre-existent totems. When examined time-wise, the bronze designs are assumed to reveal the evidences of the transition from the Neolithic Period to the Bronze Age. Such designs represent primarily expressions of the will and power of the ruling class in particular. Distinguished from the mystical geometric patterns on pottery, they bear images of animals, one of which is called taotie. Imagined and transfigured as it is, taotie is perceived as an auspicious symbol of totemic function, and believed to protect society, coordinate the upper and lower classes, inherit the fortunes of Heaven, and swallow down the enemies as well. In a word, it is conjectured as a gigantic defender of its worshipers, but a fatal killer of its rivals. Then, what was it on earth? It still remains unknown until today. It is seen on some huge bronze vessels to have the head of a monster-like animal. Its image appears to be an ox, a sheep, a tiger, a deer, or a baboon. According to Li Zehou, it was intended to be the head of an ox, but not an ordinary ox; it was the sacred ox leagued with the magic and religious rites of remote antiquity. Studies of southwestern China’s ethnic groups indicate that the ox head was an important symbol in ancient religious rites, during which it was hung high on a treetop for the inhabitants around to behold it. It was extremely important and sacred to a clan or tribe because it was claimed to have the magic power to drive away evils and ills alike. It thus became a symbol of mystery, terror, and awe because of the supernatural power it was deemed to have.9 Nowadays we can find an artistic spell in such bronze vessels, especially in those with the taotie images utilized as typical designs and motifs. The images are savage-looking in the eyes of modern viewers. Yet, they bear a dual nature in that they were fearful and terrifying to the alien enemies, and auspicious and protective to the host worshipers. That is to say, they would be feared and hated by some, but loved and worshiped by others. They would function more or less like the old

9 Li Zehou, The Path of Beauty: A Study of Chinese Aesthetics, p. 29.

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myths of savagism, the legendary tales of barbarism, and the crude and horror-ridden artworks in antiquity across the world. Off-handed examples are the Greek myths, Homer’s epics, African masks, Indian tattoos, and so forth. They are assumed to contain religious passions, conceptual elements, historic forces, and aesthetic appeal in kind. With all these savage, strange, and hideous features embodied in the bronze vessels, they tend to stimulate an emotional response and pump up a strong feeling of mystery, power, terror, and ferocity. It is reckoned that such aesthetic appeal ends up in the “ferocious beauty,”10 which asks for a detached attitude for the sake of appreciating it due to its sensational and awesome characteristics. Here are two samples for justification. One is a square bronze vessel produced in the Shang Dynasty and unearthed in Hunan province in 1959. It is called ding (鼎) in Chinese, and displayed in Hunan Province Museum (Changsha). It is also named the Bronze Da He Human Face because of its two Chinese characters (da he大禾) inscribed inside. It is 38.5 cm high, 29.8 cm long, and 23.7 cm wide. It represents the prevailing images of taotie at that time. The sculptured images on each side are so bold, mysterious, and horrifying that they are nowhere to be found in the real world. The other example is the Bronze Axe as a huge and powerful weapon made in the Shang Dynasty. It was excavated in Shandong province. It is called yue (钺) in Chinese, and displayed in China National Museum (Beijing). The image of taotie herein is distorted and hollowed out, looking rather scaring and threatening. As evinced in these two bronze objects given, the taotie images are employed as designs and motifs to express a passionate feeling of mystery, power, terror, and ferocity. Its images, like a beast or human face distorted on the objects, are imaginary and awesome. Such images were often presented on the bronze vessels used in primitive sacrificial ceremonies to worship gods, spirits, and ancestors. Later on, these bronze vessels were also made for other purposes. Say, they could be used to display the supreme power of the ruling class, contain food for a large feast, and perform a sacrificial ritual. Even though they had a gross and purposeful intention to magnify the fierce and horrible in the past, now they still expose something that is not only aesthetically appealing, naïve, and

10 Li Zehou, The Path of Beauty: A Study of Chinese Aesthetics, p. 31. Li coins a new concept of ferocious beauty known in Chinese as ning li mei (狞厉美).

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original, but spiritually mysterious, mighty, and supernatural. As it is stated, They emanate an aura of threat and mystery because they represent an all-powerful, transcendent supernatural concept. They are beautiful not because of their ornamental quality, but because their sturdy lines, cast or carved in bold relief, symbolize primitive sentiments and concepts that could not be expressed in words. They and the strong, solid vessels on which they appear aptly reflect the savage epoch of blood and fire that preceded the era of civilization.11

It is fairly true that “the savage epoch of blood and fire” was an inevitable episode of the march of history toward the illumination of human nature and civility. At that time, war, battle, and violence tuned out to be the midwife of civilization under certain circumstances. Still, the deliberate flaunting of violence, mighty prowess, military expedition, and conquest was the pride and glory of early hierarchy and patriarchy society because they brought a large-scaled amalgamation to clans and tribes. Yet, as far as the notion of “ferocious beauty” is concerned, it conforms with all the sensational features mentioned above, but appears paradoxical because of the incompatible linkage between what is perceived as ferocious and what is perceived as beautiful. The paradox in this case could be suspended by treating the term beautiful as a derivative from the aesthetic appeal or property that is expressive, sensuous, and engaging in an artistic sense. All this is applicable to the bronze objects of the taotie designs in the foregoing discussion.

The Grotesque Beauty The bronze art in China came into being and scattered over the Yellow River region during the Xia Dynasty (e. 2070–1600 B.C.). Yet, it extended to the Yangtze River area during the Shang Dynasty (e. 1600– 1046 B.C.). As noted in Chinese archaeology, the year 1986 witnessed the most important discovery of two sacrificial pits at Sanxingdui ruins in Guanghan of Sichuan province. Situated at the upper layer of the Yangtze River, this place is considered to be the location of the Ancient Shu Kingdom (approx. 3000–1000 B.C.) and the cradle of Sanxingdui 11 Li Zehou, The Path of Beauty: A Study of Chinese Aesthetics, p. 30.

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culture, which can be dated back to the late New Stone Age according to the archaeological finds of pottery and jade objects from 1929 to 1984.12 Unearthed in 1986 from the two pits were about 1000 pieces of precious relics made of bronze, gold, jade, bone, stone, and shell. Among them there are nearly 400 bronze objects of enormous cultural values. In spite of their hidden heritage related to the bronze art across the Yellow River region during the Shang Dynasty, they all demonstrate unique features, distinctive styles, and a variety of size and weight. Take two of the bronze masks for example. One of them is 64.5 cm high and 138 cm wide. It has a big mouth, two huge ears, and two large and long eyes that bulge out as much as 16 cm, bearing a square hole in the very center of the forehead that is supposed to use for an ornament or a magical device.13 It is imagined to possess the power to see and hear 1000 miles away. Its whole image is so grotesque, exaggerating, mysterious, abnormal, and fictional. It may shock the modern visitors to the breathtaking degree if they have not got the cinema experience of viewing the strange-looking aliens from the outer space in science fictions. The other bronze mask is even larger and heavier. It is 132 cm wide, 80 cm high, and weighs over 100 kg. It is stylized in the similar image and design of the previous one.14 Such rare images, designs, and features go beyond any general imagination, spurring emotional responses and demonstrating an aesthetic appeal conducive to grotesque beauty. Some characteristics of the grotesque beauty are seemingly available in other bronze vessels produced in the western Zhou Dynasty (1046–771 B.C.). For instance, the Round Cauldron with Sculptured Ox Head 15 and the Square Cauldron with Sculptured Beast Head.16 Both of them are refined in technique and modified in style. Their designs and patterns look less fierce and ferocious, but rather grotesque and stimulating. They 12 Sanxingdui Museum, Guanhan city, Sichuan province of China. It is roughly 50 km from Chengdu, the capital city of Sichuan. Now there is a newly constructed railway station connecting itself with the network of the fast speed train lines across China. 13 Sanxingdui Museum, Guanhan city, Sichuan province, China. 14 Sanxingdui Museum, Guanhan city, Sichuan province, China. 15 The Round Cauldron with Sculptured Ox Head (牛首纹铜鼎) is a large bronze vessel

in early Western Zhou Dynasty, collected and displayed in Shanghai Museum. 16 The Square Cauldron with Sculptured Beast Face (兽面纹铜方鼎) is a large bronze vessel in Western Zhou Dynasty, collected and displayed in Luoyang Museum, Henan provinve.

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differ from the bronze masks given above in the aspect of human feelings aroused, but impress the modern viewers with the aesthetic appeal and expressive power of grotesque beauty in any case.

The Symbolic Beauty Judging from a modern perspective, the bronze art is symbolic in kind. It mostly participates in symbolism associated with ancient social hierarchy and power structure on the one hand, and with totemism, pantheism, shamanism and sorcery on the other. As symbolism grew enriched with the passage of time, it contributed increasingly to the bronze art from antiquity onward. It could be also applied to the taotie images and oxhead designs as totemic and power symbols. Yet, there are more typical works in this domain. Take the square bronze vessel of Hou mu wu for example. Made in the Shang Dynasty, it was unearthed in Anyang of Henan province in 1939. It is gigantic in size. More specifically, it is 133 cm high, 110 cm long, and 79 cm wide, having a total weight of 832.84 kg. With the help of refined craft and sophisticated technique, it is decorated with impressive panlong (coiled dragon) and tiaotie designs cast and carved around it. Each of the two large auricle patterns represents an awesome image of a human head in a tiger’s wide-opened jaws. The feet that support the enormous vessel are strong and solid, covered with the portrayal of cicada designs and its body patterns in distinctive lines. Cast inside it is three Chinese characters in a vigorous and plump style.17 The object not merely demonstrates solemn silence and respectful ambiance, but also symbolizes such things as overarching authority, overriding nobility, all-powerful majesty, eminent position, auspicious future, and good harvest or sufficient supply of food. All this procures an aesthetic charm that can be defined in terms of symbolic beauty. With respect to the bronze statue and the sacred tree unearthed at Sanxingdui ruins in 1986, their symbolic beauty is exalted to such an extent that it becomes sensible, conceptual and spiritual altogether. Broadly speaking, it is sensible as it is related to the visuality of the totemic images and formal patterns. It is conceptual as it is related to the conceptuality of ritual rites and magic service. It is spiritual as it is 17 The square bronze vessel of Hou mu wu (后母戊大方鼎) is collected and displayed in China National Museum, Beijing.

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related to the supernatural experience and quasi-religious passions. These three aspects are naturally interrelated and interactive in light of bronze art making, totemic symbolism, magic fantasy, shamanic folklore, and pantheistic convention. Now let us turn to the two typical samples. Both of them were produced in the Shang Dynasty and attributed to the bronze art of the Yangtze River area. One is The Bonze Statue of A Man in huge size and exotic form. It is 172 cm high, towering aloft on a bronze stand of 90 cm high. Totally, its height is up to 262 cm and its weight up to 180 kg.18 It is thought of as the most powerful king or the executive chief of sorcerers, powwows, or shamans of the Ancient Shu Kingdom before its vanishing all of a sudden. It has two long arms and big hands, wearing on the head a wreath of sunflower designs. In front of its chest, one hand folded in a circular shape is placed above, and the other with the same gesture is lowered down. They are supposed to hold a wand or magic tool, waving it around while performing sacrificial ritual or magic service then. Symbolically, it is imagined to look up at the Heaven and down at the Earth, murmuring or announcing to the audience the heavenly providence, the deities’ message, or the ancestors’ advice. In addition, the gesture of the two big hands adds more to the mysterious atmosphere, and leaves much space for further imagination. The other is The Bronze Sacred Tree that is well matched with the bronze statue depicted above, both of which were excavated at the same spot and time. The bronze tree is as high as 396 cm with its upper top missing. According to the proportion of its remaining part already found, it is supposed to be abound 500 cm high in total. Its bronze stand bears a cast image of three-mountains connected with each other, apart from a cast symbol of sun-cum-cloud patterns. Along the trunk is a rope-twisted bronze dragon climbing down, appearing so strange, mystical, treacherous, and ineffable.19 Some observations assume the tree to be symbolic of “the ultimate summit of sacred mountains” as it goes upright into the sky. Others assume it to be symbolic of a sacred tree of good fortune as its branches are perceived as hangers for a variety of sacrificial offerings.

18 The Bronze Statue of A Man (青铜大立人) is collected and displayed in Sanxingdui Museum, Guanghan of Sichuan province. 19 The Bronze Sacred Tree (青铜神树) is collected and displayed in Sanxingdui Museum, Guanghan of Sichuan province.

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Personally, I prefer to accept the second assumption and take it as a sacred tree to be worshiped in the old kingdom concerned. As a matter of fact, the phenomenon of tree worship enjoys a long history in China from past to present. As read in one of the canonical texts by Zhuangzi (e. 369-e. 286 B.C.), a master of carpentry came across a huge oak tree on his way to the State of Qi with some of his apprentices. The tree was worshiped as an altar to the God of the Earth in the old community. Its top spread so wide as to shelter several thousand of cattle, and its trunk grew so thick as to measure a hundred feet. It was up to the height of the peak of a hill nearby, and had a dozen of branches sufficient to make a canoe each. Like a bustling and hustling fair, it attracted endless queues of curious visitors from afar. The master ignored it and moved on, his apprentices stopped to gaze at it with great interest. When turning back to catch up with their master, they confessed that they had never seen a huge tree like this before, and asked their master why he passed by without giving it a glance. Then, they were told that it was nothing but useless timber, inappropriate to make out of it any boat, coffin, door, pillar, and other instruments because it would cause quick damage and collapse. On his return home, the spirit of the tree came into the master’s dream and whispered at his ears, What did you use to compare with me today? Fine and solid timber or fruit trees?...Alas, they all would die young because of being useful. They all would be exposed to secular exploitation and abuse. None of them could evade such fate. I have been in pursuit of being useless for so long a time, and confronted with the closest risk of being cut down. I have managed to keep survived up till now. This is due to the great usefulness of my being useless. Just imagine, how could I grow so tall, lofty and long if I were useful in a practical sense. You and I are things alike. Why you commented things in such a manner. You are a useless being bound to die, how could you know the secret of the useless timber?20

The next morning the master retold the dream to his apprentices and discussed it with them. In his response to the skeptic view of being 20 Zhuangzi, Ren jian shi [In the Human World], in the Zhuangzi [The Works of Zhuangzi] (Beijing: Zhonghua Shuju, 2015). The translation is mine, and slightly modified according to the original text. Also see “In the World of Men,” in The Complete Works of Chuangzi (trans. Burton Watson, New York: Columbia University Press, 2013), pp. 99–100.

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useless, the master shared with them his understanding as such: The tree itself wants deliberately to become a sacred object. It makes the most of the God of the Earth in order to be preserved and worshiped. For this reason, it is disgraced by those who fail to understand its true intention. It would be chopped down long time ago if it did not pretend to stay in honor of the God of the Earth. It actually follows a unique way of self-preservation different from any ordinary way. It is therefore a folly to evaluate it according to the common sense or conventional mores.21 Metaphorically, the pursuit of being useless implies detachment from the secular values and social nets aligned with fame and wealth in the main. The tree worshiped is symbolic of independent being and spiritual freedom from social constraints and ills. In the Zhuangzi, what is useless is most useful is an important philosophical topic. It implies a critical stance toward the self-conceited and utility—minded lifestyle. Nowadays, tree worship as a residue of conventional folk culture continues here and there in the rural areas across China. People can see the so-called sacred trees of enormous size in old villages kept aloof from modern cities. There is a famous one, for instance, in Hongcun Village situated at the foot of Mount Huangshan in Anhui province. It grows over a sparse square near the village center. It is well protected, extraordinarily huge, and full of vitality. It has a wide-spreading crown overhead that provides nice shade. Below it is a small altar to the God of Earth, inside which there is an incense burner. This tree is worshiped by the locals and perceived as a symbol of good luck, longevity, spiritual console, and so forth. Whenever one has a wish, he or she will write it down on a tiny strip of red silk, tie it up to a twig within his or her reach, and proceed to pray for its fulfillment. The sacred tree can be spotted out from a distance because of its colorful, special, and mysterious appearance. Today many visitors to this attraction tend to be amazed at the first sight of it. They will contemplate it with curiosity and interest, and reflect upon the legendary stories about it for fun or pleasure.

The Chime-Bells and the Galloping Horse The bronze art in China is said to undergo several phases of historical development. Its distinctive values are largely categorized into three kinds:

21 Ibid., p. 100.

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the technical, instrumental, and artistic. As the first two kinds were gradually reduced to minimum with the successive advancement of productivity and technology in the long historical process, the artistic values grow more and more prominent such that many bronze objects produced in the remote past are now treated as ancient works of art. According to Guo Moruo (1892–1978), the development of bronze art is broadly divided into four historical stages.22 It began with the initial stage of producing wine cups in crude forms and designs with little aesthetic worth. The second stage of increasing prosperity and maturity came along during the late Shang Dynasty and early Zhou Dynasty, ranging from eleventh-century B.C. to tenth-century B.C. It marked the zenith of Chinese bronze art, because the general output at this stage embodied a much richer artistic charm and aesthetic worth than those made earlier or later. As seen in the museums, the bronze works of this period are mostly large vessels called ding. They are solid, heavy, treasured, and appreciated by collectors worldwide. They have designs carved deep or in high relief, including the popular taotie images and cloud-andthunder patterns decorated on the surface. There are also some other designs and patterns based on certain mythical and imagined creatures including kui-dragon, kui-phoenix, elephant, and so on. Interestingly, produced as food vessels during the Zhou Dynasty, they are extraordinarily large and weighty, some of which are collected in Shanghai, Xian, and Baoji museums. The vessels like Bo Ju Li 23 and Bo Duo Fu Xu 24 are two representative works among others. The former is a food cooker, and the latter a food container. One has an ox head with sharp protruding horns that evoke an awesome and mystical feeling. The other has the designs of imagined creatures on the two ears and swirling patterns on the surface that look impressive and elegant. Both of them boast a kind of alien and unspeakable aesthetic appeal to the viewers today. Characteristic of openness and disintegration of the bronze era, the third stage underwent drastic changes as a consequence of social progression, productivity improvement, and civil advancement. Aside from the introduction of iron implements and their large-scaled use in farming

22 Guo Moruo, Qing tong shi dai [The Bronze Age] (Chongqing: Wenzhi Chubanshe, 1945). 23 Its Chinese name is Bo Ju Li (伯矩鬲). 24 Its Chinese name is Bo Duo Fu Xu (伯多父盨).

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around the eighth-century B.C., it underwent political reform and ideological emancipation. As a result, new emerging forces and commercial owners substituted the early tribe-clan structure of aristocratic society. And meanwhile, ancient China got into the first era of rationalism by then. With reference to this historical context, “skepticism and atheism became the vogue as the magical and religious traditions of remote antiquity which had prevailed throughout the Shang and early Zhou periods died out. With them also died mystical ornamental designs…Thus, the bronze taotie, as an artistic symbol of an earlier epoch, lost its power and was relegated to a secondary role.”25 In general, the bronze vessels of this open stage were simpler in form and shape, mostly free of the inhibitions of myth and tradition. Decorative images and ornamental lines were usually crude in low relief. The cloud-thunder patterns virtually disappeared in most cases. When it came to the fourth stage during the Warring States period (475–221 B.C.), there arose new styles of bronze objects that were either degenerate or progressive to certain extent. As formulated in Guo’s findings, its objects of the degenerate type became even cruder and simpler, and unornamented at large. They were light, handy, and generally bizarre. Their designs were more refined but less deeply engraved, often repeating the use of set patterns and bearing a striking contrast to the fixed styles of the second and third stages. A common design of the fourth stage was a stylized form of coiling dragons and snakes, which was actually the refined version of the earlier kui-dragon pattern. The inlaying of gold pieces was a new trend of this stage, and the depiction of winged men and flying beasts was a leap forward. The animal images on the vessels were mostly realistic portrayals.26 What has amazed the world are the archaeological finds unearthed from the Zenhouyi Tomb in Suizhou of Hubei province in 1978. The total number of the finds is up to 15,000 or so, including many bronze objects of varied kinds. Among them is the whole set of bronze chimebells, so refined and solid that they can be still used to perform music and dance today. They all are dated back to the time around 433 B.C. according to the carved inscriptions and the Zeng family logo, a logo

25 Li Zehou, The Path of Beauty: A Study of Chinese Aesthetics, p. 41. 26 Guo Moruo, Qing tong shi dai [The Bronze Age], cited from Li Zehou, The Path

of Beauty: A Study of Chinese Aesthetics, p. 41.

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that is decorated with four dragons and symbolic of Zeng’s noble status, official ranking as well as royal background. The whole set of bronze chime-bells are made up of 65 pieces differing from each other in size, volume, and scale.27 The largest of them is measured 153.4 cm high and weighed 203.6 kg. The entire set of them has the total weight of 2567 kg. They are classified into eight groups and hanged on three rows of solid wooden-framed stands. The stand of the bigger chime-bells is up to 748 cm long and 265 cm high; and the stand of the smaller ones is up to 335 cm long and 273 cm high. When properly striking on each chime-bell with a little hammer, it gives off a distinctive tone, similar to a piano key. All of the 65 chime-bells serve to produce a complete system of the twelve-tone scale. They can therefore perform modern music as well. They are supposed to signify the individual interest in music of the owner in the tomb, for the funeral objects were, according to the historical convention, part of being of the buried person when he was alive, and accompanied him when he was dead. Moreover, they are claimed to reveal the past of the rites-music tradition, a tradition that was an organic synthesis of musical culture, moral civility, humane expectation, and political ideal, among other factors. As noted vis à vis the objects, decorated on the chime-bells are the patterns of animals, birds, dragons, and flora. Inscribed on one of the items are 180 Chinese characters, describing a historical event and showing the art of calligraphy at that time. As musical devices produced and used then, they are all found to manifest fine craftwork and sophisticated designing, standing for a historic exposure of technical, instrumental, and artistic values altogether. The bronze art continued as time went by. It reached the later stage during the Qin Dynasty (221–207 B.C.) and Han Dynasty (202 B.C.– 220 A.D.). More and more objects are found exposed to the descriptions of banquets, battles, and other ordinary scenes like feasting, archery, charioting, hunting, fruit picking, and the like, thus affirming the worth of secular life and living passions. As a result, the more refined is the craftsmanship, the closer are the bronze products related to the art of the Qin and Han dynasties. A typical example is the bronze sculpture of a horse

27 It is named “Zeng Houyyi chime-bells” (曾侯乙编钟), and displayed at Hubei Province Museum, China. After years of experimentation, noe more than five sets are replicated and practically used for music-dance performance in several cities across China today.

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treading on a flying bird excavated in Wuwei of Gansu province in 1969. It is proved to be a work made in the late Han period. The horse is measured 34.5 cm high, 45 cm long, and 13 cm wide, weighing 7.15 kg in all.28 It presents a galloping horse with its mouth open, head erect, tail bouncing up, three hoofs hopping in the air, and one hoof stepping on a flying bird. The bird is looking back in surprise, and its two wings are fully extending apart. It depicts an unexpected event that seems to have happened all of a sudden, leaving the viewer under deep impression and free imagination. In contrast, the flying bird serves as a foil to the faster speed of the galloping horse. The whole piece is expressive, fascinating, dynamic, and graceful due to its rarely ingenious design and unique form. Moreover, when the bird is identified with swallow, the sculpture is named A Horse Stepping on a Flying Swallow.29 When the bird is assumed to be phoenix-like zhuque, the work is called A Horse Treading on Zhuque.30 According to Chinese mythology, zhuque is worshiped as a divine bird. It is a symbol of procreation, nobility, and auspiciousness, possessing the power to scare away the evil spirits and to guide the soul into its final resting place. No matter what the bird may be, the horse in either case is set off by contrast its powerful posture and beautiful image. Moreover, it is associated with horse worship that was overridingly popular throughout the Han Dynasty. At that time, horse worship was pointed to the war horse owing to its great value and speed in military actions. It came into effect as a result of national defense against the repeated invasions by the nomadic Huns from the vast area over the north and northwest of China. Nowadays, the image of the horse and bird is easily available in China, for it is employed as the nationally authorized logo of tourist attractions all over the country.

28 This bronze sculpture is collected and displayed at Gansu Museum in Lanzhou city, Northwest of China. 29 Its named Ma ta fei yan (马踏飞燕) in Chinese. 30 It is called Ma ta zhu que (马踏朱雀) in Chinese.

CHAPTER 3

Ethos of the Rites-Music Tradition

The rites-music tradition commenced from antiquity. It flourished during the prime time of the Western Zhou Dynasty (1047–711 B.C.). As a predominant model of training citizenship, it could be divided into two interactive modes of education. The mode of music education was designed to cultivate a good taste and personality, and the mode of rites education was deployed to ensure social stratification and stability. Both of them were intended to bring up qualified citizens for the sake of humane governance. Compared with other schools of thought, Confucianism placed a permanent emphasis on both music education and rites education. Hence the restoration of rites was advocated as the primary task to detain their declining tendency, and the value of music was highly recommended as the most crucial vehicle to accomplish the ideal personality. In ancient China, music was performed in accord with rites, which followed such specific requirements as the choice of content, the selection of venue, the variation of scale, the arrangement of instruments, the number of performers, and so forth. As a rule, it was accompanied with dance and poetry, thus making up of an art of trinity.

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021 K. Wang, Beauty and Human Existence in Chinese Philosophy, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-1714-0_3

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The Beauty of Music and Rites Value assessment of music and rites was fundamental in the past. It was carried out in terms of beauty associated with both aesthetics and ethics. As described in the Record of Music (Yue ji) and other Confucian classics, the beauty of music and rites is conditional in principle, and affirmed to come from excellent music and complete rites. The excellent music is most harmonious, correct, and moderate in its proper expression of human emotions and feelings. It is in striking contrast to the licentious and grievous music that indulged in the expression of excessive joy and sorrow. In order to make the grandest music, it is required not to bend itself to excessive emotions. In respect to the complete rites, they are most comprehensive, fair, and humane in the valid justification of social stratification and the perfect observance of proprieties. They are sharply distinct from the corrupt rites trapped in one-sidedness, disorder, and confusion. The beauty of music and rites is said to bear such features as stated below: Music springs from the inward movements of the soul; rites appear in the outward movements of the body. Hence it is the rule to make rites as few and brief as possible, and to give to music its fullest development. This rule for rites leads to the forward exhibition of them, and therein their beauty resides; that for music leads to the introspective consideration of it, and therein the beauty resides. If rites demanding this condensation were not performed with its forward exhibition of them, they would almost disappear altogether; if music demanding this full development were not accompanied with this introspection, it would produce a dissipation of the mind.1

Respectively, the beauty of music lies in the introspective consideration of its full development in terms of its in-depth values embodied in its multiple effects and suggestive implications. The beauty of rites lies in the forward exhibition of them according to the rule of condensation in terms of their effective formation of moral conduct based on properness and elegance. On this account, music is to be accompanied with the right 1 Record of Music, Sect. III, 26, in The Book of Rites (trans. James Legge, Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1885), Part IV, p. 126. In Legge’s version “rites” is replaced by “ceremonies.”.

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introspection, and gives rise to the feelings of repose and tranquility; and rites are to encounter with the proper response, and give rise to the feelings of joy and pleasure. Both of them are expected to facilitate personal cultivation and moral conduct in essence. Correspondingly, what is beautiful in the harmonious music is the result of manifesting the correct spirit and good feelings, serving to regulate and increase the inward virtue. What is ugly in the licentious music is the outcome of evil spirit and depraved feelings, composed of the tunes that are melancholy without gravity, joyous without repose. It is more or less the same case with rites. What is good in the high rites is the consequence of such merits as completeness, rightness, humaneness and gracefulness. What is ugly in the corrupt rites is the consequence of such demerits as one-sidedness, coarseness, remissness, and dissoluteness. In order to retain one’s will in harmony with the good affections fitting one’s nature, and to perfect one’s conduct by comparing the different qualities of actions, necessary and right measures must be taken to reduce the risk of potential ills given below. Say, The licentious music and the corrupt rites are not admitted into the mind to affect its powers. The spirit of idleness, indifference, depravity, and perversity finds no exhibition in his person. And thus he makes his ears, eyes, nose, and mouth, the apprehensions of his mind, and the movements of all the parts of his body, all follow the course that is correct, and do what is right.2

Aside from what is stated above, the beauty of the harmonious music is coupled with happiness and joyfulness, which involves a question of appropriateness because of the socio-political background. Such appropriateness is identified with the moderation in pitch, tune, and mood. It is assumed to depend mainly upon three factors: political situation, mental state, and musical characteristics. Generally speaking, music of the troubled times is uneasy and angry, because of abnormal political situation. The music of a fallen state is doleful and grievous, because of hazardous political context. Here is a more detailed and straightforward formulation,

2 Record of Music, Sect. II, 15, in The Book of Rites (trans. James Legge), Part IV, p. 110.

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If the music is too loud, the mind will become disturbed. If one listens to loud music, with a disturbed mind, one’s ears will not be able to take it in. When the ears cannot take it in, they will be blocked. When they are blocked, the mind will be flurried. If the music is too quiet, the mind will not be gratified. If one listens to quiet music with an ungratified mind, the ears cannot be replenished. When the ears are not replenished, the mind will not be satisfied. When the mind is not satisfied, it will become infirm. If the music is too pure, the mind will become too elevated. If one listens to pure music with an elevated mind, the ears will become totally undisturbed. When the ears are undisturbed, they cannot make distinctions. When they cannot make distinctions, the mind will become empty. If the music is too muddled, the mind will become debased. If one listens to muddled music with a debased mind, the ears cannot be tuned to it. When one cannot concentrate, one will become puzzled and angry. So to be too loud, too quiet, or too muddled are all not appropriate.3

Listed and analyzed herein are four types of music, which are claimed to be too loud, too quiet, too pure, or too muddled. They seem to go to such an excessive degree that they are apt to procure respective weakness and negative impact, thus violating the principle of appropriateness after all. Comparatively, the type of too pure music appears to be better than the other three types, but it remains obscure in that it is still exposed to the problem with how to make distinctions between good and bad, beautiful and ugly, moral and immoral, among others. As to the beauty of music and rites, it is to be experienced in their positive effects and teleological considerations, which are to be further clarified in the subsequent investigation.

The Multifunction of Music In Chinese cultural heritage, music is bestowed with an important position in the history of arts education because of its multifunction. The Chinese character for music is樂 (yue), which is etymologically composed of two parts known as drum (gu鼓) and wood (mu木), representing a musical instrument on a wooden stand. According to Xu Shen (c. 58– 147), the character itself is used as a collective noun for five notes and

3 Lü Buwei, “Harmonious Music,” in Lü’s Commentary of History (trans. Tang Bowen, Beijing: Foreign Languages Press, 2010), pp. 48–49.

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eight sounds.4 The five notes made up the musical scale in antiquity, and the eight sounds were produced by eight musical instruments including percussion, stringed, and wind types. Fairly akin to the Hellenic idea of mousik¯e, the Chinese notion of yue as music also comprised poetry, music, and dance altogether. As read in the Record of Music, this art was constituted by combining the modulated voice and sounds in connection with various affections in human mindheart stimulated by external things. It would work together with poetry that gave expression to thoughts, singing that prolonged the tuned voices, and pantomimic movements that put the body into action in accord with sentiments. Hereby pantomimic movements were referred to the dance of the performers who brandished shields and axes when demonstrating the scenes of war, and waved plumes and ox-tails when rehearsing the scenes of peace. It seemed as though the production of music at this sophisticated level followed up such a sequence: When daily speech was found inadequate to express one’s feelings and thoughts, there arose the art of poetry to express them in a rhyming scheme; when poetry was found inadequate to express them, there arose the art of music or singing to prolong the voices and modulate the sounds; when music (or singing) was found inadequate to express them, there arose the art of dance with limbs moving up and down rhythmically with the body. Being a performing art as such, music itself has multiple functions in psychical, aesthetic, moral, and political domains. As discerned in some Confucian and historical texts, the psychical effect of music operates twofold at least. That is, it affects the mentality of its audience on one hand, and reflects the psychology of its composer and player on the other. All this is due to the fact that music is the production of the modulations of the voice, and its source comes from the affections of the human mind-heart as it is influenced and spurred by external things. When the mind-heart is moved to sorrow, the sound is sharp and fading away; when it is moved to pleasure, the sound is slow and gentle; when it is moved to joy, the sound is cheerful and uninhibited; when it is moved to anger, the sound is coarse and fierce; when it is moved to reverence, the sound is straightforward and modest; when it is moved to love, the sound is harmonious and soft. These six peculiarities of sound are not natural in

4 Xu Shen, Shuo wen jie zi [The First Chinese Dictionary].

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kind; they indicate the impressions produced by external things.5 In this case, the psychical influence of music on humans can be rightly termed as empathic effect, by virtue of which the listener feels himself into music, and thus forgets his bodily wants. Moreover, the depiction brings out the origin of music that springs from mental and emotional experiences stimulated by events, and exhibits close interactions between inner affection and musical expression. For this reason, music is utilized to express and reflect human feelings and emotional responses. Accordingly, The sound of the bell and drum is martial when they are struck with anger; it is sorrowful when they are struck with grief; it is cheerful when they are struck with joy. Hence when the frame of mind changes, the sound alternates accordingly; when the sentiments are sincere, they are brought out by the metal and stone. Is it not the same with man?6

Herein “the bell and drum” are used for the musical instruments in general. “The metal and stone” are therefore symbolic of music per se. So evident are the interactions between the human mind and music that can be well illustrated by an anecdote of Confucius. Say, once Confucius played the Se as a multiple-stringed instrument like zither when his students Zeng Zi and Zi Gong were listening nearby. As the performance came to an end, Zeng Zi sighed that the melody played by their Master reflected a kind of greedy mood and evil action. Why it became so inhumane and profit-seeking? His reaction was also shared by his classmate Zi Gong, who then entered the room toward the Master and repeated the comment made by Zeng Zi. On hearing that, Confucius got so surprised and happy that he praised Zeng Zi as a real listener with a musical ear. Then, he recalled his experience as follows: When playing the instrument, I happened to have seen a mouse come out and a cat stealthily run after it. The mouse was dashing about for escape while the cat was hurrying to get its prey but failed. Witnessing the scene, I just had a fancy to describe it by the instrument of the Se under my

5 Record of Music, Sect. I, 2, in The Book of Rites (trans. James Legge), pp. 92–93. 6 Sun Xingyan (ed.), “Liu yi xia” [The Six Arts II], in Kongzi ji yü [The Quotations

of Confucius], (Beijing: Zhonghua Shuju, 1991).

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hands. That could be the reason why Shen (Zeng Zi) got the impression that I was greedy and evil-minded.7

The psychical aspect of music leads naturally to its aesthetic function. In sooth, Confucius’ experience of being lost in the Shao music can also be understood as an outcome of the empathic effect in an aesthetic sense. It is the joy obtained from the music that renders Confucius “forget the taste of meat for three months.” As mentioned elsewhere in The Analects, Confucius expresses his appreciation of the charm and harmony of the accompanied music of the Guan ju performed by Zhi, the great musician in the State of Lu. He delightfully praises that the performance is, from beginning to end, wonderful and appealing to the ears.8 His response to it is vicarious to its aesthetic properties, namely, joy, charm, and harmony. As noted in The Analects again, Confucius once sits together with a number of his students chatting over their individual aspirations, he accepts those who wish to be ministers and generals, but appreciates most when listening to Zeng Dian, a great lover of music, talk about his own future plan: “What I wish for is nothing but an outing in late spring. My friends and I, dressed in newly-made spring clothes, would go swimming in the Yi River, enjoy sun-bathing in the gentle breeze on the Rain Altar, and then, return home singing.” On hearing all this, Confucius heaves a deep sigh and confesses that he is all for (Zeng) Dian.9 This kind of lifestyle is claimed to be artistic as well as aesthetic in essence. To Confucius’ mind, the supreme realm of life is deeply rooted in the appreciation of perfectly good and beautiful music. The aesthetic and moral functions of music tend to be overlapped to a great extent. It is especially so in ancient times. In the Confucius, music is designed to help people cultivate the inwardness as it is looked upon as the best means to reform their ways and manners.10 It is from music that different people draw different benefits. For example, the superior man is to nourish his love of what is good, and the inferior man is to hear the correction of his errors. It is therefore affirmed that the influence 7 Sun Xingyan (ed.), “Liu yi xia” [The Six Arts II], in Kongzi ji yü [The Quotations of Confucius]. 8 Confucius, The Analects, 8:15. 9 Ibid., 11:26. 10 Sun Xingyan (ed.), “Liu yi xia” [The Six Arts II], in Kongzi ji yü [The Quotations of Confucius].

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of music is great among all the courses to be pursued by humankind, for music serves to regulate one’s mind and morality. With the assistance of its magic power, the easy-going, upright, benevolent and considerate mindheart can be easily developed, and so are joyful experience and peaceful feelings. All this gives rise to the conclusion that music is ascribed to a variety of functions, of which the ethical or moral one is fundamental, subtle, and indispensable. It is noteworthy that the Confucian aesthetics of music is largely grounded on the conception of ren as reciprocal humaneness or benevolence. As Confucius himself announces, what permeates and underlies all his teaching and learning is the Way of devotion and altruism (zhong shu).11 Some vindications conclude that these two dimensions can be conceived of as two sides of the same coin in light of the supreme virtue of reciprocal humaneness or benevolence, which is intended to harmonize human relationship and secure social stability. As a matter of fact, Confucius takes this virtue as a key measurement of music. Thus, he argues that if a man is without the virtue of humaneness, what has he to do with music? He therefore promotes persistently the music of Ya and Song while banishing the sound of Zheng and Wei. The former type is believed to help purify people of their ills and rectify their minds for virtues whereas the latter type is inclined to plunge them into hedonism and make them licentious, pleasure-seeking, or morally corrupt. In plain words, good music makes people good, bad music makes people bad. It should be correctly evaluated and properly used with due consideration of its moral impact. Considering the political or social function of music, let us quote a mini-dialogue between Confucius and his students. Accompanied by his students, Confucius came to the city of Wucheng. Hearing there the sound of stringed instruments and singing, he smiled and said, “Why use an ox-knife to kill a fowl?” Zi You replied, “Formerly, Master, I heard you say, ‘The superior man will foster benevolence and love people when he has studied the Dao of (rites and) music, whereas the inferior man be easy to command when he has done the same. Education is useful after all’!” Confucius then said to his students in presence: “My students, Zi You is right. What I said just now was only a joke.”12 11 Confucius, The Analects, 4:15. 12 Confucius, The Analects, 17:4.

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As read in this passage, the “ox-knife” implies the great power of music, and “to kill a fowl” means to govern a small town like Wucheng. To “use an ox-knife to kill a fowl” implies that the great power of music is misplaced for the administration of such a small town. However, Confucius confessed that he was joking by saying so. Otherwise, it would not tally with his lifetime promotion of restoring rites-music tradition for the sake of socio-political administration. According to the context, “the music” comes from a rehearsal of rites, “the superior man” from the ruling class, and “the inferior man” from the ruled class. He who will exercise the virtue of reciprocal humaneness as a result of promoting rites and music is assumed to develop a humane government; he who will be easily ruled as a result of doing the same is meant to keep himself in his place or contribute his bit to the social order. The fact that Confucius modifies his comment with the help of his student presents his high awareness of music service in the socio-political domain. Hence, he once classified officials into two groups: one group from humble families who get on with the rites and music before taking office, and the other group from noble families who take office before getting on with the rites and music. When it comes to staff selection, he proclaims that he would stand on the side of the former if he were in a position to choose between the two.13 For he has more confidence in the first group, and holds up to the mission of governing a state and people by means of rites and music at their best. As regards the interrelationship between music and politics, it may be perceived from at least a threefold perspective. Firstly, music reflects the political climate, which in turn affects music. For music is made up of all modulations of voice and sound from human mind-heart. As social members or political beings, people tend to be aroused to certain emotions and feelings responsive to social environment and political setting. When the emotions and feelings are moved within, they are manifested in sound and voice; when those sound and voice are combined to form compositions, there arise corresponding airs of music and song. Hence, the airs of an orderly time indicate peace, joy, and harmonious ambiance. The airs of a chaotic period indicate complaint, anger, and perverse governance. The airs of a subjugated state are expressive of

13 Confucius, The Analects, 11:1.

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sorrow, troubled thoughts, and miserable victims in straits and difficulties. There is an interaction and interlink between the airs of music and the status quo of political governing.14 Secondly, the musical impact upon politics is operated via its audience. Treated as the regulator of true harmony, music is what human nature cannot dispense with. When listening to the appropriate music on such occasions as ancestral sacrifices, community gatherings, and family reunions, people from all walks of life would be touched and even transformed to the extent that they grow conscious of practicing “mutual reverence,” “harmonious deference” and “interpersonal affection.” In this way, “fathers and sons, rulers and subjects are united in harmony, and people of the myriad states are associated in love. Such was the method of the ancient kings when they framed their music.”15 By the same token, music and song are thus composed and employed to rebuild the personality and mentality of the audience. Thirdly, the intercommunication between music and politics also relies on the genre of music and its affective influence on the audience. Different styles of music tend to affect the mentality and sentimentality in different ways, provoking vicarious reactions to their moral conducts and social obligations. Since people are stimulated or moved by the external objects, there naturally ensues the manifestation of various feelings or faculties of mind. If the music heard features the tunes and melodies that quickly die away, the audience may become sad and grievous; if they are varied and elegant, the audience may be satisfied and pleased; if they are vehement, full, and bold throughout the piece, the audience may be resolute and daring; if they are pure, grave and expressive of sincerity, the audience may be self-controlled and respectful; if they are placid, natural and harmonious, the audience may be affectionate and loving; if they are perverse, dissipated and ill-regulated, the audience may be licentious and trouble-making. Self-evidently, the audience of these kinds would accordingly bring about similar kinds of social environment. The positive can be well assumed to facilitate order and harmony while the negative to cause disorder and disharmony in terms of human relationships. All in all, Confucius’ promotion of music education is intended to help cultivate the inner world of people and accomplish the personality

14 Record of Music, Sect. I, 4. 15 Record of Music, Sect. III, 28.

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of a virtuous kind. All this is pertained to the conviction that one will be thus educated and transformed into the superior man as an ideal personality. The personality as such will help develop a leadership of humanity and bring order and peace to the community when taking the office. This is the way in which he establishes himself and actualizes his social commitment in favor of the multitude.

The Performance of Rites for Harmony As described in The Analects, Confucius gave much credits to the prime time of the Zhou Dynasty when Duke Zhou was in office. He regarded it as the most flourishing period of rites-music culture, and assumed the empire to be practically administered by virtue of rites and music as the main part of governmental ideology and citizenship education. As for the notion of rites in question, it is denoted by the Chinese character 禮(li), which is defined as an act of worshiping deities for the sake of good fortune.16 Originally when used as a verb, it meant to beat the drum, perform the music, sacrifice beautiful jade and nice wine in honor of ancestors, deities, and spirits. More often than not, it was initially employed to indicate respectful attitude, words and deeds in general. In the rites-music tradition, the conception of li as rites was further developed and enlarged so as to cover such things as legislative regulations, codes of conduct, social norms, sacrificial rituals, institutional protocols, and ceremonies, among others. During their prime time in the past, there were as many as 300 cardinal rites and 3000 derivatives, all applied to political administration, social management, public education, moral instruction, social interaction, and so forth. Now some of them have got lost in the long course of history, and some are still retained in three Chinese classics known as the Rites of the Zhou (Zhou li), the Ritual Etiquettes (Yi li), and the Book of Rites (Li ji). In ancient times, they were operated not only in daily conduct and social encounters, but synthesized with music and dance at sacrificial rituals and institutional protocols at varied levels and scales. As a rule, they were deployed to regulate and refine human conduct on varied occasions. Their function was revered as something sacred and predominant. For it was applied not only to exercising control over human behavior, movement,

16 Xu Shen, Shuo wen jie zi [The First Chinese Dictionary].

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speech, and appearance, but also to fostering human emotions, understanding, imagination, and intelligence. It was illustrated on a well-known passage from the Zuo Commentary (Zuo zhuan): Zhao Jianzi asked Zi Taishu about the rites of bowing and yielding, and shifting between positions. Taishu replied: “This is decorum, not the rites.” Jianzi went on, “What are the rites then?” Taishu answered: “The rites are the standard of heaven, the proper conduct of the earth, and the practice of humans. Heaven and Earth have their standard, and humans take this as their model. They model themselves on the luminance of heaven, and accord with the nature of earth, producing the six pneumas, and applying the five phases. The pneumas become the five flavors, and are expressed in the five colors, and manifested in the five tones. If these are in excess, all becomes a great confusion, and humans lose their nature. Therefore, the rites were made to provide for their nature…The distinction between sovereign and vassal, superior and inferior, was made to conform to the proper conduct of earth; the differentiation between husband and wife, the internal and the external, was made to order the opposites; the stratification among father and son, older and younger brother, aunts, uncles, cousins, and nephews, marriage and in-laws, was made to resemble the luminance of heaven. State affairs, corvée labor, and business operation were made to follow along with the four seasons; penalty and punishment and the terror of prison were made to resemble the deadly force of [lightening and thunder’s] shudder and flash; warmth, benevolence, grace, and harmony were made to imitate heaven’s life-giving fertility and nurture….” Jianzi said, “Extreme indeed is the greatness of the rites!” Taishu replied, “The rites are the guidelines for those above and below, the warp and woof of Heaven and Earth, and that upon which humans’ lives depend. On account of this our ancestral kings esteemed the rites. Thus he who is able to bend or straighten himself in service of the rites is a complete man. Is not the greatness [of the rites] appropriate?” Jianzi agreed and said, “I wish to hold fast to these words for my whole life.17

Noticeably, the rites as social norms, moral codes, ritual ceremonies, or institutional protocols were compulsory in that they were imposed upon humans from outside. They could work perfectly as they were expected

17 The Book of Zuo Commentary (Zuo zhuan, Book 10.25.3). Also see Li Zehou, The Chinese Aesthetic Tradition (trans. Maija Bell Samei, Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2010), pp. 14–15.

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so long as they could get internalized, say, becoming integrated with the self-consciousness of human individuals. How could that be possible? In their view, the ancients found an alternative to integrate rites with music. For music was said to come out from within, expressing the feelings of human beings and cultivating the virtues of them at the same time. It was supposed to work complementarily with the rites and thus facilitate the internalization of them in humans. Moreover, music was thought to entail harmony of different kinds. As generally agreed in the past, the performance of rites was characteristic of socio-political concerns and intentions. In practice, rites were employed to impose on the people from without. And music that accompanied rites was made to affect the people from within. As noted in Confucianism, harmony has been esteemed as the highest form of achievement in Chinese political arena. It is intended to ensure and actualize social order and peace altogether. When social order and peace are brought into effect, social development to improve human livelihood is considered to be attainable and sustainable. When such development is fulfilled to a considerate degree, every member of the society, ranging from old to young, and from abled to disabled, will live a reasonably good life. In a word, harmony preconditions social stability; social stability facilitates good governance; good governance approaches the ultimate purpose; and the ultimate purpose is to ensure people for a good life. The security of harmony is claimed to rely on the performance of rites in the most proper way according to Youzi, In the process of conducting the rites, seeking harmony is the most valuable principle. Of the ways prescribed and cherished by the ancient sage-rulers, this is the most beautiful and therefore followed alike in dealing with matters great and small. Yet, if harmony is sought merely for its own sake without having it regulated by the rites, the principle will not work in fact.18 18 According to the Chinese original statement, its English translation is modified with a particular reference to that of the same passage in these two versions: (1) “Of the things brought about by the rites, harmony is the most valuable. Of the ways of the Former Kings, this is the most beautiful, and is followed alike in matters great and small, yet this will not always work: to aim always at harmony without regulating it by the rites simply because one knows only about harmony will not, in fact, work.” See Confucius, The Analects (trans. D. C. Lau, London: Penguin Books, 1979), 1:12. (2) “In practicing the rules of propriety, appropriateness is to be prized. In the ways prescribed by the ancient kings, this is the excellent quality, and in things small and great we follow them. Yet it

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Why is it so? As read in the historical documents, the rites in ancient China would be deployed comprehensively as a kind of performing craft on many occasions including ancestral sacrifice and divinity worship. The performance would engage not only rules of proprieties or rituals, but also music and dance all together. In its actual process, harmony was schemed as the ultimate goal in view of unity in variety. Its charm and appropriateness were all determined by the implementation of proper rites, the choice of suitable music and instruments, and the right number of dancers and rows, among other factors. However, the artistic effect of harmony in this case would go beyond aesthetic appreciation, and extend symbolically into the social utility of harmony in political praxis regarding humane leadership and efficient teamwork. According to the Confucian way of thinking, harmony as the keystone of humane and wise leadership operates in the similar manner as it does in music. It radiates upwards to the superiors, and downwards to the subordinates, thus facilitating a concord and cohesion among the people from all walks of life as is so expected. This is the chief reason why the ancient sage-rulers prescribed and cherished the principle of harmony itself. In order to maintain its function, they would regulate it by means of the rites in accord with specific situations. All this suggests that a more rational and appropriate measurement of harmony lie not merely in the rites as institutional regulations and codes of conduct, but also in the principle of correctness that works in accord with specific situations. Otherwise, it will end up in vain when harmony is attained for harmony’s sake by simply patternizing all the dynamic differences encountered. At this point, there arise two questions: one is about the key reason why harmony is so highly thought of, and the other about the necessity to distinguish between harmony and uniformity.

The Aesthetic and Moral Interaction As mentioned above, the rites-music culture was developed into a paradigm of humane governance and citizenship training. It was categorized into two modes of education with specific objectives. In short, the

is not to be observed in all cases. If one, knowing how such appropriateness should be prized, manifests it, without regulating it by the rules of propriety, this likewise is not to be done.” See Confucius, The Confucian Analects, in The Four Books (trans. James Legge, Changsha: Hunan Press, 1995), 1:12.

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mode of music education was designed to furnish such virtues as broadmindedness, eruditeness, simplistic sensibility, and sound apprehension. The mode of rites education was schemed to nurture such virtues as respectfulness, frugality, dignified gravity, and prudent reverence.19 As regards their respective effects and teleological pursuits, music education is approximate to aesthetic education in kind, aiming at cultivating a fine taste, musical ear, and sense of beauty; and rites education is close to moral edification in essence, aiming at guiding people to good conduct, moral conscience and qualified citizenship. These two modes of education are interactive and complementary in terms of their substance, service, and telos shared. What follows is a definition in such bilateral and reciprocal terms, Music comes from within, and rites from without. Music, coming from within, produces the stillness of the mind-heart; rites, coming from without, produce the elegance of manner. The highest style of music is sure to be rounded out by its ease; the highest style of elegance, by its undemonstrativeness.20 The aim of music is to achieve a union of similarities; the aim of rites to make a distinction between differences. From the union comes mutual affection; from the distinction, mutual respect. Where music prevails, we find a weak coalescence; where rites prevail, a tendency to separation. It is the business of the two to blend people’s feelings and give elegance to their outward manifestations.21

As claimed to spring from human mind-heart, music is expressive of human emotions and feelings stimulated by external things. It in turn goes directly inward via its function to “cut into the soul very deeply, and move man very quickly.”22 The “stillness of the mind-heart” that

19 The most fundamental objectives of music and rites education are known as guang bo yi liang, yue jiao ye… gong jian zhuang jing, li jiao ye (“广博易良, 乐教也。…恭俭庄 敬,礼教也。”). Cf. Jing jie [Interpretations of the Cannons], in The Book of Rites (trans. James Legge). 20 Record of Music, Sect. I, 17, in The Book of Rites (trans. James Legge), Part IV, p. 98. 21 Record of Music, Sect. I, 15, in The Book of Rites (Li Ki) (ed. James Legge), Part IV, p. 98. 22 Xunzi, “Discourse on Music,” in the Xunzi (trans. John Knoblock, Beijing: Foreign Languages Press, 2003).

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music produces implies the tranquility of the mind-heart freed from desires, wishes, and other practical needs or external disturbances. It helps the person to enjoy a serene contemplation of the depths of music. Thus psychologically, it conduces to the possibility of mental purification. Aesthetically, it enables the person to appreciate the musical beauty. Spiritually, it nourishes the inward virtue and sublimation. As regards the “elegance of manner” that rites produce, it means gracefulness of personal cultivation and the goodness of moral conduct. It is characterized by “undemonstrativeness” as distinguished from self-exhibitionism, for it is internalized as part of one’s being and revealed through natural and habitual speeches and deeds. In other words, it is by no means a show-case at all, but something incorporated into one’s daily behavior and social encounters. Noticeably, union as the aim of music is to harmonize a variety of human emotion and feelings, and leads to mutual affection in a vicarious and intercommunicative manner. Distinction as the aim of rites is to stratify social ranks according to individual differences, and leads to mutual respect as a consequence of reducing social confusions and coordinating human relationships. It is negative and lopsided to have music prevail over rites because it will cause a weak coalescence within the community of the audience. This can be attributed to the fact that union for union’s sake is less constructive but more detrimental, for it generates a disguise to cover up the actual tensions. It is equally negative and lopsided to have rites run over music because it will cause a tendency of sheer separation among all walks of life. This is basically subjected to the fact that excessive distinction between individual differences tends to weaken human relationships and push social stability into jeopardy. Therefore, it requires an equilibrium between music and rites in operation, say, it needs a balanced use of each in order to secure a better and more suitable effect. According to Lü Buwei (?-235 B.C.), the substance of music and rites are moralized and politicalized to a tremendous degree. Yet, the awareness of their varied effects is not to be overlooked at all. To his mind, Music comes from a person’s mind-heart. What one feels at mind-heart vibrates to become music. Music is an outward expression generated from inward. Therefore, listening to the music of a people, one may know their general mood; seeing their general mood, one may know their aspirations; studying their aspirations, one may know their moral conduct. Prosperity

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and decline, good and bad, a perfect person and a petty person all find expression in music, and cannot be concealed. This is why it is said that what can be detected in music is profound. If the soil is poor, plants will not grow. If the water is muddy, fish and turtles will not grow. When society is corrupted, rites will be disrupted, and music become obscene…When the state sovereign is decadent, frivolous and ribald music comes out, the people will be influenced by dissolute behavior and perverse thoughts. This will in turn give rise to a hundred evils. A perfect person therefore cultivates his virtue by following the True Way, rectifies his virtues to compose music, and harmonizes music to achieve righteousness. When music is harmonized, the people will follow the righteous path.23

Lü strives hereby to clarify the moral objective of rites-music tradition. That is, “The former kings laid down rites and music not for the purpose of pleasing the ears and eyes and satisfy the appetite; it is for the purpose of teaching the people to distinguish good from evil and practice righteousness.”24 It is patently a moralistic view, and somewhat deviated from the conventional attempt to balance the aesthetic and moral functions of music and rites. This is largely due to the constant emphasis on the priority of political enterprise, in addition to the negative concern about the psychological impact on the morality of the audience. As a consequence, Lü moves on to equalize musical perfection with political perfection in a pragmatic sense, and deliberately neglects musical beauty in an aesthetic sense. As luck would have it, Lü’s opinion branches off the main trend and stays marginal in its own scope. For the Confucian heritage remains strong, and the rites-music culture follows suit. Moreover, aesthetics and ethics are one in both service and orientation. This is typically peculiar to music and rites education. Therein the aesthetic and moral dimensions are interactive and complementary, because the former is related to inward expression while the latter related to outward manifestation. Moreover, both of them share the common goal to harmonizing human affections and relationships for the sake of social order and humane governance. Just as it is emphasized in the following statement: 23 Lü Buwei, “The Origin of Music,” in Lü’s Commentary of History (trans. Tang Bowen), pp. 57–58. 24 Lü Buwei, “Harmonious Music,” in Lü’s Commentary of History (trans. Tang Bowen), p. 49.

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When music is performed within the ancestral temple, rulers and ministers, high and low, listen together to it, and all is harmony and reverence; at the district and village meetings of the heads of clans, old and young listen together to it, and all is harmony and deference. Within the gate of the family, fathers and sons, brothers and cousins, listen together to it, and all is harmony and affection. Thus in music there is a careful discrimination (of voices) to blend them in unison so as to bring out their harmony; there is a union of the (various) instruments to give ornamental effect to its different parts; and these parts are combined and performed so as to complete its elegance. In this way fathers and sons, rulers and subjects are united in harmony, and the people of the myriad states are associated in love. Such was the method of the ancient kings when they framed their music.25

What is stated above is referred to the most fundamental level of meaning as is implied by the phrase “Music entails harmony.” It exhibits the fact that music and rites are oriented toward the same destination. However, at the secondary level of meaning, music, and rites differ each other in that the former is a type of internal guide whereas the latter are a set of external and coercive institutions. In this regard, music is claimed to use the communication, coordination, and harmonization of human emotions in order to attain the abovementioned telos. In addition, it is within the sensuous and the natural that music plays a part in nourishing morality and sociality. From the standpoint of “harmonization of nature” then, music is assumed to be more direct and more crucial than rites. By remolding human temperament and cultivating human emotions does music assist internally to complete human nature, work with rites for good citizenship, and eventually bind social community together. At the third level, music hankers after not only the harmony of person-toperson relationships in the community, but also the harmony between the universe and the human world. These two types of harmony are expected to be achieved through “harmonization” (happiness and joyfulness) of the emotional faculties of the individual psyche (because music directly affects the senses and emotions).26

25 Record of Music, Sect. III, 28. A similar passage can be found in the Discourse on Music. See Xunzi, the Xunzi (trans. John Knoblock), Vol. 2, pp. 652–653. 26 Li Zehou, The Chinese Aesthetic Tradition, pp. 19–20.

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Cosmological and Quasi-Religious Implications The harmonybetween the universe and the human world can be treated as the cosmic mode of harmony that involves both music and rites. In brief, this mode of harmony focuses on the interaction between the cosmic law and the rites-music function. It is thereby implied by the symbolic correspondence between Heaven and music, Earth and rites. A metaphorical depiction is found available in the Record of Music. It runs, Music appeared in the Grand Beginning of all things, and rites had their place on the completion of them. Their manifestation, being ceaseless, gives the idea of Heaven; and again, being motionless, gives the idea of Earth. Through the movement and repose of their interaction come all things between Heaven and Earth. Hence the sages simply spoke of rites and music.27 In music of the grandest style there is the same harmony that prevails between Heaven and Earth; in rites of the grandest form there is the same gradation that exists between Heaven and Earth. Through the harmony, things do not fail to fulfill their ends; through the gradation we have the sacrifices to Heaven and those to Earth. In the visible sphere there are rites and music; in the invisible there are the spiritual agencies. These things being so, in all within the fours seas, there must be mutual respect and love.28

As read in the first passage, the emergence of music is identified with the Grand Beginning of all things. The service of rites plays a crucial role in completing all things. With regard to Heaven and Earth, the movement and repose of their interaction produce all things in the cosmos. Vague and conclusive as it may be, the strong argument does bestow music and rites with an important position in a cosmological sphere. Judging from the Confucian point of view, the cosmos as a whole is consisted either of “Heaven and Earth” or of “all things within the fours seas.” “The harmony that prevails between Heaven and Earth” signifies the harmony of the cosmos at large. On this occasion, music is said to be “an echo of the harmony between Heaven and Earth”; and it is from such harmony that everything is affirmed to receive its own being. In parallel, rites are proclaimed to imitate “the gradation 27 Record of Music, Sect. II, 33, in The Book of Rites (trans. James Legge), pp. 104–105. 28 Record of Music, Sect. I, 19, in The Book of Rites (trans. James Legge), p. 99.

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that exists between Heaven and Earth.” In other words, they are reckoned to “reflect the orderly distinctions in the operations of Heaven and Earth,” and it is to these orderly distinctions that they owe the differences between them. Then, music is announced to have its origin from Heaven, and rites are confirmed to draw their forms from the appearances of Earth. Both music and rites must take into due consideration the harmony and orderly distinctions, and follow the principle of measured equilibrium.29 Otherwise, both of them would be apt to lose their appropriate values and substantial characteristics. For instance, if the framing of music were carried to excess, it would become too vehement to be appreciated; if the imitation of those appearances were carried to excess, the confusion of rites would come along and social disorder would turn up. Since Heaven and Earth are thus distinguished but inseparable from one another, it is the same with music and rites as they are originated from Heaven and Earth. For this reason, there arises an integrative use of musical instruments of metal and stone in a synthetic connection with rites on various occasions and in diversified styles. They are performed in the ancestral temple, at the altar to the spirits of the land and grain, and in sacrificing to the spirits of the mountains and rivers, the general spiritual agencies and supernatural beings in nature altogether. Practically in these cases, music is employed to express the feeling of love whereas rites are exercised to promote the feeling of respect. The blending of them is more than necessary as it is intended to help people not merely understand and embrace the harmony and orderly distinctions between Heaven and Earth, but also apply them to human relationships and social activities in order to nurture mutual respect and reciprocal love. When living in the wisdom and completeness of rites and music, people tend to observe the directing power of Heaven and Earth, the power that will in turn enable people to learn from and follow the Way of Heaven and Earth as an embodiment of the cosmic spirit per se. On this account, the service of the cosmic mode is advised to enhance the positive interaction between Heaven, Earth, and Human through three approaches at least: the first one is to create music by echoing through voice and modulations the harmony that prevails between Heaven and Earth; the second one is to develop rites by imitating the gradation or orderly distinctions that exists in the operations of Heaven

29 Record of Music, Sect. I, 23, in The Book of Rites (trans. James Legge), pp. 100–101.

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and Earth; and the third one is to make a synthetic use of music and rites for the sake of all the beings in nature so as to maintain the cosmic concordance and pursue the common good. Then, the function of rites and music have become, as it were, partly divinized with extraordinary and supernatural potency, partly universalized with wide applicability to all beings in the world, and partly moralized with its employment to guide human conduct and cultivate decent personality. This function ought to be taken seriously in antiquity owing to the religious ideology and social mentality of the ancients. However, it is no longer relevant in the present-day situation, and often treated as nothing but a museum piece for archeological interest. It is worth mentioning that the quasi-religious aspect is reflected not only in the manifestation of the spirit-like expansive influence through musical harmony derived from Heaven, but also in the exhibition of the spirit-like retractive influence through normal distinction made by rites stemmed from Earth. As music is made in response to Heaven, and rites are framed in correspondence with Earth. In the multiservice of music and rites, people perceive the directing power of Heaven and Earth.30 Such power was extraordinary and supernatural, seemingly tantamount to the imagined Maker or Lord of the universe. It follows that music and rites are eulogized to reach the height of Heaven, embrace the width of Earth, and communicate with the spirit-like operations of the cosmos. Exaggerated as it is, the statement does offer a quasi-divine halo over music and rites. What ensues is more quasi-religious in that music and rites are transformed into a missionary task. As it is put below: Rites and music should not for a moment neglected by any one. When one has mastered completely the principles of music, and regulates his mind and heart accordingly, the natural, correct, gentle, and honest heart is easily developed, and with this development of the heart comes joy. This joy goes on to a feeling of repose. This repose is long-continued. The person in this constant repose becomes a sort of Heaven. Being Heavenlike, his action is spirit-like. Being Heaven-like, he is believed without the use of words. Being spirit-like, he is regarded with awe, without any display of rage. So it is, when one by his mastering of music regulates his mind and heart.31

30 Record of Music, Sect. I, 29, in The Book of Rites (trans. James Legge), p. 103. 31 Record of Music, Sect. III, 23, in The Book of Rites (trans. James Legge), p. 125.

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The same principle and outcome are also applied to the mastery and practice of rites. To become “Heaven-like” and “spirit-like” is of certain metaphysical implications. It hereby means something similar to become God-like from the perspective of anthropological ontology. It is purposefully posited as the highest achievement of which a superior person is capable when he or she has accomplished profound rites-music education. Yet, such quasi-religious expectation is by and large based on pragmatic reasoning for the sake of useful and moral ends. Still, it is pointed to personal cultivation in light of qualified citizenship and sensible leadership, which seems to herald and even underlie the hidden image of the ideal personality in Confucianism.

CHAPTER 4

Confucian Ideal and Equilibrium Harmony

According to Karl Jaspers, the axial period marks the most important of historical phases. For it witnesses the emergence of pioneering thinkers and schools of thought in China, Greece, and India.1 Among them the advent of Confucianism is brought forth together with humanism. This is mainly because Confucius (551–479 B.C.) and his successors all have been preoccupied with the pivotal virtue of ren as humaneness or humanity. Humaneness is identified with compassion, love, and benevolence while humanity with human nature well nurtured by human culture. In practice, both aspects are intended to cultivate human individuals into good citizens on the model of ideal personality. Noticeably, Confucianism is in certain aspects a further development of the rites-music tradition. Its expectation of poetry education is as persistent as that of music education for the sake of personal cultivation. These two modes of education are two sides of one medal, because they are interactive and interwoven in practice. As observed in Confucian poetics and aesthetics alike, the conception of equilibrium harmony as beauty is pointed to the appropriate and moderate expression of human emotions. It is transformed into a rationale of art creation and evaluation 1 Karl Jaspers, The Origin and Goal of History (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd, 1953), 2–8. The axial period is said to range from the eighth to the second-centuries B.C. during which the three cradles of civilization including Greece, China, Greece, and India underwent a prime time each.

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021 K. Wang, Beauty and Human Existence in Chinese Philosophy, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-1714-0_4

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during the process of historical dissemination. When applied to poetic composing or art making, it undergoes certain modifications or renovations in order to meet varied needs and tastes of different times. It thus radiates throughout the history of literary criticism, and alters all along in companion with a shift from the predominance of moral concern to the rise of aesthetic representation. Nevertheless, the moralized principle a priori in Neo-Confucianism appears in different forms in spite of its decreasing intensity. Its impact is ever-lasting but subjected to change from past to present.

The Beauty of the Ideal Personality Confucianismis essentially humanistic. It is preoccupied with the moral cultivation and ultimate becoming of an ideal personality. Practically, this ideal personality is accountable for three tasks at least: setting up a behavioral model, harmonizing human relationships, and facilitating humane governance. Aesthetically, this personality beauty is morality-based in kind, entailing virtuous excellence, personal charm, and spiritual nobility. According to Confucius, there are three leading kinds of personality, a top-down ranking of which ranges from the sage-saint (sheng ren), the superior man (jun zi) to the worthy man (xian ren). The sage-saint is the highest of all because of his supreme excellence and inward transcendence. In brief, what makes him a “sage” is his moral power or virtuous excellence; what makes him a “saint” is his inward transcendence over this-worldly morality apart from his union with the universe. In terms of his achievements, he is enabled to “benefit the people through his instructions”; in terms of his inner personality, he is characterized by the ability to “follow the desires of the heart without overstepping the bounds of right.” In my observation, the personality of the superior man falls into focus in Confucius as though it integrated the major characteristics of both the sage-saint and the worthy man. It is more frequently discussed and portrayed mainly because of its accessibility and attainability in a pragmatic sense. It is therefore considered to be the most predominant paradigm of ideal personality in most cases. The excellence and nobility of the superior man consists of a set of qualities. It is often brought forth through binary categories in the Confucian articulation. Here are some of them to be given for illustration. First and foremost, where the temperament qualities are in excess of cultural accomplishments, there arises rusticity. Where the cultural

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accomplishments are in excess of the temperament qualities, there arises a mannerist. When the accomplishments and the qualities are well balanced, the superior man of virtue is to come into being.2 As a rule, one may be pretentious and pompous when his cultural accomplishments override his temperament qualities. And one may be coarse and vulgar when his temperament qualities override his cultural accomplishments. Only when the two dimensions are well incorporated in proportion and interaction, the superior man arises with a strong tendency to enjoy a sound literacy, a good taste, and fair conduct altogether. All this procures a fine personality filled with charm, attraction, and admiration. Engaged in social encounters, he is most likely to be welcomed, received, and appreciated, exercising a positive impact upon others in favor of behavioral modeling. Accordingly, the superior man studies extensively all learning, and keeps himself under the restraint of rites as rules of propriety. By so doing will he likewise not overstep what is right.3 Secondly, the superior man aims at harmony instead of uniformity whereas the petty man goes the other way round, longing for uniformity while rejecting harmony.4 When coming into social encounters, the superior man harmonizes his relationship with others but never follow them blindly. The petty man just follows others blindly disregarding any principle of justice. Right in this context, by following others blindly is meant to form a clique disregarding either the nature of harmony among human relationships or the principle of justice for all humans. With respect to its practical function in the productive domain, harmony is adept to generate more things as it coordinates them to secure a generative power. In contrast, uniformity is confined to its own singularity such that it is unable to generate and last for long. This can be verified genetically, biologically, economically, and even socio-politically merely because singularity has neither creativity nor productivity at all. All in all, the superior man tends to put himself in other’s position, and adhere to the common good. Reversely, the petty man cares more about personal interests than anything else. He ignores public ethics, and readily mingles himself with his so-called mates who are obsessed in

2 Confucius, The Analects (trans. James Legge), 6:16. 3 Confucius, The Analects, 6:25. 4 Confucius, The Analects, 13: 23. The Chinese expressions are he er bu tong (和而不

同) versus tong er bu he (同而不和).

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similar hobbies and attached to similar purposes within an interest-vested group. In other words, selfish and narrow-minded as he is, the petty man takes the idea of “harmony” merely as a vulgarized means of being uniformed within an informal group for the sake of its own gains, regardless of any commitment to the common good. He is no way appreciates or understands real harmony as a moral consideration that is based on the virtues of humaneness and righteousness. Instead, he distorts harmony and shapes it into uniformity instead. Characteristically, the two categories of harmony and uniformity indicate two different orientations. The former is oriented toward the community good and grounded on the virtues of humaneness and righteousness. It would be possible only when personal cultivation develops into the high realm of human perfection, and goes beyond self-interestedness. The latter is directed toward the individual gains and determined by personal desires. It is confined to selfishness and therefore working at the cost of others. Moreover, either harmony or uniformity suggests a kind of means preconditioned by personal values. Harmony is intended to integrate and reconcile organically certain things for a higher objective related to the collective-based many, whereas uniformity is intended to patternize imposingly all things for a lower objective related to the self-centered few. Accordingly, the superior man as a moral being is prone to persuade and convince people with reasonability as he considers things most duly and appropriately in all possible aspects. Capable and trustworthy, he is apt to win support, respect, cooperation, and even submission from others. The petty man as an egoist is always ready either to focus on his own interests by imposing his will upon others or to patternize mental and behavioral mode within a clique or gang by force. If not, he would go off the track and turn into a yes-man, pleasing people around for the sake of a pretentiously harmonized relationship at the expense of any valid principles. Such a relationship he caters for is mostly not solid but short-lived as it disguises his real intention to fulfill his own purposes. This type of person usually appears honest, but actually pretentious as a name-dropper. It is therefore accused to be “a thief of morality” who will ruin all the virtues.5

5 Keping Wang, Chinese Culture of Intelligence (Singapore: Palgrave Macmillan, 2019), pp. 55–56.

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Thirdly, the superior man is satisfied and composed; the petty man is always full of stress and distress.6 This is mainly because of their essential discrepancy: one acts upon the moral principle such that he always feels at ease, and the other yields to profits such that he suffers more either from anxiety to gain or from fear to lose. In contrast, the superior man frees himself from such care and fear, and becomes courageous enough to correct the mistakes when knowing the disgrace caused by them. Delighted to hear about his shortcomings, he corrects them in time and upgrade his personal perfection. As he highly appreciates sincerity and honesty, fine-sounding words and an insinuating appearance are to be downplayed owing to their violation of the true virtue of humaneness.7 According to Zengzi (505–43 B.C.), the superior man is advised to examine himself daily on three points: “In transacting business for others, whether I may have been not faithful; in interaction with friends, whether I may have been not sincere; [and in the process of learning], whether I may have not mastered and practiced the instructions of my teacher.”8 All this requires such cardinal virtues as honesty, sincerity, dedication, and consistency at least. Fourthly, the superior man shares some common values with ordinary people. Just like them in daily life, for instance, he desires riches and honors as much as they do. However, he differs from them in that he will obtain these things in the proper way only, for he believes that things should not be held if obtained against the proper way. It is the same with poverty and meanness as what the multitude dislike. If such things cannot be avoided or removed in the proper way, they should stay on as they are.9 By so doing, the superior man approaches and exercises the virtue of reciprocal benevolence. He sticks to his principle under all conditions disregarding the momentum of haste, emergency, social chaos or drifting from one place to another. Interestingly, Confucius himself confessed that “If the search for richness is sure to be successful, though I should become a groom with whip in hand to get them, I would do so. As the search may not be successful, I will follow after what I love.”10 6 Confucius, The Analects, 7:36. 7 Confucius, The Analects, 1:3. 8 Confucius, The Analects, 1:4. 9 Confucius, The Analects, 4:5. 10 Confucius, The Analects, 7:11.

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In actual practice, the superior man is claimed to honor the “five beautiful acts” that stand for “five moral goods.” They all comply by the logical formula: A without B. That is to say, when the superior man is in authority, he is beneficent without great expenditure; he lays tasks on the people without their repining; he pursues what he desires without being covetous; he maintains a delightful ease without being proud; he is majestic without being fierce.11 More specifically, he makes more beneficial things from which the people naturally derive benefit, then it will cause no great expenditure; he chooses the labors which are proper and make the people work on them in time, then nobody will complain about it; he sets his mind on humane governance and secures it with all his efforts, then nobody will accuse him of covetousness; whatever he has got to do with the people or the things, he does not dare to indicate any disrespect, then he maintains a dignified ease without any pride; he adjusts his clothes and cap, and throws a dignity into his looks so that he is treated with reverence instead of fear. A further examination of all these considerate and fair acts reveals the fact that they are in accord with the principle of moderation based on “the golden mean.” This principle helps constrain the tendency of excessiveness, for any kind of excessiveness will cause the negative effect as much as the way of doing “too good a thing.” With such virtuous excellence for the “five beautiful acts” to be carried out, the superior man keeps on guard against the “four ugly things” as such: the cruelty that puts the people to death without having instructed them; the oppression that requires from the people suddenly the full tale of work without having given them prescribed warning; the injury that issues orders to the people as if without urgency at first but insists on them with severity when the time comes; and the lopsided official way that tends to pay or reward the people in a stingy manner.12 Then, according to Confucius, if capable of doing well the “five beautiful acts” while staying clear of the “four ugly things,” one is qualified to be a community or state leader, because both his service and competence are pointed to the common good above all. At this stage, he seems to have humane virtue inward and political wisdom

11 Confucius, The Analects, 20:2. 12 Confucius, The Analects, 20:2.

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outward, thus getting close to the realm of sageliness within and kingliness without (nen sheng wai wang ), a realm that is considered to be the highest achievement of which man as man is capable. In the final analysis, the superior man is proclaimed to have “five constant virtues” (wu chang ), including ren as humaneness, yi as righteousness, li as rites or reasonability, zhi as wisdom or knowledge, and xin as trustworthiness or trustfulness. To look at them in a reversed order, the virtue of trustworthiness stands for a code of conduct in social encounters. It is exemplified in self-conscious reflections on daily routines. Hence by the end of the day, one ought to ask oneself three questions for selfreflections—“Is it not pleasant to learn with a constant perseverance and application? Is it not delightful to have friends coming afar? Is he not a man of complete virtue who feels no discomposure when others may not take no notice of him?”.13 As to the virtue of wisdom, it is grounded on real knowledge. In Confucius, real knowledge bears such features as honesty, sincerity, and true understanding. Hence “When you know a thing, to hold that you know it; and when you do not know a thing, to confess that you do not know it. This is knowledge.”14 Naturally, real knowledge comes from studious learning and individual thinking. Grounded on good conscience and insightfulness, it ensures the way to establish oneself, and meanwhile, enables one to help others develop themselves. In respect to the practice of rites as codes of conduct, it leads to the virtue of reasonability. In a more specific sense, this virtue is comprehensive in that it covers such sub-virtues as to be cordial, upright, courteous, temperate, and complaisant. In respect to the virtue of righteousness, it is close to the virtue of justice. It demands one to learn not only to do things right but to do the right things at the same time. In respect to the virtue of humaneness, it is coupled with reciprocal benevolence, kindness, and love altogether. When applied to the superior man, he is expected to do what follows: (1) to devote himself to self- constraint; (2) to extend his love from family members to neighbors, communities, and the entire world; (3) to do unto others as you would have them do unto you15 ; (4) to seek also to establish others when wishing to be established

13 Confucius, The Analects, 1:1. 14 Confucius, The Analects, 2:17. 15 Confucius, The Analects, 12:2.

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yourself, and to seek also to have others accomplished when wishing to be accomplished yourself.16 All these deeds given above serve as golden rules. Under such circumstances, the superior man is the truest practitioner of the motto to live and let live. Moreover, he is so broad-minded and unselfish that he is adept to go beyond the small “I” and embrace the big “We” as a consequence of his devotion to the common good under heaven (tian xia wei gong ). He thus turns out to be an altruist person ready to share with and assist others for self-fulfillment. Having achieved the complete virtue of humaneness, the superior man will never try to survive any fatal threat at the expense of his moral character. Instead, he will be ready to sacrifice his life in order to save his moral character.17 What is stated here represents the highest standard of morality in Confucianism, resembling the Kantian notion of categorical imperative as the absolute moral law. Accordingly, with the help of a free will, the superior man takes it up as an unconditional good and puts it into his action if in need. He is therefore considered to be the ideal personality of spiritual nobility and moral beauty due to such will power, sublime quality, and immortal significance.

A Further Enhancement of the Ideal Along this line of thought, Mencius carried on the Confucian heritage. He therefore pushed further the ideal personality by advocating a set of high standards. Just as he outlined in the following statement, The desirable is called good; to have it within oneself is to be true. Fullness is called beautiful; to be filled and shine forth is called great. To be great and transform others is to be sagely; to be sagely and unknowable is called divine.18

The portrayal signifies a ladder of personality, a ladder that is made up of six levels, including good, true, beauty, great, sagely, and divine. Apparently, the level of “beautiful” is not only distinguished from but also

16 Confucius, The Analects, 6:2. 17 Confucius, The Analects, 15:9. 18 Mencius, The Works of Mencius, 7B.25. The translation is modified. Cf. The Four

Books (trans. James Legge, Changsha: Hunan Press, 1992).

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placed above the levels of “good” and “true.” “Good” is valued by “desirable,” meaning whatever one does and seeks is in accord with the cardinal virtues of humaneness and righteousness. “True” is equated with “having it within oneself,” meaning whatever actions one takes follow at any rate the leading principles of humaneness and righteousness. At this point, such principles are somewhat internalized as though they belong to one’s own nature and make one become what he is. “Beautiful” is identified with “fullness,” meaning that one acts naturally and constantly upon the moral laws of humaneness and righteousness. In this case, one has fully absorbed these laws into one’s own personality and self-consciousness. “Great” is equal to “being filled and shine forth,” meaning something substantial, brilliant, and magnificently beautiful that well illuminates the power of the moral laws given. “Sagely” is “great” and able to “transform others,” meaning a special model for generations upon generations with a kind of powerful influence that guides and transforms people into moral and decent beings. “Divine” is the same with being “sagely and unknowable,” meaning the attainment of inward sageliness without making ostensible endeavors because it is mystical and unknown. Interestingly, in the Mencius, the level of “beautiful” is based on those of “good” and “true” such that it accommodates and transcends these two aspects. Meanwhile, “beautiful” that is thus positioned in the ladder serves as a mediated agency to move up to the upper levels of “great,” “sagely,” and “divine,” because it is related to all of them one after another. All these levels are not simply moral or ethical, but also aesthetic and teleological. They work together to demonstrate the gradual perfection of the ideal personality per se. As far as the last three levels of the ladder involved, “sagely” is most important because it is worshiped as being a sage, representing the highest of ideals frequently discussed in Confucianism. Historically, Confucius has been revered as a sage, because he was, like Socrates, sincerely devoted to combining his words with his deeds. However, he himself told his disciples that it was beyond him to be a sage of the greatest excellence. As to the level of “divine,” it implies the supremacy and perfection of such legendary rulers as Yao and Shun. Comparatively, the first three levels of “good,” “true,” and “beautiful” are supposed to be three elementary stages of the superior man or the capable ruler, whereas the last three levels of “great,” “sagely” and “divine” are supposed to be three advanced stages of the sage-ruler and spiritual perfection. The six levels of human becoming are distinguished and interconnected in the Mencius.

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They have a profound effect on art and literature ever since the late thirdcentury B.C. Their explicit stress on the beauty of spiritual nobility and its crucial traits is coupled with the fullness of human perfection by virtue of moral codes and conducts. Their impact continues until today with regard to the current apperception of personality beauty mainly in a moral and spiritual sense. Moreover, Mencius was assumed to initiate an active exchange of ideas and thought-ways with Daoism in his era. He therefore introduced the notion of qi as vital energy or connection between body and mind into his philosophizing of personality beauty. When asked about what he was good at, for instance, Mencius responded that he was good not only at understanding what others said in language, but also at nourishing his “vast qi as vital energy” (hao ran zhi qi). When questioned to make it clear, he replied, That is difficult to explain. The qi as vital energy can be developed to the degree of ultimate greatness and indomitability (zhi da zhi gang). Being correctly nourished and freed from any injury, it grows to such an extent that it fills the space between Heaven and Earth. This being the case, it becomes an cooperative assistant of uniting the Righteousness and the Dao (yi yu dao). Without it, you will fall into a state of impotency. It is something that is produced by accumulating the Righteousness through constant and right action. It is not something that you can grab from superficial and sporadic attempts at the Righteousness. If you act without mental composure, you will become vital-energy starved.19

Mencius was highly aware of the mental composure or repose at a time when he was cultivating vital energy in order to build his character or personality of greatness and indomitability. Such cultivation required a sincere attitude, focal concentration, gradual progression, and correct nourishing method in accord with the virtue of Righteousness and the guidance of the Dao. He therefore sarcastically criticized the superficial and sporadic attempts at a quick result. Allegorically, he likened such attempts to the queer act of a man from the Song State who was worried about the slow growth of his crops, and went out to yank on them to speed up their growth. Naturally, the crops withered soon afterwards. The 19 The translation is modified according to the original. Cf. Mencius, The Works of Mencius, 2A:2. Cf. The Four Books (trans. James Legge). Also see The Mencius (trans. Charles Muller, Toyo: Toyo Gakuen University, 2003).

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method of helping them grew fast by pulling them caused the unavoidable damage. This would be the same case with the cultivating of vital energy by forcing it instead of letting it go in a correct manner. As noted in the Mencius, the will is the director of vital energy, and the vital energy permeates the body and connects it with the mind. Say, the will and the vital energy influence each other. For this reason, the practitioner of breathing system is advised to hold on to the will and try not to scatter the vital energy.20 By so doing, the practitioner will not be “vital-energy starved,” but able to cultivate his vital energy fully and build his personality effectively. In practice, he is expected to act like a noble man (da zhang fu) upon these three precepts: “Neither riches nor honors can corrupt him. Neither poverty nor humbleness can make him swerve from principle. Neither threat nor force can subdue him.”21 They will help him reach the level of “beautiful,” among other levels as stated above. As noticed in Chinese art and literature, the characterization of heroic spirit and personality beauty occupies a large proportion. It is based on the cultivation and display of the vast and righteous vital energy,22 which is tallied with the morally “ultimate greatness and indomitability” at confrontation with the fatal choice of individual self-sacrifice for the common good. All this is pointed to keeping up with the Righteousness and the Dao in one aspect, and related to the noble ideal of political practice and the highest virtue of humaneness in the other. Accordingly, as observed in the long course of history, it creates a deep and constant impact upon the elementary constitution of national heroism and the cultural-psychological formation at large. The personality beauty of this kind can be attributed to the sublime category in essence. Now regarding the fundamental approach to furnishing personality beauty in Confucianism, it is ethical and political, aside from being aesthetic and spiritual. By and large, it keeps focus on the interrelationship between human individuals and community. Such interrelationship requires not merely the coordination of individual interests and the common good, but also the harmonization of human relationships amid all walks of life. According to the virtue of righteousness, it also demands human individuals to sacrifice their own interests in order to secure the

20 Mencius, The Works of Mencius, 2A:2, in The Four Books (trans. James Legge). 21 Mencius, The Works of Mencius, 3B:2. 22 The Chinese expression is hao ran zheng qi (浩然正气).

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common good at a time when tackling any bilateral conflict or binary contradiction. On this occasion, the superior man is ready to sacrifice his life and secure his moral character of spiritual nobility according to the Confucian moral law similar to the Kantian categorical imperative aforementioned. The personality beauty hereby reaches its ultimate height of glory, tempered and attested in the process of heated struggle against social ills and interest-ridden attempts. However, this ultimate height appears conditional from a socio-ethical point of view. Say, it is positive when applied to doing right things for the many, and negative when applied to doing wrong things for the few.23 In my observation, the approach to fostering personality beauty in Confucianism bears a unique feature as it is intended to match up with the Heavenly Way through moral cultivation.24 This is ontological in that it guides and facilitates the personality building from an interactive standpoint. That is, it involves two key aspects: one is the downward flow of the Heavenly Way from above,25 and the other is the upward move through studious learning from below.26 They form a two-way orientation. In praxis, it is merely through the cognitive faculty and humane enculturation that the upward move from low to high is rendered possible in the case of spiritual nourishment and personality development. As for the downward flow herein, it is meant to be a kind of super-moral guiding rope to uplift the human soul from low to high. It is therefore considered to be either the spiritual pillar of human condition or the determinant force of human destiny. When the downward flow meets the upward move, human fulfillment is achieved, and the Heavenly Way (tian dao) is transfigured into the Human Way(rendao). As stated in The Doctrine of the Mean, “What Heaven (tian) has conferred to human is called natural temperament (xing ); all that is acting in accord with this temperament is called the Way(dao); the approach to helping one know the Way is called education (jiao).”27 In many cases, those who recommend the downward flow assumption tend to find 23 Yu Min, Qi hua xie he [Harmonization through Vital-energy Transformation], (Jilin: Dongbei Normal University Press, 1992), p. 91. 24 The Chinese expression is xiu de pei tian (修德培天). 25 The Chinese expression is tian dao xia guan (天道下贯). 26 The Chinese expression is xia xue shang da (下学上达). 27 Zhong yong, The Doctrine of the Mean, 1, in The Four Books (trans. James Legge, Changsha: Hunan Press, 1992). The cited translation is modified. Legge’s translation

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from this statement a walking stick to support their argument. Yet, when looking into the logical order of the four categories, including Heaven, natural temperament, the Way, and education, we may discover that the Way as the medium is most important of all. That is why it is said “not to be left for an instant. Otherwise, it would not be the Way any more.”28 Then, the knowing of the Way as a synthesis of the Heavenly Way and the Human Way depends on education that is intended to awaken through human culture the good conscience within the individual self. At this point, one will be able to act in accord with the Way, and follows the natural temperament as his nature of purity and simplicity that is allegedly ordained by Heaven. In short, the ideal personality in Confucianism shoulders a multifold mission according to its teleological pursuits. For instance, it is expected in a moral sense to have such a perfected personality for the sake of modeling behavior with regard to upgrading the conduct of others. It is assumed in a social sense to have individuals improve human relationships and enhance social harmony. It is supposed in a political sense to “govern the state well and pacify all under heaven” as is decisive to retain world order and peace. It is also claimed in an aesthetic sense to develop a good taste not only for the appreciation of arts but also for the artistization of life. As stated above, the becoming of such personality is closely leagued with the fundamental root of human emotions. As this root can grow into something either positive or negative, it depends upon how appropriately it is nurtured and cultivated. It underlies the potentiality of fulfilling the personality. As to human emotions, they are the origin of the Dao as the principle of all principles that is in turn deployed to channel human emotions correctly and properly. They are essentially distinct from animal emotions because they are humanized through enculturation. They can be utilized to counterbalance rational supremacy with reference to the education of human individuals who are both rational and emotional beings. For this reason, there arises the issue of how to cultivate and moderate human emotions for the sake of personality development or character building in a most decent manner. follows: “What Heaven has conferred is called the Nature; an accordance with this nature is called the Path of duty; the regulation of this path is called Instruction”. 28 Zhong yong, The Doctrine of the Mean, I, in The Four Books (trans. James Legge). The cited translation is modified. Legge’s translation follows: “The path may not be left for an instant. If it could be left, it would not be the path.”

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Basic Methods of Personality Development The personality development in Confucianism largely relies on personal cultivation for certain. It involves some primary methods in connection with cognitive, moral, and aesthetic spheres. One of them is, for instance, termed as “eight correct paths” (ba zheng dao) that procure a lifetime mission for a complete fulfillment. The whole idea is elaborated in The Great Learning (Da xue): The Dao of great learning is to manifest the illustrious virtue, to renovate the people, and to achieve the highest excellence…. The ancients who manifested the illustrious virtue to the world first governed well their states. Wishing to govern well their states, they first regulated their families. Wishing to regulate their families, they first cultivated their personalities. Wishing to cultivate their personalities, they first rectified their minds. Wishing to rectify their minds, they first sought to be sincere in their thoughts. Wishing to be sincere in their thoughts, they first extended to the utmost knowledge. Such extension of knowledge lay in the investigation of things. Things being investigated, knowledge was extended. Their knowledge being extended, their thoughts were made sincere. Their thoughts being made sincere, their minds were then rectified. Their minds being rectified, their personalities were cultivated. Their personalities being cultivated, their families were rightly regulated. Their families being regulated, their states were well governed. Their states being governed, the whole world was kept in peace. From the son of Heaven [emperor] down to the mass of the people, all must consider the cultivation of the personality as the root of everything besides.29

As observed in this outlined curriculum of advanced learning, there are eight major steps ranging from near to far or rising from low to high in a logical sequence. The first step is the investigation of things (ge wu); the second is the extension of knowledge (zhi zhi); the third is the sincerity of the thoughts (cheng yi); the fourth is the rectification of the mind (zheng xin); the fifth is the cultivation of the personality (xiu shen); the sixth is

29 The Great Learning, James Legge (trans.), 1. The English version is offered here

with some minor modifications according to the original text. For instance, James Legge rendered tianxia in “empire,” and I changed it into “the world.” He translated tianxia ping into “the whole empire was made tranquil and happy,” and I revised it as “the world was kept in peace.” Some translators prefer to say “the whole world was brought into peace”.

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the regulation of the family (qi jia); the seventh is the proper governance of the state (zhi guo); and the eighth is keeping the world in peace (ping tian xia). All these eight steps form a progressive process sustained by the law of cause and effect. Among them, the first step is the starting point from which the learning process begins with a cognitive motivation as the cause, and then leads to the second step of extending knowledge as the effect. In the similar manner, it gets through the rest of other steps before ending up with the ultimate objective of making world peace. This means all the other seven steps or tasks serve as premises for the final telos. In order to keep the world in peace, the most determinate of all the premises is personal cultivation as the root of every other aspects. For the personality thus cultivated is not only an able and learned person, but a moral and rectified one as well. With the help of such kind of personality, the family can be regulated, the state can be well governed, and accordingly the world can be brought into peace. In practice, the entire process of great learning also demonstrates the Confucian way of sageliness within and kingliness without (nei sheng wai wang ). Judging from a comparative angle, the first five steps chiefly contribute to the nurture of sageliness within (nei sheng ) that embodies the personality characterized with the highest excellence of humaneness and righteousness. The last three steps mainly contribute to the development of kingliness without (wai wang ) that is verified through proper treatment of family, state, and world affairs altogether. Assumingly, one may read the old text and then understand the new situation better. This is only possible by means of extending the implications of the text in light of the insights into the status quo. Regarding what is discussed above, the most appealing of all today is not the learning process itself but the conventional ideal of keeping the world in peace. Looking into the notion of tian xia as all under Heaven or the entire world, we are inclined to link it with the widespread idea of ecumenism in modern politics. Geographically and ideologically, ecumenism is worldoriented and characterized with a cosmopolitan horizon. As idealistic as it may be, it appears more constructive and reciprocal in the realm of international relations. After all, it could be employed to encourage a world outlook and global ethics in accord with cosmopolitanism.30

30 Wang Keping, “Harmonism and Ecumenism,” in Harmonism as an Alternative (Singapore: Foreign Language Teaching & Research Preaa, Palgrave Macmillan, 2019).

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As seen in the Neo-Confucianism during the Song Dynasty (960– 1279), the “eight correct paths” are condensed into “four missions” on the part of Confucian scholars. They are, according to Zhang Zai (1020–1077), intended to set up the heavenly principle for the universe, clarify the mandate of the people, continue the true learning of the past sage-saints, and pave the way for eternal peace across the world. More specifically, the “heavenly principle” (tian li) is the principle of all principles. Treated as the “Heavenly Way” (tian dao) in the Confucian mentality, it is the paradigm of the “Human Way” (ren dao), implying the underlying philosophy of heaven-human oneness in kind. The mandate of the people herein indicates the destiny of humankind, and signifies the meaning of human existence. It is actually made to call on human individuals to do what they ought to do as part of their being and mission as well. True learning is hereby referred to the profound knowledge and cultural legacy contained in the classical works by the past sage-saints. It requires further reconsideration and successive reinterpretation in order to preserve and develop it in a holistic mode. It is often taken as a torch to pass on in order to illuminate humanity from a historical perspective. As to the eternal peace across the world, it is directed to the most important task mission of keeping peace for thousands of generations for the world and humankind altogether. It suggests a hidden conception of “all under heaven” in an ecumenical or cosmopolitan sense. Relatively speaking, what is formulated above is both cognitively and morally oriented. From an aesthetic point of view, arts education plays a most crucial and subtle role in personal cultivation. Such education is ascribed to a long history from antiquity, and chiefly leagued with poetry and music, among other arts. As noted in classical Confucianism, the ideal personality is claimed to be the sage or “sage-saint” at its best. It is often mirrored in the virtuous personality of the superior man. Owing to their resemblance in certain dimensions, the “sage-saint” is secular in kind, sharing the emotions, desires, and needs of ordinary people. In the end, he becomes what he can be through arts education in the Confucian manner. That is say, he is “perfected in music” and “wanders in the arts.”31 This observation will elicit one to arrive at a conclusion that the ideal personality grows out of the music and arts that are taught, practiced, and appreciated most properly. 31 Li Zehou, The Chinese Aesthetic Tradition (trans. Maija Bell Samei, Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2010), p. 51.

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How is it possible? As noted in The Confucian Analects, such virtues as humaneness, filialness, reverence, universal love, righteousness, and so forth are all stemmed from human inner emotions. These emotions are perceived as both the ultimate basis of humaneness and the starting point of Confucian humanism, all purporting at the Confucian theory of human nature.32 In fact, the Confucian concern in particular and the Chinese tradition in general focus on guiding the emotions toward real interpersonal relationships that inform artistic creation in many aspects. Ostensibly, the best-loved subjects in Chinese arts and letters are the human affections amid human relationships, along with varied life circumstances entailed by those relationships. In the artworks, the whole variety of human emotions are deepened and extended. The humanistic dimension of Chinese culture is actually interwoven with the function of arts and aesthetics, in which the Confucian heritage finds its full expression. The socialization of human emotions brings with it the preference for humane attachment and this-worldly affection.33 To the extent of cultivating such emotions in order to accomplish the ideal personality, Confucius once proposed two strategies of education, in which the arts play an important part. In a word, the two strategies include “wandering in the arts” and “being perfected in music.” They are derived from these two statements: Set your intention upon the Dao, rely on its virtue, lean on humanness, and wander in the arts.34 Be awakened by poetry, be established by rites, and be perfected by music.35

As indicated in the first one, the Dao is the purpose, its virtue is the foundation, humaneness is the pillar, and the arts are the free play in rites, music, archery, charioting, reading-writing, and arithmetic. Ranked alongside the Dao, virtue and humaneness, “wandering in the arts” implies a sound mastery of practical skills, thus involving both a good understanding and capacity of making use of natural lawfulness. It is

32 Li Zehou, The Chinese Aesthetic Tradition, p. 40. 33 Li Zehou, The Chinese Aesthetic Tradition, p. 46. 34 Confucius, The Analects, 7.6. 35 Confucius, The Analects, 8.8.

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due to such a mastery that freedom is experienced as the outcome of free play in the arts given. “This sense of freedom is directly related to artistic creativity and to the experience of creativity in other endeavors. It is essentially an experience of that aesthetic freedom in which purposefulness is united with lawfulness.”36 More significantly, this sense of freedom denotes an overall maturity of the human personality through a complete mastery and appropriate use of practical crafts and objective laws. It hereby displays a pragmatic power and wisdom of the human personality. Hence it serves as a sort of free willpower and assists human individuals to willingly and firmly set their intention upon the Dao, rely on its virtue, and lean on humaneness at any rate. In addition, “wandering in the arts” is largely concerned with the mastery of practical techniques, and eventually pertained to the nurture of freedom inward. When working together with another principle of “following the desires of the heart without overstepping the bounds of right,”37 it forms an interlinked and complementary system in light of synthesizing lawfulness with purposefulness. For both of them share the same telos of fostering a special form of human freedom without breaking the moral imperatives and social mores. Parallel to “wandering in the arts” is “being perfected in music” with regard to the becoming of the ideal personality. In the Confucian thought, humaneness is near to music, and music is the direct shaping of emotional psyche. As noted in the second statement given above, poetry is the initial stimulus to inspire human individuals for becoming better; rites or ritual ceremonials are the codes of conduct to establish the most decent pattern of behavior, and music is the supreme art to help accomplish the perfection of human personality. In comparison, poetry inspires or enlightens a person mainly by using the image-based or poetic wisdom that tends to stir up the emotions, feelings and concerns about certain events expressed through simile, metaphor and allegory, among other devices. Rites as codes of conduct or social mores coerce human individuals to comply by in everyday practice. Music directly affects, nourishes, refines and models the human temperament and spirituality from inside. On this account, “being perfected in music” is above both the function of poetry and that of rites altogether, because music as such cultivates from within the inner spirit or soul of a person. In other words, music

36 Li Zehou, The Chinese Aesthetic Tradition, p. 47. 37 Confucius, The Analects, 2.4.

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for education is delicate and self-conscious as it works straight into the mind-heart or the soul and helps build a complete person or character. For poetry and rites are utilized mainly to formulate “the structure of the intellect (the internalization of rationality) and the will (the construction of rationality),” and music is then employed to “do with the emergence of aesthetic structure (the sedimentation of rationality).” “The structure of the intellect and the will” does not reflect the ultimate perfection of human personality, because it contains traces of an external rational standard. Yet, the “aesthetic structure” does reflect it, because it is not merely sensuous, natural, and consisted of psychological emotions and senses, but also permeated with wisdom and morality of humanity. In this case, the aesthetic is “a superior entity that transcends language, intellect, morality, and rites. This entity is none other than human sensuosity or sensuous freedom. From the point of view of the perfection of the individual, this is noumenal humanity.”38 Herein what is noteworthy follows: “wandering in arts” and “being perfected in music” do share something in common, for they tend to facilitate the pleasure of freedom, but their consequences turn out to be distinct in some way. That is, the pleasure of freedom experienced in “wandering in the arts” is attained through the mastery of objective laws at large, and the pleasure of freedom experienced in “being perfected in music” is directly related to inner spirituality of human individuals. This being the case, the pleasure of freedom can be a medal of two sides after all. It is a natural human psychological emotion in one sense, and in the other, it is a spiritual realization and an aesthetic freedom to live a worthwhile life, in which human wisdom and virtuous behaviors are sedimented and transformed into a psychological noumenon that transcends its foundation of wisdom and morality. Having attained this pleasure of freedom, one is prone to realize the ideal personality, thus enabled to scorn riches, stay content with poverty, defy brute force, and behave freely and naturally toward others. It is about life, also about aesthetics. Moreover, it constitutes the highest level of “humaneness.”39

38 Li Zehou, The Chinese Aesthetic Tradition, pp. 49–50. 39 Li Zehou, The Chinese Aesthetic Tradition, p. 52.

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A Dual Expectation of Artistic Perfection As read in The Analects, Confucius expressed his appreciation of the accompanied music of the Wooing and Wedding (Guan ju) performed by Zhi, the great musician in the State of Lu. He delightfully praised the performance by claiming that “It is, from beginning to end, wonderful and appealing to the ears.”40 His response was vicarious and even empathetic as though he was feeling himself into the music he had listened. All this was due to the aesthetic values embodied in the artistic expression of pleasure, joy, charm, harmony and so forth. With respect to music as a performing art, Confucius described his “peak experience” on hearing the Shao music in the State of Qi, and for three months thereafter he did not notice the taste of meat he ate. As he proclaimed, “I never dream that the joys of music could reach such heights.”41 He highly appreciated it simply because of its expression of harmony, and its glorification of peace. On this account, he grew so obsessed in it as though he was driven into ecstasy at the time when such music was working directly into his soul. Preoccupied with the spell of music, he set up a dual demand for artistic perfection from a moral and aesthetic perspective. As he announced: The Shao Music was both perfectly beautiful and perfectly good, whereas the Wu Music was perfectly beautiful but not perfectly good.42

Apparently, Confucius made a distinction between what is perfectly beautiful and what is perfectly good. To my understanding, what is perfectly beautiful herein is often identified with form while what is perfectly good identified with content. Comparatively speaking, what is good in content is more fundamental than what is beautiful in form according to the Confucian value assessment. The Shao Music was eulogizing social harmony and filled with auspicious airs such that it was regarded as the music of peace. In contrast, Wu Music was presenting social conflict and saturated with fierce scene of combat such that it was termed as the 40 Confucius, The Analects, 8:15. 41 Confucius, The Analects (trans. D. C. Lau, London: Penguin Books, 1983), VII:14,

p. 87. Also see Confucius, The Confucian Analects (trans. James Legge, Changsha: Hunan Press, 1995), 7.14. 42 Confucius, The Analects, 3:25, p. 71.

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music of war. The former was corresponding to the morality of humane benevolence, whereas the latter corresponding to the morale of military conquest. Confucius upheld a persistent stance toward peace, for it would pertain to social harmony and reciprocal love in light of his moral outlook. Ever since then, the Confucian aesthetics tends to celebrate a dual demand for the best music in kind, for it calls for an ultimate integration of what is perfectly good in content and what is perfectly beautiful in form. In other words, it expects all-round perfection of music in both form and content. This demand is also applied to other genres of art such as poetry or literature as a whole. In plain language, it advises musical and poetic composers to produce such artworks as being characterized with appropriate equilibrium and peaceful harmony on the one hand, and being pleasant to the ear and delightful to the eye on the other.43 These two aspects turn out to be two high standards. More often than not, they seem to be more idealistic than realistic, because it is rather difficult to secure a perfect balance between them. Thus they conduce to set up a hidden hindrance to the creation and development of art and literature altogether. In addition, it renders what is perfectly beautiful (form) into a handmaid for what is perfectly good (content) in art owing to the morality-based priority in Confucian tradition. In practice, the due demand given is also extended to the spheres of poetry education, rites education, and music education, among others. It goes through relevant modifications during the process of historical experimentations and socio-cultural changes as well. Gradually, it is transformed into an organic integration of the principle of suitability and that of artistry in order to balance moral and aesthetic values in artworks. It is eventually aligned with the rationale of equilibrium harmony as beauty (zhong hé wei mei) for Chinese art theory and aesthetics alike.

Equilibrium Harmony as Beauty As discerned in Confucian tradition, the primary principle that is applied to cultivating and moderating human emotions is none other than “equilibrium harmony” (zhong hé). It can be also termed as the principle of moderation. It is grounded on the Confucian doctrine of the golden mean (zhong yong ), which is defined as “the correct course to be pursued 43 As to the two Chinese expressions herein, one is zhong zheng ping he (中正平和), and the other is xi wen le jian (喜闻乐见).

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by all under heaven,” and “the perpetual principle to regulate all under heaven.”44 Then, what is to be done with human emotions? According to the doctrinal idea as follows: While there are no stirrings of pleasure, anger, sorrow, or joy, the mind may be said to be in the state of Equilibrium (zhong). When those feelings have been stirred, and they act in their due degree, there ensues what may be called the state of Harmony (hé). This Equilibrium is the great root from which grow all the human acts in the world, and this Harmony is the universal path which they all should pursue. Let the states of Equilibrium and Harmony (zhong hé) exist in perfection, and a happy order will prevail throughout Heaven and Earth, and all things will be nourished and flourish.45

It is common sense that we humans are not only rational beings, but also emotional beings. We become emotional when stimulated by varied things of which some cause pleasure, some cause anger, some cause sorrow, and some cause joy, among others. It will do us good if the emotions are properly expressed and channeled. It will do us harm when the emotions happen to get wild and excessive. In many cases, our emotions are stirred to such an extent that they may go out of appropriate harness. They are then detrimental not only to our mentality and health, but to our relationship and collaboration with other fellows. This is apt to break up the state of equilibrium, and unable to reach the state of harmony. Worse still, it will cause chaos rather than peace, only to plunge humans into a diversity of strife or conflict to different degrees. What is noteworthy in the argument are the two stages of sentimental evolution and development: one is the initiative stage on which the emotions are not stirred yet, and remain in the state of equilibrium; the other is the second stage on which the emotions are already stimulated but moderated to the due degree by means of such cardinal virtues as reciprocal love, righteousness, propriety, and wisdom. As a rule, those who can be self-disciplined at confrontation with emotional stirrings are most likely to attain the realm of harmony par excellence. They will then be able to follow the universal path, and generate a positive impact on others who will be elicited to follow the same path. This being true, a 44 The Doctrine of the Mean, Sect. I, in The Four Books (trans. James Legge), p. 25. 45 The Doctrine of the Mean, Sect. I, in The Four Books (trans. James Legge), pp. 26–27.

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happy order for all under heaven can be attained, and people will be in a position to become what they should become, and to live a life as they should live. At this stage, the emotions given are no longer completely natural as they are. Instead, they are humanized and enculturated to a proper extent. This conforms with the traditional idea of emotional moderation based on a synthesis of emotional and reasonable aspects within human nature. More specifically, this synthesis is a dynamic and organic mechanism. It incorporates the reasonable aspect into the emotional one, and meanwhile disseminates the reasonable aspect through the emotional one. It serves to have a balanced mode of the two aspects in order to let neither of them go to extremes. It is under such condition that a moral message can be expressed emotionally, and an emotional effect in turn can be addressed reasonably. By so doing, it is assumed to furnish personality beauty when applied to personal cultivation, and create artistic beauty when applied to art making. However, there arises a question as to who could get into that stage? According to Confucius, the superior man as the ideal personality can go that far whereas the petty man cannot. Why? It is because the superior man adheres to the course of the golden mean while the petty man acts contrary to it. The superior man does so due to his virtuous excellence and prudence, whereas the petty man does so due to his little sensibility and caution. In the Confucian view, the superior man is outstanding in the moral nourishment of such five cardinal virtues as reciprocal humaneness, righteousness, mores, wisdom, and trustworthiness. He is identified with the ideal personality that is highly aware of two principal codes of conduct: one is that he does not do to others what he does not want done to himself, and the other is that he is ready to let others establish themselves when he attempts to establish himself, and meanwhile to let others achieve what he tries to achieve.46 These codes are essentially golden rules, truly tallied with the virtue of altruism in essence. Now regarding the moderation of human emotions, it resorts to no other means than equilibrium harmony. Such moderation embodies the beauty of appropriateness as a synthesis of aesthetic and moral dimensions, for it creates a moderate state of being both reasonable and emotional, and retains human existence in a suitable balance between human nature 46 Wang Keping, Harmonism as an Alternative (Singapore: Foreign Language Teaching & Research Press, Palgrave Macmillan, 2019), pp. 52–53.

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and human sociality. All this facilitates the possible becoming of the ideal personality in the Confucian preoccupation from past to present. On this account, equilibrium harmony is thought of as a rule of beauty as is applied to a wider scope ranging from personality development, emotioncum-reason moderation, art making to artistic evaluation, among others. In respect to personality beauty according to the principle of equilibrium harmony, what is affirmed is the excellence of personal cultivation in one sense, and the sociality of personal obligation in the other. From the Confucian viewpoint, what is aesthetically and morally significant is the union between the excellence and the sociality in terms of human perfection. It is for this reason that Confucianism gives much more credits to the full-fledged becoming of the superior person, great person, righteous person, and those with lofty ideals who are ready to sacrifice themselves for their moral character related to the common good. As for art making according to this rule of beauty, what is persistently emphasized is the complementary between outward and inward, and between beautiful and good. In most cases, what prevails in the expression of human emotions is the notion of being sorrowful without being harmful, and being joyful without being licentious. For it values the social function of art, moral impact of personality, and symbolic import of landscape. When it comes to the artistic appreciation in light of this rule in question, educational worth is highly celebrated, because art from the perspective of Confucian mindset is expected to transform and refine social customs and folklores. In other words, it is schemed to do so in order to create a sound social atmosphere for training qualified citizens and better characters. Undeniably, the emphasis on the rationale of equilibrium harmony leads to a corresponding structure of reason-cum-emotion in artworks. It ends up with some disadvantages shrouded in a negative mechanism as is manifested in three domains at least. First of all, it constrains the creation of artworks due to the pursuit of the balanced structure of reasoncum-emotion. For what underlies and dominates the structure is moral teaching or didactic engagement. It interferes art making as it obstacles the freedom of artistic creativity and reduces the profundity of emotional expression. It is therefore allegorized as letting one dance with bounded feet and shackled hands under extreme conditions. Secondly, the artistic expression or representation for the sake of equilibrium harmony may go so far as to cater to the public preference or pop taste, which is then confined to a happy ending, often overdramatized as it were, in order to

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please the audience at large. This may turn the free act of art making and aesthetic appreciation into a hidden control of moral and even political ideology. What happens in this case will eventually disturb art creation, patternize the sense of art, upset aesthetic freedom, and strengthen the uniformity rather than the diversity of taste. Last but not the least, the tendency to rectify artistic style or ethos is derived from the principle of equilibrium harmony. It is often guided by a moralized idea such that it hinders and even obstructs the in-depth exploration and insightful exposure of the different aspects of human nature and emotions. Hence it plays down the spell of tension, obscures the philosophical value, and suspends the tragic power of artworks in many cases. That is why less resemblance of the Attic tragedy is found in Chinese art all along in its history.

Moderation of Emotional Expression In Confucian’s era, poetry education was constantly advocated because poetry was accompanied by music. It occupied an important position such that Confucius attached much importance to The Book of Poetry used as the textbook then. As read in The Analects, Confucius himself makes a frequent reference to poetry when talking about the correct and moderate way of moral teaching and character building. What he expects from poetry is largely grounded on the rationale of equilibrium harmony in order to balance the poetic expression of human emotions to a proper or moralistic degree. Confucius is said to have spent years on rearranging and revising The Book of Poetry and its accompanied music. He is convinced that the exercise of poetry education can accomplish the objective of “gentle and kind” personality or character building apart from its function to enable people to communicate appropriately on the occasions of important social encounters and diplomatic meetings. Hence he advises his disciples to look into the poetic values as follows: Why don’t you study The Book of Poetry? Poetry can serve to inspire (xing), to reflect (guan), to communicate (qun) and to admonish (yuan). On one hand, the teachings presented in The Book of Poetry can help serve one’s parents well; on the other hand, the knowledge and methods

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provided in it can help serve one’s lord well. Moreover, one can learn a lot of names of birds, beasts, plants and trees.47

As observed in this entire argument, it reveals at least seven functions of poetry corresponding to the key aspects of Confucius’ program of poetry education. First and foremost, poetry is inspiring (xing ) to the extent that it can evoke sentiments, exalt thoughts, and reinforce the faculty of imagination through vividly suggestive and associative imagery. Secondly, poetry allows reflection (guan) on the human condition and way of life such that insightful judgments can be made and the power of observation be enhanced through contemplation. Thirdly, the communicative dimension (qun) of poetry can be used to smooth and harmonize human relations through two-way communication, and remold ideas by virtue of the values expressed. Fourthly, the admonitory tendency (yuan) in poetry can provoke regret, complaints, and critique of the social environment, in addition to helping one master the art of satire in relation to human problems. Fifthly, the moral dimension of poetry helps cultivate a sense of piety toward one’s parents as a natural result of the moral teachings drawn from such poetry. Subsequently, the political dimension of poetry helps to develop a sense of mission, and the diplomatic tactics necessary to serve one’s ruler, because of the historico-cultural significance of The Book of Poetry, and the possibility of extrapolating from it the socio-political relevance in other similar situations. Last but not the least, the cognitive dimension of poetry helps identify the names or species of fauna and flora, which will in turn expand the scope of scientific knowledge, so to speak. To my understanding, the poetic inspiring (xing), reflecting (guan), communicating (qun), and admonishing (yuan) are the four basic elements that make up a uniquely multifold aesthetic discourse in Confucian tradition. Their interactions and interrelationships are further exposed and elaborated by Wang Fuzi (1619–11,692) as follows: What is inspiring can be reflected, thus making what is inspiring more profound; what is reflected can be inspiring, thus making what is reflected more manifest; what is communicated leads to what is admonished, thus making what is admonished more unforgettable; what is admonished leads to what is communicated, thus making what is communicated more sincere and authentic…. There arises a natural flow of emotions and feelings. The 47 Confucius, The Confucian Analects (trans. James Legge), 17:9.

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poet expresses his thought or message with consistency whereas the reader undergoes an individual experience of diversity due to his own emotions or mood.48

The four primary qualities or functions of poetry must therefore be approached and exercised as an interrelated whole. However, what is inspiring in poetry appears to be the most essential of all, because it is integral to art and artistic effect. To be sure, if poetry is not appealing enough to inspire or move the reader emotionally, it cannot evoke a reaction nor an aesthetic response, and quite naturally the other functions also go off the track. What is inspiring and admonished in poetry tend to spur and express the emotions and thoughts of human individuals, while what is reflected and communicated in poetry are used to obtain social and moral effects through an aesthetic contemplation that imperceptibly influences and cultivates the thinking and character of the reader. All these functions may lead, as they were expected to do, to the development of one’s ability to serve one’s father (i.e., parents) and lord (i.e., sovereign) in both a moral and a social sense. This notion reveals the Confucian ideal of “efficient government and harmonious human relations.”49 In addition, with high awareness of the social, moral and aesthetic services, Confucius attempted to infuse into poetry a cluster of social, moral, and aesthetic discourse.50 He did so as much as he did with the rites-music tradition in accordance with the formation of the ideal personality. What is worth mentioning herein is about how to assess poetry as a trifold discourse sui generis. It has something to do with the social, moral, and aesthetic aspects. In Confucius, it needs to comply by the golden rule of moderation. That is, poetry itself should be “expressive of enjoyment without being licentious, and expressive of sadness without being grievous.”51 This kind of moderation implies a principle of correctness and suitability as it is originated from the rationale of equilibrium

48 Hu Jingzhi (ed.), Zhongguo gu dian mei xue cong bian [Selected Writings of Chinese Classic Aesthetics] (Beijing: Zhonghua Shuju, 1988), Vol. 1, pp. 292–293. 49 The Chinese expression is zheng tong ren he (政通人和). 50 Wang Keping, “A Manifold Expectation of Poetry,” in Wang Keping, Chinese

Culture of Intelligence (Singapore: Foreign Language Teaching & Research Press, Palgrave Macmillan, 2019), pp. 218–234. 51 Confucius, The Analects (trans. James Legge), 3:20. The original expression is le er bu yin, ai er bu shang (乐而不淫, 哀而不伤).

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harmony per se. A further examination shows that equilibrium is deployed as a proper measure, and harmony as an integrative matrix. Teleologically, these two aspects are combined to hanker after a harmonized and appropriate proportion of what is emotional in accord with the specific situation and what is reasonable in accord with the moral cultivation. In a word, they are working together to moderate the emotional expression in poetry by virtue of a balancing strategy. According to Confucius, the lyric of the Wooing and wedding (Guan ju) is a perfect example. It depicts a love story that carefully avoids excessive expression of pathos. As noted in the first stanza, it suggests a young man falling in love with a beautiful maiden in spring when turtledoves are cooing; in the second stanza, he woos her in summer as cress floats on the water, and in the third stanza, he restlessly yearns for her day and night; in the fourth stanza, both of them become engaged in the autumn when the cress is gathered; eventually, in the last stanza, they marry in winter when the cress is cooked. The representation of emotion is tactfully measured, and there is no chance to be swept away by vulgar desires and passions. The expression of the seemingly one-sided love extends only to such a degree: His yearning grows so strong, He cannot fall asleep, But tosses all night long, So deep in love, so deep!

This intensity of passion and anxiety expresses “sadness,” but it is moderate rather than excessive as there is no sign of intense grief. The happiness of the wedding is likewise expressed with moderation: Feast friends at left and right On cress cooked so tender! O bells and drums, delight The bride so sweet and slender!

“Bells and drums” here indicate the performance of rites and music to celebrate the wedding ceremony. The poet thus creates a delightful ambiance and eulogizes the beauty of the bride. Nevertheless, the delight in this kind of “enjoyment,” so inviting but well-measured, precludes any licentiousness of temptation. The poem Wooing and Wedding does not

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simply serve as an encapsulation of the principle of poetry as a moral discourse, but also incorporates the philosophy of governing by means of education through rites and music. One can perhaps understand at this point why the poem Wooing and Wedding is placed at the very beginning of The Book of Poetry. In Confucius, it is noteworthy that the principle of moderation is emphasized with reference to the expression of emotions in poetry. Accordingly, excessiveness is strongly decried while moderation highly recommended in all cases. This strikes me as though Confucius seems to be highly conscious of the necessity to temper sentimental expression in both poetry and music. Otherwise, it is liable to go to extremes, either encouraging licentious hedonism or provoking gross sentimentality. All this must be avoided in poetry due to its being harmful to human life and dignity in one sense, and detrimental to the normal and virtuous character in the other. Actually, “it is as a result of this notion that the expression of emotions in Chinese art is reasonably controlled in most cases, and poetry rarely becomes simply an outlet of base and callous desires, or mysterious and fanatical impulses.”52 Such outcome is large due to the rationale of equilibrium harmony as beauty, for it requires the combination of opposites (i.e., sensuous pleasure and moral requirements, instinctive drives and rational pursuits, emotional expression and moral restraint) to be represented in art works, aiming to attain a balanced and harmonized development of the personality as the ultimate objective of art education. Under such circumstances, it is corresponding to the idea that “to go beyond is as wrong as to fall short.”53 Likewise, Zhu Xi’s interpretation of what is admonished in poetry as “expressing complaint without being angry”54 can be inferred from the same idea albeit with its more overt intention to maintain social stability and established order. Noticeably again, the Confucian demand for non-excessiveness gives rise to a paradox with respect to art creation. That is to say, it imposes a yoke on the poet since the excessive expression of emotions, such as pleasure and sadness, is treated as undesirable as inadequate expression. This will possibly make it a formidable task for any artist to achieve the 52 Li Zehou and Liu Gangji (ed.), Zhongguo mei xue shi [A History of Chinese Aesthetics], (Beijing: China Social Science Press, 1984), Vol. 1, p. 150. 53 Confucius, The Analects (trans. James Legge), 11:16. The original expression is guo you bu ji (过犹不及). 54 The original statement is yuan er bu nu (怨而不怒).

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moderation of expression. However, this paradox may be utilized as a positive frame of reference in face of the modern trend of transforming poetry into a form of absurdly violent discourse. For example, To murder a man is to pick a lotus flower. When murdered, Hold it in hand. Which cannot be replaced.

Poetic or not, it is notoriously sensational and shocking. The expression of holding in hand the head of the victim is a deadly awesome and ruthless image, evoking a sense of horror rather than a sense of art at any rate.

An Integrated Interpretation of Poetry The Confucian mode of poetry education underwent ups and downs during the Warring States period (475–221 B.C.). Yet, it persistently continued as it was ever before. In order to make the most of poetry for pedagogical purposes, Mencius (e. 372–289 B.C.) initiated a kind of integrated approach to interpreting poetry. It follows, ...in explaining an ode [or a poem from The Book of Poetry], one should allow neither the words to obscure the sentence nor the sentence to obscure the intended meaning. The right way is to meet the intention of the poet with sympathetic understanding.55

So openly it plays down the word-by-word reading or text-bound interpretation. Because such reading or interpretation will confine the reader to specific words or sentences of the ode or poem in question, and even entice him to mistake its “intended meaning” owing to an obscured vision. Instead, one who reads and interprets a poem needs to find out the intention of the poet with the help of the thoughts and feelings expressed, thoughts and feelings that are contextually provoked and vicariously stimulated by what is read and reconsidered. By so doing, one can grasp the real intention of the poem, and appreciate it “with sympathetic understanding.” Above all, the reader is given an active role in the process. 55 Mencius, Mencius (trans. D. C. Lau, London et al.: Penguin Books, 1988), BV, PA.4, 142.

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For a relevant illustration, Mencius proceeded to supply a case analysis. It follows: “If one is merely to take the sentence literally, then there is the ode Yun han which says, ‘Of the remaining multitudes of Zhou/Not a single man survived.’ If this was taken to be literal truth, it would mean not a single Zhou subject survived.”56 The poetic depiction like this is an exaggeration that cannot be taken for granted literally. It in fact denotes that the “multitudes of Zhou,” the empire of entire China during the Zhou Dynasty (1046–256 B.C.), remained less than ever before due to political and social changes. It signifies a kind of nostalgic over the situation during the historical period. Moreover, Mencius went on to propose a complementary aspect of the approach. Thus he stressed the necessary and particular reference to the personal background and the zeitgeist involved. It runs, When one reads the poems and writings of the ancients, can it be right not to know something about them as men? Hence one tries to understand the age in which they lived. This can be described as “looking for friends in history.”57

Apparently, this claim suggests that such reading aim at not merely a sound understanding of the “intended meaning” of each text, but also a relevant knowledge of the authors and the ethos of their times concerned. For the “intended meaning,” the authors and their zeitgeist are interrelated both textually and contextually. A better knowledge of the authors in terms of their socio-historical backgrounds and individual personalities will be decisive for the reader to pin down the “intended meaning” of each poem involved. All this reflects the Confucian conviction that one’s writings of whatever kind mirror one’s character and style in most cases. When reading the poems and books by the ancients, one is also in search for the virtues, moral and artistic, of friends via dialogue with the writers. It is for this reason that historical approach to art and literature remains strong and valid in the Chinese tradition of classical and modern criticism.

56 Mencius, Mencius (trans. D. C. Lau), Book V, PA.4, 142. 57 Mencius, Mencius (trans. D. C. Lau), Book V. PB.8, 158.

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A Moralized Principle a Priori With his philosophy as the synthesis of Neo-Confucian schools in the Song Dynasty, Zhu Xi (1130–1200) spent about 40 years on scrutinizing The Book of Poetry, and wrote detailed and annotated comments on it under the heading Shi ji zhuan. He thereby revived the line of thought from classical Confucianism but modified it by virtue of his own observations. In the “Preface” to his work, what is chiefly exposed and argued is the primary cause of composing poetry. According to Zhu Xi, humans are born inactive but become active when inspired by external things and events. They can hardly think and speak out fully how they are inspired in words. Since words do not suffice to express their ideas and feelings, they resort to singing and poetry in terms of natural rhythmic and melodic system. This brings poetry into being as the outcome of verbal expression of what the human mind-heart feels about and responses to external things and events altogether. As the mind-heart is capable of figuring out the upright from the evil, the verbal expression is then composed to distinguish between the right and the wrong. This being the case, the sage makes use of poetry with the help of metric structure, and applies it to educating the populace, assisting the governance, and cultivating all under heaven.58 What is said above leaves me under the impression that Zhu Xi was highly aware of the poetic effect in light of education, governance, and cultivation. This effect is reinforced as it is accompanied with such musical device as metric structure or rhyming system. It is therefore aesthetic by nature and significant in praxis. With respect to The Book of Poetry as whole, Zhu recounted the conclusive remark initiated by Confucius about its content, a remark that all the three hundred poems are claimed to “have no depraved thought” (si wu xie). However, Zhu moved on to operate a second reflection. For instance, he offered a more elaborate and individual explanation of this ambiguous point when he reread the love poem of the Trysts (Sang zhong ) from the anthology: By claiming that all the poems [in The Book of Poetry] “have no depraved thoughts (si wu xie)”, Confucius means to use the three hundred pieces

58 Zhu Xi, Shi ji zhuan xu [Preface to the Commentary on The Book of Poetry], (Tianjin: Guji Bookstore Press, 1988), 1.

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to promote the good while punishing the evil. Although its basic intention is good-natured and directed to the right path, it is not completely and justly understood yet. As a matter of fact, it does not suggest that all the poets be freed from depraved thoughts. Now there arise two interpretations: One argues that the poets do describe the love romances but they themselves have no depraved thoughts. They do so to denote a moral message with both a sense of sympathy and that of punishment relating to the victims. The other argues that the poets write about these poems when they have depraved thoughts, but readers are expected to rid themselves of any depraved thoughts when reading the pieces. They can learn moral les- sons from the ugly in the poetic representations and keep alert against such wrong doings. These sayings are varied from one another. To my mind, it would be better to look into oneself rather than into others from the light of non-depravedness. Likewise, it would be even better to banish the vice of depravedness on one’s own rather than attributing the virtue of non-depravedness to others.59

The interpretation given above is fairly instructive due to its moralized intention and requirement. It is a consequence not merely of empirical analysis pointed to the merits of cultural literacy and personal sensibility, but also of a second reflection on the general objective of appropriate use of the poems in all. With the objective identified and the attitude rectified, whether or not to have depraved or non-depraved thoughts is found far less decisive when it comes to reading the love poems in particular, for what really counts in this experience is the reader’s aesthetic attention, normal attitude, and moral conscience. Just as the old saying affirms, you should not bother so much about your slanting shadow on the ground so long as you yourself are walking straight ahead. That is, whatever types of depraving and seducing depiction in poetry will matter too little providing you can manage to keep yourself in a decent and innocent state of mind. Such a state of mind is sustained by two characteristics at least: one is the inward transcendence, and the other is aesthetic detachment. All this is not adequately heeded and reconsidered, however. It is Xiong Shili, a modern Chinese philosopher, who perceives the hidden message and pushes it further in plain and explicit language as follows:

59 Kang Xiaocheng, Xianqin rujia shijiao sixiang yanjiu [A Study of the Pre-Qin Confucian Ideas of Poetry Education] (Taipei: Wenshizhe Press, 1988), pp. 159–160.

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In fact, Confucius applies this idea to The Book of Poetry as a whole, calling for a complete and thorough understanding of literature. Originally, literature expresses the human life or condition. Though saturated with the exposure of the bright and dark or the good and bad aspects, it enlightens people to think of moving from the dark toward the bright, and to explore the nature of human freedom. It is for this reason that Confucius talks about having no depraved thoughts in the case of the poems.... From antiquity up till now, “The Wooing and Wedding” (Guan ju) has been widely read. But how many people have ever experienced the spiritual state of “being joyful without causing licentiousness and being sorrowful without excessive grief.”... As human beings are enslaved by the instrumental values and corrupted by material wants, they are so wanton and licentious that they have lost their original nature of innocence. They tend to delight in the licentious life and suffer from excessive grief to the extent that they have confined themselves to the small and selfish “I,” transformed themselves along with things and desires, and consequently lost their real being for human convergence with the great universe. This is so tragic of human existence.60

Obviously, what Xiong tries to say is reconfirm what Zhu Xi, among others, have done before by approving the moral purpose of the poems in terms of “having no depraved thoughts.” Corresponding to Zhu and the like, Xiong encourages people to look inward, instead of looking outward, in terms of personal cultivation and spiritual sublimation. He ventures further with a critique of the narrower preoccupation with merely moralized intention and attitude concerning the subject matter of the poems in question. He factually announces the hidden function of literature as an expression of the human condition, and advocates the truth of human freedom for value judgment. This largely broadens the scope of literary criticism. In Xiong’s observation, the human condition is rendered so harsh by instrumental confinement, material corruption, pleasure-seeking greed, small-minded selfishness, tasteless vulgarity, etc. Worse still, many people appear self-infatuated in this seductive trap and even self-deprived of their sense of justice, not to speak of their real knowledge and courage to face the tragic aspect of their being. This being the circumstance,

60 Xiong Shili, “Shi jing lüe shuo” [A Rambling Talk on The Book of Poetry], in Du jing shi yao [A Basic Approach to Reading the Chinese Classics], see Huang Kejian (ed.), Xiong Shili ji [Selected Writings by Xiong Shili] (Beijing: Qunyan Press, 1993), p. 269.

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Xiong assumes and possibly expects literature to play an important role and enlighten the victims at loss. As seen in poetry, literature exposes and typifies both the positive and negative respects of reality. Once “a complete and thorough understanding of literature” is attained, people are supposed to be enlightened to the extent that they will go beyond the negative toward the positive. In other words, they will be enabled to get back the essence of human freedom, rediscover the real being or true self of humankind, confront with the harsh reality, and become conscious of changing their existential condition. All this requires such traits as moral awareness, personal responsibility, psychical equanimity, and courageous spirit, in addition to poetic sensibility or aesthetic wisdom. Such poetic sensibility is, in Xiong’s opinion, rather crucial and even determinate in a way as it spurs people’s aspirations and facilitates the possibility of all the other virtuous traits abovementioned. Furthermore, the product of literature, like The Book of Poetry, “is difficult to read. Without sufficient wisdom, that it is read makes no difference from that it is unread,”61 because any literal reading cannot easily secure an insightful apprehension or relevant understanding. Xiong seems to make so big a story of literature in general and The Book of Poetry in particular at a time when he grows much worried about the human condition and corruption. He therefore attempts to advise people to mirror themselves through the poetic imagery, in order to wake up from their illusions, realize their downfalls, and hopefully mend their ways in the end. Now let us turn back again to the notion of “having no depraved thoughts” with reference to Zhu and Xiong who open up a new horizon, a horizon that is in striking contrast to the traditional and narrower interpretations concerned. Noticeably, the second reflection as they have operated sheds much light on the Confucian conclusion about the predominant theme of the three hundred poems or so. It occurs to me that “having no depraved thoughts” can be taken as a trifold principle to guide the reading and treatment of the feng lyrics in particular. First and foremost, it is applied as a moralized guideline to poetic criticism. By so doing, the moral values and practical usages are apt to be overstressed. Accordingly, the critique of poetry tends to be mechanical and conformistic with far less respect to specific contexts in the remote 61 Xiong Shili, “Shi jing lüe shuo” [A Rambling Talk on The Book of Poetry], see Huang Kejian (ed.), Xiong Shili ji [Selected Writings by Xiong Shili], p. 268.

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past, say, the ancients used to live and love according to the “old” rites as moral codes of their times, which could be found more liberal and traceable in the tribal communities in existence today. Judging from the “new” rites as the Neo-Confucianists granted and championed, the ancients appeared as if they were so laissez-faire and dissipated in private life. As shown in his commentary on the love poems, Zhu Xi was inclined to impose the current moral codes onto the departed ancients, and made his judgment according to the value systems of his time. This strikes me as similar to “cutting the foot to fit the shoe” in this case. Secondly, the notion of “having no depraved thoughts” can be seen as a realistic principle for literary creation. Cheng Yi, Zhu Xi’s master, once identified this notion with the Chinese conception of cheng, which signifies sincere instead of pretentious, genuine instead of fake, true instead of false, natural instead of artificial, what it is instead of what it seems, etc. The poems are hereby assumed to “have no depraved thoughts,” simply because they are authentic expressions of the natural flow of human emotions and feelings along with their experiences of lifestyle. Both Cheng Yi and his brother Cheng Hao promoted “the sincerity and authenticity of verbal expression (xiu ci li qi cheng )” as a guiding rope for all literary writings. When reading the feng lyrics, especially the love poems, with bold expressions of trysting experiences in the open air after the fall of night, we feel strongly and value highly the sincerity, authenticity, and simplicity in the descriptions of romantic adventures and clandestine love affairs among the ancients. This does not mean we don’t care about morals. In fact, we tend to ponder over them from an artistic viewpoint, and find the way of love so natural in the case of the ancients who were not confined to the moral codes or social taboos as were the later descendants. In other words, the interaction between male and female enjoyed an unconceivable latitude in accordance with their free will and less restricted norms in antiquity. Even nowadays, among certain minority ethnic groups in China, the similar trysts as we read about in the love poems are still common according to their folklores, for instance, the Suoluo people in Lijiang and the Li people in Hainan. They all live partly in a natural way of life as a result of their cultural traditions and living environment in the mountain areas. Thirdly, the notion of “having no depraved thoughts” can be identified with an aesthetic attitude of detachment. This attitude features a “serene contemplation” (jing guan) as Cheng Zi recommends. It is free or detached from any practical needs. Idealistically speaking, it is

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intended to nurture a transcendental outlook in order to make life both artistic and moralistic, integrating emotionality (aesthetic sensation) with reasonability (moral reason) in harmony. To clarify it in Kantian terms, this aesthetic attitude is supposed to be characterized with disinterested satisfaction and purposefulness without a purpose. With the help of this attitude, even the love poems can be appreciated without being morally upset or corrupted. In this case, personal cultivation and moral consciousness are all the more important and determinant just as Zhu perceives and claims.62 To sum up, Zhu’s critique of poetry is somewhat moralized against a preset or a priori imperative, which is subjected to his preoccupation with “heavenly principles” (tianli) in terms of the cardinal virtues and feudal rites as codes of conduct. Moreover, it is somewhat preconditioned by his conceptual conformity to Confucius’ over-generalized observations, and practically pushed forward by his methodology of interpretation. His justification of “having no depraved thoughts” is noteworthy as it opens up a new horizon for poetic criticism despite of its moral finality. His poetics places more emphasis on the Dao of morality rather than the literary value as is noticed in his commentary on The Book of Poetry. This can be well justified by his renowned statement that “The Dao is the root of literature while literature is the bough and leaf of the Dao.” For this reason, he is said to step into a paradoxical situation. In one aspect, he treats the feng lyrics as love poems that express the male-and-female romances. And in the other, he exposes his comments to far-fetched moralistic and political overtones in many poems. The former case shows his closer look at the nature of poetry as a literary genre applied to the expression of human emotions, feelings, and even romantic experience of love affairs. The latter case demonstrates his continuation of the moralitybased convention evidently consolidated after Confucius himself. Even though his exploration of the romances is conducted from a perspective of political overtones, it can be seen as an exercise of a new strategy, for his moralistic view implies a tendency to break away from the earlier convention of literary criticism shaped in the Han Dynasty. It is just in such a historical and comparative sense that his view is acknowledged as a step forward anyhow.

62 Wang Keping, Chinese Culture of Intelligence, 299–301.

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An Extended Scope of the Literary Mind As time goes by, the Confucian poetics is mixed up with some ideas from Daoism, Buddhism, and other schools of thought in China. It is modified accordingly in order to meet the artistic trends and aesthetic needs due to socio-cultural changes. However, it maintains the tradition of taking The Book of Poetry as the frame of reference. Historically, the process is long but progressive. One of its milestones is marked by a theoretically substantial treatise on literary criticism. It is titled the Dragon-carving and The Literary Mind (Wen xin diao long ) accomplished by Liu Xie (r. 465–539). It gives a systematic examination of literary genres, stylistic features, spiritual aspects, creative laws, elegant dictions, and aesthetic qualities, among others. It also offers a variety of insights into literary texts from a critical perspective. However, it still retains some ideas under the restrictions of traditional Confucianism. As proclaimed at the very outset of the book, the sun and the moon are just like jade, illuminating Heaven; the mountains and rivers in their splendor give shape to Earth. This embodies how literature represents the Dao, and expresses the quintessence of the universe. According to Liu, the origin of literature is attributed to the Confucian classics, and literature is elevated to the philosophical height of the Daoist ideal in terms of spontaneous naturalness. In the final analysis, what is exposed in his treatise “may be regarded as an aesthetic summary of the literary awareness that characterized the Wei-Jin period (220–420)”.63 One of the most leading theories in Liu is about the “literary mind” (wen xin). It is an extension of the literary awareness. By the “literary mind” is meant “the mental exertion in writing.” For “Time is swift, human talent is transitory. Only through works of art can people immortalize their names and achievements…Thus a man of virtue strives after accomplishments in action and writing, in writing not that he is fond of arguments, but that he is thereto destined.”64 Thus the “literary mind” bears at least two aspects interrelated in the process of practical undertaking. One is concerned with the initiative and essential feature of literary writing, conducing to the natural emergence and formation of the “literary mind.” The other is related to the ultimate and mission-oriented 63 Li Zehou, The Path of Beauty: A Study of Chinese Aesthetics, 97. 64 Liu Xie, Dragon-carving and the Literary Mind (trans. Yang Guobin, Beijing: Foreign

Language Teaching and Research Press, 2003), Ch.50, 711.

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telos of literary writing, leading to the role of moral edification against the background of morality-based politics. In Liu’s opinion, when encountering the varied images of the myriad things and phenomena in the universe, the poet tends to react with his mind rather than with his sense of sight as an outcome of being externally stimulated one way or another. Under such circumstances, when the mind is thus stirred, the words are selected to express them. When the words are thus selected, they illuminate literary culture. All this is in accord with the Dao of spontaneous naturalness. It goes without saying that the literary creation is the deliberate product of the “literary mind.” According to Liu Xie, such creation is “inspired by the things (scenes and events) to express the feelings and ideas.” The expression of this kind should be no other than natural as it is. It is advised to be sincere and authentic so as to move and convince the readers. The feelings therein must be heart-felt ones, and the ideas be mind-inspired ones. They count much more than mere artistry embellished with fine-sounding words and feigned feelings. For this Liu Xie argues In the Book of Poetry art is used to express genuine feelings (wei qing er zao wen). Later works of rhyme-prose counterfeit feelings for art (wei wen er zao qing). How do we know this? The airs and odes in the Book of Poetry were written as expressions of feelings and grievances. As their authors had feelings and grievances to convey to their ruler, so poetry became an outlet. However, writers of rhyme-prose had no grievances or frustrations in their heart. They feigned feelings in order to win fame and theirs are works of counterfeit feelings. Writings that express genuine feelings are succinct and truthful; works of mere artistry are flowery and extravagant. Later writers, imitating the excessive rather than the truthful, abandoned the Book of Poetry and turned instead to modern works of rhyme-prose. Consequently, works of genuine feelings have become increasingly rare while writings of mere artistry are flourishing.65

Accordingly, the literature created in this manner is capable of fulfilling its aesthetic, moral, and social functions with regard to the human condition. To Liu’s mind, nothing is greater than this because it is metaphysical in essence. Say, it supposedly exists together with the Heaven and Earth, 65 Liu Xie, Dragon-carving and the Literary Mind, Ch. 31, 445. The first two expressions of this cited passage in Chinese are “为情而造文” and “为文而造情.”.

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applies the Confucian classics to practice, harmonizes the relationship between the ruler and the ministers, and facilitates the justification of the governance of the state and army. Since the political and social situation in his time was chaotic and corrupt, he deliberately emphasized the moral function of literature in order to mitigate the socio-political tensions. He thereby insisted that literary creation must evade the bad and the vicious owing to its wide circulation and spreading influence in the circle of readership. As regards the most remarkable achievements of the literary creation after Liu Xie, they are the Tang poetry in the flourishing phase (618–907) and the Song ci poetry in the fruitful period (960–1279). The former can be largely categorized into the pastoral descriptions under peaceful circumstances, and the battlefield reflections in disturbing situations. And the latter can be broadly classified into the euphemistically graceful style, and the heroically vigorous style. Their representative poets were so many, and an off-handed list of the most outstanding ones could be Li Bai, Du Fu, Wang Wei, Meng Haoran, Li Shangyin, Du Mu, Liu Yuxi, Li He, Su Shi, Liu Yong, Yan Shu, Qin Guan, Li Qingzhao, and Xin Qiji,66 among many others. As noted in their output, the poets either describe the events through their sentimental perceptions, or identify their subjective moods with the objective scenes. They succeed in interweaving these components into the appealing images through rich imagination and individual style. Meanwhile, they manage to reinforce the aesthetic effect by virtue of musical elements, and leave behind an imaginative space for the readers to discover for themselves. Thus they create an art world not only for the sake of art, but also for the sake of humankind who will take it as a spiritual remedy to counterbalance the miserable world engaged. With a tendency to ponder over the internal world within the mind-heart instead of the external world at large, they give more value to detailed depictions, touching emotions, or refined sensory feelings. As one of the comments affirms, the conception of the Song ci poetry is differentiated from that of the Tang poetry under certain conditions. For instance, a piece of ci poem may be defined as a more specific, subtle, detailed, and concentrated expression, through lines of varying lengths, of a certain frame of mind, train of thoughts, emotional concern, and 66 This random list includes such renowned poets as 李白, 杜甫, 王维, 孟浩然, 李商隐, 杜牧, 刘禹锡, 李贺, 苏轼, 柳永, 晏殊, 秦观, 李清照, 辛弃疾during the Tang and Song dynasties ranging from the seventh century to the thirteenth century.

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so forth. In a Tang poem, each line usually embodies an idea or scene; each verse as a whole has wide implications and several images in hidden connection and contrast. In a ci poem then, an entire stanza may contain only one idea, so the image is described in minute detail and with subtle implication. Moreover, a ci poem is often a more complicated presentation of an ordinary or everyday scene.67 Consequently, the general readers of the ci poems could hardly fail to observe a kind of quiet and leisurely beauty represented in a tone of boredom and sadness, for the ci poets in general seem to seek after the pleasure that is rather elusive and momentary. Now it is noteworthy that the best pieces of the classical Chinese poetry are also the most popular ones, highly appreciated and frequently recited by the old and the young from past to present. In general, the aesthetic of the Tang poetry can be more or less the same with the Song ci poetry, for both of them focus on the poetic excellence based on the magic power of words, the symbolic appeal of images, and above all, the expression of genuine feelings inspired by events or scenes either in presence or in history. In most cases, the expression of either feelings or ideas should be implicit rather than explicit, suggestive rather than straight forward, image-based rather than concept-ridden, etc. Poetic and picturesque as they are, the well-received works always strike the readers as interactive and engaging due to sensible charm and vicarious response.

Three Modified Theories of Poetic Beauty Discourse on poetry (shi hua) as a form of literary criticism flourished during the Song, Ming, and Qing periods, ranging from the tenth century to the nineteenth century. It was still underlined by the conception of equilibrium harmony that was reduced to a principle of correctness or suitability in favor of moral revelation and spiritual enlightenment. Nevertheless, it gave more credits to the artistic expression of human emotions and ideas in an aesthetic mode. In other words, more attention was tendered to exploring the art of poetry with respect to the possibility of creating poetic beauty or artistic excellence. A random list of leading theorists in this domain covers three representatives to my mind. They include Yan Yu, Ye Xie and Wang Yuyang.

67 Li Zehou, The Path of Beauty: A Study of Chinese Aesthetics, p. 169.

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Chronologically, Yan Yu (e.1192–e.1245), one of Zhu Xi’s late cotemporaries, is renowned for his Discourse on Poetry (Cang lang shi hua). Discussed thereby are five key aspects of poetic creation, encompassing the poetic genre, power, ambiance, interest, and meter. They are compared, respectively, to the beautiful body, strong bone, solemn appearance, active spirit, and clear utterance of a human being.68 What is drawn from them is a theory of inspired interest in poetic charm (xing qu shuo), a theory that demands not only the spirit-like liveliness and vitality of imagery, but also suggestive and magic power of words. According to Yan, Poetry requires a distinct kind of talent instead of bookish knowledge. It inspires a different kind of interest instead of rational inferring…Poetry as such expresses human feelings and natural instincts. Poets in the prime time of the Tang Dynasty are merely preoccupied with inspired interest in poetic charm, which is traceless and implicit as though an antelope hanged up its horn in a secret place. Therefore, this inspired interest is so subtle, profound, exquisite and delicate that it cannot be a carefully embellished patchwork at all. It is like the sound in the air, the color of the countenance, the moon in the pond, and the image in the mirror. It ends up in word limit but connotes infinite significance.69

This allegorical articulation of the inspired interest in poetic appeal seems to be somewhat mysterious and obscure. Yet, it reveals the basic characteristics of how poetry is to be composed and appreciated in light of the Dao of poetry per se. In Yan Yu, the Dao of poetry resembles the principle of chan or zen as dhy¯ ana, lying in the method of subtle-awakening or subtle-apprehension related to poetic contemplation. By the same token, the inspired interest is disinterested by nature, as it is pointed to the poetic charm through rich and suggestive imagery. Even though each image is created within the word limit, but it embodies far-reaching significance in a thought-provoking context. Yan’s consideration of poetry has left behind a considerable impact, direct or indirect, upon the other two influential theorists: Ye Xie (1627– 1703) and Wang Yuwang (1634–1711). As read in the Essence of Poetry

68 Yan Yu, Cang lang shi hua [Canglang’s Discourse on Poetry], (Beijing: Renmin Literature Press, 1983), 7. 69 Yan Yu, Cang lang shi hua [Canglang’s Discourse on Poetry], 26.

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(Yuan shi), Ye Xie formulates his four-factor theory about poetic creation in particular and art making in general. Involved in the process of composing poems are the four factors, including artistic talent (cai), individual courage (dan), broad vision (shi), and creative power (li). They are actually serving as four determinants of what one can imagine, think, reflect and produce. In practice, they are interactive and interrelated one way or another. Among them the factor of broad vision is based on extensive experience, learning, and knowledge. It lays down a necessary foundation for the other three. Accordingly, to have individual courage without broad vision will be conducive to crude and rash action because of ignorance and violence of the norms. To have artistic talent without broad vision will be ready to talk big and rack his brain with lavish ideas, but unable to tell between right and wrong. To have creative power without broad vision will be inclined to grow stubborn, eccentric, and arbitrary such that it will hype people, confuse the world, and do much more harm than good. Hence artistic talent, individual courage, and creative power are all largely dependent, if not preconditioned by, upon broad vision. For such vision brings confidence into the poet or artist who is not to be shaken or twisted around by any disturbances like praising, condemnation and whatsoever.70 To my understanding, broad vision is not simply a kind of cognitive capacity, but a mixture of sound perception, artistic sensibility and aesthetic judgment. It remains so fundamental and decisive just because it is supposed to hold a proper balance and justifiable usage of all the four factors in the process of poetic creation or ark making. Moreover, when serving as a vehicle of aesthetic judgment, it becomes more sensitive and sensible only by means of more practice, because it is assumed to be unteachable by nature. Now regarding Wang Yuyang’s consideration, it models theoretical inquiry on what is proposed by Yan Yu before. For instance, as Yan Yu advocates the inspired interest in poetic spell and brings forth the strategy of entering into subtle charm, Wang Yuyang picks up the hidden message from it and proceeds to promote his conception of subtle charm in rhythmic significance (shen yun shuo). However, he provides no articulation of it. Instead, he offers some illustrations through specific poems. It is noteworthy that both Yan and Wang seem to be equally concerned with

70 Ye Xie, Yuan shi [On the Essence of Poetry], (Beijing: Renmin Literature Press, 1979), 16–17.

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profound and thorough apprehension. Nevertheless, Yan is more attentive to the poems by Li Bai and Du Fu while Wang more attentive to the poems by Wang Wei and Meng Haoran. Their respective preference may conceal or reveal their minute and delicate discrepancy in taste. As to their theories of poetry, they turn out to inspire Wang Guowei, a modern philosopher and art critic, to develop his theory of poetic state par excellence by virtue of a second reflection on their merits and demerits. This is to be examined later in the book.

CHAPTER 5

Critique of Mohist Utilitarianism

As stated earlier, the rites-music tradition occupied an important position in the early history of Chinese education. There arose much discussion of music aligned with rites among ancient thinkers, a discussion that was mostly carried out in terms of psychical, moral, and social considerations. The psychical dimension was usually schemed to expose the origin of music coupled with the aesthetic expression of human emotions evoked by external things and events; the moral aspect was principally intended to enhance personal cultivation and good conduct; and the social function aimed to promote social harmony and effective cooperation. As shown in some of the classical texts, there are different views about music. The Book of Mozi and The Book of Xunzi, for instance, represent many of their opposite views that constitute an acute polarity. Their views of music are mostly expressed in these two essays: one is “Against Music” (Fei yue) by Mozi (c. 479–381 B.C.), and the other is “Discourse on Music” (Yue lun) by Xunzi (c. 298–238 B.C.).

A Challenge to Confucian Values Among ancient Chinese thinkers, Mozi is renowned as the founder of Mohism, standing out as the first opponent to challenge Confucian values. As read in his critical argument, he asserts that the Confucian ideas ought to be suspended for a couple of reasons. First and foremost, they © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021 K. Wang, Beauty and Human Existence in Chinese Philosophy, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-1714-0_5

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show less faith in gods and spirits such that they will most likely displease them and make them ready to punish human beings and their community. Secondly, the Confucian insistence on elaborate funerals and a three-year period of mourning on the death of a parent will waste the wealth and energy of the people. Thirdly, the Confucian emphasis on the practice of music will also waste the wealth and energy of the people. Fourthly, the Confucian belief in predetermined fate will lead people to laziness and passive resignation.1 To correct what he perceives as Confucian errors, Mozi proposes five strategies to govern the state. According to his description, the first is to recommend to the lord of a state in chaos the principle of honoring the worthy and identifying with the superior. The second is to advise the lord of a state in plight to recognize the principle of frugality and moderation in funerals. The third is to propose to the lord of a state obsessed with musical entertainments the principle of negating music and rejecting fatalism. The forth is to persuade the lord of a state in cultural wildness to accept the principle of respecting the will of Heaven and the spirits. The fifth is to convince the lord of a state with aggressive ambitions to adopt the principle of exercising universal love and denouncing offensive warfare.2 All this comprises a crucial part of the Mohist utilitarianism in contrast to Confucian humanism. Mozi expresses what he thinks about the Confucian doctrines and the social issues in his book, a collection of 53 chapters, some of which are presumably written by his disciples or adherents. In one of the chapters on “Anti-Confucianism” he speaks out on behalf of the poor, criticizes the Confucian promotion of rites and music, modifies the Confucian values of humaneness and righteousness, and develops them into his central ideal of

1 Mozi, “Gong Meng ” [Gong Meng Zi], in Wang Huanbiao (ed.), Mozi ji gu [Collected Annotations to The Book of Mozi] (Shanghai: Shanghai Guji Press, 2005), Ch. 48, pp. 1101–1102; also see Sun Yirang (ed.), Mozi xiangu [The Book of Mozi with Annotations] (Beijing: Zhonghua Shuju, 2001), Vol. 2, 459; Fung Yu-lan, A Short History of Chinese Philosophy in his Selected Philosophical Writings (Beijing: Foreign Languages Press, 1991), pp. 248–249. 2 Mozi, “Lu wen” [The Lord of State Lu], in Wang Huanbiao (ed.), Mozi jigu [Collected Annotations to The Book of Mozi], Ch. 49, pp. 1125–1176; also see Sun Yirang (ed.), Mozi xiangu [The Book of Mozi with Annotations], Vol. 2, pp. 475–476.

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universal love. He therefore proceeds to justify the person of humaneness in terms of the person of universal love.3

Against Music and Negative Utilitarianism In my observation, Mozi can be conceived of as a practical utilitarian inclined to swing toward the negative extreme. This is shown in his critique of music. As noted in the surviving fragment of his essay “Against Music,” he claims that the harmfulness of music stems from its negative functions.4 He therefore sharply condemns music, and calls out to prohibit it. To his mind, making music is wrong because it is useless in at least three ways. Firstly, music provides no welfare to the people, in contrast to the boats and carts that help gentlemen rest their feet and laborers spare their shoulders. As a consequence, music offers no material benefits to the community and does not reduce in any way “the three great worries of the people” relating to food, clothing and shelter. Just as Mozi points out, “Let us try sounding the huge bells, striking the rolling drums, strumming the zithers, blowing the pipes, and waving the shields and axes in the martial dance. Does this do anything to provide food and clothing for the people? I hardly think so.”5 Secondly, music can do nothing to “rescue the world from chaos and restore it to order”. It is especially so in the circumstances where “the great states attack the small ones; the great families molest the small ones; the strong oppress the weak; the many tyrannize the few; the cunning deceive the stupid; the eminent lord it over the humble; and the bandits and thieves rise up on all sides and cannot be suppressed.”6 Thirdly, and worse still, music becomes loathsome as it “deprives the people of the wealth needed for their food and clothing.” For when 3 Mo Tzu, “Universal Love,” in Mo Tzu, Basic Writings (trans. Burton Watson, New York: Columbia University Press, 1966), 39–41. 4 Mozi, “Fei yue” [Against Music], in Wang Huanbiao (ed.), Mozi jigu [Collected Annotations to The Book of Mozi], Chs. 33–34. His essay “Against Music” is said to have three parts. What is left in The Book of Mozi are two incomplete parts from which we see the key arguments relevant to his whole system of thought in this domain. Cf. Sun Yirang (ed.), Mozi xiangu [The Book of Mozi with Annotations], Vol. 1, pp. 251–263. 5 Mozi, “Against Music,” in Mo Tzu, Basic Writings (trans. Burton Watson, New York and London: Columbia University Press, 1966), p. 111. 6 Mozi, “Against Music,” in Mo Tzu, Basic Writings (trans. Burton Watson), pp. 111– 112.

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the rulers and ministers want musical instruments, such as bells, drums, zithers and pipes, to be used in their government activities, they will lay heavy taxes upon the common people in order to let them make musical performances available. By so doing, the ruling class is amused with pleasure and comfort while the ruled are plunged into plight and poverty.7 Mozi also holds that performing music is wrong because it is wasteful in two ways. In the first place, it is a waste of human resources as musical performance “must have young people in their prime, whose eyes and ears are keen and whose arms are so strong that they can make the sounds harmonious and see to strike the bells front and back.” Young men who are employed in performing music will be taken away from plowing and planting, and young women from weaving and spinning. Performing music therefore interferes with the people’s efforts to produce food and clothing. Then, in the second place, performing music is a waste of material resources. Dancers cannot wear robes of cheap cloth or eat coarse food. Instead, they must dress themselves in beautiful robes of patterned and embroidered silk in order to make their figures and movements worth watching, and they must have the finest food and drink, such as millet and meat, in order to keep their faces and complexions fit to look at. But they themselves produce neither food nor clothing at all, but live like parasites on the provisions of others.8 Accordingly, Mozi continues to say, listening to music leads society astray in two ways at least. On the one hand, it appeals to sense perception of the rulers and ministers who are fond of musical performance, but if they sit quietly all alone and listen to music, they can hardly gain delight from it. Rather, they must listen in the company of others, either gentlemen or humble men. When listening in the company of gentlemen, they will keep their companions from attending to the affairs of state. When listening in the company of humble men, they will keep their companions from their farm work. Listening to music, therefore, is most likely to end up with the abuse of governing power and the bungling of social production. On the other hand, listening to music consumes so much energy and time that it causes the people to neglect their duties,

7 Mozi, “Against Music,” in Mo Tzu, Basic Writings (trans. Burton Watson), p. 112. 8 Mozi, “Against Music,” in Mo Tzu, Basic Writings (trans. Burton Watson), pp. 112–

113.

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missions or tasks. For example, if rulers and ministers spend their time listening to music, they will lack time and attention to look after government administration. If gentlemen spend their time listening to music, they will be unable to exhaust their strength and wisdom in directing bureaus within the state and abroad. If farmers spend their time listening to music, they will be unable to do more farm work and produce more food. If women spend their time listening to music, they will be unable to do more house chores and make more clothing. Eventually, the state will fall into disorder, the people will become poor, and the community will be in danger in the face of an external attack or invasion. At this point, Mozi describes the delicate situation in detail: Now if those who occupy the position of rulers and ministers are fond of music and spend their time listening to it, then they will not be able to appear at court early and retire late, or hear lawsuits and attend to affairs of government, and as a result the state will fall in disorder and its altars of soil and grain will be in danger. If those who occupy the position of gentlemen are fond of music and spend their time listening to it, then they will be unable to exhaust the strength of their limbs and employ to the fullest the wisdom of their minds in directing bureaus within government and abroad, collecting taxes on the barriers and markets and on the resources of the hills, forests, lakes, and fish weirs, in order to fill the granaries and treasuries, and as a result the granaries and treasuries will not be filled. If those who occupy the position of farmers are fond of music and spend their time listening to it, then they will be unable to leave home early and return late, sowing seed, planting trees, and gathering large crops of vegetables and grain. If women are fond of music and spend their time listening to it, then they will be unable to rise early and go to bed late, spinning, weaving, producing large quantities of hemp, silk, and other fibers, and preparing cloth, and as a result, there will not be enough cloth.9

Obviously, Mozi tries to conclude that listening to music is not merely a waste of time and energy, but also an interference with state affairs and social production. This being the case, those who are keen on music are most likely to enjoy themselves at the cost of their duty and work. If they get attached to musical entertainments, they will deviate from what they

9 Mozi, “Against Music,” in Mo Tzu, Basic Writings (trans. Burton Watson), pp. 114– 115.

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are expected to do and even become lazy or slack. All this tends to plunge the whole country and common good into jeopardy. As far as we can see up till now, Mozi’s perception of music as useless, wasteful and misleading corresponds not only to his underlying rejection of music, but also to his utilitarian preoccupation with usefulness in material life. As announced at the outset of “Against Music,” it is the business of the human-hearted person to promote what is beneficial to the world and to eliminate what is harmful to the people. In planning for the benefit of the world and the people alike, the benevolent person does not consider merely what will please the eye, delight the ear, gratify the mouth and give ease to the body.10 For this reason, Mozi looks to usefulness as the test for policymaking, and meanwhile applies it as the one and only measure to all practices, including music for certain. What underlies all this seems to be a kind of radical negative utilitarianism that is sustained by Mozi’s deep concern with the life of the common people in view of their three great worries about the supply of food, clothing, and shelter. This concern drives Mozi toward giving absolutely first priority to meeting the practical needs of the people. In giving this priority to the satisfaction of basic needs, he affirms that the process of making, performing and appreciating music is detrimental to the welfare of the people, especially so to the development of social production and to the administration of state affairs. It is noteworthy that Mozi’s treatment of music per se does not necessarily mean his inability to realize the aesthetic effect of music and other beautiful things. In fact, he deliberately follows this path of rejecting music for a noble purpose: Mozi condemns music not because the sound of the huge bells and rolling drums, the zithers and pipes, is not delightful; not because the sight of the carvings and ornaments is not beautiful; not because the taste of the fried and broiled meats is not delicious; and not because lofty towers, broad pavilions, and secluded halls are not comfortable to live in. But though the body finds comfort, the mouth gratification, the eye pleasure, and the ear delight, yet, if we examine the matter, we will find that such things are not in accord with the ways of the sage kings, and if we consider the

10 Mozi, “Against Music,” in Mo Tzu, Basic Writings (trans. Burton Watson), p. 110.

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welfare of the world, we will find that they bring no benefit to the common people.11

Quite ostensibly, Mozi is conscious of the aesthetic pleasure contained in the delightful sound, beautiful dress, delicious food, and comfortable dwelling that everyone loves, but he deliberately suspends the aesthetic pursuit of the beautiful, delightful and comfortable altogether for the sake of fulfilling his noble purpose. This purpose is not but to follow the ways of the sage kings, and attend to the welfare of the populace. That is why he attaches top priority onto the gratification of the basic needs of the common folks, and takes this requirement as the premise for judging the enjoyment of the aesthetic in both art and life. This observation can be justified by what Mozi claims in another textual fragment.12 “Only when you have enough to eat, then you seek after delicious food. Only when you have enough to keep yourself warm, then you seek after beautiful dress. Only when you have a safe shelter to live under, then you seek after an enjoyable dwelling.”13 It may be true to say so with regard to the conditional actualization of such aesthetic needs. It may be false to say so with respect of the objective presence of such needs in human mentality and imagination. Notwithstanding what is stated about the aesthetic worth of music and other beautiful things, the negative utilitarianism embodied in Mozi’s thought leads him to pay so much heed to the usefulness of things that he fails to gain a fuller insight into human nature. Paradoxically, Mozi shows a constant and great concern about the welfare of the common people, but he concentrates on the basic human needs of daily necessities while ignoring other higher needs, such as the need for the aesthetic, the beautiful or the spiritual. His consistent concern about “the three great worries of the common people” assumes that the common people care for nothing else but food, clothing and shelter. As a result, he confines his planning for humankind to the pursuit of these lower needs only. This is against human nature as a whole, however.

11 Mozi, “Against Music,” in Mo Tzu, Basic Writings (trans. Burton Watson), pp. 110–

111. 12 Mozi, “Yi wen” [Fragments in the Appendix], in Mozi xiangu [The Book of Mozi with Annotations] (Beijing: Zhonghua Shuju, 2001), pp. 653–659. 13 Ibid., p. 656.

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For Music and Positive Utilitarianism As a representative of Confucianism during the Warring States period, Xunzi appears to embrace a sense of mission such that he continues to justify and develop the best of rites-music tradition. He upholds this tradition to be all the more necessary and helpful in both the education of the populace and the ensurence of communal welfare. In his “Discourse on Music,” he formulates a strong counterargument to Mozi’s claims against music. In contrast to Mozi’s account, Xunzi’s discussion of music as a special genre of art has greater eloquence, persuasiveness, integrity, and profundity in its argumentation and exposition. His discourse covers a wider scope, involving not only the essence and usage of music, but also human nature and higher human needs for self-expression and aesthetic enjoyment. According to Xunzi, music as the expression of joy is originally joyful. Joy is an essential part of human emotional nature, and its expression is aesthetically significant, indicating a necessity that goes beyond the basic needs of physical existence. When artistically expressed in musical form, joy can be shared by other people and excite further joyful feelings among those who listen to it. For music is pleasing and appealing not only to the senses but also to the soul. Music thus becomes the means of guiding joy and the enjoyment of joy. It helps different people to meet their respective pursuits. That is to say, if the superior man takes joy in carrying out the Dao and the petty man takes joy in gratifying his desires, music can help the former retain the Dao and help the latter curb his desires in accord with the Dao in itself. In this way, both the superior man and the petty man will stick to the Dao and remain joyful and happy, instead of falling into delusion and joylessness. Hence, joy expressed in music has the character of both aesthetic experience and moral sensibility. This interrelationship between music and joy helps explain why the same Chinese character is used for both yue (music) and le (joy), although with different pronunciations. As Xunzi confirms, this coincidence seems to capture the essence of music. Music is joy (fu yue zhe, le ye). Being an essential part of man’s emotional nature, the expression of joy is, by necessity, inescapable. Where there is joy, it will issue forth in the sounds of the voice and be manifest in the movement of the body. And it is the Way of Man that singing and movement, which are excitations of man’s emotional states according to the rules of

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inborn nature, are fully expressed in music. Hence, since it is impossible for men not to be joyful, where there is joy, it is impossible that it should not be given perceptible form. But if its form is not properly conducted, then it is impossible that disorder should not arise.14

Music is defined here as originating from the expression of the joy as an emotion that humans must sometimes feel. This necessary and inescapable aspect of human emotional nature is expressed through vocal sounds and body movements in accord with the regulations for music-making established by the Ancient Kings. As a result, the musical forms of the Odes and the Hymns are available to offer guidance for the expression of joy. Following this guidance, human feelings of joy would be fully expressed without becoming wild and abandoned, and the form would be well ordered without being unduly restrictive. All this serves to make it possible for the intricacy or directness of melody, the elaboration or simplification of instrumentation, the purity or richness of sound and the rhythm and meter of music to be adequate to stir and move the good in human hearts, while keeping evil and base sentiments from finding a foothold there. Such is the principle according to which the Ancient Kings created music, and the main reason why Xunzi finds Mozi’s condemnation of music intolerable and unacceptable. According to Xunzi, the best music is useful for political and social life in several ways, which is corresponding to what is announced in the Record of Music mentioned before. When music is performed within the ancestral temple, lord and subject, high and low, listen to it together and are united in feelings of reverence (he jing). When music is played in the private quarters of the home, father and son, elder and younger brother, listen to it together and are united in feelings of close kinship (he qin). When music is played in village meetings or clan halls, old and young listen to it together and are joined in obedience (he shun).15

14 Xunzi, “Discourse on Music,” in The Xunzi (trans. John Knoblock, Beijing: Foreign Languages Press, 2016), Vol. 2, pp. 648–649. Also see “Hsün Tzu, A Discussion of Music,” in Hsün Tzu, Basic Writings (trans. Burton Watson, New York and London: Columbia University Press, 1963), p. 112. The three notions in Chinese are he jing (和 敬), he qin (和亲), and he shun (和顺). 15 Xunzi, “Discourse on Music,” in The Xunzi (trans. John Knoblock), pp. 652–653.

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On this account, the social order can be secured and human relationships harmonized so long as government officials are united in feelings of reverence, family members are united in feelings of close kinship, and citizens of the community are united in obedience. In addition to these three consequences, the inclusion of martial dance as an integral part of musical performance can provide an even more important service to the defense and safety of the state. Our demeanor and bearing acquire dignity not only from watching the way shields and battle-axes are brandished in the dance, but also from attending to the repetitive pattern of the dancers gazing down and lifting their faces up, bending and straightening their bodies. Through observing their ranks move within the borders of fixed areas in coordination with the rhythm and meter of the music, the arrangement of our ranks is corrected and our advances and withdrawals are made uniform as the final outcome. How is that possible? It is because music at its best is sufficient to bring conformity with the single Dao in one sense, and to bring order to the myriad transformations in the other. Take the idea of the dance for example. According to the relevant rules, the eyes of the dancers do not see it and the ears do not hear it. Rather, it happens only when the order of every episode of gazing down and lifting up the face, of bending and straightening, of advancing and retreating, and of retardation and acceleration is executed with proper, restrained control; when the strength of bone and flesh has been so thoroughly trained that every movement with the rhythm of the drums, bells, and ensemble that there is never an awkward or wayward motion; and when these, through constant practice, are combined into an ideal that is realized again and again with great concentration and endeavor.16

Moreover, music with its martial dance rehearsal and performance teaches men how to march forward to punish offenders, and how to behave at home with courtesy and humility. If one marches forward to punish offenders in accord with the way that is learned from music, then all will follow and submit. If one behaves at home with courtesy and humility, then all will follow and obey. It is in this sense that music is regarded as the great arbiter of the world, the key to the equilibrium harmony, and a necessary requirement of human emotion. According to Xunzi, 16 Xunzi, “Discourse on Music,” in The Xunzi (trans. John Knoblock), pp. 662–663.

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all this leads to the action of the people in a uniform manner against disorder, strengthening societal cohesion and public morale to defend the sovereignty of the state. As a result, the army stays powerful and the cities are securely guarded so that their enemy states will not dare try to surround and attack them. For Xunzi, music is expected to have a morally proper character realize this purpose. It must be moderate and tranquil so that the people will become harmonious and shun excess, and it must be solemn and majestic so that the people will become well behaved and shun disorder. If music is seductive and depraved, the people will become dissipated, indolent, mean-spirited and base. They will fall into disorder and accelerate a collapse of community cohesion and morale. As a result, their army will be weakened, their city walls will be broken through, and the existence of their state will be threatened by foreign enemies. For this reason, any evil music must be banned, and any licentious music must be abolished. In contrast, good music is both psychologically affective and morally constructive. When a man listens to singing like that of the Odes and the Hymns, his mind will be broadened, his aspiration will gain breadth, his manner will be refined, his heart will be made good, and his practical conduct will be perfected. Hence, Xunzi proclaims the magical effect of music as follows: The influence of music and sound on man is very profound, and the transformation in him can be very rapid. Thus, the Ancient Kings were assiduous in creating proper forms. If music accords exactly with the Golden Mean and is evenly balanced, the people will be harmonious and not given to dissipation. If it is solemn and dignified, then the people will behave in a uniform manner and will not be inclined to disorder … [For example] The broad sash, straight gown, and formal cap with the Peace Music of Shao and the Martial Dance of Wu cause the hearts of men to be filled with dignity. Thus, the gentleman will not let his ear hear lewd sounds, or his eye gaze on the female body, or his mouth utter evil words…He therefore uses the bell and drum to guide the inner mind and the se and qin zithers to gladden the heart…[Furthermore,] the music’s purity and clarity [of melody] are in the image of Heaven; its breadth and greatness [of its rhythmic beat] are in the image of Earth; the dancers’ poses and positions, their revolutions and movements, generally resemble the four seasons. Hence, when music is performed, the inner mind becomes pure; and when ritual is cultivated, conduct is perfected. The ears become acute and the eyes clear-sighted; the temper becomes harmonious and

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calm, manners are altered and customs changed. The entire world is made peaceful, and enjoys together beauty and goodness.17

Music works in this manner simply because it has the power and charm to improve the souls of human beings morally, to influence them deeply and to facilitate the reform of their customs and ways in life. At the same time, music provides a channel for humans to release their feelings and emotions, including joy, anger, sorrow, love, hatred, shock, fear, and the like, in a psychical catharsis. If these emotions are suppressed for too long without finding a means of expression, they grow into destructive impulses beyond normal human control. Thus, Xunzi asserts that “If the people have the emotions of love and hatred but have no means of responding with joy and anger, then there will be disorder.”18 In order to ensure music to be morally constructive, Xunzi argues that a correct form of music is indispensable at any rate. He thus considers the Peace Music of Shao and the Martial Dance of Wu, like the Odes and the Hymns, to be exemplary in form and style. These works can fill the superior persons with dignity and keep them from indecent behaviors and other wrongdoings. In contrast, the seductive looks and decadent songs of Zheng and Wei states should be banished due to their evocation of moral corruption. That is to say, they cause the audiences’ hearts to grow licentious and dissipated. Regarding such musical instruments as bells and drums, the se and qin zithers, they should be played together in concord to have the performance symbolize harmony. Musical purity, musical breadth, and the dancers’ movements are identified respectively with [the will of] Heaven, [the virtue of] Earth and [the cycle of] the four seasons. Heaven and Earth stand for nature as a whole, and beget all beings and things. The four seasons refer to the passage of time, and show the begetting process over the course of a year. By such allegorical descriptions, the ethos of music, based on the unity of Heaven and human, is displayed in musical performance. In this way, Xunzi suggests that music in its correct form

17 Xunzi, “Discourse on Music,” in The Xunzi (trans. John Knoblock), pp. 658–661. Also see Hsün Tzu, Basic Writings (trans. Burton Watson), pp. 116–117. 18 Xunzi, “Discourse on Music,” in The Xunzi (trans. John Knoblock), pp. 656–657. The Chinese expression is fu min you hao wu zhi qing, er wu xi nu zhi ying, ze luan (夫 民有好恶之情, 而无喜怒之应, 则乱).

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be employed to guide human emotions, cultivate moral personalities, and above all, to keep the world in peace. Perceivably, Xunzi keeps up with the rites-music tradition at large. His ideal expectations of music and rites lie in this explicit affirmation: “When music is performed, the inner mind becomes pure; and when rites are cultivated, conduct is perfected. The ears become acute and the eyes clear-sighted; the temper becomes harmonious and calm, manners are altered and customs changed. The entire world is made peaceful, and enjoys together beauty and goodness.”19 As echoed in his mind, music works from within, and rites work from without. They join together to shape both the inward and outward aspects of humans, thus turning them into refined moral beings and eventually making the entire world peaceful. Elsewhere, Xunzi further clarifies the interaction between music and rites in more straightforward terms: “Music embodies the unchanging harmony, while rites represent unalterable reason. Music joins together what is common to all, while rites distinguish what is different; and through the combination of rites and music the human heart is governed.”20 What can be inferred from this argument may be a necessary unity between music and rites. Music is originally joy as an essential part of human emotions, and rites are laws and codes in connection with practical reason. They are exercised in distinct ways. Music should be appreciated and enjoyed freely and willingly, whereas rites should be imposed and operated forcefully. Because human nature is half emotional and half rational, a bridge is needed to cross the gap between these two hemispheres. Music plays this role, guiding the emotional side of the self to meet its rational counterpart, and making the whole self into an integrated being. All Confucians tend to give much credit to musical education as the means to achieve this end. In sum, Xunzi conceives human nature to be perfected by human culture, of which music is a fundamental component. Accordingly, human needs are not confined to such basic needs as food, clothing, and shelter for sheer existence, but extend to higher needs for emotional expression, aesthetic enjoyment and moral development. Music, for Xunzi, bears

19 Xunzi, “Discourse on Music,” in The Xunzi (trans. John Knoblock), pp. 660–661. Also see Burton Watson’s version in Hsün Tzu, Basic Writings. p. 117. 20 Ibid.

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multiple functions: it is originally joyful, aesthetically effective, sociopolitically useful, psychologically affective, and morally constructive. In acknowledging these virtues, Xunzi approaches music in a way that is in striking contrast to what Mozi does. Although both of them evaluate music from utilitarian perspectives, Xunzi has a positive assessment while Mozi has a negative one.

Reflections on the Opposing Views If both Mozi and Xunzi are primarily utilitarianists in respect to music, how come they differ so much in their views? If we reconsider the matter, we will discover some main explanatory factors. As the first opponent of Confucius, Mozi is skeptical concerning all Confucian values. He seeks to reverse Confucian arguments and their conclusions, thus upsetting the line of thought that Confucius has initially posited. He develops a different value system to approve that the principles of Confucianism will ruin the world. As a representative of Confucianism, Xunzi adheres to the Confucian preoccupation with the rites-music tradition, although he modifies some Confucian doctrines put forth by the predecessors prior to his time, especially Mencius. Thus, he strives to preserve the rites-music tradition by providing counter-arguments to Mozi’s critique. Ostensibly, Mozi exaggerates the negative functions of music and condemns music as useless, wasteful and misleading in practical life, Xunzi attends instead to the positive functions of music, and actively promotes music as useful, constructive, joyful and affective. All this leads to a tit-for tat debate on music. According to some leading commentators, Mozi and Xunzi differ in their views of music because of their differing social backgrounds.21 Mozi expresses the point of view on behalf of the lower classes who are poor, less educated and socially deprived. They have no access to 21 Fung Yu-lan, A Short History of Chinese Philosophy, in Selected Philosophical Writings of Fung Yu-lan (Beijing: Foreign Languages Press, 1991), pp. 246–249. Also see Ren Jiyu, Zhongguo zhexueshi [A History of Chinese Philosophy] (Beijing: Renmin Chubanshe, 1990), Vol. 1, pp. 103–104, p. 218; Feng Qi, Zhongguo gudai zhexue de luoji fazhan [A Logical Development of Ancient Chinese Philosophy] (Shanghai: Shanghai Renmin Chubanshe, 1983), Vol. 1, pp. 96–102; Li Zehou and Liu Gangji (ed.), Zhongguo meixueshi [A History of Chinese Aesthetics] (Beijing: Zhongguo Shehui Kexue Chubanshe, 1984), Vol. 1, pp. 168–170; Zheng Jiewen, Zhongguo Moxue tongshi [A History of Mohist Studies in China] (Beijing: Renmin Chubanshe, 2006), pp. 7–8.

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music and other cultural entertainments because they lack resources to rise above a daily struggle for meagre existence. Confronted with the harsh reality of ordinary life, Mozi speaks out for the poor, bashes the rich, and reprimands the powerful for their obsession with musical performance and other luxurious entertainments involved in the practice of rites. Xunzi, alike Confucius, speaks for those who are highly educated, socioeconomically advantaged, and able to appreciate the aesthetic worth and artistic significance of music. He therefore recognizes their higher needs, and argues for the benefits that musical appreciation and education can bring to these lucky dogs. In addition, Mozi confines human needs to daily necessities, such as food, clothing and shelter. In order to satisfy these basic needs, he advises the whole community to focus on social production, and to terminate merely enjoyable recreational events, including musical and dancing performances. He sees to them as a waste of time and energy, and asks people to embrace a kind of asceticism by rejecting any alleged aesthetic needs for the beautiful. Just imagine. His narrow-mindedness begins with a naïvely innocent concern for the populace, but comes to violate a natural development of human needs for a more civilized and worthwhile livable life. In contrast, Xunzi is highly conscious of higher human needs. He knows the hard fact that “man cannot live by bread alone,” and proceeds to bring forth the need for cultural literacy through musical education. In his belief, music as an expression of joy works with rites so as to help people properly channel their emotions, satisfy their higher needs for the aesthetic and the spiritual, refine their moral conduct, and harmonize human relationships. Moreover, music is beneficial and favorable to personal cultivation and communal good. On this account, Xunxi accuses Mozi of being one-sided in his judgment by such a cynical saying, that is, Mozi himself “knew the dimension of practical usefulness only, but failed to understand the system of rites and music in human life.”22 Interestingly, what is shared between Mozi and Xunzi is social concern. Both of them place their perceptions of music in the context of their differing proposals to reduce poverty and enrich the state. According

22 Xunzi, “Jie bi” [Dispelling Blindness], in Xunzi quan yi [The Book of Xunzi Annotated and Paraphrased], eds. Jiang Nanhua et al., Guiyang: Guizhou Renmin Chubanshe, 1995), pp. 442–446. Also see Xunzi, “Dispelling Blindness,” in The Xunzi (trans. John Knoblock), pp. 676–677. The English translation in this version follows: “Mo Di [Mozi] was blinded by utility and was insensible to the value of good form (蔽于用而不知文).”

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to Mozi, state poverty and disorder result from a fondness for musical performances and elaborate rites that lead to negative interference with both governmental affairs and social production. On this occasion, what occurs to his mind is to gratify the basic needs of the populace. In order to fulfil this goal, he demands frugality, and criticizes extravagance. By so doing, he attempts to justify his idea of eliminating music. Xunzi also thinks that frugality is desirable to make a state selfsufficient, but he also endorses letting people make a generous living and store up the harvest surplus.23 In his view, this objective can be fulfilled only through the proper exercise of rites and government, which expects human beings to form a society with class divisions (qun er you fen). If they form a society without class divisions (qun er wu fen), social disorder, and state poverty will certainly follow. Above all, Xunzi sticks to this socio-political logic: “In order to ensure human living, it is impossible for human beings not to form a society. If they form a society in which there are no class divisions, strife will develop. If there is strife, then there will be social disorder; if there is social disorder, there will be hardship and poverty for all.”24 What should be done to secure a society with suitable class divisions? For Xunzi, it is nothing but complementary practice of relevant rites and music. A society must be harmonized in terms of human relations, and class divisions must be stratified by means of a well-established hierarchy. Because music serves to harmonize what is common to people, and rites operate to distinguish what is different among them, both can be deployed and performed to help create a harmonious society with class divisions. In this fashion, incentives will work, penalties will inspire awe, the worthy will be promoted, the unworthy will be sacked, the myriad things will have their appropriate function, affairs as they undergo changes will attain a suitable response, and moreover in Xunzi’s poetic description, “above the natural sequence of the seasons is obtained from Heaven, below the benefits of Earth are gained, and in the middle the concord of humanity is obtained, then goods and commodities will come as easily as water bubbling up from the inexhaustible spring, will flow forth in abundance like rivers and oceans.”25 Hereby Xunzi proposes on the crucial

23 Xunzi, “On Enriching the State,” in The Xunzi (trans. John Knoblock), pp. 266–267. 24 Xunzi, “On Enriching the State,” in The Xunzi (trans. John Knoblock), pp. 272–273. 25 Xunzi, “On Enriching the State,” in The Xunzi (trans. John Knoblock), pp. 288–289.

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necessity to have humans collaborate with the natural sequence of the four seasons, the benefits of Earth, and the concord of humanity, because he believes that a good life is to be secured under such appropriate conditions. Further on, he makes clear that Mozi’s teachings bear so narrow a scope with regard to the world and its people suffering from the hardship of inadequate supplies. This “inadequacy” is not in fact a misfortune common to the world, but merely a hardship peculiar to Mozi’s one-sided reckoning. For Xunzi, “It is Mozi who with his condemnation of music produces social anarchy throughout the world and who with his moderation in expenditures causes poverty throughout the world. My intention is not to depreciate Mozi himself, but the effect of his teachings makes this unavoidable.”26 Finally, it is worth mentioning that the polar opposition between the views of music in Mozi and Xunzi are closely related to their different personal assumptions about the functions of music. As discerned in their arguments, they both exaggerate what they believe music will bring about. However, the more they argue for their own positions, the further their exaggerations move them apart.

From Joy-Consciousness to Optimistic Spirit It is noteworthy that Xunzi plays a decisive role in innovating and upgrading Confucianism with the passage of time. He manages to integrate Confucian ideas with Legalist ideas in political and moral domains, among others. What he has done in such a manner facilities and vitalizes the duration and potentiality of classical Confucianism. It is therefore argued that the vital power and hereditary possibility of ConfuciusMencius thought would be drastically decreased or weakened in the course of history without Xunzi. Looking at the music debate between Mozi and Xunzi, we are highly aware of their opposing views and diametrical positions. Mozi strongly backlashes Confucian values in terms of negative utilitarianism whereas Xunzi enthusiastically defends them in terms of positive utilitarianism. With his philosophy of music based on the rites-music tradition, Xunzi transcends the tradition, and further develops it by inculcating into it an ethos of joy-consciousness. Such ethos is transformed into an optimistic

26 Xunzi, “On Enriching the State,” in The Xunzi (trans. John Knoblock), pp. 282–285.

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spirit, which procures a consistent impact upon the remolding of Chinese mentality and even national identity to some extent. As manifested in his conception of music, Xunzi identifies yue as music with le as joy. Such identification not merely reveals a defining property of music itself, but also has a strong impact upon the Chinese tradition and national mentality altogether. That is to say, it serves to enhance the musical sensibility in an aesthetic sense, remold the joy-conscious character in an anthropological sense, and consolidate the optimistic spirit in an ontological sense. These three aspects are interwoven in the deep structure of cultural psychology and life philosophy of Chinese people at large. In practice, the musical sensibility helps heighten the aesthetic awareness of the artistic, moral and social functions of music; the joy-conscious character takes delight from varied experiences including miserable encounters; and more significantly, the optimistic spirit enables people to become what they are, never losing a ray of hope at confrontation with the gravest crises and hardships. Thus they are ready to perceive the interaction between the negative and positive sides of all matters and prepare for the interplay between fortune and misfortune in everchanging situations. This being true, they tend to prepare for the worst and hope for the best. They are accustomed to crisis-conscious thinking, and keep alert against potential dangers even in peacetime, from which they draw pragmatic wisdom, care-ridden pleasure, and relevant alternatives to cope with unexpected challenges or catastrophes. Knowing well the difficult condition of human existence sandwiched between Heaven and Earth, they have no other choice but resort to self-reliance under all circumstances. On this account, they are not as lucky as the Christians who are exposed to divine grace and redemption. Regarding the dynamics of self-reliance, it is active and initiative by nature. It can be seen as an act of being for oneself, largely embodying the optimistic spirit. As highly worshiped all along in the history of Chinese civilization, it has been also practiced in many domains and sectors up till now. It can be traced back as early as to the archetypes of Chinese myths in prehistorical times. It is well represented by such mythical heroes as Hou Yi shooting down the nine suns of ten27 in order to reduce the 27 The original heading of the myth is Hou Yi she ri (后羿射日). Cf. Hai wai nan jing [Legends of Overseas South, Vol. 6], and Hai nei jing [Legends of Domestic Seas, Vol. 18], in Fang Tao (ed.), Shan hai jing [Legends of Mountains and Seas] (Beijing: Zhonghua Shuju, 2009), pp. 182, 280. A part of the legendary story is lost,

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terrible heat and keep alive human beings, plants, and other species, Kua Fu chasing the burning sun28 in order to control it and save human race under unbearable heat, and the Jingwei Bird filling up the sea29 with small twigs and pebbles so as to have the water flow into the Yellow River. What they did merely relied on their persistent courage, heroic altruism, and unbending willpower without hankering after any help and mercy from the divine deities and spirits. What they shared was simply their virtue of bravery to face failure, torture, hardship, death and so forth. Being so revered and recommended, the will to self-reliance is brought out in contrast to the pressure from either external things or beings. It is the key to whatever difficulties and challenges encountered in life. It is so affirmed in the following statement, External things cannot be relied on…[because they are unreliable in so many cases given.] A perfect person follows such a rule of conduct: He will respect others even though he may not be respected by others, and he will love others even though he may not be loved by others. He relies on what he has and on what others have. By relying on himself, he will never fail to be appreciated.30

but it is recollected in other Chinese classics. Also see Ben jing xun [Comments on the Fundamental and Constant Rules], in Chen Guangzhong (ed.), Huainanzi [The Book of Huannanzi] (Beijing: Zhonghua Shuju, 2013), Vol. 1, p. 393. 28 The original heading of the myth is Kua Fu zhui ri (夸父追日). Cf. Hai wai bei

jing [Legends of Overseas North, Vol. 8], in Fang Tao (ed.), Shan hai jing [Legends of Mountains and Seas], pp. 194–195. 29 The original heading of the myth is Jingwei tian hai (精卫填海). Cf. Bei Shan jing [Legends of Mount Bei Shan, Vol. 3], in Fang Tao (ed.), Shan hai jing [Legends of Mountains and Seas], p. 79. 30 Lü Buwei, “Relying on Oneself,” in Lü’s Commentary of History, pp. 156–158.

CHAPTER 6

Daoist Pursuit and Spontaneous Naturalness

Early Daoism came into being during the axial period. Its two early founders are known as Laozi (e. 571–? B.C.) and Zhuangzi (e. 369–286 B.C.). Compared with Confucianism, Daoism opens up a reversed mode of thinking, and generates a different set of human values. It therefore procures an intellectual tension between these two schools of thought. All along in Chinese history, the upright scholars and officials alike are inclined to seek a spiritual refuge in Daoism as a lifestyle when confronting with socio-political suppression and frustration. They enjoy a common preference to scrutinize and rethink the ideas presented in the works of Zhuangzi in particular. Daoism is often labeled as a kind of skepticism due to its deep-seated doubt of what Confucianism advocates in the sphere of human becoming and social commitment. Meanwhile, it is also considered to be a kind of naturalism as it keeps focus on the importance of nature as a frame of reference in general and on the rationale of spontaneous naturalness in particular. To my mind, Daoism as a thought-way and lifestyle straddles three provinces, skepticism, naturalism, and quietism, because of its backlash against Confucianism, its perseverance to human convergence with nature, and its underlying detachment from social commitment in favor of a contemplative life. All this contributes a great deal to the development of Chinese art and aesthetics as well. However, what appears undeniable

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is the mutual complementarity between Daoism and Confucianism under some circumstances. For aesthetics, some considerations are found out distinct and thoughtprovoking in the writings by Laozi and Zhuangzi sui generis. These considerations are aligned with the exercise of breathing system as an art of philopraxis (love of praxis) instead of philologos (love of words), which is employed to attain the Dao as the absolute truth in Daoist mentality. Accordingly, they mainly cover such categories as the charm of independent personality, spiritual freedom, carefree lifestyle, the beautiful and the ugly, the beautiful words versus the true words, aesthetic attitude and experience in terms of self-purification and deep contemplation, the principles of art creation in light of mutual production and spontaneous naturalness, among others. Teleologically, they all purport to nurture absolute spiritual freedom through “free and easy wandering,” and to facilitate the becoming of independent personality upon the ideal model of the sagely or true person.

The Beauty of the Daoist Personality In Daoism, the personality beauty or charm lies chiefly in such aspects as carefree lifestyle, disinterested satisfaction, poetic wisdom, mental purification, independence of social obligations, self-detachment from social constraints, spiritual freedom from free and happy roaming inside and outside the world, among others. All this creates a special kind of aesthetic appeal to those who are either bounded to the shackle of social constraints or trapped in the mire of self-interested ambitions. As observed in the Daoist tradition, the ideal personality is usually articulated in such names as “the sagely person” (sheng ren), “the perfected person” (zhi ren), “the holy person” (shen ren), and “the true person” (zhen ren) who are distinguished from the Confucian types. According to Laozi, the way of “the sagely person” is to embrace the way of heaven, and thus to take right action without competing with others for self-interested gains or profits. He therefore does whatever is possible to comply by the Dao of spontaneous naturalness. According to Zhuangzi, “the sagely person” has no fame, thus detaching himself not only from the shackles of fame and celebrity, but also from being enslaved by external things. In addition, he has no intention to make distinction between this and that, between right and wrong, between self and other, and so forth. For he is highly conscious of the limit of human knowledge,

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self-detached from the entanglement in social matters, and reluctant to debate with those who are persistently fond of discriminating and dividing things. As a result, “the sagely person” never bothers about the common crafts often deployed to deal with varied boundaries, theories, debates, divisions, discriminations, emulations, and contentment. Moreover, As to what beyond the universe of six realms, the sagely person admits its existence but does not theorize. As to what is within the universe of six realms, he theorizes but does not debate. In the case of the Spring and Autumn, the record of the former kings of past ages, he debates but not discriminate. So (I say,) those who divide fail to divide; those who discriminate fail to discriminate…The sagely person embraces things. Ordinary men discriminate among them and parade their discriminations before others. So I say, those who discriminate fail to see.1

Actually, “the sagely person” acts upon the Dao proper, doing what he likes to do while not doing what he refuses to do. In his conception, the great Dao is not named. Likewise, the great discriminations are not spoken. If they are put into words, they do not suffice for clarity. Similarly, if great benevolence has a constant object, it cannot be universal. If great modesty is fastidious, it cannot be trusted. It is the same case with other crafts mentioned above. If one insists to do all this, one is bound to fail to see the whole picture, and thus to be lopsided, biased, and narrowminded, if not insensible and truculent. Accordingly, ordinary individuals tend to be so strong-minded and self-opinionated that they are fond of discriminating this and that. They are therefore engaged in an endless debate for the sake of debate. Thus they could neither see the whole picture nor obtain the real insight into the matter concerned. Aside from “the sagely person,” Zhuangzi proceeds to speak highly of other types of personality. In his view, “the perfect person” has no self, for he follows the course of nature, forgets himself, transcends over any form of self-bigotry, and becomes one with the myriad things under the sky. “The holy person” has no achievement, because he acts upon the Dao as the most correct path, frees himself from social commitment, and goes beyond the secularized sense of achievement and establishment. A portrayal of “the perfect person” follows:

1 Zhuangzi, The Complete Works of Zhuangzi (trans. Burton Watson, New York: Columbia University Press, 2013), Ch. 2, pp. 71–72.

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The perfect person is godlike. Though the great swamps blaze, they cannot burn him; though the great rivers freeze, they cannot chill him; though swift lightening splits the hills and blowing gales skate the sea, they cannot frighten him. A man like this rides the clouds and mist, straddles the sun and moon, and wanders beyond the four seas. Even life and death have no effect on him, much less the rules of profit and loss.2

The description of natural phenomena symbolizes the status quo of social phenomena with strong and direct impact upon human beings. However, what “the perfect person” does exhibits a different case in kind. Being carefree, nothing bothers him. Being courageous, nothing scares him. Being calm to take life and death alike and treat them as nothing but a natural term, he frees himself from any cares and worries. Being disinterested in gains, he is not to be upset by any losses. What he is delighted to do is none other than making a free and happy journey by riding the clouds and mist, straddling the sun and moon, and wandering beyond the four seas. This journey is imaginary and spiritual as it goes beyond the finite boundary of the human world into the infinite space of the universe. As noted in the Zhuangzi book, “the true person” is often recommended with reference to the other three characters including the perfect, holy and sagely kind, for he shares all the virtues of them. All these characters are idealized by the Daoist philosophy on human life. They have different names but all embody the working of the Dao, because they enjoy similar traits and virtues such as independent personality and spiritual freedom in favor of human convergence with nature or the universe. According to the model of “the perfect person” there comes along “the true person”, because they all enjoy similar characteristics and qualities. As noticed in the Great and Venerable Teacher, “the true person” is described in a more detailed manner, The true person of ancient times did not rebel against want, did not grow proud in plenty, and did not plan his affairs. A man like this could commit an error and not regret it, could meet with success and not make a show. A man like this could climb the high places and not be frightened, could enter the water and not get wet, could enter the fire and not get burned.

2 Zhuangzi, The Complete Works of Zhuangzi (trans. Burton Watson), Ch. 2, p. 74.

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His knowledge was able to climb all the way up to the Dao like this. He thus slept dreaming and woke without care… The true person breathes with his heels; the mass of men breathe with their throats….The true person knew nothing of loving life, knew nothing of hating death. He emerged without delight; he went back in without a fuss. He came briskly, he went briskly, and that was all. He didn’t forget where he began; he didn’t try to find out where he would end. He received something and took pleasure in it; he forgot about it and handed it back again. This is what I call not using the mind to repel the Dao, not using man to help out Heaven. This is what I call the true person.3

As evinced in the context, the achievement of the true knowledge is identical to the attainment of the Dao, and preconditioned by “the true person.” Accordingly, the becoming of “the true person” can be identified with the attainment of the Dao as such. Characteristically and morally, what “the true person” does is similar to what “the perfect person”, “the sagely person”, and “the holy person” do in many aspects. Additionally, “the true person” is claimed to possess more virtues and traits. For example, his mind forgets what bothers him, his face is calm at confrontation with whatsoever occurs to him, and his forehead is broad as though he restores more wisdom. He is described to be cool like autumn, balmy like spring, and his joy and anger prevail through the four seasons or all the year round. All this proves the fact that he is true, genuine, and natural as he is, ready to benefit and influence others encountered. Moreover, he is a master of breathing system as he breathes with his heels instead of his throat, which not merely shows the secret way of doing meditation, but keeps him out of the other common folks. Coincidentally in Daoism, the naturalistic concern about human existence and life preservation is closely leagued with the exercise of breathing system. By so doing, one is enabled to sit in self-forgetfulness, get into the union with all things, identify himself with the Dao, and attain human convergence with nature. Hence the necessary alternative to become either a perfect person or true person is to practice the art of breathing system in accord with the Dao. As Zhuangzi advises, he who expects to

3 Zhuangzi, The Complete Works of Zhuangzi (trans. Burton Watson), Ch. 6, pp. 119– 120.

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attain the Dao needs to cultivate himself by means of a perseverant exercise of the breathing system. As a way of tranquil meditation to purify the mind of any external disturbances filled with wants and desires, he can practice it to the extent that he will become a true person with a genuine self. In other words, he transforms himself into a natural being such that he is prone to abandon his self-identity and merge with the other beings or things in nature. This can be a self-conscious act of identifying himself with the other in his purified, emptied and receptive mind. He therefore reaches the realm of oneness with the myriad things and attains the convergence with nature or the universe as a whole. As read at the outset of The Discussion on Making all Things Equal, Ziqi who is engaged in the breathing praxis has eventually lost himself, recounting his personal experience of it with reference to the enjoyment of the musical piping of man, of earth and of heaven.4 To make it more engaging through authentic illustration, Zhuangzi retells his personal experience of dreaming a butterfly. His allegorical description runs, Once upon a time, Zhuang Zhou (Zhuangzi) dreamed that he was a butterfly. The butterfly was flying about and enjoying itself. It did not know it was Zhuang Zhou. Suddenly he awoke, and veritably was Zhuang Zhou again. We do know whether it was Zhuang Zhou dreaming that he was a butterfly, or whether it was the butterfly dreaming that it was Zhuang Zhou. Between Zhuang Zhou and the butterfly there must be some distinction. This is a case of what is called the transformation of things.5

The fable is about self-transformation. The butterfly image is rather ambiguous. The key to the passage is primarily twofold. It is, on the one hand, related to the last statement about “the transformation of things” (wu hua), because the story itself is cooked to exemplify this abstract concept. On the other hand, it is hidden in the interaction between dreaming and awakening. There are many interpretations offered from past to present. In my mind, “the transformation of things” should be placed in the context of Zhuangzi’s philosophizing as a whole, and also approached from his primary preoccupation with self-emancipation 4 Zhuangzi, The Complete Works of Zhuangzi (trans. Burton Watson), Ch. 2, pp. 62–63. 5 Zhuangzi, The Taoist Classic: Chuang-Tzu (trans. Fung Yu-lan, Beijing: Foreign

Languages Press, 1989), pp. 54–55.

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or spiritual freedom from external bondages. The idea of “transformation” refers to all things, including human beings. It metaphorically denotes the process of self-transformation from a bounded self into an unbounded self, say, from confinement to freedom in plain language. This freedom is two dimensional: It is not simply from the externally imposed constraints related to social commitments, but also from the internally added hindrances based on personal wants. With respect to the distinction between dreaming and awakening, it is similar to the distinction between Zhuang Zhou, the dreamer, and the butterfly, the dreamed. Here, distinctions are made in either case. Otherwise, it is no point in talking about “the transformation of things” at all. Judging from what Zhuangzi says about equalizing all things, the distinctions made above mean only too little against the Dao of making no distinctions. Herein by making no distinctions is meant selftransformation at large, through which spiritual freedom is practically attainable. On this account, the literal distinctions between dreaming and awakening will cancel each other out due to the effect of “the transformation of things.” Accordingly, the borderline between Zhang Zhou and the butterfly becomes blurred, and eventually removed by the underlying principle of correlation between the notion of Oneness as the unity of all opposites and the way of equalizing all things. What makes the correlation possible is not based on cognitive logic but on the art of breathing system, the art that works to diminish the distinction between the dreamer and the dreamed to the degree that they are united into one. As a matter of fact, the dreaming of the butterfly is schemed to denote the consequence of the breathing system in Daoism, which leads the dreamer into deep meditation, helps him forget himself, and eventually identifies himself with the butterfly or any other object dreamed. Talking about the art of breathing system, we find it best illustrated, as it were, in the mindheart excursion toward a good life, which is to be clarified subsequently in this chapter. All and all, Zhuang Zhou, the dreamer, is self-satisfied with the butterfly image and feels all the way happy about his experience of selftransformation. This is self-evident and spurring more associations. His experience, for instance, has two aspects: aesthetic and spiritual. The aesthetic aspect is associated with the beautiful image of the butterfly derived from its glamorous form and color. The butterfly is a wonder of natural creation and serves as a symbol of what is beautiful. The employment of the butterfly as a metaphor is by no means a coincidence,

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because the little creature has been traditionally leagued with the idea of beauty, charm and grace in terms of its sensuous image. The idea of beauty carries much value with it. It transfuses so much significance into the butterfly image that its effect captures the Chinese mentality and evokes their aesthetic ideal of appreciation. As for the spiritual aspect, it is proportionately originated from the self-transformation as the threshold of self-emancipation or spiritual freedom. The self-transformation is from the old into the new in identity; likewise, the self-emancipation is from the confined into the unconfined in spirit. They both are incarnated through the butterfly image. The butterfly is not simply a symbol of metamorphosis from a caterpillar, but also a sign of freedom reflected in its easy and playful flying. As implied in the context given, when Zhuang Zhou dreamed he was a butterfly and did not know he was Zhuang Zhou, the self-transformation was thus accomplished allegorically. When he was happy to see himself flying around freely as a butterfly, the selfemancipation was fulfilled spiritually. Judging from an objective point of view, such a process may be argued to be false or something in fantasy. Yet, an argument as such may miss its target and logic at a time when the dreamer himself adopts the Dao of making no distinctions and bends his mind to seeking spiritual freedom. Obviously, this experience of dreaming is not very mysterious, but rather esoteric in close connection with one’s self-cultivation and spiritual nourishment according to Zhuangzi’s philosophy of life.6 In dealing with the essence of personality charm in Daoism, it appears in striking contrast with that in Confucianism owing to their differing views of lifestyle, value judgment, moral consideration, and cosmic spirit. With much more emphasis on individuality, life preservation, independent personality, and spiritual freedom, the Daoist conception of personality charm is to be actualized under the condition of preserving life as a natural span of time. It seeks after the unity of physical life and spiritual life. For this reason, it is a concordance between the highly active state of human living and the highly active state of spiritual freedom. As to the Daoist ideal of “the true person”, he is spiritually detached from social and political constraints apart from rational dominance over human emotions. Meanwhile, he is physically freed from the toiling of desires and wants such that he can purify his mind and concentrate on meditation

6 Wang Keping, Chinese Culture of Intelligence, pp. 103–105.

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through the exercise of the breathing system in his own right.7 All this will enable the practitioner to become a true and natural being as he follows the real course of nature, which guides him to be one with the myriad things and secure spiritual convergence with the universe. At this point, it can be concluded that the mode of fostering personality charm in Daoism lies in the spiritual convergence with nature (Heaven and Earth) through true self-naturalization,8 because it follows the procedure of transforming oneself into a naturalized being first, and then converging the naturalized being into Oneness with the myriad things. It is in principle distinct from the mode of furnishing personality beauty in Confucianism that is schemed to match up with Heaven (the Heavenly Dao) through moral cultivation.9 This being the case, “the true person” of the Daoist type will be well in a position not only to manifest the personality charm, but also to have easy access to the beautiful in nature. For instance, Zhuangzi himself can easily and vicariously appreciate the joy of fish jumping from and diving into a river when strolling along with it10 because he feels himself into the little creature and shares its delight as if he has turned himself into a naturalized being at this stage. All this proves the validity of the old saying about “like and like.” Otherwise, his ability to enjoy the vicarious response to the delighted fish would be out of the question.

The Pragmatic Way of the Sagely Person Teleologically speaking, what Daoism mainly pursues is the nourishment of the independent personality according to the Dao in itself. This personality bears a kind of moral charm and aesthetic beauty because of such virtue-based qualities as independent personality, spiritual freedom, and moral excellence. It is usually identified with “the sagely person” in Laozi and “the true person” in Zhuangzi. According to Laozi, “the sagely person” demonstrates his virtue through individual altruism that corresponds to “the Way of Heaven”. As the bow-drawing metaphor reveals in the following description:

7 You Min, Qi hua xie he [Harmonization Through Vital-Energy Transformation] (Beijing: Jilin: Northeast Normal University Press, 1992), p. 91 8 This notion in Chinese is ben ran he tian (本然合天). 9 The notion in Chinese is xiu de pei tian (修德配天). 10 Zhuangzi, The Complete Works of Zhuangzi (trans. Burton Watson), Ch. 17, p. 227.

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Does not the Way of Heaven resemble the drawing of a bow? When the string is taut, press it down. When it is low, raise it up. When it is excessive, reduce it. When it is insufficient, supplement it. The Way of Heaven reduces whatever is excessive And supplements whatever is insufficient. The Way of Human does the opposite. It reduces the insufficient And offers more to the excessive. Who is able to have a surplus to offer to the world? Only the one who has the Dao. The sage does not accumulate for himself. The more he shares with others, the more he possesses. The more he gives to others, the richer he becomes. The Way of Heaven benefits all things and causes no harm. The Way of Sage acts for others but never competes with them.11

As inferred from his intuitive and empirical observation, Laozi finds out that the technique of drawing a bow requires sound balance and fare adjustment. Only by so doing can the bow be properly utilized to shoot the arrow right into the target. Otherwise, it would cause trouble shooting in kind. The “Way of Heaven” is hereby illustrated metaphorically when operating its service for the sake of justice and equity. Taken as the law of nature and the hidden principle of all principles, the “Way of Heaven” lets everything be what it can be or become what it can become without imposing external pressure, coercion or interference. In Laozi, this can be further verified by the statement that “Heaven and Earth unite to drop sweet dew that falls evenly over all things without being forced.” Hence the “Way of Heaven” is reckoned to serve as the heart of the universe that benefits all things with neither discrimination nor preference. In addition, it is conjectured as a manifestation of egalitarianism in terms of equal distribution of profit in a sociological sense, a sense that is deeply rooted in the traditional Chinese mentality ever since antiquity. To mention in passing, this sense may go to extremes such that it would procure a misleading trap of “equal pay for unequal work.” A discussion of its merits and demerits is dropped at this point because of its deviation from the current topic. 11 Laozi, Dao De Jing (trans. Wang Keping, Beijing: Foreign Languages Press, 2008), Sect. 77.

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As discerned in Laozi’s argument, a sharp distinction is made between “the Way of Heaven” and “the Way of Human”. The former demonstrates itself as a symbol of balancing agency and a virtue of equityconsciousness by means of egalitarian treatment of all beings and things alike. In striking contrast, the latter is totally opposite and works the other way around. As a negative outcome of human civilization, it is characterized with acquisitiveness, inequality and injustice when applied to human practice for profit making. It therefore “reduces the insufficient” by depriving the poor of their meager properties, and then “offers more to the excessive” by assisting the rich and powerful to grab more. Laozi hereby excoriates the negative aspects of “the Way of Human” as a social norm widely exercised to such a degree that it is somewhat similar to “the law of the jungle” in modern terminology. As noted in the context given, the “Way of Heaven” is advocated not only as a rebuff to the practitioners of the “Way of Human,” but also as a measurement of good-willed and right doings. It apparently stands for the ideal of Daoism, and sets up a model to be followed by those who are in search for the Dao itself. It is thus proclaimed to “have no preference”, and “stay constantly with the good man.”12 At this point, “the Way of Sage” arises out of the ideal of “the sagely person” who is bestowed with moral virtues and rounded out by altruist actions. It models upon “the Way of Heaven,” but remains diametrically distinct from “the Way of Human.” As a giver instead of a taker, “the sagely person” is always ready to share with and offer to others what he has. Moreover, he devotes himself to “acting for others but never competing with them.” What he insists is like the fruit grown out of a tree that takes its root deep in the “Way of Heaven.” Incidentally, he is acclaimed as the only one who has attained the Dao and retained such virtues as universal love and generous benevolence, among other qualities. All in all, he is assumed to have actualized the “Way of Sage” by either putting the “Way of Heaven” into human practice or adopting it as an alternative to resolve the problems with the “Way of Human.” Moreover, he is set up as a frame of reference for humankind to reconsider the critical necessity of personal cultivation. In the final analysis, the Daoist sage or “the sagely person” represents the ideal personality of Daoism. The “Way of Sage” can be perceived as

12 Laozi, Dao De Jing (trans. Wang Keping), Sect. 79.

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the highest achievement of which human as human is capable. Implicitly, it encourages people to eschew the desire for competition but to embrace the “virtue of non-competition.” Such virtue is tantamount to “the supreme principle of matching Heaven,”13 say, matching “the Way of Heaven.” It is more specifically elaborated as such: Great rivers and seas can be kings of mountain streams Because they skillfully stay below them. That is why they can be their kings. Therefore, in order to be above others, The sage must place himself below them in his words. In order to be ahead of others, He must place himself behind them in his person. In this way, the sage is above others, But they do not feel his weight. He is ahead of others, But they do not feel his hindrance. Therefore the whole world delights in praising him And never grows tired of him. Simply because he does not compete with others, Nobody under Heaven can compete with him.14

The “virtue of non-competition” is symbolized by “the great rivers and seas,” which can be seen as a deliberate embodiment of “the Way of Heaven” at large. The Daoist sage as “the sagely person” follows it, internalizes it, and exercises it. Eventually, he turns out to be a noncompetitor, but remains invincible and “free from any fault.”15 Either in antiquity or modernity, “the sagely person” is highly respected and desirable despite the fact that it is once in a blue moon. To my mind, it is still meaningful to have such an ideal, because it makes difference even though it is taken seriously by a single person out of a thousand or so.

The Spiritual Freedom of the True Person Laozi’s conception of the Daoist sage as “the sagely person” is transfigured into “the true person” and other types in Zhuangzi. “The true 13 Laozi, Dao De Jing (trans. Wang Keping), Sect. 68. 14 Laozi, Dao De Jing (trans. Wang Keping), Sect. 66. 15 Laozi, Dao De Jing (trans. Wang Keping), Sect. 8.

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person” stays in one with nature and goes beyond the small “I.” He is claimed to have no self-claims over his meritorious service, no credit for what has done for others, and no dream of fantasies and worries because of being self-purified of social ambitions and material desires. What he prefers to do is to live his life as a sage-wanderer, devoting himself to free and happy roaming (yao xiao you). Such roaming is self-conscious engagement in aesthetic experience, and detached from social commitment and other constraints. Very often than not, it is reckoned as an abandonment of this-worldly life for a movement into other-worldly life. Actually, it is not the case at all. Instead, it is a sagely way of living within this world without any utilitarian concerns. It is fond of living everyday life while being detached from any external bondage. That is to say, it expects one to roam over the universe in search of spiritual freedom and independent personality. Moreover, it entails no dependence on anything and anybody. When obsessed in free and easy wandering, “the true man” is, according to Zhuangzi, apt not only to forget his body, life and death, but also to ignore any gain, loss, and wealth. He is like the gigantic bird allegorically described as such, In the Northern Sea there is a fish and his name is Kun. The Kun is so huge that I don’t know how many thousand miles he measures. He changes and becomes a bird whose name is Peng. The back of the Peng measures I don’t know how many thousand miles across, and when he rises up and flies off, his wings are like clouds all over the sky. When the sea begins to move, this bird sets off for the southern sea, which is the Lake of Heaven. The Universal Harmony records various wonders, and it says: “When the Peng journeys to the southern sea, the waters are roiled for three thousand miles. He beats the whirlwind and rises ninety thousand miles, setting off on the sixth-month gale.” Wavering heat, bits of dust, living things blown about by the wind—the sky looks very blue. Is that its real color, or is it because it is so far away and has no end? When the bird looks down, all he sees is blue, too.16

The transformation of the huge fish into a gigantic bird is a dramatic and suggestive change. It goes through three stages known as body transformation, dynamic transformation, and spiritual transformation.17 During

16 Zhuangzi, The Complete Works of Zhuangzi (trans. Burton Watson), Ch. 1, pp. 52–53. 17 Wang Keping, Chinese Culture of Intelligence, pp. 97–98.

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this process, the long journey and the high flight imply a special sense of time-space. The will to change and the will to fly symbolize the free will of the Daoist ideal of personality in search of spiritual freedom. Even though the bird is away from “the perfect flying” as it is confined to the finite space, and its flight is conditioned by the wind, its persistent trial with all the endeavors in this case accommodates much more significance than it seems to have. The inspiring image of the bird flying high up in the sky is somewhat allegorical to the independent personality of free spirit and inexorable courage, the personality that is to “rise on the whirlwind ninety thousand miles” and “carry the blue sky on his back, with nothing to hinder him.” Elsewhere, it is said to “mount on the clouds and wind, ride the sun and moon, and roam beyond the four oceans” when “wandering with the breath of Heaven and Earth.” All this signifies an irresistible and inviting type of joy beyond any practical needs and desires. The freedom of the flying bird is metaphorically used to illustrate spiritual freedom and heavenly joy. The allegorical depiction is so impressive due to vividness and suggestiveness, grotesque image and tremendous power. It therefore evokes an unspeakable pleasure experienced in the free and boundless flight. To repeat it through the mouthpiece of Zhuangzi, “the true person,” as a companion of the creator, feels so ecstatic in “free and easy wandering” that he “forgets the liver and the gall, and leaves aside ears and eyes. He turns beginning and end around, and does not know start from finish. He carelessly loiters beyond the dust and dirt, and wanders free and easy in the realm of inaction.”18 On this account, “the realm of inaction” implies the world of taking no blind action at all. The “free and easy wandering” in such a world is none other than a spiritually happy excursion and boundless communion with the universe. The wanderer who forgets the vital parts of his body is well in a position to transcend life and death, not to speak of the common values about gains and losses, success and failure. He thus obtains a huge vitality akin to that of nature itself, and a tremendous amount of joy that will lift him to the zenith of spiritual freedom. Interestingly, Zhuangzi attempts to put his words into deeds. He values spiritual freedom more than social establishment largely because of his ethical skepticism against political power per se. As noted in one of

18 Zhuangzi, The Complete Works of Zhuangzi (trans. Burton Watson), Ch. 6, p. 131.

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his essays, there are two specific stories about his personal attitude toward public authorities. One of them runs, Zhuangzi was angling in the Pu River when Lord Wei from the state of Chu sent two ministers to invite him, saying, “we’d like to entrust you with the state affairs.” Holding the fishing rod in his hand, Zhuangzi did not look back, saying, “I’ve heard that there is a sacred turtle in the state of Chu, which was dead for three thousand years. The lord keeps it in a bamboo case covered with a kerchief. Would this turtle prefer to be dead and kept in such a grand style or be aline and able to drag its tail in the mud?” The ministers said, “It would prefer to be alive and drag its tail in the mud.” Zhuangzi said, “Please go and make a move, then. I’d rather drag my tail in the mud.”19

So flatly Zhuangzi rejects the invitation to be a prime minister for the state of Chu, for he is inclined to abstain himself from any political engagement wrought with either disturbance or uncertainty. This is not simply because he lives in a chaotic time known as the Warring States Period (475–221 B.C.), but because he is in deep doubt about political order. At this point, I agree with Benjamin Schwartz in his succinct statement: The historic Chuang-tzu [Zhuangzi] moves further than any ancient Chinese thinker in the direction of denying any function to the political order in “corrupting” things. The notion of…the political order as a power for “corruption” presupposes the whole notion of fixed views on “right and wrong.” He nevertheless seems to take the political order for granted as part of the furniture of ordinary human life in its hopelessly unredeemed state. Rulers “good or evil” seem to be an inescapable part of the cacophonous symphony of the human realm. In totally denying any redemptive rope to the political order, however, Chuang-tzu, like Mo-tzu [Mozi], also steps outside of a dominant cultural orientation, although in quite a different direction.20

19 Zhuangzi, The Zhuangzi (trans. Wang Rongpei), p. 281. 20 Benjamin I. Schwartz, The World of Thought in Ancient China (Cambridge, MA and

London: Harvard University Press, 1985), pp. 231–232.

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Sure enough, Zhunagzi himself deviates from the “dominant cultural orientation” as is chiefly represented by Confucianism due to different values and value judgment, not to speak of his disappointment with the status quo of the human realm and human life. He seems to have observed a repeated rebuff of the Confucian ideas in the harsh reality such that his sarcastic critique of Confucianism pervades his writings as a whole. For this reason, it is fairly understandable to see him decline the given invitation to be a high-ranking official or refuse to take any risk of political engagement. To my mind, he does it as though he is life-conscious in appearance, but freedom-conscious in actuality. He does not favor life more than death. Instead, he treats life and death as they are in a natural sense. He even goes so far as to liken life as a tumor and death as the removing of the tumor. But in contrast to spiritual freedom, he is highly aware of its vale and critical necessity as long as he is still alive in the world. All this evinces the fact that he treasures spiritual freedom more dearly than physical existence.

The Mind-Heart Excursion for a Good Life Quite deliberately, the cultivation of independent personality and spiritual freedom is directed to the pursuit of a good life per se. As Daoism emphasizes the exercise of breathing system in light of self-purification and deep contemplation, it applies it to the appreciation of art and the praxis of meditation alike. This being the case, it takes the mind-heart excursion (you xin) as an approach to attaining the Dao as the supreme truth, and to living a worthwhile life as the final destination of the pilgrimage. As read in Zhuangzi, the mind-heart excursion is formulated by means of an interesting and thought-provoking analogy in spite of its peculiarity and ambiguity to modern readership. The analogy as such is designed to indicate a process of spiritual cultivation and meditation in order to attain—to hear—the Dao (wen dao). In the text, the Dao is referred to a good life, a life of spiritual freedom in essence. It is described as follows: Nanbo Zikui meets Ru Yu who is old but still looks like a child, and asks him the reason about it. Ru replies that he has acquired Dao (wen dao). Nanbo wonders if he can learn Dao. Ru answers and explains: ‘No, you can’t. You’re not the right kind of person. Bu Liangyi has the talent of a sage, but doesn’t have the Dao of a sage; I have the Dao of a sage, but don’t have the talent of a sage. I wanted to teach him about it so that he

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might be s true sage. In any case, it should have been easier to teach the Dao of a sage to a man with the talent of a sage. So, with a concentrated mind-heart, I began to enlighten (shou) him. When three days passed, he was able to go beyond the human world (wai tian xia). I went on to enlighten him. When seven days passed, he was able to go beyond external things (wai wu). I again went on to enlighten him. When nine days passed, he was able to go beyond his life (wai sheng). Then he was able to have a clean mind-heart as fresh as dawn (zhao che). Afterwards he was able to discern the Independent (jian du). Subsequently he was able to obscure the distinction between the past and the present (wu gu jin). Eventually he was able to ignore life and death (bu sheng bu si). From this point onward he will live in a realm of “tranquility amid turmoil” (ying ning).21

Ostensibly, what astonishes and impresses Nanbo is none other than Ru’s state of being that appears so incredible. The portrayal of Ru’s physical appearance implies that he himself enjoys longevity without deliberate life preservation, and remains in his prime condition beyond any expectation. Judging from a som-aesthetic point of view, he looks so young, healthy, and handsome for his old age. His child-like image and somatic beauty embodies how hearing the Dao keeps him in this ideal state. The magic effect of this kind is a result of spiritual cultivation that frees his mind-heart from cares and worries, exhibiting a good life in the Daoist tradition. The pursuit of such a life is exemplified by the mind-heart excursion that involves seven stages in all, each of which has its own specific characteristics. The number of days for the first three stages of enlightenment is more notional than functional. It is set up only to mean a span of time required for relevant cultivation. It is actually not specific due to the different times taken by individuals; hence the reference to time is dropped in the later stages. The description of the entire experience is supposed to signify at least four factors: (i) the prerequisite to learn the Dao, (ii) the approach to the Dao, (iii) the progression to attain the Dao, and (iv) the outcome of the Dao’s attainment. This prerequisite is twofold in principle. The first relates to the capabilities of a sage while the second to the Dao of the sage. The two are each necessary for the other: while the former serves as the basis, the latter is 21 Zhuangzi, The Zhuangzi (trans. Wang Rongpei, Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press, 1999), Ch. 6, pp. 97–99. This citation is adapted from the English translation. Also see Zhuangzi, The Complete Works of Zhuangzi (trans. Burton Watson), Ch. 6, pp. 125–126.

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the guidance. As illuminated in the case of Bu Liangyi, he who has the capabilities of a sage can learn the Dao. Yet, whether or not he can acquire it relies on the condition that he is correctly instructed and enlightened by someone who has the Dao of a sage. Noticeably, Ru Yu has the Dao of a sage, but doesn’t have the talent of a sage. Yet, he proclaims his ability to help Bu obtain the Dao. According to Cheng Xuanying’s interpretation, the capabilities of a sage (sheng ren zhi cai) refer to a capacity for understanding and sensibility, while the Dao of a sage (sheng ren zhi dao) refers to the characteristics of emptiness and detachment resulting from the highest level of cultivation.22 This means that neither of the two aspects is perfect because each of them slants towards one polarity. Furthermore, in relation to value judgments, the capabilities of a sage are inferior when compared with the Dao of a sage. The former applies to handling the matters in socio-political arena, while the latter facilitates and guides the ‘inner’ attainment of spiritual enlightenment and mental purification. One is instrumental but dependent, whereas the other is fundamental and independent. Consequently, the latter follows from the former in principle; that is why Ru is the instructor of Bu in this matter. All this follows a presupposed logic peculiar to Zhuangzi’s conceptions of ultimate knowledge (zhi zhi) and true knowledge (zhen zhi), the latter of which is the knowledge of “the true person”. Ultimate knowledge in the case of humanity consists of the understanding of the respective scope of what heaven and humanity can do in their utmost. This understanding is the acme of human knowledge, albeit elusive.23 Moreover, human life is limited, but all knowledge is limitless. It will only be in vain for a person to attempt to pursue the limitless (ultimate knowledge) with the limited.24 Therefore, it would be better for a person to strive for true knowledge rather than the ultimate knowledge. True knowledge is found only in the true person himself or herself. “The true person” knows neither the joy of life nor the sorrow of death. Here the text projects a timeless view of birth and death: the true person was not elated when he was born; he is not reluctant when he dies. Casually

22 Guo Xiang and Cheng Xuanying, Zhuangzi zhu shu [The Works of Zhuangzi Annotated and Explained] (Beijing: Zhonghua Book Company, rep. 2013), p. 139. 23 Zhuangzi, The Zhuangzi (trans. Wang Rongpei), Ch. 6, pp. 89. 24 Zhuangzi, The Zhuangzi (trans. Wang Rongpei), Ch. 3, pp. 43.

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he goes to another world; casually he comes back into this world. He doesn’t forget the origin of his life; he doesn’t explore his destiny. He accepts whatever occurs to him. Such a person has an empty mind-heart, a calm countenance, and a broad forehead. He is as austere as autumn and as warm as spring. His joy and anger replace one another as naturally as the succession of the four seasons. He aligns with everything in the world, but he stays unfathomable to all. That is why all these may only be achieved by someone whose knowledge has approached the Dao.25 This approach is reflected in the act of enlightening (shou), so as to be in accord with the Dao. It is repeatedly emphasized during the entire course of the mind-heart excursion. Other passages in the Zhuangzi also refer to this act. For instance, to be enlightened by the Dao is to allow things to develop spontaneously while aligning with the Origin (shou qi zong ye).26 As a person aligns with the Origin, he or she also keeps to the One (wo shou qi yi) and lives in harmony with it.27 He or she sees clearly the nature of everything because he or she embraces the Root of everything (neng shou qi ben).28 “The Origin” (zong ), “the One” (yi), and “the Root” (ben) are all names for the Dao. The act of aligning with the Dao is neither cognitive nor analytical by nature, for it involves neither the apprehension of an object nor of the unknown. Instead, it indicates an intuitive perception of the Dao itself, simultaneously with a self-conscious internalization of it. Such perception and internalization have a spiritual component. In Zhuangzi, progression toward the Dao—the mind-heart excursion—involves seven successive stages. In the first, a person moves beyond the concerns of this world (wai tian xia), which means literally to be removed from or ignore all under the sky. It is used here to denote detachment from prevailing social norms and obligations, including entanglement with the issues arising within that environment and even the self-claimed sense of mission to tackling the issues in question. This stands in contrast to the Confucian view and is one of the key tensions between Confucian and Daoist thought in Chinese intellectual history. The Confucian tradition encourages social engagement and advocates a

25 Zhuangzi, The Zhuangzi (trans. Wang Rongpei), Ch. 26 Zhuangzi, The Zhuangzi (trans. Wang Rongpei), Ch. 27 Zhuangzi, The Zhuangzi (trans. Wang Rongpei), Ch. 28 Zhuangzi, The Zhuangzi (trans. Wang Rongpei), Ch.

6, pp. 89–90. 5, p. 73. 11, p. 163. 13, p. 217.

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practical approach to social ills, calling for necessary action to “bring order to the world (ping tian xia).” By contrast, Daoism seems pessimistic about worldly matters, purporting to favor a more quietist life, and make light of all socio-political issues. The second stage moves beyond external things (wai wu). As noted in Zhuangzi, the human condition is drastically problematic because humans are enslaved by external things (ren wei wu yi), both tangible and intangible. The tangible refers to material wealth, profit, and the like, while the intangible to fame, social status, and the like. Daoist philosophy holds that such pursuits will generate human desires and ambitions that will in turn render the human mind-heart restless and calculative. It is for this reason that a person needs to free himself from this plight by going beyond these pursuits altogether. More specifically, he does so by disengaging the activity of such faculties as ears, eyes, mouth, nose, and mind-heart which are sensitive to external things, on the one hand, and responsive to related desires, on the other. He is then in a position to develop an unperturbable mentality that renders purification possible. This is how he enters the realm of tranquility that facilitates his further progression of the mind-heart excursion. The third stage involves the transcendence of a particular conception of life (wai sheng ). The concern is this: human life is irreducibly physical and therefore bodily preservation is important. However, bodily preservation can be potentially risky if a person pursues longevity for its own sake. Hence the Zhuangzi regards this conception of life as the tumor of sufferings, or the fountainhead of all cares and worries. Correspondingly, death is conceived in terms of “cutting off the tumor.”29 To be released from holding on to this conception of life is to have freedom from this troublesome burden. It also means that one will not need to make a distinction between life and death and that they are instead conceived of as a recurrent cycle, with neither beginning nor end. The place of this stage in the mind-heart excursion is indicative of the level of difficulty encountered here. After transcending the human world and the external things therein, a person needs to re-examine his view on the personal, bodily life that is so vital to himself. The fourth stage is to “have a clear mind” (zhao che), can be literally rendered as “having a thorough or complete enlightenment at the

29 Zhuangzi, The Zhuangzi (trans. Wang Rongpei), Ch. 6, p. 105.

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daybreak”. This stage is more spontaneous than protracted, as though one gets a glimpse of the morning light in supreme brightness and clarity. In Zhuangzi’s view, this clear-mindedness involves the purification of the mind-heart as it is emptied of wants, desires, ambitions, cares, and worries. It therefore resembles “the fasting of the mind-heart” (xin zhai) in principle. Elsewhere in The Zhuangzi, the fasting of the mind-heart is claimed to feature a distinctive type of emptiness (xu), and identified with the natural flow of vital energy (qi) that moves freely in the cosmos and embraces everything alike while expecting nothing from them at all. Only when a person is empty in this way can he comprehend and be responsive to the myriad things. As for a person who has not fasted the mind-heart, he remains conscious of himself.30 Therefore, he is likely to be enslaved by external things qua tantalizing attractions or temptations. Conversely, a person who has successfully fasted his mind-heart is on the way to become a true person, free not merely from egoism, but all other forms of bother and disturbance arising from the problematic human world. Having a clear, pure, and empty mind-heart, a person has room in the mind-heart to accommodate something different: he is now able to “see the Independent” (jian du) at the fifth stage. “The Independent” refers to a characteristic of the Dao, that is, its self-independence and selfsufficiency. The person who sees it enters a new realm of experiencing the Dao. Having done so, he progresses to the sixth stage of “obscuring the distinction between the past and the present” (wu gu jin). The Dao is not only the origin of all in the process of creation and, being so, it precedes everything. Meanwhile, it is omnipresent as it exists in everything and conditions what they are. Thus the past and the present are unified in the Oneness of the Dao. In being unified with the Dao, a person has awareness neither of the past nor the present. He seems to get into a timeless state where he perceives the broad sweep of a long history merely by a glimpse of the moon overhead.31 Finally, he or she is able to “ignore life and death” (bu sheng bu si) at the seventh stage. To do this is to see through the real nature of life and death. It is only by so doing that one can become absolutely and spiritually free. As a philosophical poet, “Zhuangzi seems always after the

30 Zhuangzi, The Zhuangzi (trans. Wang Rongpei), Ch. 4, p. 55. 31 The original expression in Chinese is yi zhao feng yue, wan gu chang kong (一朝风

月, 万古长空).

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episode of the giant magpie to gaze on life and death with unwavering assurance.”32 Yet, there arises a question about why the concern with life occurs twice during the excursion. This emphasis may reflect the human preoccupation with this-worldly life. Therefore, issues concerning life and death are most difficult to address. Being aware of this need, Zhuangzi advises the pursuer of the Dao to make a double effort to emancipate himself from either the entangled bridle of bodily preservation or the haunting fear of mortality. Accordingly, he ascribes both life and death to vital energy and promotes the following argument: life comes along when vital energy assembles; death occurs when vital energy disperses. The true person understands life and death in the light of the Dao. He therefore leaves things to develop spontaneously and settles in a realm where he is no longer bothered by either. Moreover, he is neither elated by the joy of life nor saddened by the sorrow of death. Under such circumstances, he casually goes to another world and returns to this world again. Furthermore, what is recommended is a natural and tranquil stance towards life and death, which is based on the belief that “the great earth endows me with a physical form to dwell myself in, makes me toil to sustain my life, gives me ease to idle away my old age, and offers me a resting place when I die. Therefore, to live is something good and to die is also something good.”33 It is on this account that Zhuangzi is said to be singing and beating time on a basin when his wife passed away. When criticized by his friend for such a pitiless act, he explains that he was weeping sadly upon her death, but stopped to do so, simply because he realized that his wife had now gone through another transformation, and returned to the vital energy that permeates Heaven and Earth.34 All this shows Zhuangzi’s conception of life and death as what they are in a natural or naturalistic sense. It embodies a leading aspect of the Daoist art of living as “a supremely intelligent responsiveness which would be undermined by analyzing and choosing, and that grasping the Way [Dao] is an unverbalisable ‘knowing how’ rather than ‘knowing that’. The sage adapts to the course of things instead of trying to impose his will upon it, like the swimmer who stays afloat under a huge waterfall.”35

32 A. C. Graham, Disputers of the Tao (La Salle: Open Court, 1991), p. 186. 33 Zhuangzi, The Zhuangzi (trans. Wang Rongpei), Ch. 6, p. 95. 34 Zhuangzi, The Zhuangzi (trans. Wang Rongpei), Ch. 18, p. 289. 35 A. C. Graham, Disputers of the Tao, pp. 186–189.

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The attainment of the Dao is none other than pure tranquility or serene contemplation. As described in the Zhuangzi, the Dao begets life and finishes life, but it was never born and it will never die. Moreover, it exists in everything in the world. There is nothing it does not send off and nothing it does not welcome; there is nothing it does not destroy and nothing it does not complete. This is called “tranquility amid turmoil” (ying ning ), that is to say, it is a turmoil that has brought tranquility to perfection, because it cannot affect the person who has achieved the Dao.36 The idea of bringing tranquility to perfection through turmoil appears paradoxical. Normally, tranquility is opposed to turmoil. Yet, dialectically, the former comes into being because of the latter. In practice, the merits of tranquility are highlighted by the demerits of turmoil. A person who perceives and experiences both of them will typically tend to treasure the former while evading the latter. It is by so doing that he further develops tranquility and retains it in its best possible condition. This reminds us of what Laozi, a figure in the early Daoist tradition, says about the interaction between the muddy and the clear or between the still and the alive. That is, “He was merged and indifferent like muddy water. Who could make the muddy gradually clear via tranquility? Who could make the still gradually come to life via activity? (It was nobody else but him.)”.37 It is assumed that he who can do this has attained the Dao. Now he lives in absolute freedom without being disturbed by anything external to the self. In summary, the mind-heart excursion is contemplation-based, relying on the art of breathing system and involving cultivation with a spiritual dimension. Such Daoist wisdom enables life lived in absolute freedom from all worldly cares, and helps one develop a sense of personhood that is not enslaved to external things. It is by nature more intuitive than epistemological, involving a process that lies somewhere between gradual apprehension and sudden enlightenment. According to this view, gradual apprehension is progressive as it proceeds from the externalized self to one that is internally defined. Sudden enlightenment is spontaneous, drawing our attention to the freedom of the different levels. These two processes 36 Zhuangzi, The Zhuangzi (trans. Wang Rongpei), Ch. 6, p. 99. 37 Laozi, Dao De Jing (trans. Wang Keping), Sect. 15. Also see Wang Keping, Chinese

Culture of Intelligence, footnote, p. 123.

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work interactively and complementarily to enable a person to attain the Dao as the most important pinnacle of Daoist wisdom.

The Beautiful and the Ugly As to the aesthetic object, both the beautiful and the ugly are to be taken into account in terms of relativity and mutualism. According to Laozi, “When the people of the world know the beautiful as beauty, there arises the recognition of the ugly. When they know the good as good, there arises the recognition of the evil.”38 Thus there emerge antithetical concepts in binary pairs or categories, such as beautiful and ugly, good and evil, long and short, high and low, front and back, etc. Their interactions can be largely boiled down to the characteristics of bilateral opposition and mutual production in the phenomenal world. With respect to the beautiful and the ugly in particular, they come into being in contrast. That is, what is considered beautiful is because of its contrast with what is considered ugly, and vice versa. It is the same with the good and the evil, the long and the short, the high and the low, etc. From this dialectical perspective, the beautiful and the ugly are brought forth in the process of value judgment through comparison and relativity. That is to say, they are different but neither absolutely antithetical to nor incompatible with each other. They seem to have no positive hiatus between them. They are in effect interlinked to the extent that they coexist or beget one another. This argument can be well justified by another rhetorical question: “how much difference is there between the beautiful and the ugly?”39 Contrary to other philosophers like Confucius who tends to make a clear-cut discrimination between the beautiful and the ugly, Laozi develops an insight into the relativity and changeability of the two categories. This being true, he refuses to absolutize the apparent opposition between the binary categories. Further evidence can be found out in this observation: “The normal can suddenly turn into the abnormal; the good can suddenly turn into the evil.”40 This happens because of the endless change or dramatic shift of one into the other under relevant conditions.

38 Laozi, Dao De Jing (trans. Wang Keping), Sect. 2. 39 Laozi, Dao De Jing (trans. Wang Keping), Sect. 20. 40 Laozi, Dao De Jing (trans. Wang Keping), Sect. 58.

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Moreover, what is really beautiful to Laozi is attributed to simplicity, naivety, plainness, quietude, tranquility, and purposelessness. It is, in a word, equal to the Dao. Accordingly, human individuals can feel themselves into the realm of real beauty only when they have stripped themselves of enslavement by external disturbances and obtained authentic freedom of spirituality. Say, they are completely enlightened and spiritually emancipated from any attachment as they have realized the essential significance of the Dao per se. In addition, Laozi takes a skeptical view of the mundane discrepancy between the beautiful and the ugly. Take his criticism of the rich and powerful for example. They live a lavish life, abandoning themselves to the brilliant colors, attractive tones and tantalizing flavors, which are seen in their eyes as something sensuously beautiful and enjoyable. But Laozi looks upon them as something destructive and detrimental to health as they tend to spoil and corrupt people.41 Along this line of thought, Zhuangzi expands the scope of aesthetic object so as to encompass the ugly and the grotesque aside from the beautiful. As read in his numerous anecdotes and exaggerated scenarios, what are included in this scope range from the persuasive talkers like “Mr. Lame-Hunchback-No-Lips” and “Mr. Pitcher-Neck-Goiter” to the useless “hideous tree,” with its twisted branches and huge trunk, so gnarled that it cannot be measured with a line, among others. For Zhuangzi proposes that “where virtue is great, form must be forgotten”, and “what one loves is not the form but what enlivens that form.” And likewise, he holds that beauty lies in the personality, the spirit, the true, the wisdom, and not in external appearance of bodily shape or other physical attractions. As discerned in The Zhuangzi, an inn-keeper has two spouses, one is beautiful and the other ugly. But he loves the ugly one and neglects the beautiful one. When asked about the reason, he confesses frankly that he does not bother the outward looks but focuses on inward virtues; the beautiful one is beautiful just because she thinks of herself being so. That is nothing more than self-complacence. Accordingly, in Zhuangzi, anything, regardless of appearance or form, can become the object of aesthetic appreciation. It comes to include unconventional expressions in poetry and prose, clumsy strokes in painting and calligraphy, odd-looking rocks in landscape, plot twists in 41 Wang Keping, Reading the Dao: A Thematic Inquiry (London: Continuum, 2011), pp. 60–61.

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drama—indeed, anything unusual or grotesque, anything intricate or obscure that breaks the sweetness of harmonious relations or the tranquil norms of moderation, encompassing Zhuangzi’s own “fantastic and outlandish language and extravagant words.” This constitutes a tremendous liberation for Chinese art42 because it broadens the scope of subject matter to a considerable extent.

Beautiful Words Versus True Words As detected in the Laozi, a distinction is made between “beautiful words” and “true words” when it comes to the speech act of humankind. As an outcome of dialectical thinking and skeptical consciousness, it manifests a prototype of practical wisdom that endures the time-test in history. Such wisdom has insights either into the contradictions between the opposites or into critical reflections on the artificiality in fishy discourse. It is penetrating, enlightening, and still valid even today as is exposed below: True words are not beautiful; Beautiful words are not true. A good person is not an eloquent arguer; An eloquent arguer is not a good person. One who knows does not show off one’s extensive learning; One who shows off one’s extensive learning does not know.43

As implied in this context, “true words” (xin yan) are plain, sincere, and straightforward such that they do not allow much rhetorical polishing or embellishment. They seem to go hand in hand with the old saying that “Truth is naked.” In most cases, they appear explicitly flat and even displeasing in surface, but trustworthy and reliable in substance. Conversely, “beautiful words” (mei yan) are so carefully chosen and craftily adorned that they are fine-sounding and pleasantly inviting. However, according to Laozi, they are meant to either cover up what is fake or confuse what is true; and therefore, they are used deliberately to disguise what is false and mendacious under certain circumstances. As regards the three kinds of human beings in comparison, “a good person “ (shan zhe) is referred to one who knows without showing it 42 Li Zehou, The Chinese Aesthetic Tradition, p. 93. 43 Laozi, Dao De Jing (trans. Wang Keping), Sect. 81.

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off. He or she is closest to the Daoist sage, pursuing and employing “true words” corresponding to the Dao. By so doing, he or she sticks to them without arguing about or defending for them, because he or she lifts up intellectual enlightenment while playing down verbal description. His or her conduct and attitude are differing from that of “an eloquent arguer” (bian zhe) who is most likely an exhibitionist of eloquence, and pretending to know what he or she does not know. Apparently, Laozi’s criticism of “beautiful words,” “eloquent arguer,” and “one who shows off one’s extensive learning” is assumingly directed at the implicit criticism of the pretentious and hypocritical promotion of such Confucian values as humaneness, righteousness, loyalty, filialness, and so forth. Quite mockingly, Liu Xie points out in the Carving-Dragon and the Literary Mind, “Laozi dislikes falsehood, and therefore cries out that ‘beautiful words are not true ones.’ But his book of 5,000 excellent words or so is a proof that he does not completely discard verbal beauty and grace.”44 Yet, this mockery seems to be a bit sloppy, for Liu Xie rushes to such a conclusion. As read elsewhere in the same book, Laozi uses the term “beautiful words” in a positive instead of negative sense. That is, Beautiful words can gain respect from others. Beautiful deeds can have an impact on others.45

In this context, “beautiful words” are identical to “true words” as they are so honored for certain. Thus they win respect and trustworthiness from their audiences, and work as constructively as “beautiful deeds.” They therefore procure good effect and sound influence in kind. All this proves that Laozi uses the term “beautiful” either contextually or situationally. Say, what he means by it is neither consistent nor fixed at all, and it is to be pinned down according to its specific context involved. Rather, his use of the term “true” or “real” remains consistent in all cases, for what it means embodies “truth” or “reality” that underlies the primary service of the Dao. As observed elsewhere, when formulating the elusive and vague image of the Dao, Laozi affirms that the true lies in the image

44 Liu Xie, Carving-Dragon and the Literary Mind (trans. Yang Guobin, Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press, 2003), “Qing Cai” (情采). 45 Laozi, Dao De Jing (trans. Wang Keping), Sect. 62.

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that provides the proof of the Dao.46 When articulating the De as manifestation of the Dao, he proceeds to assert that “when cultivated and exercised in the person, the De will become real” as a result of its pure and genuine characteristics.47 In short, his use of “beautiful words” can mean something either negative or positive. Any value assessment of them is determined by the particular text and context in question. It cannot be simply addressed without reflecting on their relevance to the prescribed substance of the Dao itself. In respect to the positive notion of the true or real, Laozi uses it no more than three times throughout his book, attempting to indicate its genuine linkage with the function of the Dao. As Zhuangzi comes along afterwards, he uses the notion more frequently up to 65 times in his works as a whole. In most cases, he applies it to certifying “the true person” who has attained the Dao and accomplished the independent personality. Meanwhile, he associates it with “the true knowledge” that bears insights into the Dao as the origin of the universe, with “the true nature” that stays in union with the Dao, with “the true being” that follows the natural course of the Dao, with “the true Dao” that creates and determines all things alike, with “the true wandering” that is engaged in happy excursion and spiritual freedom, and with “the true feelings” that reveal the most sincere and genuine aspects of real self. Interestingly, when talking about what is true with regard to human feelings, Zhuangzi employs Confucius again as a mouthpiece to voice his ideas and impress his readership in a dramatic, if not parodic, ambiance. The scenario runs, Drearily asked Confucius: “Please tell me what is called being true?” Replied the fisherman: “To be true means the zenith of absolute genuineness and sincerity. What is neither genuine nor sincere cannot move people emotionally. For this reason, one who is forced to weep is not grieved in spite of a sorrowful appearance; one who is forced to fly into a rage is not awe-inspiring in spite of a severe look; one who is forced to show affection is not amiable in spite of a smile face. Reversely, the true sorrow is sad without weeping; the true anger is awe-inspiring without losing temper; the true affection is amiable without smiling. The true feelings are within the heart without flowing out, but they are revealed through the

46 Laozi, Dao De Jing (trans. Wang Keping), Sect. 21. 47 Laozi, Dao De Jing (trans. Wang Keping), Sect. 54.

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expressive look. This accounts for the stress on the nature of true feelings. Such a sincerity-oriented principle is also applicable to the treatment of human relationships, parental filialness, courtier service, banquet entertainment, and mourning cherishing, among others…What is genuinely true is bestowed by nature and remains natural without being altered or distorted. Hence the sage and the wise always follow the course of nature and stick to the way of naturalness without being confined to any external bounds. The ignorant and the foolish just go the other way round, and stay ignorant of treasuring the true. Instead, they are ready to give up themselves to the current fashions and let themselves indulge in the common customs of falsehood and pretentiousness. They are therefore delayed to hear and attain the great Dao itself.48

Noticeably, whatever is untrue is ruled out in order to secure what is true in accord with “absolute genuineness and sincerity.” This given definition is of huge importance in Chinese aesthetics. In practice, it has a strong impact upon Chinese art of all genres, and leads Chinese artists to embrace the principle of “true feelings” when it comes to artistic expression or art making. For it is taken as the key to creating the beautiful in art. Moreover, it touches upon the rationale of spontaneous naturalness derived from the movement of the Dao in particular. All this calls for a further discussion and illustration later in the text.

The Great Beauty of Silence As read in one of his important works, Zhuangzi brings forth a concept of “great beauty” that is received as one of the most significant propositions in Chinese art theory and aesthetics alike. His articulation goes: Heaven and Earth have great beauty without speaking of it. The four seasons have an evident law without commenting on it. The myriad things change regularly without mentioning it. The sage explores the great beauty of Heaven and Earth, and knows the ultimate cause of all things’ growth. Hence, the perfectly wise man follows the course of nature, and the great sage takes no blind action. Both of them contemplate Heaven and Earth as deeply and minutely as possible. The great Dao is subtle and exquisite, participating in the varied changes of all things in the universe….The six

48 Zhuangzi, Yu fu [The Old Fisherman]. The translation is mine from the Chinese original. Cf. Zhuangzi, The Complete Works of Zhuangzi (trans. Burton Watson), Ch. 31.

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directions (of the universe) is extremely far and wide, but never go beyond the realm of the Dao. A hint of hair in autumn is the minutest in size, but it still relies on the Dao to become what it is. The myriad things are in eternal change, and always remains ready for it. The Yin, Yang and four seasons are on the non-stop move, and retain their respective order. The great Dao appears in dark but exists everywhere; it is full of vitality and subtlety, but it leaves behind no concrete image; it generates all things without letting them sense it. This is called the fundamental root through which the Dao of naturalness can be observed and perceived.49

It is worth pointing out that the “great beauty” (da mei) is the greatest of all forms of beauty in Zhuangzi. It lies in Heaven and Earth, and remains in silence. It appeals to the spirit far more than to the eye. It is therefore to be perceived and appreciated spiritually rather than sensuously. Then, the “evident law” (ming fa) is exemplified by the regular cycle of four seasons, and thus interwoven with the correct guidance, moving dynamic, generative power, and other characteristics of the Dao. Logically speaking, the idea of the “great beauty” can be traced back to the vision of the “greatest music” (da yin) and “greatest form” (da xiang ) in Laozi. The “greatest music” is soundless, and the “greatest form” is shapeless. They are all initiated and brought to completion by “the Dao that is hidden and nameless” (dao yin wu ming ).50 All this is also applicable to the “great beauty” that is speechless or in silence. On this account, the “great beauty” as such proposes itself as an object of aesthetic contemplation and epistemological consideration at least. Then, how is it possible to discover and appreciate it? According to Daoism, demanded in this case are two elementary approaches at least: One is to “have self-purification and deep contemplation,”51 and the other is to “be spring with everything.”52 As read in the Laozi, the approach to self-purification and deep contemplation runs parallel with personal cultivation. It is so stated: 49 Zhuangzi, Zhi bei you [Knowledge of the Northbound Wandering]. The translation is mine from the Chinese original. Cf. Zhuangzi, The Complete Works of Zhuangzi (trans. Burton Watson), Ch. 22. 50 Laozi, Dao De Jing (trans. Wang Keping), Sect. 41. 51 This idea in Chinese is di chu xuan lan (涤除玄览). Cf. Laozi, Dao De Jing (trans.

Wang Keping), Sect. 10. 52 This idea in Chinese is yu wu wei chun (与物为春). Cf. Zhuangzi, The Complete Works of Zhuangzi (trans. Burton Watson), Ch. 5, p. 115.

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Can you keep the spirit and embrace the One Without departing from them? Can you concentrate your vital energy and achieve tenderness Like an infant without any desires? Can you purify your mind and contemplate in depth Without any flecks? Can you love the people and govern the state Without taking action? Can you play the role of the feminine In the opening and closing of the gates of Heaven? Can you perceive and understand all Without using your reasoning powers?53

Noticeably, “the One” is another name for the Dao. It is employed herein to mean the inseparable unity of the body and the soul. This kind of unity is only possible when a person is identified with the Dao. By “purify your mind” (di chu) is meant cleaning and ridding your mind of all pre-existing selfish ideas and personal wants. By “contemplate in depth” (xuan jian) is meant “deep contemplation,” insightful observation or “mystical insight.” They are combined to form the approach to appreciating the “great beauty” of silence. As “the gates of Heaven” are referred to the inborn sense organs, and “the role of the feminine” is referred to tranquility or stillness. They come together to denote a tranquil approach to observing all things in the world via the sense organs. This approach is commonly known as “tranquil observation” (jing guan) in connection with the idea that “The essence of the myriad things is naturally obtained through tranquil observation.” All this entails personal cultivation in the direction of attaining the Dao as the highest form of life. The unity of the body and the soul signifies the identification of human with the Dao. The realization of this unity will naturally lead to the harmony or harmonious development of one’s body (i.e., physical and emotional life) and soul (i.e., spiritual and rational life). It is noteworthy that vital energy (qi) is either the source or force of life itself. To concentrate on one’s vital energy and obtain infant-like tenderness will inevitably lead to a peaceful and calm state of mind (xin ping qi he) that can be seen as a healthy psychical environment. As the companion of life, this state of mind ensures freedom from worries and cares, and facilitates self-purification and deep contemplation. In other 53 Laozi, Dao De Jing (trans. Wang Keping), Sect. 10.

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words, it helps one not merely get rid of all selfish desires and considerations, but also achieve deep and profound insights into all things. It is assumed to result in great wisdom and even the mastery of the Dao, which enables the Daoist sage to “love the people and govern the state without taking action.” In effect, it is applicable to all matters including the aesthetic contemplation and appreciation of the “great beauty of silence” in question.54 Regarding the advice to “be spring with everything,” it is put forth by Zhuangzi. Then, what does that mean? Despite its polysemy, “spring” is the first season of the year and the beginning of the annual cycle. It is filled with vitality, growth, warmth, and involving charm. It indicates the way of “mingling with all and creating the movement within your own mind.” Symbolically, it is often used to signify new change, new hope, new prospect, new transformation, and so forth. In this case, it is essentially referred to as a harmonious interrelationship between human and nature. Such interrelationship features interactive cheerfulness and happiness directed not only to the external object but also to the inner self. That is to say in Wordsworth’s terms, if you love nature, nature will never betray you. This gives rise to a trans-beneficial interaction between both sides that actually beget and benefit each other. Allegorically, it is just like planting a tree in springtime for the future shade in hot summer. Thus “be spring with everything” can be paraphrased as “be harmonious and delighted with all things.” It intends to have the “true person” identify oneself with and even feel oneself into the myriad things in nature, for it is more than pleasant and ecstatic for one to do so in the prime time of spring. Having reached this state of mind, a person is initiated not only to assimilate Heaven and Earth in order to detach from the secularized bondages, but also to go beyond material enslavement in order to secure independent personality. All this implies a spiritual transition from the small “I” into the big “One”, only to have the person grow united with the myriad things in the universe. In other words, it purports to enhance inward transcendence over the finite and into the infinite. Hence, those who can “be spring with everything” are bound to experience the ultimate joy along with absolute spiritual freedom. In the final analysis, the expectation to “be spring with everything” denotes both a naturalistic

54 Keping Wang, Reading the Dao: A Thematic Inquiry, pp. 131–132.

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concern about the important service of all things in the universe, and an aesthetic attitude toward the “great beauty” hidden beneath them. Even though the alternative to “be spring with everything” does bear such an inspiring message and inviting possibility with regard to the interrelationship between human and nature, I personally find it a bit too exaggerating and idealistic. It appears rhetorically appealing but practically unattainable. Yet this does not prevent us from making use of it as an aesthetic stance. The stance as such expects us to treat nature in a fourfold manner: ontologically, humans exist as part of nature, and nature, in turn, nourishes humans as a whole; epistemologically, nature is the object of knowledge under boundless investigation for new discoveries; ecologically, nature is to be properly protected and utilized in view of sustainable development; and aesthetically, nature is the supplier of the beautiful entities for appreciation. In order to appreciate the beautiful in nature, a relevant attitude is needed as much as a fine taste or aesthetic sensibility. What Zhuangzi proposes in this domain is somewhat similar to the Kantian approach to “disinterested satisfaction or contemplation.” When going sightseeing in natural parks or scenic areas, we may get so obsessed with the beautiful landscapes that we tend to lay aside everyday calculations and practical drives all together. Moreover, we may project our feelings and emotions into what we contemplate aesthetically and spiritually. It is by so doing that we will trade natural sympathy with human empathy in order to make psychical catharsis possible through varied channels. In this-worldly life as is subjected to cares, worries and stresses of different kinds, it is more than necessary for us to be spring with all the beautiful things in nature. With the help of spiritual freedom and aesthetic engagement, in this case, we are inclined to return to our real selves in the accompany of the “great beauty of silence,” so to speak.

Contemplative Attitude and Mutual Production As to the aesthetic attitude toward life and object, it is also stemmed from what Laozi advises to do for the attainment of the Dao, which is then extended and applied to aesthetic engagement and exploration. As indicated in his rhetorical question—“Can you purify your mind and contemplate in depth without any flecks?”55 a special kind of stance

55 Laozi, Dao De Jing (trans. Wang Keping), Sect. 10.

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is recommended with reference to self-purification and deep contemplation. It is twofold in principle, claiming to help one get rid of all selfish desires and calculations in one sense, and enabling one to attain insights into all things in another. With regard to personal cultivation, it is supposed to achieve the mastery of the Dao and the nourishment of the De, both of which are symbolic of great wisdom and ultimate truth in Daoism. Incidentally, it is coupled with other methods like “reducing one’s selfishness and having few desires”56 and “keeping to vacuity and tranquility”.57 At this point, it somewhat resembles the idea of “disinterested contemplation” in Kant when applied to aesthetic appreciation. Along this path of thought from Laozi, Zhuangzi proceeds to develop an attitude toward the Dao that can be perceived as aesthetic in kind. This attitude is largely related to two strategies at least: One is to “be spring with everything” as is already explicated foregoing. The other is the “fasting of the mind” that is to be exposed later with reference to the appreciation of the soundless music. Notably in the latter case, Zhuangzi plays down the service of sense and mind because of their respective disadvantages. Say, senses are constrained by what is seen and heard, and mind is constrained by such symbols as words. This being true, Zhuangze plays up the role of vital energy, for it flows freely all over the universe and makes possible the “fasting of the mind” through its emptiness but omnipresence in favor of boundless receptive capacity. In effect, it helps one transcend human desires, respond to the myriad things, and ensure the spiritual convergence with Heaven and Earth. At this stage, one has the access to the ultimate joy or happiness, enabled to discover “the great beauty of Heaven and Earth that does not speak of itself.” Considering the craft of art creation, early Daoism has laid a solid foundation in this sphere. It is related to the repertoire of mutual production with a permanent impact on Chinese art from past to present. It is derived from Laozi’s observation that “have-substance and have-vacuity

56 Laozi, Dao De Jing (trans. Wang Keping), Sect. 19. This idea in Chinese is shao si gua yu (少私寡欲). 57 Laozi, Dao De Jing (trans. Wang Keping), Sect. 16. This idea in Chinese is zhi xu shou jing (致虚守静).

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produce each other (you wu xiang sheng ),”58 an observation that can be exemplified by what follows: Clay is kneaded to mold a utensil, But it is on the empty space inside it That the utility of the utensil depends. Doors and windows are cut out to form a room, But it is on the interior vacancy That the utility of the room depends. Therefore, have-substance brings advantage While have-vacuity creates utility.59

Herein a cup as a utensil and a room with doors and windows provide a convincing exemplification in this case. As binary concepts, havesubstance (you) and have-vacuity (wu) reflect Laozi’s dialectical thinking in terms of their complementary interaction and mutual production. Patently, the first priority is given to have-vacuity, because it is assumed to be more decisive in mutuality. The two concepts given above are seemingly opposite, but they are counterparts, helping accomplish each other due to their interdependent and intergenerative qualities. Conjectured as an empty space in a bowl, cup, or room, have-vacuity comes into effect as a consequence of the concrete aspect of have-substance. This being true, both of them exert a continuing impact on Chinese art. Have-substance and have-vacuity are binary but inseparable categories, and somewhat corresponding to the interaction between Being and Non-being. In the process of art making, they are similar to such notions as “the concretization in the painted part” (shi) and “the abstraction in the blank part” (xu). Accordingly, “the mutual production between the concretization and the abstraction”60 (xu shi xiang sheng ) forges a leading rule that is applied to Chinese ink painting, calligraphy, opera, architecture, horticulture, poetry, and the like.61 If you go to watch a Beijing opera, for instance, you are sure to see an actor or actress riding a horse with a lash in hand. He or she jumps over a few steps in a zigzag manner while waving 58 Laozi, Dao De Jing (trans. Wang Keping), Sect. 2. This principle in Chinese is you wu xiang sheng (有无相生). 59 Laozi, Dao De Jing (trans. Wang Keping), Sect. 8. 60 This principle in Chinese is xu shi xiang sheng (虚实相生). 61 Wang Keping, Reading the Dao: A Thematic Inquiry, pp. 42–43.

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the lash in the air, showing that he or she is galloping fast over a long distance toward the destination. There is no sign of a horse but merely a virtual image (xu xiang ) of its presence that is indicated by the waving lash as a visible thing (shi wu). In a time-space sense, the distance covered on the stage is so short, but it can be imagined to be long through the number of zigzag movement repeatedly performed. Such effect comes from mutual production between the virtual image and the visible thing because of their symbolic link via psychological association.

Spontaneous Naturalness as Beauty As mentioned at the outset of this chapter, Daoism is assumed to be a kind of naturalism with focus on the rationale of “spontaneous naturalness” (zi ran). The rationale can be traced back to the Laozi. As it depicts, There was something undifferentiated and all-embracing That existed before Heaven and Earth. Soundless and formless as it is, It depends on nothing external and stays inexhaustible. It operates with a circular motion and remains inextinguishable. It may be considered the mother of all under Heaven. I do not know its name, and hence call it the Dao far-fetchedly. If forced to give it another name, I shall call it the Great. The Great is boundless and thus functioning everywhere. It is functioning everywhere and thus becoming far-reaching. It is becoming far-reaching and thus returning to the original point. Therefore the Dao is great. Heaven is great. Earth is great. And Man is also great. There are four great things in the universe, And Man is one of them. Man follows the way of Earth. Earth follows the way of Heaven. Heaven follows the way of the Dao.

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And the Dao follows the way of spontaneous naturalness.62

This section attempts to expound, first of all, the existence of the Dao with such qualities as independence, everlastingness, and absoluteness, among others. It is, in a word, the master producer of all things, and the ultimate law to be followed. Secondly, it exposes such fundamental features of the Dao as soundlessness, formlessness, greatness, and boundlessness. All this implies that the Dao embraces and affects all things, even though it is not directly observable or tangible. Thirdly, it illustrates the dynamic character of the Dao and its law of movement. The dialectic link between its becoming far-reaching and its returning to the original point is instructive as regards the development and transition of world affairs and social matters. Last but not least, it highlights the Dao as the way of spontaneous naturalness and as the ultimate law to be followed by Heaven, Earth, and Human altogether. The Dao can be thus looked upon as the hidden measure or determinant of all under Heaven. It is proclaimed in the commentary on The Book of Changes (Yi jing ) that there are three great things in the universe, namely, Heaven, Earth and Human. Yet there is one more category in the Laozi, that is the Dao apart from the other three listed above. Under such circumstances, the Dao is considered to be the origin of all. It is to be followed by Heaven, Earth, and Human altogether. Nevertheless, Human as one of the four great things in the universe is expected to make a proper use of all other things according to the Dao itself. Without human participation in this case, the values of all other great things given would be reduced to nil at any rate. This naturally endows human with a supreme role that could be potentially positive and negative in consequence. It could be positive to the extent that human remains rational and takes right actions. It could be negative to the extent that human becomes excessively emotional and most likely takes wrong actions. It is for this reason that the moralization of human is always most important of all in Chinese thought. Some Laozi scholars have interpreted the original expression of dao fa zi ran 63 as that “The Dao follows nature,” which subordinates the Dao to nature while turning nature into a leading principle to act upon. 62 Laozi, Dao De Jing (trans. Wang Keping), Sect. 25. Also see Wang Keping, Reading the Dao: A Thematic Inquiry, p. 9. The last line of this section in Chinese is dao fa zi ran (道法自然), an important doctrinal idea in the Laozi and Daoism as well. 63 It stands for “道法自然” in Chinese.

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This strikes me as far-fetched and even strange, because it has patently overlooked the key point that the Dao is originally defined as the mother of Heaven and Earth. As Heaven and Earth are used as another name for nature (and the universe as well), it is plausible to identify the Dao with the mother instead of the follower of nature. Hence that “The Dao follows nature” is a misinterpretation and mistranslation as well. When observing the working of the Dao as a whole throughout the Laozi, I hope to modify the idea of zi ran in terms of “spontaneous naturalness”, and treat it as a paramount characteristic of the Dao in operation. Hence the expression given above is rendered as that “The Dao follows the way of spontaneous naturalness.”64 Briefly, the Dao is the origin or maker of all things. The way of “spontaneous naturalness” refers to the Dao itself in function. They are two sides of the same medal. As seen in art creation and art criticism, the notion of “spontaneous naturalness” is employed as a predominant rationale and measure as well. It is applied to making and evaluating what is beautiful in art. Moreover, it is conceived as the decisive cause of beauty or what is beautiful, which is conducive to the conception of “spontaneous naturalness as beauty”.65 The conception as such is the most important foundation stone of Daoist aesthetics and art theory alike, because the deep-rooted property or underlying quality of the Dao is no other than “spontaneous naturalness” in essence. To mention in passing, the rationale of “spontaneous naturalness” is twofold as though it is the mover and the moved at the same time. It stands for the prevailing feature of the Dao and its movement. It has nothing to do with the idea of nature as the physical world. Paradoxically, the Western notion of nature is rendered in Chinese as zi ran, which is prone to cause confusion with the Daoist idea of zi ran as “spontaneous naturalness.” However, there arise some overlapping aspects owing to the intimacy of nature with “Heaven and Earth.” In Zhuangzi, the conception of “Heaven and Earth” for nature is repeatedly emphasized, for it is perceived as the infinite field for “the true person” to engage in “free and easy wandering.” Accordingly, the Chinese notion of zi ran is assumed to contain two primary meanings. The first is “spontaneous

64 Wang Keping, Reading the Dao: A Thematic Inquiry, pp. 9–11. 65 In Chinese it means zi ran wei mei (自然为美).

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naturalness” again, which is next to the refusal to serve man-made artifice. The second is the natural environment that comprises “Heaven and Earth” and constitutes the great beauty of silence in favor of the Daoist lifestyle. To the extent of certain contexts, “these two meanings can easily be united if one considers how beautiful nature is without the addition of any human artifice. Clearly, the understanding and treatment of nature comes a key question in our explication of how Zhuangzi’s aesthetics both broke away from and became a fitting complement to Confucian aesthetics.”66 Incidentally, an intimacy with nature is also available in the writings of Confucius. It is expressed in such phrases as “the wise person takes pleasure in rivers, and the humane person in mountains.”67 Yet, this attitude of intimacy always ends up with the human as the most active part of the aesthetic engagement. It is noted in the expression: “The wise person has pleasure, and the humane person has longevity.”68 Quite patently, human beings from start to finish are the lords of nature, and the human subject is always superior to the natural object. This is not at all the case with Zhuangzi in particular and with Daoism in general. The idea that “Heaven and Earth have great beauty but do not speak of it” is a clear statement of the superiority of nature, of Heaven and Earth, to artificiality and the human world.69 By the same token, such respective but distinct attitudes of intimacy with nature take Confucianism and Daoism apart in certain aspects of aesthetic judgment and experience as well. Above all, “spontaneous naturalness” is both a crucial rule of art making and a demanding criterion for art evaluation. It is most likely aligned with sincerity and ingenuity in the expression of human feelings and emotions. According to Zhuangzi, what is touching is what is sincere in expression. What is sloppy is what is pretentious in presentation. Hence, one who pretends to howl is seemingly sad, but not really sorrowful; one who pretends to lose temper is seemingly threatening, but not fearful; one who pretends to smile is seemingly amiable, but not loveable. Instead, one who is really sad is sorrowful without howling; one who is really angry is fearful without losing temper; one who is really kind is

66 Li Zehou, The Chinese Aesthetic Tradition, p. 94. 67 Confucius, The Analects, 6:23. 68 Confucius, The Analects, 6:23. 69 Li Zehou, The Chinese Aesthetic Tradition, p. 94.

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lovable without smiling. This is because there is sincerity within and effect without as a consequence of worshiping true sincerity. And true sincerity is naturalness that works always as it so does. Hence the sagely or true person follows naturalness and treasures sincerity.70 Ostensibly, such naturalness is none other than “spontaneous naturalness.” Leagued with sincerity and so forth, it is hereby developed into an artistic style and aesthetic ideal. During the long course of history, it is further evolved into diversity in terms of natural sincerity, natural naivety, natural simplicity, natural taste, natural accomplishment, natural grace and natural beauty, among others. However, its impact on art remains constant from past to present. In poetic composition, for instance, it is embodied in the image like a lotus follower grown out of clean water. And in the design of a garden, it is indicated by the precept that it is manmade but it appears natural without any trace of artifice, pretentiousness, and pompousness. To mention in passing, mutual complementarity between Daoism and Confucian occupies a large proportion of Chinese aesthetic awareness, and threads through the history of and Chinese art ever since its interactive connection. Here is an insightful observation about it: On the surface, Confucianism and Daoism seem to be diametrically opposed. One embraces the world, the other forsakes it; one is optimistic and progressive, the other negative and retiring. But in reality, the two form a mutually complementary and harmonious whole….How does this ‘opposition and complementarity’ look in practice? I would suggest that the notion of ‘the naturalization of humans’ put forward by the Daoists and Zhuangzi be at once opposed to and complement the idea of ‘humanization of nature’ emphasized by the rites and music tradition and Confucian humanists.71

Soundless Music and Stylistic Creation As “spontaneous naturalness” is deployed as a prominent rationale in Daoism, it is applied not merely to the ontology of human becoming

70 The conclusion in Chinese is fa tian gui zhen (法天贵真). The English translation is based on Chinese original. Cf. Zhuangzi, The Complete Works of Zhuangzi (trans. Burton Watson), Ch. 31, pp. 500–501. 71 Li Zehou, The Chinese Aesthetic Tradition, p. 77.

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and the way of life, but also to the creation of art of varied genres. In music, for instance, there are three types of which the supreme music is soundless, giving rise to great beauty and heavenly joy. In poetry then, the composition of imagery lies mostly in the principle of natural freshness without pompous embellishment. In literati gardening, it complies by the rule of man-made nature. In landscape painting, it requires the closest observation of nature and the discovery of the vital rhythm. By so doing, it makes mind-inspired painting in light of the spirit of heaven-human oneness that is coupled with the way of “spontaneous naturalness.” It is in this kind of painting that the spiritual home is perceived for those who aspire to absolute freedom, and embrace the ideal of dwelling therein poetically. In order to justify the unsurpassable merit of heavenly joy, Zhuangzi demonstrates deliberately three forms of joy in three types of music: the joy of man-made music (ren lai) based on the piping of men, the joy of earth-made music (di lai) based on the piping of earth, and the joy of heaven-made music (tian lai) based on the piping of heaven. They are described as follows: What is associated with the beauty of soundless music is the enjoyment of heavenly joy in Zhuangzi, heavenly joy that is symbolic of the zenith of aesthetic ecstasy or “peak experience” in spiritual roaming. In addition, it is referred to as the highest state of happiness and the ultimate goal of life for the sagely or true person as the Daoist ideal personality. This joy is the natural outcome of having convergence with the myriad things and harmony with the spirit of the universe. According to Zhuangzi, life is the function of Heaven, and death is the transformation of things on Earth. To the mind of the true person in this case, there is nothing for heaven to complain of, and nothing for Earth to bother about, and nothing for Human to object to. One’s pure-mindedness and stillness spread throughout Heaven and Earth, and reach the myriad things; this is what is called heavenly joy.72 Noticeably at this point, heavenly joy is supreme, unconditional and symbolic of absolute spiritual freedom. Meanwhile, it is granted to be far superior to sensuous joy or physical pleasure, but it is inclined to confront hindrance or damage caused by the latter.

72 Zhuangzi, The Complete Works of Zhuangzi (trans. Burton Watson), Ch. 13, pp. 213– 215. Cf. Li Zehou, The Chinese Aesthetic Tradition, p. 80.

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The Great Clod belches out breath, and its name is wind. So long as it doesn’t come forth, nothing happens. But when it does, then ten thousand hollows begin crying wildly. Can’t you hear them, long drawn out? In the mountain forests that lash and sway, there are huge trees a hundred spans around with hollows and openings like noses, like mouths, like ears, like jugs, like cups, like mortars, like rifts, like ruts. They roar like waves, whistle like arrows, screech, gasp, cry, wail, moan, and howl, those in the lead calling out yeee!, those behind calling out yuuu! In a gentle breeze they answer faintly, but in a gale the chorus is gigantic. And when the fierce wind has passed on, then, all the hollows are empty again. Have you never seen the tossing and trembling that goes on?73

Observably, the description is mainly about the piping of earth that comes from the sound of the hollows blown by the wind of different scales. Its rhythm of low and high sound depends upon how the wind blows through the myriad hollows. It may evoke a variety of emotional responses. The piping of men, then, comes from the sound of flutes and whistles. Its volume, rhythm, and power cannot be compared with that of the piping of earth. As regards the piping of heaven, it comes from the “Blowing on the ten thousand things in a different way, so that each can be itself—all take what they want for themselves.”74 Here are different explanations. Some assume that it is simply a name applied to the natural and spontaneous functioning of the other two: the piping of men and piping of earth. Some identify it with the real creator of qi as vital energy that causes the wind and makes it blow. Some conjecture it as the mindset that perceives and treats things deliberately. I consider it to be what Zhuangzi reveres as the “True Lord,”75 which can be thought of as the Dao, the origin of the myriad things, and the mother of Heaven and Earth. To my mind, the man-made music based on the piping of men comes into effect through playing the stringed instruments like pipes and bells. It is always incomplete or imperfect because perfect music can be only imagined, but never accomplished by artificial means. This is the case 73 Zhuangzi, The Complete Works of Zhuangzi (trans. Burton Watson), Ch. 2, pp. 62–63. 74 Zhuangzi, The Complete Works of Zhuangzi (trans. Burton Watson), Ch. 2, p. 63. 75 Zhuangzi, The Complete Works of Zhuangzi (trans. Burton Watson), Ch. 2, p. 65. Just as Zhuangzi points out after a lengthy discussion, “It would seem as though there must be some True Lord among them. But whether or not I succeed in discovering his identity, it neither adds to nor distracts from his Truth.”

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with Zhao Wen and Master Kuang, the great musicians in ancient times. As noted in the Zhuangzi on musical performance, there is such a thing as completion and incompletion if Zhao Wen plays the lute. There is such a thing as no completion and no incompletion so long as Zhao Wen does not play the lute.76 This example proves the Daoist ideal of sticking to the way of “spontaneous naturalness” without taking any improper action. For this reason, man-made music is bound to have artificial limits such that it elicits the joy that is merely pleasing to the ear. Then the earthmade music comes into effect when there is the wind blowing across the earth. Going through the numerous hollows or holes in huge trees, rocks, caves in forests and valleys, the different scales of wind make diversity of sound in big and small volume, long and short melody, shallow and deep motion, and screaming and exciting mood, among others. What they produce under such circumstances is corresponding to the rationale of “spontaneous naturalness.” When listening to it, one feels the joy that is so natural, stirring and appealing to the mind-heart. Yet, when the wind stops, silence follows suit, and the earth-made music is gone. In contrast, the heaven-made music comes into effect due to the hidden sounds in the universe of eternal quietude behind which is the Dao as the True Lord. Such sounds can be either heard or unheard despite whether they are present or absent in the air. Likewise, the heaven-made music exists, as it were, because it is unconditional in essence. It is hereby referred to “the greatest music sounds faint” (da yin xi sheng ) in Laozi.77 And meanwhile, it is related to “the great beauty of silence” (da mei wu yan) in Zhuangzi.78 Yet, such music can be thought and enjoyed in imagination. It entails heavenly joy that is working directly into the mind-heart, and nourishing the spirit for certain. Even nowadays in China, the idea of heaven-made music is often employed to glorify the best piece of music or song. It is taken as the highest standard to evaluate the quality and worth of musical works. Then, how is it possible to appreciate the heaven-made music that is both imaginary and soundless in kind? According to Zhuangzi,

76 Zhuangzi, The Complete Works of Zhuangzi (trans. Burton Watson), Ch. 2, p. 69. 77 Laozi, Dao De Jing (trans. Wang Keping), Sect. 41. Also see Wang Keping, Reading

the Dao: A Thematic Inquiry, pp. 119–121. 78 Zhuangzi, The Complete Works of Zhuangzi (trans. Burton Watson), Ch. 22, p. 341.

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Make your will one! Don’t listen with your ears, but listen with your mind. No, don’t listen with your mind, but listen with your spirit. Listening stops with the ears, the mind stops with recognition, but spirit is empty, and wait for all things. The Way gathers in emptiness alone. Emptiness is the fasting of mind.79

Apparently, the elementary condition of listening is intensive concentration as is required to “make your will one”. Notwithstanding all this, it is insufficient to approach heaven-made music with ears and mind, for they tend to be confined to everyday experience and cognitive routine instead of helping the listener appreciate it. Hence it is advised to listen to it with the spirit or vital energy that is essentially free when flowing from one thing to another between Heaven and Earth. It is responsive, intuitive, and telepathic, working to purify the human mind of all wants and desires, and bringing forth the serene contemplation of the heaven-made music in favor of spiritual nourishment. Thus it leads to “the fasting of mind” according to the Way of Daoist quietism. As to the stylistic creation in art, it is most prevailing in such genres as pastoral poetry, literati gardening, and mind-inspired landscape painting. In poetry, the rationale of “spontaneous naturalness” becomes lawful and determinant. It is modified into a rule for composing imagery, and formulated through a poetic catchphrase as such: Each image should be like a blooming lotus growing out of clear water, looking so natural as though it is laid off from any artifactual embellishments.80 It requires natural freshness and vividness to the extent that it can present and visualize the depicted scene under your eyes, appearing more impressive and engaging than what it is in reality. Although its diction is plain and simple, it is rich and suggestive, saturated with subtle philosophical messages. An offhanded illustration is a poem about Drinking Wine by Tao Yuanming (352/365–427). It runs, Within the human world I make my home, Yet din of horse and carriage there is none; You ask me how this quiet is achieved— With thoughts remote the place appears alone. While picking asters ‘neath the eastern fence 79 Zhuangzi, The Complete Works of Zhuangzi (trans. Burton Watson), Ch. 4, p. 93. 80 These two lines in Chinese are qing shui chu fu rong, tian ran qu diao shi (清水出

芙蓉, 天然去雕饰).

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My gaze upon the southern mountain rests; The mountain views are good by day or night, The birds come flying homeward to their nests. A truth in this reflection lies concealed, But I forget how it may be revealed.81

Reading through the whole piece, the reader encounters no verbal hindrance and distractive allusions. The depiction is straight and succinct. It exposes the reader to a chain of visions moving from the living quarters via the rural courtyard to the mountain scenery as if it escorts him into the open air for a pleasant stroll. Noticeably, the way of getting the quietude out of daily bustles and hustles is due to detaching oneself from the bounded residence. It is by no means easy as it depends upon a high level of personal cultivation and spiritual freedom. With respect to the gaze upon the mountain views, the persona seems to engage oneself in a mind-heart excursion or carefree wandering. The birds flying back to their nests produce a thought-provoking image, revealing a truth that is kept in silence without rambling about it in words. All this creates an open space of imagining and thinking on the part of the readership. Historically, Tao Yuanming paved the way for promoting the poetic style of “spontaneous naturalness.” Those who followed suit were many well-known poets. Among them, Wang Wei (701–761) stood out as most influential because of his individual contributions to stylistic creation in accord with the idea of “spontaneous naturalness.” Take the poem Autumn Evening in the Mountains for example, After fresh rain in mountains bare, Autumn permeates evening air. Among pine-trees bright moonbeams peer; Over crystal stones flows water clear. Bamboos whisper of washer-maids; Lotus stirs when fishing boat wades. Though fragrant spring may pass away,

81 The poem is by Tao Yuaning (陶渊明), titled Drinking V (饮酒其五) and translated into English by Yan Xianyi. Its original version goes: “结庐在人境, 而无车马喧。问君何 能尔?心远地自偏。采菊东篱下, 悠然见南山。山气日夕佳, 飞鸟相与还。此中有真意, 欲辨已忘 言”.

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Still here is the place for you to stay.82

The scene shows up its beauty at the sunset after a rainfall in autumn. The moonlight is shining through the pine forest, and the limpid brooks gurgling over the stones are musical and picturesque. The waving of the bamboos occurs simultaneously with the giggling girls from washing whirl. The blooming lotus is beautiful on its own, serving as a mirror to reflect the female beauty interactively. This chain of images is working together to demonstrate the poetic appeal and magic power of words used in everyday speech. The last two lines set out the fragrance and attraction of natural beauty, idealizing the mountain abode as the most exemplary spot where one dwells poetically or live aesthetically. When applied to the literati garden designing, the rationale of “spontaneous naturalness” is specified as such: It is man-made, but it should appear as natural as it was created by Heaven.83 As an elementary rule when applied to building a garden, it not only resorts to the reproduction of the natural environment selected but also calls for the power of creative imagination. These two aspects are skillfully embodied, for instance, in the Geyuan Garden in Yangzhou. The garden itself occupies a small area and features simplicity and elegance. Quite uniquely, it consists of four interrelated sections or scenes representing the natural rotation of the four seasons. In a brief account, the spring scene is made up of a rockery covered with green mosses and surrounded by green bamboos. It is designed to exhibit how things in green thrive and prevail in warm spring at the beginning of the year. What comes nearby is the summer scene, which is composed of a light grey rockery dotted with holes and folds, and connected with a pavilion over a clear and rippling pool. The pavilion is an organic part of the specific setting. It is therefore an aesthetic object, due to its architectural elegance. For instance, it has a number of upturning cornices that reduce the weight of the downward ceiling, transfiguring the whole pavilion into a flying spatial image, harmoniously merging with its picturesque background of waterscape and rockscape. Meanwhile, it 82 The poem is by Wang Wei (王维), titled Autumn Evening in the Mountains (山居 秋暝) and translated by Xu Yuanchong. Its original version follows: “空山新雨后, 天气晚 来秋。明月松间照, 清泉石上流。竹喧归浣女, 莲动下渔舟。随意春芳歇, 王孙自可留”. 83 This principle in Chinese expression is sui you ren zuo, wan zi tian kai (虽由人作, 宛自天开).

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provides the visitors with a bench with a backrest inside it. Sitting right there under it, one can enjoy a panorama of the scenery around by virtue of either in situ and in-motion viewing or contemplation. After crossing a chamber in Chinese classical style, one comes over to the autumn scene and finds it comprising a huge yellow rockery of an artificially hill-like form, over which there are a number of small maple trees in red leaves, red leaves that symbolize the prime time of autumn season and scenery alike. Adjacent to it is the winter scene that is arranged by means of some big snow-white stones lying scattered on the ground, and behind them, there are a set of holes chiseled out of the wall. Whenever wind arises on different scales, it gives out some sounds of low or high volume, leaving the visitor under the impression of snowy and windy winter. Walking through the garden slowly while looking around, one is able to see the delicate change of beautiful “natural landscape” throughout the four seasons as though appreciating a series of four movements in a soundless symphony. Apart from the rationale of “spontaneous naturalness” utilized to organize the whole garden, one may also detect the effect of beholding a vast vision out of a small space (xiao zhong jian da). By the way, when visiting literati gardens like this, the visitors may find some other approaches useful and rewarding. For instance, the approach to artificial hills is often ascribed to a principle of perceptual relativity and follows the picturesque space of garden structuring. An artificial hill need not be tall to look lofty; what matters in this case is its topographical gradation that matters. It is like a man-made body of water that needs not be deep, what counts here is its twists and turns. Hence the beauty of a seemingly towering hill inside a literati garden of small size lies in the scenes and sights deeply set in it. According to Chen Congzhou, when building an artificial hill with rocks, heights are brought about on the level ground, and twists and turns are derived from straight lines. One must keep the overall picture in mind while proceeding from the minute detail. As rocks come in unpredictable shapes, the construction of the artificial hill calls for predictable rules. Such rules are the same as those governing painting in that they are both about veins and momentum.84 As to the interplay between in-motion and in situ viewing of garden scenery, an insight into the flexible but adequate approach is rather crucial and fruitful at any rate. Since in-motion and in situ viewing involves motion and 84 Chen Congzhou, Literati Gardens: Poetic Sentiment & Picturesque Allure (trans. Ling Yuna, Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press, 2018), pp. 292–293.

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stillness, the interconnection and interaction between them make up an aesthetic rule that plays an important role in appreciating a literati garden in particular. As perceived in sightseeing of this kind, motion stems from stillness whereas stillness is contained in motion. Together they conjure up innumerable changes and scenic wonders. When they are turned into moving scenes and still scenes, respectively, a viewer sitting in a pavilion is exposed to moving scenes from drifting clouds and flowing water, flying birds and falling flowers, swimming fish and trilling cicada, among other elements around. Meanwhile, the viewer is also exposed to still scenes from nearby rockeries, huge trees, and a body of tranquil water, among others. Therefore, the scenery unveils itself to a perceiving eye which sees motion in stillness and stillness in motion. In a typical case of intangibles relying on tangibles for existence, a garden loses all its natural appeal or beauty if it is stripped of its fair share of water, cloud, shadow, sound, flora, sunrise, sunshine, and sunset.85 More observably and sophisticatedly, the principle of “spontaneous naturalness” supplies a theoretical basis of literati painting. It is therefore related to the most fundamental métier of landscape painting. As discerned in Chinese tradition, there are chiefly three steps of developing artistic excellence. The first step is devoted to learning from the preceding masters, which concentrates on imitating the masterpieces and then produces the super replicas at their best (lin mo hua). The subsequent step is dedicated to learning from nature, which focuses on drawing directly the scenes of natural landscapes and living beings, and then produces eye-perceived paintings (mu hua). The third step is applied to learning from the spirit of Heaven and Earth, which demands the free and creative expression of the vital and rhythmic flow of the universe and create mind-inspired paintings (xin hua) as the ultimate telos. Patently, the three steps imply a ladder of artistic development and personal cultivation as well. They are also hierarchical in terms of both skill improvement and value assessment. During this process, a painter goes up step by step to upgrade his artistry, and consequently, his technique gets closer and closer to free creation without any mechanical confinement, which is eventually conducive to make the style of mind-inspired painting at its best.

85 Chen Congzhou, Literati Gardens: Poetic Sentiment & Picturesque Allure, p. 352.

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This line of thought runs through the history of Chinese painting. It can be traced back to Xie He and Zhang Zao who have discovered the hidden link between the three steps left to be clarified later in the book.86 Comparatively, the three steps of art making are more explicitly formulated by Dong Qichang (1555–1636) in this argument: A painter firstly learns from the old masters, and then from natural landscapes…he learns from the old maters perfectly to the extent that he goes further to learn from Heaven and Earth. If he gets up every morning to contemplate the changing clouds over and flowing mist amid the mountains, he will find something far better than the painted scenes. When encountering a grotesque tree in the mountains, he must look at it from the four directions…Only when he gets so familiar with it, he can naturally express its spirit rather than its image. He who expresses its spirit is bound to do it in form. As the form and the mind are cooperating so freely as to make the painter forget the distinction between them, the spirit of the object painted can be best expressed.87

Subsequently, Dong generalizes his view given above into three basic stages as follows: A painter learns eventually from Heaven and Earth, intermediately from natural landscapes, and initially from old masters).88

86 Xie He (谢赫) lived in the period ranging from 479 to 557. He is considered to be

the first theorist of painting in China. He sums up the art of painting into six leading principle including qiyun shengdong 气韵生动 [vital rhythm and lively vividness] and chuanyi moxie 传移模写[expressive transforming and imitative drawing], among others Zhang Zao (张璪) who lived in the eighth century is renowned to advocate the motto of “waishi zaohua, zhongde xinyuan” 外师造化, 中得心源 [To learn artistic technique from nature, and attain artistic excellence from inner inspiration], which emphasizes the apperception of the appealing scenery in nature and the expression of the inspired responses in mindheart. On the occasion of this apperception as a living experience, the internal self is harmonious and interactive with the external cosmos. 87 Dong Qichang, Hua chan shi sui bi [Essays one Painting in the Chan Studio], in Peking University Department of Philosophy (ed.), Zhongguo mei xue shi zi liao xuan bian 中国美学史资料选编 [Selected Sources of the History of Chinese Aesthetics] (Beijing: The Commercial Press, 1981), Vol. 2, p. 147. 88 Dong Qichang, Hua chan shi sui bi [Essays one Painting in the Chan Studio], Vol. 2, in the Hua yuan [The Origin of Painting]. The three rules are pointed to these three stages: the first is “yi gu ren wei shi” (以古人为师),the second is “yi shan chuan wei shi” (以山川为师), and the third is “yi tian di wei shi” (以天地为师), Cited from

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Dong made this argument at the age of 51 after a long and painful exploration in his artistic career. His distinction between the three stages is a subtle and delicate one. According to some observations, to learn from Heaven and Earth (yi tian di wei shi) are also termed in Chinese as shi tiandi, meaning to take creative nature as a teacher. It is pointed to a kind of free and creative activity, aiming to embody “the infinite” according to the demand that the painter “use an ink brush to express the spirit of the universe as the Supreme Void.”89 Then, to learn from natural landscapes (yi shan chuan wei shi) is also known in Chinese as shi shanchuan or shi zaohua, it is still confined to the appearance of things even though it provides the original object of the painted landscapes on paper. It is physically “specific and finite,” in spite of the fact that it is a bit more advanced than learning from old masters (yi gu ren wei shi) identified in Chinese with shi guren. Coincidentally, the similar ideal is celebrated by Shi Tao (1642–1718), a famous painter who proclaims this: “My ink brush draws freely without hesitation. The older I grow, the more I get engrossed in learning from Heaven and Earth.”90 Later on, the ideal is stressed and justified by Huang Binhong (1865–1955) who asserts that “Nature comes into painting, and painting overtakes nature…Nature has its spirit and rhythmic force that contain beauty inside. Common people cannot see it, but the painter can detect and express it to its full extent…A true landscape painting is an expression of both the essence of nature and the state of mind.”91 All this is intended to verify the principle of learning from Heaven and Earth, and to give more credit to its outcome of mindinspired paintings owing to their aesthetic, philosophical and spiritual values, even though it is no easy task to create such kind of works.

Zhang Yuhu,“Cong ‘shi shanchuan’ dao ‘shi tiandi’从“师山川”到 “师法天地”[Learning from Natural Landscapes versus Learning from Heaven and Earth], in Wen yi yan jiu [The Journal of Literary and Art Studies], No. 4, 2008, p. 113. 89 Wang Wei, Xu hua [Of Painting], in Shen Zicheng (ed.), Li dai lun hua ming zhu hui bian [Selections from the Famous Historical Writings on Chinese Painting], p. 16. It says in Chinese pinyin “yi guan zhi bi, ni tai xu zhi ti (以一管之笔, 拟太虚之气).” 90 Shi Tao, Shi Tao shu hua quan ji [The Complete Works of Shi Tao on Calligraphy and Painting] (Tianjin: Tianjin Renmin Meishu Chubanshe, 2002), Vol. 1, p. 98. 91 Huang Binhong, Huang Binhong hua yu lu [Huang Binhong’s Collected Notes on Painting]. Also see Wang Liu et al. (eds.), Yi shu te zheng lun [On the Characteristics of Art] (Beijing: Wenhua Yishu Chubanshe, 1984), p. 21.

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I personally share some of their observations in this regard. Furthermore, as it seems to me, what corresponds to the three stages is a hierarchical scale of perception. The scale can be categorized into three levels. The first level of perception is oriented toward the acquisition of skills and crafts. It assists the artist to foster his basic knowledge and understanding of painting as a genre of visual art. As exposed to the expertise of poetry, calligraphy, seal cutting, and drawing manifested in the masterpieces to be repeatedly imitated, the artist will likely take them as models, and consciously practice and improve his or her artistic skills, literary talents, and even cultural literacy in all dimensions. All this is fundamental and necessary for certain. Otherwise, one will become an artisan rather than an artist in the pure sense of this term. The second level of perception is directed to observing natural things and their life images. Although it still lies in the exercise of artistic skills and the experience of artistic compositions, it serves to improve one’s aesthetic sensibility, and upgrade one’s artistic technique. One will then become more independent than dependent upon the old masters. He or she will be apt to abstain from their beaten track, break through the shadowy impact of the masterpieces, and strive to produce something according to his or her own experiences, feelings and observations. Finally, the third level of perception is concerned with the nourishment of spiritual freedom and the development of independent personality. It features an exalted transformation from the small “I” into the big “One,” during the process of which the artist identifies himself or herself with the object amid the myriad things, and undergoes the peak experience of feeling the oneness between Heaven and human. Wen Yuke (1018– 1079), for example, is said to feel himself into the bamboo as if he were lost in it when painting it. He therefore created in his works of bamboo as something natural, unique, formally expressive, and significant. His experience is recorded and recommended by his contemporary Su Shi (1037–1101),92 who perceives Wen’s bamboo paintings as an embodiment of the painter’s personality, individual taste, and spirituality altogether.

92 Su Shi, Su Dongpo ji [Collected Works of Su Dongpo], Vol. 16. Also see Philosophy Department of Peking University (ed.), Zhong guo mei xue shi zi liao xuan bian [Selected Sources in the History of Chinese Aesthetics] (Beijing: Zhonghua Shuju, 1981), Vol. II, p. 39.

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It is noteworthy in traditional Chinese painting that the value of likeness is often played down in proportion because of its connection with formal beauty. In the value judgment of artworks by Chinese artists and critics in general, the beauty of pure form is ranked lower than the beauty of vital rhythm. According to Su Shi again, those who tend to look at a painting in light of its formal likeness hold on to a childish viewpoint. This is illustrated by a historical case as follows: When Zhao Chang painted a flower, he applied a single dot of red instead of many, but his work was sufficiently expressive of all the charm of spring season even though it violated the conventional form of what a flower appeared to be.93 However, the artistic presentation of likeness is not totally denied because it is indispensable so long as it is carried out to an appropriate degree. It is therefore argued that the excess of likeness is conducive to vulgarity, whereas the lack of likeness conducive to visual deception or trompe des leux for certain. A true painting should remain well-balanced between these two extremes.94 In addition, those who can create mind-inspired paintings are relatively rare. They may come from those who will insist on life-long cultivation and pursuit. They are ascribed to such qualities as independent personality, spiritual freedom, contemplative concentration, rich imagination, creative power, and so forth. Here are two typical examples. One is offered in the writings of Zhuangzi. It reads: When Duke Yuan of Song wanted to have a picture painted, all the court painters gathered in his presence. After they received the instructions and bowed to the duke, some of them stood around, licking their b rushes and mixing their ink. Half of them were waiting outside. One of them, who arrived late, came in leisurely steps. After he received the instructions and bowed to the duke, he did not wait but went straight to his quarters. When the duke sent someone to see what he was doing there, the painter

93 Ibid. Also see Philosophy Department of Peking University (ed.), Zhong guo mei xue shi zi liao xuan bian, Vol. II, p. 37. 94 Qi Baishi, Qi Baishi hua ji xu [A Preface to the Collected Paintings by Qi Baishi].

Cf. Wang Liu et al. (eds.), Yi shu te zheng lun [On the Characteristics of Art], p. 20. Huang Binhong, a contemporary of Qi Baishi, shares the similar opinion with respect to formal likeness in painting. Cf. Huang Binhong, Huang Binhong hua yu lu [Huang Binhong’s Collected Notes on Painting]. Also see Wang Liu et al. (eds.), Yi shu te zheng lun [On the Characteristics of Art], p. 20.

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was found undressed and seated on the mat. Duke Yuan said, ‘He will do. He is a true artist.95

The other example is provided by Zhang Yanyuan (815–875) in his book on famous paintings. It is described below: Gu Junzhi built a high tower for his studio. Each time he climbed up onto it with the help of a ladder. When he was up there, he pulled it up into the tower such that his family members could not interrupt him any more. He did not paint until he found fine weather and beautiful scene. He never touched his brush when he found it cloudy and depressing…Hence, true painters in the history were those men of free spirit and noble sense. They demonstrated their artistic genius for a short period of time, but their great influence extended over hundreds of years.96

Noticeably, the first story tells about a true painter or a pure artist. He ignores all the nagging formalities and social conventions. Thus he goes straight to his workshop where he is found naked and seated on the mat as though he has got obsessed in his meditation or sitting in selfforgetfulness (zuo wang ). All this symbolically shows that he has detached himself from any bounds and obstacles that remain either conventional or institutional, only to return to his natural state of being. He has therefore become a free self instead of a pretentious self. The ink brush in his hand is enabled to move spontaneously and draw out the imagined images that occur to his mind.97 Then what he has produced is none other than a mind-inspired painting as a unique creation of originality. As for the second tale, it is intended to convince us that the painter is keen on contemplative concentration and genuine tranquility, and hence he manages to get rid of any daily disturbance and even family contact. Up there in the high tower that metaphorically implies his affinity to the natural landscape, he is alone interacting with the spirit of Heaven and Earth, and eventually feeling himself into it. Accordingly, he finds inspiration and gets into ecstasy when his state of mind corresponds to the 95 Zhuangzi, The Zhuangzi (trans. Wang Rongpei), p. 353. 96 Zhang Yanyuan, Li dai ming hua ji [Commentary on the Famous Paintings of

the Existent Dynasties]. Cited from Wang Liu et al. (eds.), Yishu tezheng lun [On the Characteristics of Art], 15. 97 It is termed in Chinese as de xin ying shou (得心应手), denoting the highest technique that reassures free creation of artworks.

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pleasant weather and fascinating scene. Under such ideal conditions in accord with the union between Heaven and himself, he has eventually created his best paintings that reveal the great but silent beauty in the universe. Regarding the final stage of expressing the inner spirit and vital rhythm of all things in the universe, it allegedly enables one to create the mindinspired paintings by learning from Heaven and Earth. It commends moral cultivation of personality and expects one to develop a high awareness of the Dao as the most accommodating spirit of Heaven and Earth in one sense, and as the subtlest symbol of spiritual freedom and independent personality in the other. It is principally directed to the enlightened experience of the Dao in itself and the sublimated awareness of the entire cosmos. Thus it is conducive to procure a continuous impetus that encourages one to move toward a Daoist way of life, a way of life that will lead human as human to become harmonious with Heaven and Earth. Noticeably in the ultimate phase, the artist of an ideal kind is supremely imaginative, sensitive, and creative. He is therefore capable of transforming mental pictures into sensuous forms by means of intuiting and experiencing. He does so in order to express the rhythmic flow and vital power of the myriad things. During this process, he is feeling freely and “interacting harmoniously with the spirit of Heaven and Earth” in Zhuangzi’s catchphrase. He therefore sketches out what he feels best to himself after searching through all the wonderful landscapes across the world. His work then can resemble either all of the landscapes or none of them that he has ever seen before, simply because it is unique recreation in the pure sense of this term. Furthermore, the cultivation-oriented hypothesis in the three stages of painting is aesthetic and empirical in kind. It attempts to actualize spiritual freedom and independent personality through constant cultivation in artistic perception and creation alike. In this regard, the expression of the inner spirit and vital rhythm of nature suggests the highest form of achievement of which the first-caliber Chinese painter is capable. All this is underlined by the Chinese thought of heaven-and-human oneness, a thought that integrates both this-worldliness and other-worldliness into living experience. Incidentally, the act of learning to express the inner spirit and vital rhythm of nature is characterized by a boundless pursuit due to its ever-expanding realm of intuiting and experiencing in terms of aesthetic

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autonomy. Even though it appears to be somewhat mystical and unapproachable, it is intelligible to most Chinese artists who are more familiar with the monistic view of one world. To their minds, this one world as an organic whole consists of two parts at least: the accessible and the felt. The former refers to all things perceptible and touchable, and the latter to the vital power and rhythmic flow saturated with experiential and participatory features, among others. By and large, the ultimate significance of landscape poetry and painting in Chinese tradition is characterized by human convergence with nature sui generis. It discovers and expresses “the beauty of silence” in Zhuangzi’s terminology. It thus implies the spiritual home or artistic lifestyle for the sake of human existence. This is in turn pertained to the ideal of heaven-human oneness as the highest aesthetic state in a metaphysically ontological sense. On this account, Chinese readers share much sympathy with William Wordsworth who proclaims so seriously and sincerely: Love nature because it never betrays you. Moreover, they expect an artist to take the closest observation of natural landscapes in order to perceive and understand their most vital and original qualities. Accordingly, they will be ready to share much sympathy with this view: …the artist in painting a landscape…is not wanting to describe the visible appearance of landscape, but to tell us something about it. That something may be an observation or emotion which we share with the artist, but more often it is an original discovery of the artist’s which he wishes to communicate to us. The more original that discovery is, the more credit we shall give the artist, always assuming that he has technical skill sufficient to make his communication clear and effective.98

98 Herbert Read, The Meaning of Art (London: Penguin Books, 1961), p. 130.

CHAPTER 7

Beyond Poetic Sentimentalism

When engaged in an arduous enterprise of pursuing truth, the educated in China tend to encourage themselves by quoting these two lines: “The way ahead is long and has no ending; yet high and low I’ll search with my will unbending.”1 These lines are taken from the widely read poem The Lament (Li sao) by Qu Yuan (e. 340–278 B.C.), who was the founder of the Chu poetry (Chu ci)2 marking a milestone of Chinese literary development during the Warring States Period (475–221 B.C.). The Chu poetry consists of long or short pieces saturated with grotesque imagery, mythical elements and legendary stories, among others. It is said to flourish as a result of poetic movement with a romantic touch originated from in the Shamanist heritage of the Chu State occupying a large territory in South China. After nearly 2500 years passed up till now, Qu Yuan and his stories are still alive in the memory of Chinese people. Moreover, Qu himself is widely honored and commemorated on the day of the Dragon Boat Festival (duan wu jie), one of the four most important folk cultural events in China, of which the other three include the Spring Festival (chun jie),

1 Qu Yuan, Li sao [The Lament], lines 97–98. 2 As for Chu ci (楚辞), It is also rendered as “the poetry of the South”, for the Chu

State was situated in the South of China in ancient times. Cf. Xu Yuanchong (ed.), Poetry of the South (Changsha: Hunan Press, 1994).

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021 K. Wang, Beauty and Human Existence in Chinese Philosophy, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-1714-0_7

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Qingming Festival as “All Souls” Day (qing ming jie), and Mid-Autumn Festival (zhong qiu jie). All this is largely due to his personality appeal and poetic legacy. In other words, he has been revered as a national icon from past to present for his political engagement, nostalgic affections, patriotic rather than poetic sentimentalism expressed in his poetry.

Personality Beauty of Qu Yuan As noted in Confucianism, Daoism, Mohism and the like, the ideal of personality beauty is the underlying goal of personal cultivation. It remains so fundamental because of its appeal to the practitioners or disciples when deciding on what to learn and follow out of the so-called one hundred schools of thought. In the particular case of Qu Yuan, no school of thought was established or even attempted at all. Instead, what he did as a minister and what he wrote as a poet contributed all the merits to his character and personality excellence. Qu was born in a noble family in the Chu State. Active and patriotic in political engagement, he once worked as a high minister for the reign of King Chu Huaiwang. He got frustrated when his political proposals for the state interest was flatly rejected by the King, and grew even more indignant when seeing the King indulge in licentious pleasure while neglecting state affairs and ignoring the talented subordinates in the court. He tried to bring the misled situation back to the right track by doing whatever possible in his capacity, but unfortunately in vain. Instead, he was sent into exile and exposed to a lot of sufferings. On hearing the overtaking of the Chu capital by the army of Qin state from the North, he became so heartbroken and expressed his unbearable grief in one of his elegies. Some stanzas read: … Not for a moment does my soul not yearn, oh! To the old capital to return. Gazing westward on Summer Bay, oh! I’m grieved each day to be farther away. I climb the bank to look afar, oh! To ease the sorrow of my heart. I’m sad to see the land so wide, oh! And the old ways of the riverside. … My heart feels unhappy for long, oh!

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And grief and sorrow came in throng. The capital in mist is lost, oh! The Summer River can’t be crossed. … Gazing with longing eyes, I stand; oh! When may I come back to my homeland? A bird f lies nowhere but home bound; oh! A dying fox turns its head to its mound. Guiltless but banished, I take flight; oh! How can I forget you day and night?3

Brought down with tremendous sorrow and disappointment, Qu dragged on for nearly ten more years while suffering from kinds of physical and mental torture. Then, he grew so despaired that he drowned himself in the Miluo River of Hubei province, allegedly on the 5th day of the 5th lunar month in 278 B.C. He did so in order to show his dedication to his hometown and his refusal to surrender to the conqueror. To cherish the memory of his patriotic deeds and nostalgic feelings, local people made a number of zongzi as a kind of Chinese glutinous rice-pudding wrapped up in reed leaves and dropped them into the water so as to feed the fish and protect his body from falling into the fish’s dinner. Meanwhile, on his departure day, the locals paddled boats on the river to disperse the fish so that his body would not be eaten. As time goes by, the memorial event has evolved into the traditional Dragon Boat Festival, a festival that is celebrated today as one of the bank holidays across China. Every year witnesses a variety of dragon boat racing held all over the country so long as there is a sea, river or lake available and accessible. The festival as such is recreational in kind nowadays. Yet, it stays morally and politically symbolic as it indicates, through sacrificial ceremony or elegiac address, the public worship of patriotic passion, heroic deed, nostalgic affection, moral conduct, noble spirit, and self-dignity as embodied in the commemoration of Qu Yuan as a historical figure and a pioneering poet.

3 Qu Yuan, Lament for the Chu Capital, in Xu Yuanchong (ed.), Poetry of the South, pp. 101–103.

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Grotesque Imagery as a Tour de Force The Book of Poetry has been the first of the six Confucian classics.4 It is said to be re-edited by Confucius who has made deletions and rechecked the accompanied music. Hence it has been overridingly appreciated and discussed throughout the history of Confucian poetics and aesthetics. Apart from political elegies in honor of royal ancestry and other significant events, it comprises a large number of folk songs collected from 15 states over China then. Most of the songs are characteristic of simplicity, naivety and elegance in a lyrical style, representing the social reality and the human condition in ancient times. They are rendered more suggestive as a consequence of far-fetched moral and political interpretations via extensive associations and reconsiderations. In striking contrast, the Chu poetry is rounded out by means of its engaging beauty of grotesque imagery full of strange visions of gods, demons, spirits, myths, and legendary stories. The poetic images given are so distinctive, expressive, and impressive due to the magic power of unusual diction and hyperbolic extravagance at large. In this scope, the creation of such grotesque imagery as a tour de force seems to be allied with three factors at least. First and foremost, it is related to the cultural context in Qu’s era, a context that is stemmed from the pantheistic heritages of remote antiquity or prehistorical times. Historically, he represented the Chu culture in which the vestige of primitive clan society was strong while the Confucian impact was relatively weak, if there were any. “In all ideological realms, it was still a world of extraordinary imagination and violent emotions.”5 Being a historical figure and China’s first renowned poet in the remote past, he was not merely living in the midst of the world full of myths and fantasies, but also presented the world more sensationally through his creative imagination and poetic exaggeration. Secondly, being inspired by the world of myths and fantasies, Qu enriched his imagination and made the most of it in composing the grotesque images. The negative political situation and social ambience went so far as to stimulate his patriotic enthusiasm and nostalgic feelings, but prohibited him to express his observations and critiques freely 4 The six Confucian classics include The Book of Poetry, The Book of History, The Book of Rites, The Book of Music (identified with the Records of Music by some scholars), The Book of Changes, and The Spring and Autumn Annuals. 5 Li Zehou, The Path of Beauty: A Study of Chinese Aesthetics, p. 66.

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and openly. He therefore resorted to allusions and symbolisms that helped him outflow what he thought and felt. Consequently, in his poetic output, the more grotesque the images turn out to be, the more suggestive and expressive the poems grow in light of the drastic tension between the reality and the ideal, between the outside world and the inner world. All this led Qu to surpass poetic sentimentalism intended for self-catharsis alone. Instead, he proceeded to embrace patriotic sentimentalism in order to evoke the public awareness of his fellow citizens and rectify the political setting of his home country that worried him day and night. For instance, his self-confession and critique of the King are tallied with each other in his outspoken discourse. They are well illustrated by these lines: … My heart tells me it’s good and decent, oh! I won’t regret to die nine times. The Sacred One neglects his duty, oh! He will not look into the people’s hearts. The slanderers envy my beauty, oh! They say I play licentious part. The vulgar praise what is unfair, oh! They reject common rules with pleasure. They like the crooked and not the square, oh! Accommodation is their measure. Downcast, depressed and sad am I, oh! Alone I bear sufferings long. I would rather in exile die, oh! Than mingle with the vulgar throng. The eagle cleaves alone in the air, oh! Since olden days it has been fleet. The round cannot fit with the square, oh! Who go different ways ne’er meet.6

Herein “the Sacred One” is referred to the King Chu Huaiwang in power then. Notorious and self-important as he was, he went so far as to make light of state affairs, but give over to licentious lifestyle. Moreover, he maltreated the upright courtiers and wasted their administrative talent. All this upset many of his subordinates including Qu Yuan, and eventually 6 Qu Yuan, The Lament or Sorrow After Departure, in Xu Yuanchong (ed.), Poetry of the South, p. 9.

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brought to the end of the state sovereignty. Qu tried so hard and so persistently to wake him up, but all was in vain. As luck would have it, both of them were plunged into a tragic ending as it was. Thirdly, Qu himself was both a political idealist and a literary pioneer. His poetic mind was sustained by his extraordinary imagination and unconstrained emotions such that it moved very close to romantic temperament and style. Like many of his contemporaries in the State of Chu, he would have “the belief in ghosts and a love of temples…To please the gods there had to be singing, dancing, drums, and music in the temples…and so the songs were composed.”7 Moreover, he was a great lover of myths and fantasies. He therefore produced chains of grotesque imagery to express his outburst of enthusiasm and his resolve to reform. In the meantime, such imagery is still filled with such vitality and vividness that it even appeals to the readers today as incredibly lustrous, dazzling, miraculous, mystical, and beautiful. Ever since Qu, many subsequent poets, such as Song Yu and Li Bai, have benefited a great deal from this poetic worth of magic power. It is also true of many later scholars of Chu poetry. Take Wen Huaisha (1910–2018) for example. He started to recite the poems by Qu early in his childhood. His good memory in this case helped him a great deal, not only in his career development but also in his spiritual life. Once he was hospitalized with liver cancer during the Cultural Revolution, he murmured what he kept in his memory and transposed the grotesque images from the Chu poetry onto the white wall inside the ward. There was no TV set and other forms of entertainment at that time, and worse still, he was exposed to political pressure from the radical “red guards.” In spite of the harsh reality, he insisted to play with the images through his mind’s eye all day long in the hospital. The miracle came along a month later when he was going through another medical checkup. His doctor was pleasantly surprised to find his dramatic recovery from the fatal disease. Many years afterward, he repeated his experience on several occasions related to the Qu Yuan scholarship and the Chu poetry. His audience was so amazed to see his optimistic spirit and unbelievable capacity when he was reciting and singing the Chu ci poems in his age of 90 or so.

7 Wang Yi, Chu ci zhang ju [Analyses of the Chu poetry], cited from Li Zehou, The Path of Beauty: A Study of Chinese Aesthetics, p. 68.

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Expression of Heart-Felt Emotions As discerned in his poetic output, Qu made the best of the folk songs and mythical legends, which in turn extended his imagination, enriched his thinking and upgraded his creativity. Today, what is considered to be one of his masterpiece is the long poem The Lament (Li sao), a poem that is often used to label the Chu poetry in terms of the Sao or elegical style of lyrics. Such lyrics are usually preoccupied with a lamenting tone, and exposed to a sorrowful ambiance. As read in The Lament, it depicts a riotous world of individual imagination, profound sentiment, female beauty, fragrant grass, unique flora, lotus lakes, perfumed gowns, divine spirits, supernatural beings, varied soothsayers, poisonous water, poignant events, and so forth. Quoted here are some lines from the elegy given, Oft I looked back, gazed to the distance still, Longed in the wilderness to roam at will. Splendid my ornaments together vied With all the fragrance of the flowers beside. All men had pleasures in their various ways, My pleasure was to cultivate my grace. I would not change though thy my body rend; How could my heart be wrested from its end?

At daybreak from the land of plane-tree grey, I came to paradise ere close of day. I wished within the sacred grove to rest. But now the sun was sinking in the west; The driver of the sun I bade to stay, Ere with the setting rays we haste away. The way was long, and wrapped in gloom did seem, As I urged on to seek my vanished dream.8

As observed from the depiction, the poet as the persona seems to stand alone: staunch, defiant, resentful, and grief-stricken—an earnest seeker of truth who hates the existing social order and refuses to compromise with

8 Qu Yuan, Li Sao and Other Poems of Qu Yuan (trans. Yang Xianyi and Gladys Yang). Also see Qu Yuan, Sorrow After Departure, in Qu Yuan (ed.), Poetry of the South, pp. 12, 15–17.

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his time.9 He therefore gazes at a world of imagination while contemplating an ideal and mythical life in dream and fantasy. Moreover, he tries to free himself from all the cares and worries, and to delight himself in his transcendence over the secular world when riding on a cart drawn by the flying dragon. But his mood shifts from joy to sorrow, and then from hope to despair at the time when he is looking up at the splendid sky above and looking down at his hometown below. All this is expressed in a capricious, dramatic and dignified tone in the last stanza of the poem. The flying dragon draws my cart, oh! Bright with ivory on display. The gang differs from me at heart, oh! I’ll leave them and go far away. I turn to Kunlun Mountains high, oh! The winding way is wide and long. The rainbow banners veil the sky, oh! The phoenix bells ring merry song. At dawn I start from Heaven’s Ford, oh! At dusk I reach the Western End…. I rise to see the splendid sky, oh! I bow to find my home below. My horses neigh and my gloom sigh, oh! Looking back, they won’t forward go. Alas! None understands me in the State, oh! Why regret me native village? Since I can’t rule my kingdom’s fate, oh! I’d drown myself like ancient sage.10

With the outflow of his sentiments and ideas, the poet expresses his hope, fantasy, frustration, and concern through the mouthpiece of the persona. He grows so disappointed and despaired that he hints upon his intention to commit suicide. Nevertheless, he remains so self-confident and self-dignified that he claims himself to be like an “ancient sage” at the critical moment when waving goodbye to his kingdom for good. The last four lines connote a message as such: the poet, Qu Yuan, was born and grew up in his home country, and at the same time, he devoted his talent and sacrificed his life to his motherland without being understood and 9 Li Zehou, The Path of Beauty: A Study of Chinese Aesthetics, p. 67. 10 Qu Yuan, Sorrow After Departure, in Qu Yuan (ed.), Poetry of the South, pp. 27–29.

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appreciated. The whole event is increasingly pitiful and tragic because of its authenticity in historical records.

A Sentimental Concern in Question Another major poem from Qu’s anthology is the Asking Heaven (Tian wen). It in fact asks so many and somewhat systematic questions about the continuum of mythology and history as it retains more of the mythical traditions of antiquity. These questions imply a multilayered blending of subtle sentiment and imaginative fantasy. For instance, we come across a series of queries in just one stanza, Where are the forests made of stone? What animals can speak? Where do dragons carrying bears Roam over hills and creeks? The savage nine-headed cobras— Where do they dart and play? Where live people who never die? And where do giants stay?11

Reading through these questions listed one after another, we modern readers are most likely to compare them with some episodes of the Greek mythology, because they tend to hint certain similar features with regard to the speaking animals, many-headed cobras, the awesome giants and many monstrous beings mentioned in the poem given. Yet, in respect to the essentials of the Chu ci poems as a whole, they tend to represent the heritage of the songs and dances performed at the sacrifices to the gods and spirits in the Chu territory at that time. They are thus composed as a kind of performing art to please the gods and spirits worshiped by the ancients. More evidences can be found in the Recalling the Soul (Zhao hun), Return, O, soul? O soul return! In east you cannot stay. There giants loom ten thousand feet, On wandering souls they prey. 11 Qu Yuan, Li Sao and Other Poems of Qu Yuan (trans. Tang Xianyi and Gladys Yang). Also see Qu Yuan, Asking Heaven, in Qu Yuan (ed.), Poetry of the South, p. 61.

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There ten suns rising one by one, Melt rock and gold away.

Return, O soul! O soul return! In south you must not be. There vipers swarm and foxes huge Hold sway a thousand miles. Nine-headed serpents come and go, On human flesh they feed.

Return, O soul! O soul return! There’re quick sands in the west. Torn to bits in thunder pits, You’d never find your rest. Return, O soul! O soul return! To north you must not go. There icebergs rise like mountains high, In a thousand miles of snow.

Return, O soul! O soul return! Do not to heaven ascend. There tigers, leopards guard the gates. Where mortals meet their end. A nine-headed giant plucks up trees Nine thousand with his hands; And wolves and jackals roam at large, As countless as the sands….12

Noticeably, no reader can leave without being impressed by the description of a world full of horrifying objects, animals and giants. It leaves us under the impression that the wandering soul of the poet can hardly find its resting place. This frightening account renders it highly urgent to recall the soul back to a more inhabitable home. However, taking the Chu poetry in all, we discover a mixture in the world of art given. The mixture consisted of the dead, the living, the monstrous, the divine, the 12 Qu Yuan, Li Sao and Other Poems of Qu Yuan (trans. Tang Xianyi and Gladys Yang). Also see Qu Yuan, Requiem, in Qu Yuan (ed.), Poetry of the South, 187–193.

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supernatural, historical figures, waterscapes, mountscapes, myths, legends, fantasies, illusions, and the like. In addition, it contains primitive totems, divinations, superstitions, Confucian teachings, and other kinds of moral edification that live side by side in such a dynamic, spiritual and thoughtprovoking atmosphere. All this contributes a great deal to the legacy and charm of Chu poetry, the historical development of Chinese literature, and the enrichment of Chinese aesthetic sensibility altogether. It is noteworthy that the Chu culture and the Han culture were inseparably linked because they shared a large part of the same origin in a geographical sense. This linkage was naturally reflected in their art and literature. From a historical point of view, the “Chu and Han romanticism was ancient China’s second great artistic tradition. It emerged in the wake of the rational spirit of the Pre-Qin and both paralleled and complemented that spirit. This romanticism was the aesthetic trend and dominated the art of both the Western and Eastern Han Dynasties; unless this vital point is grasped, it will be difficult to understand the basic features of Han Dynasty art.”13

13 Li Zehou, The Path of Beauty: A Study of Chinese Aesthetics, p. 69.

CHAPTER 8

Chan Buddhism and Subtle Void

Towards the end of the first century B.C. during the West Han Dynasty (202 B.C.–8 A.D.), Buddhism was introduced into China from India, and began to take roots thereafter. Its subsequent spread featured a long and gradual process, and enriched the Chinese culture and spiritual heritage altogether. Broadly speaking, its historical course of development could be divided into three major phases. The initial phase ranged from the first century B.C. to the fourth century A.D., which was mainly devoted to the translation of the Buddhist sutras. The second continued from the fifth to sixth centuries A.D., which was characterized with rapid propagation, enabling Buddhism to intermingle with the metaphysical current of Daoism. The third proceeded from the seventh to tenth centuries A.D., which featured a flourishing period and witnessed the advent of varied sects founded, apart from the dramatic increase of practical believers all over China since then.

¯ The Idea of Chan as Dhyana Interestingly, the concept of dhy¯ ana in Buddhism is explicated and promoted through its translated notion of chan in Chinese that is pseudotransliterated into zen in Japanese. This conduced to the emergence of Chan Buddhism (chan zong ) later in China. Compared with other main sects, Chan Buddhism serves to enhance the metaphysical dimension of © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021 K. Wang, Beauty and Human Existence in Chinese Philosophy, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-1714-0_8

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Chinese culture to a tremendous degree. In practice, its emergence is assumed to be spurred by two leading sources: one is the Confucian worldview characterized by such ideas as that “Heaven proceeds vigorously” and “Ceaseless begetting is called change”; the other is the Daoist worldview based on such exhortations as “free and easy wandering,” and “mounting the clouds and wind, and straddling the sun and moon, and roaming beyond the four oceans.” For chan Buddhism, all these precepts leave many footprints in approaching the true noumenon in itself.1 Nevertheless, chan does not deny the sensuous world or human existence, which is factually upheld by both Confucianism and Daoism. Nor does it deny the affirmation of everyday life in the human world. Just as Confucius proclaims, “The Dao is found in everyday human relationships.” Chan Buddhism follows suit, “In carrying water or splitting firewood, there is nothing less than the excellent Dao.” Even though each school of thought has its own distinct notion of the Dao, Confucians, Daoists and Chan Buddhists tend to share the common assertion that the Dao can be followed, conveyed, or realized in the course of everyday life. As observed in the Chinese heritage, Chan Buddhism serves to raise the transcendent aspect of Confucianism and Daoism to a new level of relevance, but it remains firmly within Chinese tradition when it comes to its inherent practicality. For this reason, Chan Buddhism can be considered to carry on and renew the tradition in the domain of the human condition at large. As a rule, the exercise of chan is intended to realize the chan tranquility through mental meditation and intuitive contemplation. It is aimed to help the practitioner abandon external needs and internal wants at least. It is the way to acquire the Buddhist truth of emptiness and attain the highest wisdom of Buddhahood. Accordingly, chan tranquility is most briefly defined as a state of mind characteristic of a two-fold actualization: it is successfully detached from external needs and phenomenal appearances in one sense, and it is completely freed from internal disturbances and all desires in the other. It is at this stage that the practitioner is apt to become self-conscious of the Buddha nature or get into the wisdom of Buddhahood. As a most popular sect of Buddhism, chan does not appeal to rational thought or blind faith; it does not engage in debates about whether

1 Li Zehou, The Chinese Aesthetic Tradition, p. 161.

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or not there is material or sensuous existence, nor does it strive carefully for analytical knowledge; and at the same time, it does not bother about meditation or prolonged ascetic practice. Rather, chan advocates an instantaneous, all-encompassing enlightenment that happens in the context of the everyday life and retains direct connection with life itself. It keeps advocating the idea that one can find true enlightenment and achieve the Buddha-nature in the ordinary perceptual existence of everyday life. What seems highly significant in Chan Buddhism is its philosophical pursuit of metaphysical transcendence over the secular bondages and human desires, among others. This procures a profound impact upon the psychological formation of nonmonastic intellectuals, and their artistic creation, aesthetic taste, and attitude toward life.2

¯ a¯ The Poetic Wisdom of Gath For aesthetics, in particular, Chan Buddhism is often associated with five cardinal traits at least: poetic wisdom, sudden awakening, chan sense, chan realm and subtle void. First and foremost, poetic wisdom stemmed from g¯ ath¯ a , a kind of Buddhist’s chant or hymn that is used to signify one’s experience and realization of Chan itself. In fact, the genesis of chan is depicted in a legendary story, in which Siddhartha S¯akyamuni (c. 565–486 B.C.) referred silently to the dharma or chan nature by showing a flower to his disciples on Mount Sumeru, the imagined paradise of Buddhist believers. The flower is symbolic of beauty in silence, characteristically similar to the fundamental aspect of chan nature. Therein the Buddha got no response from others except a knowing smile from Mahakasypa, his favorite disciple who got the message as was so subtly indicated in such a metaphorical manner. Ever since then, Chan Buddhism drew inspiration from this paradigm, and formed a unique mode of expressing its enlightenment via g¯ ath¯ a as a poetic genre, a genre that is renowned for its short version and mostly composed of special images or symbolisms relating to either a budding flower or a natural scene. Coincidently, the Sudden School of Chan Buddhism (dun wu zong ) was allegedly developed from a poetic genre of g¯ ath¯ a improvised by Hui Neng (638–713), the Sixth Patriarch. Allegorical as it is, the g¯ ath¯ a

2 Ibid., 161–162.

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itself features some images out of a Bodhi-tree and a mirror, and becomes all the more implicit and subtle in kind. It is due to such a background that the understanding of chan is more frequently leagued with the appreciation of poetic images, symbolisms, and natural scenes. It goes so far as to the extent that the perceiving of dhy¯ ana as chan is just like the contemplating of the beautiful in either poetry or nature through intuition and sensibility. Accordingly, what is considered to be prajñ¯ a in Buddhism may well be compared to poetic wisdom. Such wisdom is appealing and delicate, like the moon in a lake or the flower in a mirror; it is vague and elusive, like a passing cloud in the sky or mist rising after a rainfall; it is easygoing but far-reaching, like the wind shaking huge pines or the sound of bells from a remote temple. On the surface, this kind of wisdom seems meaningless and useless to those who are preoccupied with practical needs but turns out to be useful in the form of prajñ¯ a p¯ aramit¯ a (wisdom in perfection) to those who live freely beyond any utilitarian concern or desire-ridden attachment. For the sake of illustration, let us turn to the famous g¯ ath¯ a composed by Hui Neng himself: Fundamentally there is no Bodhi-tree, Nor stand of a mirror bright. Since originally there was nothing, Whereon can the dust alight?3

This g¯ ath¯ a is made to claim that there are no such things as the Bodhi-tree and the mirror, and accordingly, there is no distinction between body and mind. The concept of s¯ unyat¯ a means that all is void from the beginning, or all phenomena bear no reality at all. It thus gives the first priority to the sudden apprehension or awakening of the absolute truth of s¯ unyat¯ a qua void. Under such circumstances, it leads the chan practitioners to regard the step-by-step approach to chan cultivation as shear redundancy, which in turn terminates all the endeavors to attain gradual enlightenment. According to the preaching sayings of Hui Neng, everyone has Buddha-nature within himself, and what one needs to do is to awaken it, and then to fulfill it straight away. This is because all is s¯ unyat¯ a (void or empty), and your Buddha-nature is all. Say, nothing outside s¯ unyat¯ a can 3 Huang Maolin (tr.), Tan jing [The Platform Sutra] (Changsha: Hunan Press, 1996), p. 19.

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be treated either as an obstacle against or as a vehicle for chan enlightenment. Furthermore, there is nowhere the dust can alight. One can obtain sudden enlightenment and realize Buddha-hood as soon as one attends directly to one’s own Buddha-nature, which means to make no distinction between Buddha and oneself. Furthermore, Hui Neng complacently and repeatedly tells his disciples in the Platform Sutra (Tan jing ): When the Fifth Patriarch preached to me I became enlightened immediately after he had spoken, and spontaneously realized the real nature of tathata (suchness). For this reason, it is my particular task to propagate the teaching of this Sudden School, so that learners may find Bodhi at once and realize their true nature by virtue of the introspection of mind.4

Sudden Awakening and Chan Sense In Chan Buddhism, sudden awakening (dun wu) is also termed as subtle awakening (miao wu). It is used interchangeably with either sudden or subtle enlightenment. This notion forms a guiding principle of its own right. By sudden awakening is meant something mysterious, ineffable, and beyond reach. It is related to one’s perceptual sensibility and intuitive power. Its secret lies in unconscious apprehension, intuitive wisdom, and non-conceptual understanding of the absolute truth of s¯ unyat¯ a as void or emptiness per se. As far as the characterization of sudden awakening is concerned, there are a number of well-known advice offered by well-established Buddhist monks or chan masters. For instance, according to Zhu Daosheng, sudden awakening is equal to ultimate understanding or apprehension of the Buddhist truth that is inseparable as a whole. It is to be accomplished once for all, even though it does not reject gradual enlightenment. Sudden awakening goes parallel to the becoming of Buddha in principle. Gradual enlightenment is based on stabilized faith that helps clarify the rise of confusion. It is by nature a process of preparation for the final arrival of sudden awakening.5 Then, according to Huang Bo, sudden awakening leads to rediscover the originally purified mind as the fundamental root. When it is illuminated holistically, it is directed to the 4 Huang Maolin (tr.), Tan jing [The Platform Sutra], pp. 51–53. 5 Zeng Zuyin, Zhongguo fo jiao yu mei xue [Chinese Buddhism and Aesthetics] (Wuhan:

Central China Normal University Press, 1991), pp. 112–113.

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achievement of chan for Buddhahood, and pertained to the method of getting rid of any mental disturbances. Above all, it relies on the selfmanifestation of the originally purified mind, and avoids employing the perceptually opinionated mind to approach the purified mind. It hereby emphasizes the intuitive power, and declines such means as rational discourse, conceptual analysis and logical inferring.6 Then, according to Bai Zhang Huai Hai, the chan practitioner is advised to leave aside all the matters and things, forget all the rules and ideas, abandon the body and mind, and keep oneself at ease. Further, the practitioner is expected to grow wooden-minded or stone-minded in order not to distinguish one thing from another. Now the mind becomes tranquil and empty; the wisdom emerges just like the sun shoots through the cloud. Accordingly, all the desires are cleared away, and all the constraints and confusions are gone. All this naturally procures sudden awakening or subtle enlightenment such that the detachment from all external and internal disturbances is completely accomplished through the wisdom given. Then, such an outcome helps the practitioner transcend the distinction between good and evil, void and non-void, purity and filth, action and non-action, this-world and other-world, among others. Noticeably, sudden or subtle enlightenment benefits something from both sensation and inspiration in this case.7 When it comes to artistic creation, the act of sudden awakening corresponds to the Daoist precept that “The rule of no rule is the perfect rule,” implying that no fixed rule is applied to art making, because artistic excellence is by no means the product of logical thought or rational knowledge. Facilitating a new level of richness in the process of Chinese cultural-psychological formation, the notion of sudden awakening “brings with it a new round of instability and progress in people’s inner rational structure, in which non-conceptual understanding and intuitive wisdom overwhelm the imagination and other senses, and merge with emotions and intentions in a way to direct and shape their development.”8 A crucial dimension of sudden awakening in art is the aesthetic perception of chan sense (chan yi) contained in the implicit and delicate 6 Zeng Zuyin, Zhongguo fo jiao yu mei xue [Chinese Buddhism and Aesthetic], pp. 117– 118. 7 Zeng Zuyin, Zhongguo fo jiao yu mei xue [Chinese Buddhism and Aesthetic], pp. 120– 121. 8 Li Zehou, The Chinese Aesthetic Tradition, p. 166.

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expression of chan itself. As a rule, it highlights “eternity in the wink of an eye,” advocates spiritual transcendence through senses, and encourages an insight into the eternal and original stillness amidst the flux of ordinary phenomena. By so doing, it ushers the practitioner into the spiritual realm characterized by the mystical union of self and Buddha, the forgetting of self and things, and the dissolution of personal spirit into the universe. All this contributes to chan sense as is presented in relevant poems. For example, In the empty hill no one is in sight, But still hear the echo of human voice. The late sunset enters the deep forest, And shines again on the green moss.9

This poem is titled the Deer Enclosure (Lu zhai) composed by Wang Wei (701–761). Everything in the picturesque scene is familiar and set in tranquility. The images of empty mountains and nobody in presence reveal the environment of subtle void and serenity in which communion between the contemplator and the scenery is conducted in silence. In effect, there is motion in stillness, fullness in emptiness, and beauty in void, for the noumenon of s¯ unyat¯ a transcends these aspects that in turn blend together and become inseparable. This explicates how it is possible to obtain the noumenon via the multifarious phenomenal world, and to realize eternity in the intuitive perception of a moment. Moreover, there is painting in poetry and vice versa. This attracts the reader to the scenic spot and facilitates human convergence with nature. Thereby one seems mentally dissolved in the natural beauty and stillness. Poetically, it is implicit and suggestive, demonstrating what is termed as “image beyond image”; picturesquely, it is beautiful and inviting, displaying a landscape painting in words; and psychologically, if not paradoxically, it is saturated with emotion but seemingly devoid of emotion, intriguing the reader to retrospect from within. In actuality, it is permeated by chan sense, conducive to the union with nature that comes with “no mind” and “no thought.” Say, it denotes a kind of personal detachment and spiritual transcendence in serene contemplation.

9 The poem is by Wang Wei, titled The Deer Enclosure (鹿寨): “空山不见人, 但闻人语 响。 返景入深林, 复照青苔上”。

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Despite its religion-like element, chan sense in this case can be taken for a “non-rational aesthetic viewpoint.”10 It can be defined not only as an aesthetic pleasure occurring at the level of “spiritual delight,” but also as a sensuous pleasure that lingers in the senses while transcending them in the meantime. It is aligned with a philosophical consideration of life that results from the heightening of the senses and the profound sedimentation of rationality in them. This being true, chan sense is a noumenal kind.11 All in all, it bears elusive charm and strikes me as appealing to aesthetic experience through detached contemplation under relevant conditions. Moreover, it procures a high standard to measure the aesthetic worth of poetic creations. That is why Wang Wei’s poetry is widely appreciated and scrutinized all along in history ever since it came out in print.

Subtle Void as Beauty Among the key features of Chan Buddhism in aesthetics, subtle void is thought of as the poetic state at its best. Derived from the notion of s¯ unyat¯ a , subtle void in poetry means what appears void or empty as is not directly referred to in specific words or visual images, but it is suggestive and philosophical, as it is hidden in poetic images of stillness or natural scenes of emptiness. Analogically, one approaches the realm of subtle void as though one looks to the grass turning green in early spring from a distance. Say, when looking afar, one finds the grass seemingly yellowish green; when getting closer, one finds it still being the same as it is in winter. The color elusiveness of this kind manifests not merely the difficulty in figuring out the poetic sense of subtle void, but also the challenge to the poet in creating the poetic image of subtle void. Judging from the art of chan poetry, the realm of subtle void pertains to an underlying synthesis of poetic wisdom, sudden awakening and chan sense altogether. On this account, the conception of subtle void as beauty is usually granted as the highest demand and achievement of chan poetry as well as chan painting. Why is it so? It is largely based on the Mahayana theory of s¯ unyat¯ a, claiming that “all around in the four directions is void or empty by

10 Li Zehou, The Chinese Aesthetic Tradition, pp. 165–166. 11 Ibid., 166.

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nature.”12 In the chan experience, when you are enlightened to the extent that you perceive all things in view of absolute void or emptiness, you are thought to have reached the realm of s¯ unyat¯ a , attained the truth of prajñ¯ a, and fulfilled the nature of Buddha-hood. Hence, what is more significant and determinant to either chan monks or chan poets is the realization and expression of s¯ unyat¯ a as the most engaging and beautiful of all. The realm of s¯ unyat¯ a as subtle void is worshiped in Chan Buddhism, and often expressed poetically with reference to three typical scenes symbolic of three primary stages. The first of them runs, Everywhere the wild hills are covered with fallen leaves, Where can I find a trodden trail to walk out?

The couplet indicates metaphorically a persistent search for chan in a dhy¯ ana exercise. The practitioner here is looking up and down for a short cut to chan apprehension, but still wandering around in eagerness and confusion as he fails to get anywhere, simply because he pursues from without. As denoted in the question “where can I find a trodden trail to walk out?” his introspective cultivation still remains at the initial stage where he cannot purify his own mind and awaken his own nature. Here comes the next: In the wild hills there are no persons, But flowing waters and blooming flowers.

Tranquil and empty as the hills are, there is vitality and charm hidden in running waters and beautiful flowers. All things are as natural as they can be in this environment, implying an intermediate stage of chan cultivation at which the state of nirvana is not completed yet, and the realm of subtle void is still kept away in some distance because one can still recognize the outside objects with reference to the dharma-ridden law. Some people tend to assume that the chan practitioner at this point has already entered into tranquility, and apprehended the true meaning of chan only in part

12 The four directions (si da) here stand for east and west, south and north. They are often used to indicate the universe. The phrase in Chinese is si da jie kong (四大皆空), signifying the highest realm of self-awakening.

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so far. It is somewhat like “something that was grasped in hand but then slipped through the fingers.” Finally comes the ultimate: The wind and moon turn out in a day, The broad sky is of ten thousand years.

“The wind and moon” stand for the organic space of natural landscape, and “in a day” for the sense experience of time in a short span. “The broad sky” stands for the symbolic space of subjective imagination, and “of ten thousand years” for the inner experience of the temporal character in eternity. By this couplet is meant that the eternal aspect of the universe is conceived of in a moment, and so is the long history of natural and human evolution. There is no discrepancy between the momentary and the eternal, but just oneness between all things. The experience of such oneness is essentially a different kind of spatial and temporal experience. It is spiritual and transcendent by nature due to human enculturation and cultivation. It goes beyond any form of sense experience and identifies itself with human self-liberation of absolute freedom. Taken as the highest awareness of chan, it is tallied not merely with a sudden awakening or subtle enlightenment, but also with an intuitive perception and s¯ unyat¯ a experience. It is right at the moment that the practitioner has regained real human self-liberation and absolute spiritual freedom. Thereupon, he projects himself into harmonious and serene nature and makes no distinction between mountains and waters, sun and moon, sky and earth, phenomenal and real, and even day and night, etc. He feels as though this moment “has seemingly transcended time and space, cause and effect as if the past, present, and future are apparently fused together such that any division of them becomes rather impossible. Actually, he has no intention to make any division in this regard, for he is no longer conscious of either where he is or where he is from. All this, of course, goes beyond the man-made boundary between self and other, leads him to identify himself with the outside world, and thus becomes synthetic with the everlasting oneness.”13

13 Li Zehou, “Chan yi ang ran” [The Meaning of Zen], in Zou wo ziji de lu [Along My Own Path] (Beijing: Sanlian Shudian, 1986), pp. 392–393. Also see Li Zehou, Zhongguo gudai sixiang shilun [Essays on Traditional Chinese Thoughts ] (Beijing: Renmin Chubanshe, 1985), pp. 207–210.

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However, the moment is an indispensable factor, without which eternity can neither be in itself nor for itself despite the equivalence between them, in terms of the chan sense of time. The s¯ unyat¯ a experience may justify that all is empty or void, but at the same time, it may mean that the enlightened does not bother about such emptiness or void. He lives his life naturally as he used to, but in actuality, he has transformed himself into a greatly awakened sage with insights into prajñ¯ a and Buddhanature. In other words, he has the feeling that he is Buddha himself at a time when he is experiencing something eternal in a moment. Such an experience is typical of sudden awakening through which one gains entry into the realm of subtle void, the highest state of being in Chan Buddhism. The realm itself is not only retained in the absolute void, serenity and profundity, but also in subtlety, inspiration and transcendence. Now, it has transformed the finite I into the infinite I, the ordinary into the extraordinary, the depressed into the delighted, the necessary into the natural, and above all, brought forth the oneness between Bhrama and myself.14 In a word, it has eventually rendered human existence spiritually free and aesthetically artistic. The process of chan cultivation is therefore conjectured as the process of artistizing human life, the outcome of chan apprehension as the outcome of such artistization, and the essence of chan wisdom as the essence of life wisdom. This kind of wisdom calls for mental purification and return to nature, through which you may well apprehend chan sense or message in the beautiful and mystical scenery, and appreciate the poetic appeal in the plain and familiar things around. Generally speaking, such ideas in Chan Buddhism as subtle void and sudden awakening sublimate the profound and unworldly dimensions of art at large. Say, they help stimulate and consolidate the artistic and infinite inclusiveness of poetry, painting, calligraphy, literati garden, and even music. By so doing, they not only enrich the significant form, but also expand the imaginative space. For this reason, Chinese artists tend to embrace these principles: “The void can accommodate myriad realms,” “the infinite can be perceived in the finite;” “heaven and humankind are in oneness,” among others. In addition, they go beyond the aesthetic precept that “Words are forgotten when the meaning is apprehended,” and meanwhile, push forward the rule of art that “the nonfactual and the factual are complementing and begetting each other.” Moreover,

14 The expression in Chinese is fan wo he yi (梵我合一).

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the aesthetic contemplation in Chan Buddhism is directed to attaining Buddhahood, true wisdom, nirvana, and chan joy (chan yue) through the realm of subtle void. It inculcates much richness of metaphysical dimension into the aesthetic consciousness and psychological formation of Chinese people at large, thus enabling one to observe the myriad change in the cosmos through a flowering bud, and infer the ups and downs of human existence in the world through a fallen leaf. At the same time, as taken for an aesthetic ideal, subtle void as beauty is expressed with reference to the model of nirvana, in which all phenomena are set in tremendous tranquility, and other-worldly transcendence is identified with the paradise purified of cares and worries, all purporting to the ultimate telos of human life at its best. As realized in an aesthetic experience, subtle void as beauty relies largely on sudden awakening, focuses on the emptiness of all things, and promotes an easygoing mood and carefree mentality. As revealed in an aesthetic taste of judgment, subtle void as beauty plays up the ambience of stillness and emptiness, commends the realm of profundity, and hankers after the spiritual delight from oneness between Bhrama and oneself that conduces to the transcendence over this-worldly concerns.

The Poetic Art of Chan Realm It is noteworthy that the introduction of chan as dhy¯ ana into poetry is similar to the expression of chan as dhy¯ ana through poetry. This is due to the cultural phenomenon that some poets have become Buddhist believers or chan practitioners. Thus preoccupied with chan, they tend to treat Buddhism as a religion and a philosophy in the meantime. They practice mental meditation and poetic contemplation alike. It is natural for them to introduce chan into their poems. By doing so, they are inclined to break through the boundaries of the conventionalized doctrines about the expression of social aspirations and human feelings. Instead, they strive to create a new poetic realm (shi jing ) greatly deepened by a profound chan realm (chan jing ) through more heuristic language. It is argued that the internalization of chan in poetry has resulted from the multifunction of chan itself. As a cognitive idea, chan is leagued with the concept of s¯ unyat¯ a as void (nothingness and emptiness), thus affecting the poets as chan practitioners and their poetic output. As a kind of value, it is pointed to spiritual freedom and inward transcendence, thus evoking a strong impact upon the poets and their compositions. As

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a way of life, it is pertained to facilitate the detachment from secular bondages and the enhancement of aesthetic self-consciousness, eventually influencing the poets and their works. As a cornerstone of theoretical ponderings, it serves to reshape the poetic discourse that in turn encourages the poets to express their experiences of chan, and develop a style characteristic of combining chan realm with poetic realm.15 As discerned in the poetry of chan realm, it is tallied not only with a metaphysical consideration of chan message (chan li) by melting chan into poetic context but also with an implicit expression of chan interest (chan qu) by creating a chan-related ambience through vivid imagery of natural scenery. It is assumed that the expression of chan interest is not something abstract but visual in a special manner. Say, “it is based on a subjective apprehension of chan message as a reflection of the objective scene concerned. It can be deemed as is a joyful interest corresponding to the chan message derived from the objective scene.”16 As to the chan realm in particular, it can be seen as “an outcome of having the chan message and chan interest hidden in a poetic state.”17 In other words, it is to cover them up under the veil of the poetic realm, which consists of the impressive imagery arising out of natural surroundings and ideational imagination. It is so poetically and philosophically significant that it is to be appreciated merely through serene contemplation. With regard to the interconnection between chan realm and poetic realm, it is by and large thought of as a product of heterogeneous isomorphism.18 They are heterogeneous because chan realm is schemed to express what is void and non-emotional whereas poetic realm schemed to express what is non-void and emotional. Moreover, chan realm is aimed to approach the state of freedom from life and death concerns whilst poetic ream aimed to pursue the freedom to beautify or represent the human condition in this world. However, they share the common

15 Cheng Yalin, Shi yu chan [Poetry and Chan] (Chengdu: Tiandi Press, 2019), pp. 258–259. 16 Zhang Wenxun, Ru Dao Fo mei xue si xiang tan suo [An Inquiry into the Aesthetic

Ideas of Confucianism, Daoism and Buddhism] (Beijing: China Social Sciences Press, 1988), p. 155. 17 Zhang Wenxun, Ru Dao Fo mei xue si xiang tan suo [An Inquiry into the Aesthetic Ideas of Confucianism, Daoism and Buddhism], p. 156. 18 Ma Benteng, Chan jing yu shi jing [Chan Realm and Poetic Realm] (Beijing: Zhonghua Shuju, 2012), pp. 38–39.

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goal of extending the finite human existence into the infinite human self-emancipation. Then, they are artistically isomorphic because their respective creations go through a similar psychological process, depend upon the dynamic of living atmosphere, and resort to allegorical, associational, metaphorical and symbolic devices so as to bring forth the delicate psychical state that is difficult to describe in words.19 In the final analysis, chan realm and poetic realm are two key aspects of poetic art. Such art is basically a technique of using two most fundamental notions of void and serenity with reference to the strikingly sophisticated and suggestive imagery. As stated before, the notion of void is related to the idea of s¯ unyat¯ a from Mahãyãna Buddhism. By Mahãyãna is meant Great Vehicle that is alleged to transport one from the worldly state of being into the Buddhahood of absolute wisdom. With the advent of Chan Buddhism in China, s¯ unyat¯ a is rendered into void in Chinese that is in turn conceived of metaphorically as a vehicle to help one experience and attain the awareness of chan and its truth distinguished from all other phenomena. The idea of void is implied through either emptiness of nothingness in a broad sense. In poetic descriptions, it is often implied by such expressions as empty mountains and nobody else in presence, etc. Judging from the perspective of chan Buddhism, the poetic image of empty mountains contains a particular kind of spatial sense. Say, it is employed to symbolize the infinite of void as eternal truth that is subtly distinguished from the finite of physical existence as transitory phenomenon. Accordingly, the image of nobody else in presence is utilized to signify an ideal situation with no disturbance from outside, no distraction and no obstacle from other persons. Under such conditions one is able to be enlightened by chan, and experience the awareness of chan in the meantime. Talking about the concept of serenity, it is identical to stillness, quietude or tranquility. Its poetic portrayal is often set in a solitary context or in a tranquil scene in which oneself is engaged with nature alone. When contemplating a natural scene in serenity, one is able to become clear-minded, and to gain insights into or sudden awakening of the chan realm envisioned. This being true, one proceeds to approach selftransformation, in which one purifies one’s mind from practical desires, goes beyond external disturbances, and meanwhile identifies oneself with the chan realm of spiritual freedom. All this is corresponding to some

19 Ma Benteng, Chan jing yu shi jing [Chan Realm and Poetic Realm], pp. 39–45.

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aspects of Daoism in terms of personal cultivation. For it is due to the historical fact that there is strong linkage between chan Buddhism and Daoism. When Kum¯arajïva (344–413) was translating the Buddhist sutras, he was assisted with Dao Sheng (355–434) and Seng Zhao (384–414), two Daoist scholars at the earlier stage of their intellectual life. What they did together conduced to use Daoist terminology in the Chinese versions of Buddhist sutras translated from Sanskrit. The readership is thus exposed to the two schools of thought under certain circumstances, and the textual interpretation is subjected to synthetic associations and transcultural reflections. Thanks to the two notions of void and serenity, Su Shi (1037–1101) went through the historical development of poetic art from the past to his era, and declared his observation as such: “In order to make poetic diction appealing and subtle, a poet should never be bored with void and serenity. It is through serenity that a perception of changes is attained. It is through void that ten thousand realms are accommodated.”20 This observation lays stress on the “ten thousand realms” that purport at the extremely rich and suggestive implications. It is well embodied in some of the poems by Wang Wei who has considered the best poet in this sphere. Here are some examples: Fragrant flowers falling by the leisure poet. The spring mountain empty in the quiet night. The birds are much startled by the moonrise, Chirping now and then over spring streams.21

Alone in the serene bamboos I sit Playing the lute, then whistling a bit. So secluded, the few would know it, Save the shadows by the moonlit.22

20 These original lines in Chinese follow: “欲令诗语妙, 无厌空且静。 静故了群动, 空故 纳万境”. 21 The poem is titled Birds Chirping over the Streams (鸟鸣涧) follows:“人闲桂花落, 夜静春山空。月出惊山鸟, 时鸣春涧中”. 22 The poem is titled At a Bamboo Lodge (竹里馆) follows: “独坐幽篁里, 弹琴复长啸。 深林人不知, 明月来相照”.

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Old age must cherish only quietude. A heart untouched by worldly cares. For myself I have no long-term strategy Except returning to my native woods. There, my sash unloosened in the pine tree breezes, I shall play the zither on the moonlit mountain. You ask about the nature of success and failure: From the river deep, a fisherman’s song drifts ashore.23

Wang Wei himself enjoyed a solid learning and constant praxis of both Chan Buddhism and Daoism. He took them as a way of life. He was a high official in the court while a liberal scholar at home in the countryside. He was not merely adept at composing poetry, but also at painting landscape. Hence many of his poems are known as picturesque as his paintings, and vice versa. The two genres of art are well interactive and inter-reflected. Preoccupied with the pursuit of spiritual freedom, he deliberately wrote poems to express his perceptual apprehension and inward experience of chan, thus creating the chan realm well-matched with the poetic realm as a result of his unique artistry. As read in the first poem, the fragrance of osmanthus flowers are very tiny, but their sweet-scented smell spreads around. It can be pleasantly enjoyed in an undisturbed setting alone. When the little flowers are heard falling in the “mountain empty in the quiet night,” the ambience of tremendous stillness is marked out together with the special context related to the “leisure poet.” The moonrise is soundless, but its brilliant halo overhead surprises the night birds on the trees, and makes them chirping over the streams with echoed sound. It is literally a vivid description of the beautiful and tranquil scenery in spring, but implicitly a joyful experience of personal feeling into the chan realm in poetic imagination. As noted in the second poem, the image of the serene bamboos denotes solitary tranquility in which the zither player is converged with the beauty of nature. Such beauty herein is identified with a successful contemplation of the hidden chan. With respect to the third poem, it depicts the chanminded persona who strives for nothing but quietude. The quietude is connected with the chan realm through which one can be self-purified from the worldly cares in his bureaucratic life, and self-sublimated to the natural beauty of native woods. By so doing, he would be able to clear 23 The poem is titled For Vice-Magistrate Zhang (酬张少府) follows: “晚年惟好静, 万 事不关心。自顾无长策, 空知返旧林。松风吹解带, 山月照弹琴。君问穷通理, 渔歌入浦深”.

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away all the external obstacles, live poetically with chan, and dwell in chan realm as an alternative to spiritual freedom and aesthetic transcendence. With reference to the “fisherman’s song,” it exposes daily joy on the way to work or return home. Being routinized as it is, it means something so natural and carefree, more than a hidden reply to the question about “the nature of success and failure” in connection with the human condition. All in all, Wang Wei was a highly gifted poet who succeeded in bringing into full play the magic power of such simple words as empty or bare, mountains or hills, waters or rivers, bamboos or woods, stones or moss, spring or autumn, sunlight or moonlight, sky or cloud, rainfall or breeze, flowers or birds, fisherman or boatman, nobody else or few in presence, among others words and expressions. He composed them together organically and artistically into his poems. Appearing so natural and plain, such poems manifest not merely a close affinity with nature in picturesque scenery and suggestive imagery, but also profound messages coupled with a spontaneous experience of chan via rich and thought-provoking implications. They are widely read and even recited by many Chinese readers ever since their childhood. Their poetic wisdom of chan realm may not be completely comprehended up till now, but their aesthetic appeal is fresh and inviting, staying alive with the passage of time.

CHAPTER 9

The Water Allegory and Waterscapes

In Chinese tradition, natural landscape is known as shan shui comprising mountscape and waterscape. It often plays an important part in human living, because it procures the natural beauty and provides the sense of home nature. It is for this reason that poetic couplets and philosophical expressions are seen inscribed on huge rocks spreading over the scenic spots and tourism attractions across China. It therefore enjoys an intense and constant affinity among Chinese people at large. This can be traced back to the aesthetic ideas of both Daoism and Confucianism on the one hand, and to the picturesque images of Chinese classical poetry on the other.

The Hidden Stream When pondering over the “homelessness” of living inhabitants in the modern world, Martin Heidegger shows his deep concern about the dominant function of technology that takes nature as “equipment” for humankind to gratify their practical needs and utilitarian purposes. For example, a river is revealed as a source for generating electricity aside from its attraction to tourism business. To his mind, the “homelessness” is so problematic that it goes as far as to drive humans into “the forgetfulness of Being,” which is accordingly conducive to lose the sense of the mysterious source of things and beings. This sense itself once sustained © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021 K. Wang, Beauty and Human Existence in Chinese Philosophy, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-1714-0_9

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human beings in their confidence that their lives had something to answer to and be measured by. Now it is a critical necessity to restore the sense as an alternative to ameliorate the human condition. As noted in one of his essays, Heidegger pays much attention to the “great hidden stream which moves all things along and makes a way for everything.”1 “This reflects his fascination with Daoism,” and thus Heidegger’s son relates it to a “well” with respect to his father’s metaphor for the “great hidden stream,” a metaphor that has special significance due to its link with the Way or Dao for everything.2 In fact, the “well” in question is found in the garden of a small hut or chalet on the edge of a village high in the mountains of the Schwarzwald. It is extended to a pumping pipe from which its water source keeps flowing down into a rectangular container lying amid the grass beside a flowery path. The hut was built in 1922. Over the next 50 years, most of Heidegger’s writing was done there. It was not simply that the place afforded peace and quiet in which to work. More importantly, as Heidegger once explained in a radio broadcast, his work up there was “sustained and guided” by the landscape, where he “experienced the great comings and goings of the seasons,” and where mountains, trees, and lakes “penetrated daily existence.” According to Heidegger, As soon as I go back up there… am simply transported into [my] work’s own rhythm…People in the city often wonder whether one gets lonely up in the mountains…But it isn’t loneliness, it is solitude…Solitude has the peculiar and original power of…projecting our whole existence into the vast nearness of the presence of things.3

What is noteworthy in his statement is multifaceted as regards its basic implications. In my understanding, Heidegger seems to perceive the landscape from an ontological viewpoint. The landscape as such appears to

1 Martin Heidegger, “The Nature of Language,” in On the Way of Language (trans. P. Hertz, New York: Harper and Row, 1971), p. 92. 2 David E. Cooper, Converging with Nature: A Daoist Perspective (Totnes: Green Books, 2012), p. 31. In 1946, Heidegger worked, with a native speaker of Chinese, on a translation—never completed and now lost—of the Dao de jing.” The “native speaker of Chinese” is said to be Xiao Shiyi who studied Western philosophy in Wiener by then. 3 David Cooper, Converging with Nature: A Daoist perspective, p. 30. Also See Adam Sharr, Heidegger’s Hut (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2006), pp. 64–65.

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provide solitude for his spiritual need, enrich his own aesthetic experience, provoke his philosophical inspiration, assist him with his productive output, and above all, mingle with his whole existence. Made up of the mountains, trees, and lakes altogether, the landscape in Heidegger’s favor is solitude as it is above the hectic world, but dynamic as it changes through the cycle of the four seasons. Moreover, “the mountains” hereby occurs to me as a reminder of the Chinese notion of shan shui as natural landscape. As discerned in Chinese heritage, the notion itself is literally synthetic of mountains and waters. These two types of natural entities are inseparable so far as the structure of scenic beauty is concerned. Their interconnection steps up to the degree that mountains would look as though they were dead without waters flowing around, but look as though they were alive with waters flowing through. For they tend to mirror each other and make an organic compound in certain aspects of the beautiful in nature. Being aesthetically engaging, mountains turn into mountscapes and waters into waterscapes in accord with their specific setting and qualities each. Even though they are interactive and complementary from the perspective of natural landscape, they can be approached and appreciated, respectively, because of two primary reasons: in some scenic spots waterscapes are more appealing than mountscapes, and in some other attractions, mountscapes are more inviting than waterscapes. This distinction does not violate the fact that both of them demonstrate distinctive features, symbolisms, and aesthetic values. Nor does it take into account the preference of those who come to contemplate them. As regards the well metaphor from Heidegger, it implies the mysterious source of water in view of the Way or Dao for the myriad things. Assumingly, all this creates an involving atmosphere that helps the German philosopher attain his working rhythm, become engrossed in pleasant solitude, and get into the union of his “whole existence” with “the presence of things.” In a word, it facilitates “the vast nearness” of natural beauty to his living Dasein, contemplative life, immersive expounding, aesthetic ecstasy, and philosophical inspiration, so to speak. In addition, Heidegger’s conjecturing of the well as “the great hidden stream” seems associated with the Daoist worship of “water image” with respect to its “supreme good” in a symbolic sense. Meanwhile, the well metaphor in his perception can be further explicated with reference to the Confucian appreciation of the “huge waterscapes” (da shui) and reflected in light of waterscape symbolism. It is actually owing to

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the Daoist and Confucian impact that the contemplation of waterscapes remains dominant and running through many philosophical allegories, poetic compositions, landscape paintings, literati gardens, music creations, and literary theories, among others. It therefore gives rise to varied kinds of images in these domains. All this leads to a more detailed consideration of waterscapes in traditional Chinese thought and poetry alike. This consideration is to be mostly conducted from an aesthetic point of view. However, what is to be presented below does not necessarily mean what is signified in Heidegger’s inferring from the well per se, even though his interesting observation in this regard is used as a starting point of looking into the water allegory and the waterscape aesthetic. Conventionally, waterscapes as aesthetic objects across China are highly appreciated from past to present, for they are sensuously involving and intellectually inspiring to Chinese thinkers, poets, and painters alike. Their distinctive values not only appeal to aesthetic contemplation, but also stimulate philosophical reflection due to their heuristic and symbolic significance. These dimensions can be found at least in three leading spheres at least: the philosophical implication of the water allegory in Daoism, the moral symbolism of the river image in Confucianism, and the aesthetic significance of picturesque waterscapes in landscape poetry. Since landscape poetry is often identified with landscape painting in both theory and praxis, the focus is therefore retained on the former in this discussion from a aesthetic standpoint. As to landscape painting, it is to be examined in an elucidation to come subsequently.

The Water Allegory Daoism is renowned to distinguish between such binary categories as the Yin and Yang, soft and hard, weak and strong, inactive and active, among many others. It treats them as opposite forces or aspects that coexist, interact, and interchange within the myriad things between Heaven and Earth. However, it is inclined to tender more attention to the potential power of the Yin, the soft, the weak, and the inactive rather than their opposites in order to illustrate its dialectical mode of thinking and functioning. It keeps this tendency ever since Laozi, founder of early Daoism. As read in the Laozi, the soft is, for instance, often allegorized to water image because of its special character that denotes something more than its surface. What is noteworthy is the water allegory below,

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The supreme good is like water. Water is good at benefiting all things And yet it does not compete with them. It dwells in places that people detest, And hence it is so close to the Dao.4

Water is hereby compared to “the supreme good” because it pertains to such merits as altruism, selflessness, modesty, and so forth. As the description reveals, these merits underlie the positive features of water in that it is altruistic, always benefiting all things in growth; it remains selfless, never competing with others in order to stand out; it appears modest, always flowing down to and dwelling in the low or humble places. However, it is potentially powerful, able to overcome all others encountered. It is therefore approximate to the nature of the Dao that is claimed to be invisible in form but invincible in essence. Along this line of thought, there arises a historically prevailing insight into the symbolic virtue of water. It is found inscribed on a big stone built in a bulletin wall in Lijiang Ancient Town of Yunnan province. It proclaims, The wise are like water, for the water benefits all things without contending with others; it flows shallow around stones and thus forms a stream; it stays on in a lower pit and thus forms a pool; it stumbles down with natural circumstances and thus forms a cataract; it moves into a great valley and thus forms a broad sea. It varies in shape but retains its same nature wherever it appears. That is to say, it has few desires and wants such that it changes itself in accord with the situations involved and enjoys its freedom of movement with no obstacles in its way.

The inscription as such stays there for centuries as part of the moral teaching and intellectual guidance. It has been read and reconsidered repeatedly by local residents, passers-by and tourists from all over China, and some visitors from the rest of the world. On the account of this historical duration, it has been considered to be a form of living wisdom passed on from generation to generation, if not sanctified as something sacred from ancestry. It is at any rate an embodiment of pragmatic wisdom

4 Laozi, The Dao De Jing of Laozi, in Keping Wang, Reading the Dao: A Thematic Inquiry (London: Continuum, 2011), Appendix, Section 8, p. 143.

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related to Daoism as a lifestyle. For it is not confined to the ivory tower of pedantic scholars, but transmitted to the grass roots of general populace. Now let us turn to the water analogy again. Elsewhere Laozi goes on to advocate more explicitly a heuristic message derived from water through such a eulogistic statement: Nothing in the world is softer and weaker than water, But no force can compare with it in attacking the hard and the strong. For this reason there is no substitute for it. Everyone in the world knows That the soft can overcome the hard, And the weak can overcome the strong, But none can put it into practice.5

Ostensibly, the water image is transfigured into something incomparable and unconquerable even though it seems softer and weaker than anything else. It is so unique and irreplaceable as a result of its twofold character: it helps things grow and flourish by virtue of its vital function on the one hand, and conquers all by means of its hidden power on the other. All this turns out to be an evident justification of its being “close to the Dao” as Laozi announces. According to his empirical intuition, Laozi infers from the natural phenomenon of water flow such external traits as softness, weakness, and humbleness. However, these traits are conducive to gains instead of losses since they are able to bring down whatever it meets with. In other words, being a symbol of the soft and the weak, water has such potential power that it can well defeat the hard and the strong. And this power is largely determined by the perseverant working of hydro-dynamics itself. Viewing the text as a whole, we can most likely conclude that Laozi’s depiction of water in terms of its function reflects his philosophy of “sticking to the soft and the tender,” and accords with his dialectic principle that “Weakness is the function of the Dao.” To illustrate the great potential of water, we may well resort to the old Chinese saying, that is, “A drop of water can bring a whole through a rock.”6 Naturally, this “drop of water” is one of the countless and successive drops. It signifies a kind of continuation performed by virtue of unyielding endeavor and consistent perseverance. 5 Laozi, The Dao De Jing of Laozi, in Keping Wang, Reading the Dao: A Thematic Inquiry, Section 78, p. 172. 6 The old saying in Chinese is di shui chuan shi (滴水穿石).

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As a matter of fact, Laozi himself appreciates the wisdom and power exemplified by the qualities of water, and intends to apply them to personal cultivation in general and to political leadership in particular. To his mind, the best personality is expected to learn from the qualities of water aforementioned. For in reality, only those who are modest and selfless are most apt to enjoy more companionship or friendship from others. Likewise, only those who take up what others find too insignificant, unpleasant, or difficult to do are most liable to succeed in their career development. This is also true of the leaders who are able to establish themselves and retain them in good positions providing they manage to evade being arrogant, dominant, or bossy with peers and subordinates alike. Hence Laozi advices people, especially the leadership, to draw wisdom and virtue from what is seemingly humble, soft, and weak like water. Just as he claims, “In dwelling, (the best man) loves where it is low. In the mind, he loves what is profound. In dealing with others, he loves sincerity. In speaking, he loves faithfulness. In governing, he loves order. In handling affairs, he loves competence. In his activities, he loves timeliness. Since he does not compete, He is free from any fault.”7 It is noteworthy that Sunzi, a contemporary of Laozi, also makes use of the water allegory in The Art of War (Sunzi bing fa). As he writes, The laws of military operations are like waters; the tendency of waters is to flow from heights to lowlands. The law of successful operations is to avoid the enemy’s strength and strike his weakness. Waters changes its course in accordance with the contours of the land. The soldier works out his victory in accordance with the situation of the enemy. Hence, just as the flowing of waters retains no constant shape, so in war there are no constant conditions. He who can modify his tactics in accordance with the enemy situation and thereby succeeds in winning may be said to be divine.8

Obviously, Sunzi recommends a close observation on the changing and adapting features of waters. For the key substance of the art of war emphasizes the strategy of adaptability based on the in-depth knowledge of the two sides engaged in a battle. This is not only strength-wise, but also

7 Laozi, The Dao De Jing of Laozi, in Keping Wang, Reading the Dao: A Thematic Inquiry, Section 8, pp. 143–144. 8 Sunzi, The Art of War (trans. Pan Jiafen and Liu Ruifang, Beijing: Military Sciences Press, 1993), pp. 41–42.

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scheme-wise. For any military operation is as situational as the flowing waters, nothing therein is constant but changing forever instead. If a commander sticks to a campaign scheme rigidly and makes no necessary alternatives according to the really capricious situations, he is most prone to be trapped and defeated. Interestingly, Sunzi is not war-like at all in spite of being a historically famous strategist and war theorist. He is highly aware of the fatal destructiveness of warfare such that he keeps warning the state leadership not to launch any military actions unless there is no other choice. Moreover, he upholds the notion that the best stratagem is to undermine the offensive conspiracy of the rivals and succeed in scaring them away without direct confrontation in the battlefield.

The Moral Symbolism The Confucian contemplation of a waterscape results in a kind of moral symbolism at large. A waterscape is aesthetically appealing, but it is more than that. According to the morality-based tradition, it appears philosophically provocative and morally symbolic in kind. Confucius himself takes the lead to have a moral reflection on the flowing current in a big river. As recorded in some classical texts, the way of appreciating a waterscape is initially stemmed from his affirmation below: The wise are delighted in waters while the humane in mountains. The wise are active while the humane tranquil. The wise are feeling constantly joyful while the humane enjoying longevity.9

Herein “waters” is referred to a running river or swift current, and “mountains” referred to a huge ridge and high peak. They are distinguished in terms of their respective features or physical virtues. The former is flowing and active in kind, transparent when shallow while unfathomable when deep, looking as if it is quick, witty, sensitive, observant, and progressing all the time. The latter stays still and quiet by nature, ready to accommodate myriad things and provide them with what facilitates their growth, appearing as though it is firm, stable, reliable, consistent, and benevolent in any case. Likewise, the distinction 9 Confucius, The Analects (Lun yu). The English translation is mine according to the Chinese original. Other English renderings are to see James Legge (tr.), The Confucian Analects and D. C. Lau (tr.), The Analects (London: Penguin Books, 1979). 6.23.

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between the wise and the humane is made according to their respective characteristics and personalities. In comparison, the wise are somewhat corresponding to the physical virtues of waters whereas the humane corresponding to the physical virtues of mountains. The wise are inclined to feel delighted with the symbolism of the river image because they are intelligent and quick-witted, acting like the swift currents when perceiving things and handling problems encountered. Moreover, they tend to find joy instead of confusion because they are able to attain the most insightful understanding and knowledge of what human life means and where it proceeds. With respect to the humane, they are saturated with the consciousness of reciprocal love and kindness for other fellow beings. They seem to go beyond such social bondages as fame and profit. They remain therefore peaceful and tranquil to the extent that nothing can disturb or distract them at all. They are well in the position to experience “the timeless time” that is metaphorically identified with longevity and eternity. At this stage, both the wise and the humane have returned to nature as a consequence that they have succeeded in freeing themselves from social alienation. This state of being is not only psychical, but also physical. It is actually the outcome of “naturalized humanity” (ren zi ran hua).10 Along this line of thought, the Confucian attitude toward the contemplation of the waterscape is further extended when Zigong asks his Master Confucius about the reason why he finds it a must-see in his encounter with each big river. The reply follows, As regards the water flow of a torrential river, it is in a way like virtue (de) because it benefits all beings without a deliberate purpose for itself; it is in a way like righteousness (yi) because it flows into low places according to the natural courses; it is in a way like fundamental principle (dao) because it runs ceaselessly forward; it is in a way like courage (yong) because it is resolute and fearless while cutting through deep valleys; it is in a way like justice (fa) because it keeps the same water level when it fills into low pits; it is in a way like uprightness (zheng) because it spills over any container without being coerced when it is full; it is in a way like sensibility (cha) because it is soft and reaches the minute wherever it goes; it is in a way like moral transformation (shan hua) because all things that grow out of

10 Li Zehou, Lun yu jin du [Reading the Confucian Analects Today], (Hefei: Anhui Wenyi Press, 1998), pp. 161–162.

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water are fresh and clean; it is in a way like volition (zhi) because it zigzags here and there but continues eastward with unshakable determination. It is due to all this above that a superior man finds it necessary to gaze at the water flow encountered each time.11

This passage is further extended elsewhere with some modifications in accord with the moral values highly recommended in Confucianism. It reads, A superior man compares the water flow of a torrential river to moral qualities. For instance, the water flow is in a way like a kind of virtue (de) as it benefits all things selflessly; it is in a way like a kind of benevolence (ren) as it brings about life wherever it goes; it is in a way like a kind of righteousness (yi) as it flows to low places according to its natural principle; it is in a way like a kind of wisdom (zhi) as it moves observably when shallow but cannot be fathomed when profound; it is in a way like a kind of courage (yong) as it never hesitates and fears to cut through deep valleys; it is in a way like a kind of observance (cha) as it appears soft but nourishes all things; it is in a way like a kind of uprightness (zheng) as it accepts all sources and never rejects the polluted; it is in a way like a kind of moral transformation (shanhua) as it receives unclear water but produces clear water; it is in a way like a kind of justice (zheng) as it holds its equilibrium even in its container; it is in a way like a kind of measure (du) as it spills out when it is full; it is in a way like a kind of persistent volition (yi) as it zigzags its way towards the east. Therefore, a superior man finds it worthy to contemplate it.12

Judging from the analogical characterization given above, what is noticeable is a strong correspondence between the natural phenomena and moral symbolisms. It is often acknowledged that human nature is fostered and shaped by human culture, but it preserves some resemblance originated from the natural world. This is due to humankind’s observing and imitating what has been happening in the living surroundings. In other words, when finding out what is going on in the natural world, humans would be aesthetically stimulated, intellectually provoked, and 11 Xun Kuang, Xunzi quan yi [The Works of Xunzi Paraphrased], (eds. Jiang Nanhua et al., Guiyang: Guizhou Renmin Press, 1995), Section 28, p. 593. The English translation is mine according to the Chinese original. 12 Liu Xiang, Shuo yuan [Collected Discourses], (eds. Wang Ying & Wang Tianhai, Guiyang: Guizhou Renmin Press, 1992), 17.47.

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morally enlightened one way or another. This is noticeable in the Confucian delight drawn from contemplating waters and mountains. Such being the case, Qian Mu (1895–1990) makes a remark from a moral and artistic viewpoint. He assumes that human morality is rooted in human nature. Human nature is stemmed from the natural world. The beautiful in the natural world is perceived and rethought through human mind. The beautiful as such is transformed into art when expressed by relevant media. Therefore, the morally virtuous tend to know more about art and enjoy it more than others. All this is leagued with the natural world, because the ancient thinkers in China would equate the oneness between Heaven and human with the oneness between goodness and beauty.13 Here are at least four points to make with regard to the moral symbolism of the river image. First and foremost, the delight drawn from waters and mountains is not simply an aesthetic reaction to the sensuous aspects, but also a spiritual feeling of the moral import. It reveals a vicarious experience of the natural beauty in landscapes that is parallel to a moral assessment. Secondly, the Confucian stance toward both waters and mountains manifests a special kind of affinity with nature, which is further developed into the conscious oneness between nature and humankind. It is then incorporated into the Chinese way of contemplating the beautiful both aesthetically and spiritually. Thirdly, it is peculiar to the landscapes across China that contain rich cultural elements and historical traces, comprising an important part of Chinese aesthetic phenomenology and art creation, poetry and painting in particular. Fourthly, the way of appreciating the beautiful in landscapes involves a hierarchy of value judgment in light of three different attitudes. According to Confucius, “Those who know it are no better than those who like it; those who like it are no better than those who are delighted in it.”14 Why is it so? Those who know it just as it is are not feeling as strongly as those who like it. However, those who like it are simply fond of it but have not yet got full appreciation of it. In other words, they are unable to put it into real practice in a joyful manner. As for those who are delighted in it, they are those who both know it and like it, and in addition, they have mastered it and thereby take pleasure from it in effect. In contrast to those who know it and those who like it, those who are delighted in

13 Li Zehou, Lun yu jin du [Reading the Confucian Analects Today], p. 161. 14 Confucius, The Analects, 6.20.

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it stand out as they are able to appreciate it with aesthetic sensibility and experience the free state of being in an ontological sense. For they enjoy the spiritual freedom through such experience, and go so far as to live an artistic life as it is joy-conscious in kind. Talking about the beautiful in nature, we can find many evidences from the picturesque imagery of landscape poetry in particular. Poetry of this kind holds up a most important position in Chinese art and literature. Its richness and attractiveness demonstrate not merely the magic power of words and the aesthetic wisdom of times, but also the tremendous beauty of natural scenery. As detected in Chinese literary legacy, the general output of the poets in the Tang and the Song Dynasties contributes a great deal to the development of picturesque waterscapes through poetic creativity. As a result, the value of waterscape aesthetic is promoted and disseminated far and wide ever since then. It is generally the case that the aesthetic significance of the picturesque waterscapes boasts such four cardinal features as being verbally expressive, visually evocative, thoughtprovocative, and mood-affective. It is poetically represented in differing modes that can be displayed by at least three broad categories including the beautiful, the majestic, and the musical.

The Beautiful Waterscape In accord with their aesthetic properties, the beautiful waterscape is thus conducive to the harmonious interaction and joyful convergence between the subject and the object. They are therefore seen in a tranquil stream, a transparent pond, and an attractive river in particular. In actuality, they appear as the main scenes of poetic descriptions owing to their outlook appeal and suggestive significance. First and foremost, as regards the tranquil stream, typical illustrations are easily available in the poems ever since the Tang Dynasty. For instance, we read first in Wang Wei and then in Su Shi, Fresh rain has fallen on the vacant mountains; When autumn’s evening approaches. The bright moon is shining through the pines, The clear stream flowing over the stones. Bamboos rustle, as washing maids return.

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Lotuses stir, a fishing boat descends.15

As noticed in the above description, the waterscape is associated with the “fresh rain,” “clear stream,” “washing maids,” and “fishing boat,” all of which are soaked in “the bright moon” and rounded out by the “pines,” “stones,” “bamboos,” and “lotuses.” The tranquility is indicated by the “vacant mountains” as are devoid of any other intruders and noises. What could be audible are the sounds of flowing water over the stones in contrast to the rustling bamboos and rowing boat. The depiction invents a verbal painting that pleases the sight, hearing, mind, and spirit altogether. By Sandy River pond the new-lit lamps are bright. Who sings “the Water of Melody” at night? When I come back, the wind goes down, the bright moon paves With emerald glass the river waves.16

What is noteworthy in the stanza above is the image of the pond made by Su Shi. It is similarly placed against the background of the “bright moon.” The water surface mirrors as if it is like “emerald glass.” The song fitting the tune of “the Water of Melody” is accompanied by the rhythmic ups and downs of the “river waves,” and vice versa. They interact to produce a symphonic effect. The entire setting strikes out the quietude “at night” in the moonlight. It is not only appealing to the eyes, but also to the ears of anyone whose presence is imagined on the occasion. Subsequently, let us turn to the prominent features of the transparent pond. They are well portrayed by Liu Zongyuan (773–819) in one of his excursion monologues. It reads, Walking westward 120 feet from the small hill, I heard water sounds behind a bamboo grove. The sounds were similar to those of the jade ornament on the body in ancient times. I was feeling so delighted that I made a short cut through the grove. Right there I found a small pond, and saw its bottom rock through the clear and cool water…Down in the pond

15 Wang Wei, Evening in My Mountain Abode, in Zhang Tingchen & Bruce M. Wilson (compiled and trans.), 100 Tang Poems (Beijing: CTPC, 2008), p. 37. 16 Su Shi, Tune: “The Beautiful lady Yu,” in Xu Yuanchong (ed. & trans.), 100 Tang and Song Ci Poems (Beijing: CTPC, 2008), p. 121.

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were nearly a hundred little fish swimming about so freely. The sunlight shot through the pond and projected the shadows of the fish over the bottom rock. The fish seemed too happy to make a move. All of a sudden, they dashed afar and near, back and forth, as if they were playing joyfully with me as an onlooker.17

Perceptibly, the pond is situated in a place undisturbed by others. Its water is transparent to the extent that one can see through it to its bottom rock. Reflected there are the shadows of some small fish remaining at rest for the moment. Sure enough, the transparency is conditioned by the clearness of the water and the isolation of the location. It thus makes the tiny creatures feeling as if they are free, happy, and safe when enjoying their leisure time. Then, at this moment, a human visitor comes along as a seeming intruder, disturbing them a bit and causing a momentary bewilderment. But very soon they resume their peace, and commence to play joyfully with the visitor when they seem to find him contemplating their lifestyle with good will and appreciation, if not curiosity. What is parallel to the above-cited sample is a poem by Chang Jian (fl. 749). It reveals some similar substance. As mountain scenes invite the song of birds, Images in the pond empty the human mind. Everything has vanished now into the heart of silence, Except the sounding of bell and chime.18

Once again thereby we see a water pond situated in “mountain scenes.” Over it are the singing birds, and away from it is a temple sending off “the sounding bell and chime.” In “the heart of silence,” the “images in the pond” are perceived as a result of the crystal-clear water. These images may be composed of the overhead plants, passing clouds, and even the contemplative visitor. They therefore serve to “empty the human mind” by purifying it of secular cares and worries altogether. This in fact reveals the main reason why the visitor goes into the deep mountains and gazes at the pond in solitude. What he does is more than a travel experience 17 Liu Zongyuan, Xiao shi tan ji [A Visit to the Small-stone Pond], in Ni Qixin et al. (ed.s), Zhong guo gu dai you ji xuan [Chinese Travel Essays of Ancient Times Selected], (Beijing: Chinese Travel Press, 2000), p. 111. 18 Chang Jian, The Zen meditation Hall behind Poshan Temple, Zhang Tingchen & Bruce M. Wilson (compiled and trans.), 100 Tang Poems, p. 135.

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for aesthetic satisfaction. It can be considered to be a spiritual excursion for mental purification in this case. More often than not, Chinese literati are said to take up this habitual action in search of spiritual freedom and mental tranquility. Next, let us look into the essential aspects of the attractive riverscape. Offered hereby are several examples taken from different poets who happened to live at the adjacent periods in the Tang Dynasty. The first stanza is selected from Zhang Ruoxu (666–720), the second from Li Bai, and the third from Liu Yuxi (772–842). Respectively they run, In spring the river swells level with the sea, The bright moon rises mounting the tide. Waters flash with infinite light. Where on the spring river is there no bright moon? The river winds through flower fragrant fields, Glistering in the moonlight like beads of ice.19 O’er water green the autumn moon shines bright, On Southern Lake they gather lilies white. The lotus-blooms so lovely as to speak, Outshine the bashful oarswomen’s fair cheek.20 The The Red The

mountain’s red with peach blossoms above; shore is washed by spring water below. blossoms will fade as my gallant’s love; river as my sorrow will e’er flow.21

As noted in the first six lines, the beautiful waterscape is filled with aesthetic temptation and charm. It is appealing to varied senses including sight, hearing, and smell due to its rich images of the moon, tide, and flower. What actually surrounds “the spring river” encompasses the beautiful scenery of swelling waves, vast seascape, glistering moonlight, fragrant fields, and so on. Then, as is observed in the next four lines taken 19 Zhang Ruoxu, Spring, the River, Flowers, the Moony Night, in Zhang Tingchen & Bruce M. Wilson (compiled and trans.), 100 Tang Poems, p. 17. 20 Li Bai, Song of Green Water, in Xu Yuanchong (ed. & trans.), Selected Poems of Li Bai, p. 143. 21 Liu Yuxi, Tune: “Bamboo Branch Song,” in Xu Yuanchong (ed. & trans.), 100 Tang and Song Ci Poems, p. 25.

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from another poem, the green water and the autumn moon are set out in sensational contrast. The white lilies in the lake are reflecting the moonlight. The lotus flowers are blooming and shining in fresh red, turning out to be more attractive than the fair cheek of the bashful oarswomen. All this contributes to the magic spell of the riverscape as such. Finally, as read in the last four lines from another piece, the red mountain cloaked in peach blossoms appears as the background of “the shore washed by spring water below.” Even though the poet gets drunk in the sensuous ambiance, he wakes up with a profound enlightenment in a philosophical sense. That is, the red blossoms are passionate and engaging indeed, but they are short-lived and not permanent at all, because they are bound to fade away like a romantic fantasy of loving pathos. With this pessimistic state of mind, he likens the river to his sorrow that flows on forever. The shift of the sentimental tone herein seems to be a bit sad, but it tells the fact that it is deep-rooted in human consciousness and existence. Moreover, it discloses, from past to present, the psychology of Chinese literati who are often confronted with more socio-political pressure and suppression in reality.

The Majestic Waterscape In comparison with its beautiful counterpart, the majestic waterscape becomes what it is owing to its dynamic, amazing, and even awesome properties including rapidness, powerfulness, greatness, vastness, and so forth, all of which seem to resemble some key features of the sublime in nature. In most cases, the majestic waterscape will likely lead to opposing interaction and even conflictive tension between the subject and the object. As a rule, it is exemplified in the overwhelmingly rapid torrents, powerful waterfalls, great waves, vast lakes, and the like. Incidentally, the experience of the majestic waterscape can be much more intensified when it goes through conventional mode of sightseeing. That is to say, it is to be done by traditional instead of modern means of transportation in varied kinds. This is simply because the poets who described the majestic scenes gained access to them in such traditional manners as boating, hiking, and horse riding. They would have felt something rather different if they could take up the modern means as we do nowadays. Firstly, let us review what Li Bai has perceived and experienced on an old-fashioned boat along the Yangtzi River.

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Leaving at dawn the White Emperor crowned with cloud, I’ve sailed a thousand miles through Three Gorges in a day. With monkeys’ sad adieux the riverbanks are loud, My skiff has left then thousand mountains far away.22

The rapid torrents are not directly mentioned in the poem. However, it is implied by the fast speed that carries the persona aboard “a thousand miles” away from the White Emperor Town down to the Jiangling City. The distance between the two places is actually a hundred miles or so. It is so exaggerated to strengthen the sensational experience of this unusual boat-traveling. A skiff winding through the Three Gorges is always an adventure, either in the past or at the present. It requires mora rather than courage to face its tremendous risk. Furthermore, the atmosphere herein is immensely magnified by means of the fragile skiff along the swift river and the sad adieux of the monkeys amidst the high mountains over the riverbanks. It is breathtaking and heart-stirring, not merely for the traveler inside the scene, but also for the onlooker outside it. Secondly, the majestic qualities are exemplified by the powerful waterfalls. Across the world there are a number of cataracts renowned for their overwhelming volume, threatening appearance, and sublime waterscape each. They are thus developed into famous attractions for global tourists. As read in some of the Chinese classical poetry, the creative representation of waterfalls plays a crucial role even though it is not of high frequency. Notwithstanding this, we find the most familiar and outstanding image of all in Li Bai’s poetic composition. It goes, The sunlit Censer Peak exhales incense-like cloud; The cataract hangs like an upended river, sounding loud. Its torrent dashes down three thousand feet from high, As if the Silver River fell from azure sky.23

Geographically the Censor Peak is one of the summits among the range of Mount Lushan in modern Jiangxi Province. According to the allegorical depiction, it is wrapped in sunlight while giving off purple cloud 22 Li Bai, Leaving the White Emperor Town at Dawn, in Xu Yuanchong (ed. & trans.), Selected Poems of Li Bai (Changsha: Hunan people’s Publishing House, 2007), p. 195. 23 Li Bai, The Waterfall in Mount Lu Viewed from Afar, in Xu Yuanchong (ed. & trans.), Selected Poems of Li Bai, p. 15.

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as though it is a huge incense-burner. Flowing down from its top is a gigantic cataract in huge amount. It is hanging there “like an upended river” “sounding loud” enough to be heard miles afar. More amazingly, its unexpected length is dashing down to the bottom of the deep valley, appearing as though the Silver River, a typical Chinese analogy for the Milky Way, falling “from azure sky.” The rhetoric hyperbole of the image is stemmed from unique imagination. Such features as unusual height, volume, length, loudness, and powerfulness of the waterfall are vividly synthesized to expose what a majestic waterscape it is. More often than not, the poetic description cannot be identified with the real scene. The poet tends to make an idiosyncratic judgment or comparison according to personal experience and productive imagination. Yet, he draws his inspiration one way or another from what he sees and feels after all. Thirdly, certain traits of a majestic waterscape are reflected in the great waves or tides that occur to big rivers or vast seas. Many poets and painters alike are evoked to contemplate and portray them in their works. Offhanded instances are from three poets. They read, Leaving Mount Thorn-Gate far away, My boat pursues its eastward way. Where mountains end begins the plain; The river rolls to boundless main… The water that from homeland flows Will follow me where my boat goes.24 … Upon the banks along the sand, Cloud-crowned trees stand. Great Waves roll up like snow banks white, The river extends till it’s lost to sight…25 The Great River eastward flows, With its waves are gone all those Gallant heroes of bygone ages, West of the ancient fortress appears 24 Li Bai, Farewell beyond the Thorn-Gate Gorge, in Xu Yuanchong (ed. & trans.), Selected Poems of Li Bai, p. 13. 25 Liu Yong, Tune: “Watching the Tidal Bore,” in Xu Yuanchong (ed. & trans.), 100 Tang and Song Ci Poems (Beijing: CTPC, 2008), p. 79.

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The Red Cliff. … Jagged rocks tower in the air, Swashing waves beat on the shore, Rolling up a thousand heaps of snow. To match the hills and the river so fair, How many heroes brave of yore Made a great show!26

All these three poems are associated with the Yangtzi River. The first part is taken from Li Bai who jots down his traveling experience along the river from Sichuan in the upper layer to Hubei in the lower layer. As he zigzags his way out through the narrow mountain valleys into the wide plain area, he is feeling at ease after a deep breath, so excited to observe the great waves rolling “to boundless main.” Right there he draws tremendous joy from the majestic waterscape such that he claims the great river flowing from his hometown will escort him faithfully and friendly wherever his boat is carried onward. Then, let us look at the second part cited from Liu Yong (approx. 897– 1053). Even though he is known to be adept at writing ci poems about personal sentiment, sorrow, and romance, he produces such a memorable image of the majestic riverscape. Under his pen the “cloud-crowned trees” upon the riverbanks appear as huge umbrellas, down below are the great waves rolling up like snow, and pouring over the riversides in white foam. On the same occasion the waves are making great noise that is not mentioned here, but can be heard from afar. The torrent is running faster as it is speeded up by the pushing waves. It leaves the persona amazed until losing sight in the remote east soon. Thereafter we proceed to look at the third part quoted from Su Shi (1037–1101). It is presented in the form of ci poem as well due to its popularity during his era. Like Liu Yong, Su compares the swashing waves to “a thousand heaps of snow” as a result of their white tincture. But distinctly and patently, he rounds out the great waves in sharp contrast to the “jagged rocks” instead of “cloud-crowned trees.” Right on the spot, huge waves are striking against hard rocks. The sounds burst out so loud, transmitting far and wide. They work together to render the waterscape 26 Su Shi, Tune: “Charm of a Maiden Singer,” in Xu Yuanchong (ed. & trans.), 100 Tang and Song Ci Poems (Beijing: CTPC, 2008), p. 149.

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even more majestic or magnificent. Accordingly, “many heroes” and their heroic deeds are embedded into the scenic portrayal. They remind the reader of the very venue where a historic battle once took place during the period of the Three Kingdoms (220–280). It was marked as decisive with regard to the destiny of the whole country and her course of development in half a century. Herein it is deployed as a foil to set out the natural power of the majestic waterscape as such. In return, the natural power of this kind helps multiply the importance of the historical event then. Fourthly, another majestic aspect is represented in the great lake of 800 miles wide. It is largely aligned with vast, broad, grand, or seemingly boundless surface that extends beyond the visual threshold of humankind. It can be illustrated via two samples as follows: Long have I heard of Dongting Lake: Now I’m ascending Yueyang Tower. Her waters divide two states in the southeast, The universe of sun and moon upon their surface.27 In August the Dongting Lake is full, So boundless to meet the sky blue. Its vapors rising over the Cloud-Dream swamp, And its huge waves shaking the Yueyang town.28

Perceived in the first stanza selected from the poem by Du Fu (712– 770), the size of the Dongting Lake stretches far and wide to cover “two states in the southeast” of China: one is known as the State of Wu situated in the modern province of Jiangsu, and the other the State of Chu situated in the modern province of Hubei. Yet, it does not include its central location in the modern province of Hunan. Its extraordinary vastness seems boundless so long as it appears to human eyes. In addition, its broad surface reflects “the universe of sun and moon” as though it covers the infinite space, in which the sun, moon, and lake are mirroring one another. Such being the case, it gives rise to two interrelated images: one is above in the sky while the other is below in the lake. Nowadays 27 Du Fu, Climbing Yueyang Tower, Zhang Tingchen & Bruce M. Wilson (ed. & trans.), 100 Tang Poems, p. 111. The English translation is modified by the author of the paper. 28 Meng Haoran, Watching the Dongting Lake and Writing it as a compliment for Minister Zhang. The English translation is mine.

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the lake still remains vast although its surface has shrunk a lot because of the short supply of water resources and the construction of an enormous reservoir in the upper region of the Yangtzi River. As shown in the next stanza taken from a poem by Meng Haoran (689–740), the boundless vision of the Dongting Lake is emphasized again in a more startling image. It is hyperbolized to the degree that it is to “meet the sky blue” when it happens to be up to the highest water level. In August mentioned in the poem, it is hot and sunny. The water inside the lake grows so heated up that it evaporates into rising air. This being true, the Yueyang Town appears to be enveloped in a kind of steaming mist. Mysterious and queer as it may be, it may come over to astonish the eyes and ears as if it were being swung back and forth by the huge waves across the lake. All this creates a majestic spectacle, and allures travelers to climb up the Yueyang Tower so as to watch and listen to it.

The Musical Water Sounds The musical appeal of water sounds comes into effect in varied forms and volumes. It is not simply heard in the dynamic waterfalls, but also enjoyed in the murmuring creeks and bubbling springs in tranquility. It is mysteriously alluring to the extent that some travelers in the Chinese history prefer water music to instrumental music on certain occasions. It is especially the case with the Gongan Group in the Ming Dynasty. Being a leading member of the Group, Yuan Zhongdao (1570–1623) distinguishes himself from others for his persistent indulgence in water music. He even goes so far as to maintain that water music can be distinct from and better than stringed music. For he believes that water music is natural and pure, whereas stringed music is artificial and pretentious. On some occasions, he attempts to identify the mind of wisdom with the flowing water that changes more variably and interestingly. On other occasions, he listens to the interaction between stones and waters in the stream, and finds water sounds corresponding to what is produced either by stringed instruments known as the Qin-Se or by vocal singing and emotional exclamation.29 What follows is one of his detailed descriptions of water melody in a travel monologue, 29 Yuan Zhongdao, Xishan shi ji [Ten Travel Monologues in the Western Hills], in Philosophy Department of Peking University (ed.), Zhong guo mei xue shi zi liao xuan

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The Jade Spring Water splashes pearls of drops around at the outset, flowing down into a channel for a while, and then stumbling over a large rock in the middle all of a sudden, thus producing great sounds that can be heard from afar. I often come here and enjoy listening to it. There are stones by its sides, I put some cattail leaves over one of them, and sit on listening from morning till night. Initially I am driven about by my impulsive mentality and rampant ideas. Consequently, my sense of hearing prevents an attentive and in-depth listening to the stream. For it is easily disturbed by the rustling wind in the forest and the singing birds in the valley. When dark falls and quietude comes, I stop watching and return to listening, I thereby feel the varied changes of the water sounds since I have regained my attention and tranquility by cutting off all other connections. At this moment, I find the water sounding so musical, sometimes like swinging pines and clicking jade, sometimes like playing the stringed instruments of different types, sometimes like cracking thunders across the sky, sometimes like powerful torrent dashing through mountains. The more serene my mind becomes, the louder the stream sounds. Its melody is heard by my ear, but pours into my heart and mind. Even though it appears desolate and cool, it serves to purify my lungs and soul, rid me off secular dust, make me forget my past, and keep me beyond life and death. In turn, as the stream sounds louder, my mind becomes more serene.30

Observably, the water music to the listener is not simply audio-visual, but aesthetic and spiritual. It thus makes the attentive listener sitting in forgetfulness and enjoying supreme happiness. He does lend his ears to the water sounds changing variably according to his extended imagination and association, but additionally, he feels himself into the water melody. He is elicited to go beyond his self, his awareness of life and death in a delightful experience of absolute freedom. All this embodies his profound understanding of the naturalistic wisdom of Daoism. He therefore applies it to his way of existence by identifying his being with the natural beauty in the water sounds. The beauty of this kind is seen as the creation of the water sounds in appearance, but it is in essence the outcome of musicalizing the cosmic rhythm in the Chinese traditional consciousness of space and life. The act of musicalizing as such is not confined to the water bian [Selected sources in the History of Chinese Aesthetics], (Beijing: Zhonghua Shuju Press, 1981), p. 171. 30 Yuan Zhongdao, Shuang lai ting ji [Visiting the Pavilion of Pleasant Melody], in Philosophy Department of Peking University (ed.), Zhong guo mei xue shi zi liao xuan bian [Selected sources in the History of Chinese Aesthetics], p. 170.

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sounds only. It is extensively exercised in the arts of harmonics, calligraphy, poetry, and painting altogether. On this account, Chinese literati tend to appreciate the natural beauty by infusing an ontological meaning into it. By so doing, they are enabled to achieve a transcendent experience of the oneness between Heaven and Human, an experience that is close to the ecstasy in a spiritual and religious sense. In order to do so, it calls for personal cultivation aside from rich imagination and high sensibility. Quite coincidentally, Aldous Huxley also discovers the “watery melody” or “music of water” in a succession of “drip drop, drip drap, drep drop” falling the roof upon the stones below. He describes his experience in striking contrast to what Yuang Zhongdao does. He speaks out that he listens to it “with a mixture of pleasure and irritation to its curious cadences,” hence feeling “the same uncomfortable emotion” that is begotten in him as much “by the inconsequent music of water” as by “Dadaist literature.”31 Such emotion is indicated in his assertion as follows: …Growing drowsier and drowsier, I listen to the ceaseless tune, the hollow soliloquy in the cistern, the sharp metallic rapping of the drops that fall from the roof upon the stones below; and surely I begin to discover a meaning, surely I detect a trace of thought, surely the phrases follow one another with art, leading on inevitably to some prodigious conclusion. Almost I have it, almost, almost….Then, I suppose, I fall definitely to sleep. For the next thing I am aware of is that the sunlight is streaming in. It is morning, and the water is still dripping as irritatingly and persistently as ever.32

Noticeably, Huxley tries to find some meaning or something intelligible in the water music, but he is frustrated by its incomprehensibleness and hollowness. He therefore considers it to be “asymptotic to sense” due to its “sharp metallic rapping” and mechanical dripping, and also analogizes it to “the haunting ghost” because it bothers his sleep and mood. Quite reversely, Yuan Zhongdao as a Chinese scholar upholds a distinct view and a positive stance, thus leading him to project his feelings and emotions and even himself into the water music. Therein he appreciates not merely

31 Aldous Huxley, “Water Music,” in H. Barnes (ed.), Essays Old and New (London: George G. Harrap, 1963), pp. 197–199. 32 Ibid., p. 198.

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the melodic charm and the varying tune in the flowing stream, but also the life rhythm and the mystical musicality in the universe. Eventually he frees himself from all cares and worries, living in joy and peace as if he throws himself into the convergence with the waterscape. As mentioned at the very beginning of this section, the examination of the water allegory and the waterscape aesthetic is inspired by Heidegger’s ontological awareness of the solitude landscape and the well metaphor. Now considering from the horizon of Chinese thought-way and poetic heritage exposed foregoingly, we may arrive at a tentative conclusion that waterscapes in particular play a significant role in human life from past to present, for they bear philosophical, moral, and aesthetic values altogether. They can therefore be employed as aesthetic objects as they delight the sight, hearing, mind, and spirit. Moreover, they can be utilized to facilitate the restoration of the sense of both Being and homeliness in closer contact with nature. As stated above, the Daoist advocate of the water allegory puts much stress on the altruistic and modest characters of the flowing water that benefits all beings and things. It therefore calls for attention to the heuristic message of the allegory in one sense, and commends the supreme good of the water in the other. By so doing does it lay down a philosophical ground of the development of waterscape aesthetic in the Chinese tradition. Parallel to the Daoist view, the Confucian preoccupation with huge waterscape retains its focus on the moral symbolism. Confucius himself is said to enjoy watching huge waterscapes such that he likens the flowing river to the thought-way of the wise owing to their active and productive virtues. His personification of the running river is morality-oriented in essence due to its resolute and unyielding characteristics, which takes a further step to consolidate the moral symbolism of waterscape in particular. Its hidden impact has been passed on as part of the psychology and aesthetic awareness among Chinese literati from past to present. The Chinese poets have described picturesque waterscapes in diversified images, tones, and styles. As illustrated above, the aesthetic significance of such waterscapes is partly demonstrated through such leading categories as the beautiful, the majestic, and the musical, each of which possesses relevant values, properties, and effects. The water music features varied forms and tunes. It is not simply heard in the swashing waterfalls, but also enjoyed in the murmuring creeks

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and bubbling springs in tranquility. Its aesthetic charm tends to allure its attentive listener to feel himself into its rhythmic flow one way or another. Incidentally, the experience of waterscapes works chiefly in two modes: perceptual and mental. One is pleasing to both eyes and ears in an aesthetically perceptual sense, while the other to the mind and spirit in an intuitively cognitive sense. When it comes to the aesthetic contemplation, the psychological reaction is initially aroused by the hallo effect of the scenery that attracts the attention of the viewer. During the process, there are at least two acts involved: one is aesthetic detachment, and the other is aesthetic engagement. The former expects the viewer to free himself from cares and worries for a moment, directs his attention to the object alone. The latter advises the viewer to feel himself into the object concerned. It leads him to obtain an experience that could be either vicarious or empathetic. Empirically the two acts procure an aesthetic attitude toward what is to be perceived and contemplated. In order to discover and appreciate more, we may well adopt four practical approaches to sightseeing as an aesthetic activity. They are termed as the eye-based approach to looking at the outlook of the scenic spot, the body-based approach to strolling amid it, the mind-based approach to feeling into it, and the lying-on-couch approach to reflecting on it through imagination. They are to be exercised flexibly in accord with the specific situations and physical conditions of human individuals. In practice, they are measured in no way other than effectiveness or validity with regard to the enhancement of one’s aesthetic Erlebnis.

CHAPTER 10

The Art of Painting Landscape

The most leading genres of Chinese visual art encompass calligraphy, painting, and sculpture in the main. Among them calligraphy and painting are often considered to be twin-like in terms of their practical materials and theoretical considerations. They occupy a large proportion and important position in Chinese art as a whole. As distinguished from figure painting (ren wu hua) and elaborate-styled painting (gong bi hua), landscape painting (shan shui hua) stands out both in theory and practice, because it has been widely received and highly appreciated all along in history since its separating the scenic background of storied painting from human figures during the Sui Dynasty (581–619). It continues to be refined and developed more than other arts. Hence it can be matched up with calligraphy in popularity, artistry, value, and repertoire. As for Chinese sculpture, it was enhanced at the time when Indian Buddhism was introduced into China in accompany with grotto art around the turn of Anno Domini, and then flourished in the North Wei Dynasty (386– 534) during which grottoes were carved in cliff facets in many places across China. Now it is perceived to demonstrate itself through stone carvings that are thematically drawn from the Buddhist legendary tales for both religious worship and moral teaching. The best known among them are the Dunhuang Grottoes in Gansu province, the Yungang Grottoes in Shanxi province, and the Longmen Grottoes in Henan province.

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021 K. Wang, Beauty and Human Existence in Chinese Philosophy, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-1714-0_10

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As the length permits, landscape painting alone is to be further discussed in this section.

The Synthetic Beauty Traditionally, Chinese landscape painting bears “four unique components” comprising painting, calligraphy, poetry, and seal cutting.1 Taken as four genres of art, they are interactive and interrelated with one another. When presented artistically and combined organically into a fine work, they procure a kind of synthetic beauty as a first-caliber creation in the pure sense of this term. Specifically, painting technique and calligraphy are treated as sister arts because of their similar origin of technique and their identical use of brush, ink, and paper for art making. Moreover, they are expected to be not only corresponding to each other in style, but also complementary in composition, composition that requires a proper and artistic arrangement of the painted part and the blank space left deliberately on the picture itself. In many cases, a good painter is simultaneously qualified and evaluated in terms of his painting technique and calligraphy. Hence notionally, one cannot deserve the title of a real painter unless he or she is adept at both painting and calligraphy. Having reached this level, one still has to redouble efforts in order to become a good painter. Say, one must try one’s best to have a good command of two more genres of art: poetry and seal cutting. Poetry herein indicates that each poem composed for each painting should be freshly expressive and relevantly descriptive of the scene painted. More often than not, this particular piece of poem is demanded to offer a more vivid image and profound message to lift up the significance of the painting itself. As regards seal cutting, it must be individual in style and artistic in form. As a rule, one’s full name (pen name) is written in curved Chinese characters and carved on a small cube of special stone in classical style. The authenticity of a painting is proved by the seal of the painter stamped on it. The seal is symbolically crucial in identifying the painting and its painter as it remains parallel to the stylistic strokes of brushwork involved. It is no exaggeration that even a painting by a great master would be worth almost nothing if it was not stamped with the seal of 1 The “four unique components” are known in Chinese as si jue (四绝), including hua (画), shu (书), shi (诗) and yin (印).

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the mater concerned. This is one of the key reasons why all the established painters have a few individual seals treasured so dearly and used so seriously. Now with a good command of the four unique elements given above, one is well in the position to become a good painter. In the past four decades, I have seen a large number of landscape paintings by different artists on exhibitions in the art galleries at home and abroad. Some of the outstanding works (pieces and rolls) are those that are peculiar to the tour de force for an impressive demonstration and organic organization of the four genres of art. An offhanded list will cover such works by Wu Changshuo (1844–1927), Huang Binhong (1865–1955), Zhang Daqian (i.e. Chang Dai-Cien, 1899–1983), Li Kuchan (1907–1989), Fu Baoshi (1904–1965), Guan Shanyue (1912–2000), and Shi Lu (1919–1982), among others. Aside from what is stated above, the synthetic beauty of Chinese landscape painting is also associated with the delicate use of ink. According to Zhang Yanyuan (815–907), the ink can be made into five colors (mo fen wu se)2 in spite of its being mono-color in kind. The five colors usually cover green, red, yellow, white, and black in general. How is it possible to divide one color into five? Literally, it uses clean water to dilute the ink to varied degrees, which depends on how much water is to be poured into the ink and what kind of object is to be painted. In addition, it relies on both visual imagination and perceptual habit. Once upon a time, Su Shi drew a picture of bamboos in red ink. He was ridiculed and criticized for so doing. He then defended himself by saying that bamboos were naturally green in color, but pained in black ink through which the viewers still perceived bamboos as they were green. It was the same case with his picture in which they were painted in red ink. As a matter of fact, the traditional Chinese landscape painting is also called water-ink painting. It is exemplified in literati painting at large. Conventionally, the ink is rendered into such five categories ranging from the dry, the wet, the light, and the dense to the coked. They are perceived habitually and associated, respectively, with colors through visual imagination. For example, the dry ink is seen as white, the light ink as yellow, the dense ink as green, and the coked ink as black. In practice, they are utilized to paint different objects for different effects under different 2 Zhang Yanyuan, Li dai ming hua ji [Famous Paintings in the Preceded Dynasties] (Hangzhou: Zhejiang Renmin Meishu Chubanshe, 2011).

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conditions. For instance, the dry ink (gan) is applied to painting rocks and mountains for the vigorously forceful and subtly ethereal effect, the wet ink (shi) applied to painting the plants and mosses in the rain for the pleasantly moist and dripping effect, the light ink (dan) applied to painting the objects in a distance or their unshaded sides for the distinctive and inviting effect, the dense ink (nong ) applied to painting the near objects and their shaded sides for the visually impressive and engaging effect, and the coked ink (jiao) applied to painting the key spots and outlines for the outshining and focal effect. However, an experienced painter tends to make a free use of ink when portraying what occurs to his or her mind. What is done in this case implies the motto, that is, the ultimate métier in art is to paint landscape according to a rule (creative) while following no rule (established). This is an alternative to help the artist go beyond any man-made constraints and take art making as a free play in itself.

The Six Rules As discerned in the Chinese history of art, painting in the form of murals flourished like sculpture during the North Wei Dynasty (386–534). Some of the best works are still preserved and protected in Dunhuang grottoes and elsewhere. As for the elementary theories of painting, one of them is traced back to Xie He (479–502) whose rich experience enables him to expose some insights into art making. He formulates theoretical guidelines termed as “six rules of painting” (liu fa) in his Recorded Ranking of Ancient Paintings (Gu hua pin lu). These six rules are fairly condensed, if not over-generalized. They are considered to be the first crude system of art criticism in ancient China. They serve not merely as a set of painting techniques ranging from the most basic to the most delicate, but also as fundamental criteria of aesthetic evaluation of artworks. Hence they remain as a milestone in the history of Chinese painting due to its consistent impact upon artistic creation, evaluation, and appreciation altogether. They follow: The first is to create a lifelike tone filled with rhythmic vitality; the second is to build a characteristic structure through brush-work; the third is to portray the forms of things as there are; the fourth is to apply appropriate coloring in accord with the objects; the fifth is to make

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an artistic composition; and the sixth is to transcribe and copy classical masterpieces).3

As noted from above, the six rules are delineated deliberately in a stepby-step mode. They bring forth a hierarchical order with interactive links. According to Chinese thought-way, what comes out first on the agenda is always emphasized as the most outstanding of all. However, the level of difficulty seems to gradually decrease in a top-down manner in spite of the fact that they are all important and indispensable for art making and appreciating. When applied to actual praxis, they involve a learning process in a bottom-up mode, meaning to go through from the most basic up to the most sophisticated. Say, the process normally sets out with the sixth rule, and then moves upward to the first one. To begin with, the sixth rule that is required “to transcribe and copy classical masterpieces” implies a solid training and learning process, for it enables the painter to imitate the classical masterpieces and copy them for longer preservation. It lays stress on grasping the basic skill through imitation and managing to keep the masterpieces “alive” from time to time, for perpetuating preservation by means of transcribing and copying aims at extending circulation in a long run. Then, the fifth rule that is aimed “to make an artistic composition” is a more demanding technique, for it calls for careful placing and arrangement of the objects to be pained. It is so crucial a métier that it determines the success and validity of the whole painting in itself. Next, the fourth that is designed “to apply appropriate coloring in accord with the objects” is to be done according to the characteristics of the objects concerned. As a rule, it leads to the production of the resemblance between the natural objects and the painted ones. It seems to be an elementary part of representation in light of what might be called

3 The translation is modified according to my understanding with particular reference to the English renderings by Herbert Allen Giles and Lin Yutang. In Chinese the top principle is qi yun sheng dong (气韵生动), the second is gu fa yong bi (骨法用笔), the third is ying wu xiang xing (应物象形), the fourth is jing ying wei zhi(经营位置), and the sixth is chuan yi mo xie (传移模写). The English translation of the six rules are varied in expressions not only because of no verbal equivalents available, but because of the distinctive results of understanding and interpretation. A relevant example is found in this book: Susan Bush, The Chinese Literati on Painting: Su Shih (1037–1101) to Tung Ch’i-ch’ang (1555–1636) (Cambrige, MA: Harvard University Press, 1971), p. 127.

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quasi-realism. For it was neither intended to produce any sort of photographically realistic duplication, nor encouraged to model upon any type of detailed verisimilitude at all. Afterwards, the third rule that is proposed “to portray the forms of things as there are” indicates a fatal requirement for image creation. At this point the artistic representation goes further to secure the likeness or resemblance in appearance. It is thus expected to conform to the objects as what they are in form and visuality. Nevertheless, what it tries to attain by so doing is the artistic raison d’être rather than trompe l’œil at this stage. As for the artist, he or she is highly aware of the distinction and linkage between illusion and reality, and between inner structure and outer appearance. Further on, the second rule that is advised “to build a characteristic structure through brush-work” denotes two primary aspects: one refers to a style-oriented structure as an embodiment of artistic uniqueness and individual spirituality, and the other refers to brushwork as an exemplification of an artistic and creative métier. Technically, fine brushwork is grown out of repeated practice and natural gift. It is decisive to the extent that it tends to procure a characteristic structure with personality association. Psychologically, an ideal structure mirrors one’s mentality and sensibility such that it lies in one’s personal cultivation and creative power in most cases. Maybe on this account, Giles translated the original term “gu fa” into “anatomical structure” related to conventional phrenology. Among the ancients such phrenology was assumed to reveal the physical design, disposition, and even personality of human individuals. But as far as the scholarly discourse is concerned in the time of Xie He, gu fa is metaphorical in essence, and most likely derived from feng gu, usually meaning a firm, tenacious and independent personality and forceful style. I hereby employ “a characteristic structure” because I find it closer and more relevant to the first of the six rules given. Eventually, it comes to the first rule that is schemed “to create a lifelike tone and atmosphere filled with rhythmic vitality.” Simply put, this kind of “lifelike tone and atmosphere” is supposed to manifest the body gestures, facial expressions, and distinctive images of the figures inside the picture, shining out from which are the spiritual quality, cultural literacy, and individual taste. The entire ambiance and scene must be most lively and dynamic in light of “rhythmic vitality” per se. Such “rhythmic vitality” is assumed to be touching, moving, and engaging to the degree that it mostly likely induces “spirit resonance” or spiritual sublimation via serene

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contemplation and aesthetic sensibility. It is therefore interpreted in terms of “a sense of life,” “the expression of a man’s nature,” or of “a man’s character” in close association with the spirit of living beings in paintings. It is something less than spirituality but more than mere vitality, since the makeup of the individual is revealed in it.4 As the most important aspect of an artwork, it is applicable to painting, music, dance, poetry, and other genres of art altogether. For this reason, the first rule implies the supreme artistry and the highest standard of visual art in kind. Accordingly, it is interwoven with the other five rules, all staying alive as a frame of reference in the scope of Chinese art creation, criticism, and appreciation ever since their advent in the fifth century.

A Hierarchy of Five Levels As time went by, landscape painting was developed into one of beaux arts in the pure sense of this term. Originated from the beautiful in nature, it came into being during the Sui Dynasty (581–619). It became a special type soon after it moved away from the background of figure painting, and turned out to be on its own right in theme and form. It was during the Tang Dynasty (618–907) that it generated two leading styles known as the blue-green landscape painting and the ink-water landscape painting owing to their respective coloring minerals used. Later on, the ink-water kind gave rise to a style of literati painting initiated during the Tang Dynasty, but matured and flourished in the Song Dynasty (960–1279) and Yuan Dynasty (1271–1368). However, landscape painting as a whole continues to develop all the way through until today. Some of the theories in this regard are to be briefed subsequently because of their perpetual influence. Take Zhang Yanyuan (815–907) for example. Born in a noble and high official family, he went through a solid training and advanced education. Moreover, he had an easy access to rich collections of classical paintings across the country. His observant experience and artistic sensibility help round out his representative book entitled Comments on Famous Paintings in the Ages (Li dai ming hua ji) that was allegedly written from 847 to 859. Apart from promoting Xie He’s six rules and so forth, Zhang proceeded to proclaim that paintings were employed not only to find

4 Susan Bush, The Chinese Literati on Painting, pp. 16–20.

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out the good or bad taste and the wise or foolish expertise, but also to draw from them delight and pleasure to cheer up the mind and please the feeling. In his opinion, the appreciation of paintings can educate and cultivate people cognitively, morally, and aesthetically. Accordingly, he ventures to set up a series of standards to categorize paintings into five levels or calibers in terms of five distinctive styles and relevant qualities. Considering the hierarchical levels of artworks so categorized from an aesthetic point of view, the higher the level is, the more artistic and beautiful the artworks become. The assessment follows such a series of standards: those that bear a natural style (zi ran) belong to the best of the first class; those that feature a marvelous style (shen) belong to the second best of the first class; those that reveal a subtle style (miao) belong to the third best of the first class; those that exhibit a sophisticated style (jing ) belong to the best of the second class; and those that display a prudent and detailed style (jin xi) belong to the second best of the second class. Apparently, Zhang Yanyuan did not finish what was in his mind about the complete list of categories. He stopped abruptly at this point without mentioning the rest of them. It is assumed that he did so deliberately because he might think it not worth wasting his breath about it. In other words, he might be preoccupied with these five levels of paintings only. This argument could be justified by his mere devotion to analyzing and commenting the classical works by well-established masters. Incidentally, this system of five categories is a summary of the views proposed by the preceding critics, but it is modified and enriched by Zhang’s insights into the famous paintings that he had examined. Patently, the conception of “natural style” is essentially stemmed from the doctrinal idea of Laozi that “the Dao follows the way of spontaneous naturalness.” As the principle of all principles, the Dao as such is the origin of the myriad things under Heaven, and works in the way of spontaneous naturalness. The interrelationship between the Dao and spontaneous naturalness is similar to the two sides of one medal. Taken “spontaneous naturalness” as a guiding rope, the paintings of “natural style” appear to be so natural as if they grow out of nature without any traces of artificial embellishment. They are bestowed with an organic synthesis of outward semblance and inward spirituality in addition to imagination, expression, and significance. Moreover, they come into effect as a consequence of the fact that the artist holds a sincere stance to spontaneous naturalness when portraying the image of a natural scene or object. Such stance goes beyond practical needs and interests, characterized with

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spiritual freedom and disinterested contemplation of what it is envisioned. Working together with an extraordinary prowess, it results in an artistic exemplification of the structure, form, and coloring as natural as they are in the most simplistic and symbolic mode. In a word, a landscape painting of this kind is usually judged according to a prevailing rule, a rule that the paintings “are made by man, but they must look like wrought by nature.” As to the paintings of “marvelous style,” they are perceived as the second best because they are not up to the “natural style.” They are impressive and peculiar of ingenious composition, wonderful vision, and fine brushwork. But they are slightly slanting toward the use of artistic expertise such that they stand out more skillfully than naturally, thus revealing a few traces or visible nuances of artifactuality in both representation and expression. When it comes to the paintings of “subtle style,” they become what they are because they are somewhat kept away from the “marvelous style.” They tend to show themselves up as appealing and typical pieces since they rely more on sophisticated expertise. Very often than not, they turn out to be characterized more explicitly by strokes of inspiration and witty organization of the objects. Nevertheless, they retain more traces of artifactuality if compared with the first two types despite that they are all included in the first class. Then, let us turn to the second class that covers two kinds. One stands for the paintings of “sophisticated style,” and the other for those of “prudent and detailed style.” In comparison, those of “sophisticated style” are preoccupied with a realistic representation of things in form, coloring, and other outer aspects. That is to say, they look more elaborated and even eye-catching as they are devoted to imitating the vivid resemblance and glamorous appearance of the objects. In a word, they seem to be more substantial in content but short of artistic subtlety. As for those of “prudent and detailed style,” they are leftovers of those of “sophisticated style,” because they retain an excessive emphasis on detailed descriptions for the sake of verisimilitude. They are seen as an outcome of cautious arrangement, rigid brushwork, vanity of self-exhibitionism, stasis of imagination, and confinement to physical outlook. Nevertheless, it is possible for the paintings of “sophisticated style” to have such merits as wellplanned depiction without causing disorder, and elegant coloring without being kitschy. Regarding the paintings of “prudent and detailed style,” they are liable to be deprived of these merits given above. Instead, they are problematic with confused use of strokes, over-decorated application of coloring, and rigid description without vitality. All this is due

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to their hidden neglection of inwardness, less rhythmic vitality, weak creative power, excessive stress on likeliness, vulnerable brushwork, and mechanical sense of coloring, among others. In the final analysis, the five levels of paintings are further divided into two major classes according to Zhang’s judgment. The first class encompasses three styles known as the natural, the marvelous, and the subtle. The paintings of these three styles are all concerned with “creating a lifelike tone filled with rhythmic vitality,” and “building a characteristic structure through brush-work.” They vary in degree owing to their respective creativity and orientation. They are therefore so engaging that they are pleasing not only to the sight and other senses, but also to the mind and spirit. The second class includes two styles termed as the sophisticated, and the prudent and detailed. They seemingly stick to such principles as “portraying the forms of things as there are” and “applying appropriate coloring in accord with the objects.” More realistic but less creative as they are, they cannot match up with the three preceding styles given. They are therefore ranked in a lower profile, only to please the sense of sight due to their sensuous agreeability and representational technique.

The Four Attainments and the Three Distances Theoretical explorations in visual art gave rise to more fruitful and insightful ideas as presented in an essay on landscape painting under the heading of Lin quan gao zhi by Guo Xi (c. 1000–c.1090). Guo was the greatest of the Northern Song painters and a well-established theorist with abundant experience. As denoted in the Chinese title of his book, the high-brow elegance comes from the mind obsessed in the bamboo grove and the flowing spring. It suggests that a real artist work manually for the social institution but live spiritually in the scenic nature. This lifestyle features disinterestedness in secular gains, detachment from social bondages, and freedom from being enslaved by such external things as fame, wealth, and power. It reflects an artistic attitude to life and complete devotion to the beautiful in natural landscape. It therefore stripes the person of “his eyes for the lavish and luxurious,” and “identifies himself with mountains and rivers for free contemplation,” which leads him to obtain insights into the real life and all natural landscapes in question. As read in his writing, it proposes a set of theories, two of which are most influential. One is about the four attainments (si de), and the other

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about the three distances (san yuan). Here is a statement about the four attainments: A most solid argument points out that some landscape paintings are inviting to walk through, some to look at, some to roam around, and some to reside inside. Reaching at this stage, they are entitled to be regarded as most wonderful pieces. Yet, those are good for walking through and looking at are no better than those for roaming around and residing inside. Why? Take into account the scenery in a large area of hundreds of miles, merely a third of them are appealing enough for roaming around and residing inside…The superior man with the mind obsessed in the bamboo grove and the flowing spring will choose to stay in these few best places. Hence a painter will create paintings of this similar kind, and the viewer will evaluate paintings according to this considerable standard. All this implies what a wonderful painting really means.5

Then, there arises a formulation of the three distances: The High distance (gao yuan) means that the viewer looks up to the peak from the foot of the mountain. The deep distance (shen yuan) means the viewer stands in front of the mountain and glimpses what lies beyond. The level distance (ping yuan) means the viewer stands neat to the mountain and describes the distant mountains. In the case of the high distance, the coloring is clear and the posture lofty. In the case of the deep distance, the coloring is deep murky and the posture overlapping. In the case of the level distance, the coloring is semi-clear or semi-murky and the posture mild and hazy.6

Undeniably, the first thesis intends to file a high standard for selecting a right object, making a good painting, and appreciating it in accord with the four attainments, of which the artistic charm for roaming around and residing inside are more stressed owing to their greater significance. The second thesis provides a practical approach to perspective system. It requires three distinct but interrelated ways of viewing, feeling, and understanding landscapes. A painter is thus enabled to find out different

5 Guo Xi, Lin quan gao zhi [An Essay on Landscape Painting] (Beijing: Zhonghua Shuju, 2011), “Shan shui xun” 山水训 [Of Mountains and Waters]. 6 Ibid.

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dimensions of the objects, abstract the best from them, and then paint them in the most appropriate mode.

The Three Steps of Painting Landscape As detected in the tradition of Chinese painting, the craft of copying (mo xie) was used earlier to make super copies (lin mo) proper. Based on the six rules proposed by Xie He, the development of landscape painting is subjected to the increasing influence from the spirit of Daoism with respect to the human convergence with Heaven and Earth. With the passage of time, the meaning of the craft mentioned above has got enriched and expanded to the extent that it can be employed to denote two stages of interrelated practice: lin mo and xie zhao, both of them can be understood as artistic imitation but with distinct objects and orientations. Quite briefly, lin mo refers to imitating or copying the works of well-known painters. It is very close to the principle that emphasizes the importance of learning from the old masters. By repeatedly imitating the works of the old masters, less mature painters, just like artisan apprentices, are to acquire basic skills in the artistic use of brush, ink, strokes, lines, colors, shades, blanks, compositions, and the like. Meanwhile, these practitioners are to observe and apprehend the artistic styles and significant forms from which they may discover some fundamental frames of reference for individual development in the future practice. Moreover, they will come to see painting as a comprehensive art because its representation and expression are an organic combination of poetry, calligraphy, and seal cutting apart from drawing itself. All this suggests that a successful painter need to have a sound command of four types of technique, say, the artist is expected to be a good painter, calligrapher, poet, and seal-cutter altogether. For this reason, an experienced viewer of a traditional Chinese painting tends to make aesthetic judgment according to the maturity and uniqueness of the four skills as a whole. In order to get into this stage, gifted and ambitious painters will practice constantly to produce replicated paintings (lin mo hua) that help upgrade their artistry in the four interconnected skills. With respect to the exercise of xie zhao as artistic representation-cumexpression to follow up, it is more or less like xie sheng and xie zhen, both of which engage maturing painters to portray directly on the model of the natural objects including all natural landscapes and vital beings. In a more technical sense, it performs a necessary act of learning from nature.

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Conventionally, Chinese painters are liable to treat nature as a mysterious creator who transforms things and scenes into beautiful forms, grotesque images, and even “artworks” beyond human capacity. In brief, if the craft of copying the masterpieces stands for the elementary stage during which immature painters stay indoors and copy the masterpieces in the studio mainly for skill training, the practice of artistic representation-cum-expression implies a higher stage, during which maturing painters step into the open air and produces images of natural objects. On this occasion, they are supposed to be artistically keen and observant, able to find out the delicate features of the physical objects, feel the living ambiance of natural surroundings, and express them as freely and adequately as possible in their works. At this stage, they endeavor to produce eye-perceived paintings (mu hua) that exemplify an artistic sense of maturity and aesthetic taste of individuality. However, it is not enough to reach this level, because something more is to be done according to the first-notch artists and critics.7 Otherwise, one cannot be able to produce the best paintings at all. The fact is that the best paintings can be created only by virtue of chuan shen, meaning to express the inner spirit and unique quality of the natural objects as symbolic parts of the cosmos. In order to nourish the genius of chuan shen, artists ought to learn how to express the vital and rhythmic flow (qi yun) of Heaven and Earth. Those who want to fulfill this ultimate goal of art creation need to foster and enhance such virtues as supreme sensibility, transcendent wisdom, creative imagination, pure taste, spiritual freedom, and so forth. They will possibly come to roam freely around in the endless space and time while enjoying the great beauty of silence between Heaven and Earth. Eventually, with the help of life-long cultivation and creative imagination, they will move onto the third stage. By then they will be able to produce mind-inspired paintings (xin hua) that express their psychical enlightenment, spiritual freedom, and life ideal. One of the typical samples is The Solitary Fisherman on the Hanjiang 7 In his book on Chinese painting, Zhang Yanyuan knocks down the value of moxie as one of the six cardinal principles of painting. He argues that those who cling themselves only to moxie as imitation and representation will be confined to their self-satisfaction with formal or image resemblances while ignoring the expression of the vital rhythm, to the use of coloring on surface while losing the sketching expertise. See Zhang Yanyuan, Li dai ming hua ji [Commentary on the Famous Paintings in the History], in Shen Zicheng (ed.), Li dai lun hua ming zhu hui bian [Selections from the Famous Historical Writings on Chinese Painting], Beijing: Wenwu Chubanshe, 1982), p. 36.

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River (Hanjiang du diao tu) by Ma Yuan in the thirteenth century. It expresses not merely mental schemes drawn from imagination, but also an organic incorporation of idealized visions with unique features embodied in the scenery. It is assumed to involve such virtues as sharp observation, natural affinity, creative imagination, appropriate abstraction, artistic inspiration, perfect brushwork, and so on. All this enables the painter to converge with the beautiful in nature, and even transcend over the finite into the infinite. Quite notably, what is briefed above comprises the three steps of painting landscape in Chinese tradition. The first step is devoted to learning from the preceding masters and imitating the masterpieces. Being a technique-oriented process, it produces super copies for preservation and duration in many cases. These copies are called replicated paintings (lin mo hua) that intend to reproduce the painted landscape in masterpieces. The second step is dedicated to learning vis-à-vis from nature. It guides the painter to return to nature, and search for what is most striking in an aesthetic and inspirational sense. Based on the maturity of technique, it enables the artist to produce eye-perceived paintings (mu hua) as a result of painting landscape directly. The third step is applied to learning from the spirit of Heaven and Earth. Encouraging the free expression of the vital and rhythmic flow of the universe, it is designed to create mind-inspired paintings (xin hua) with focus on the original description of idealized landscape out of mental vision and creative imagination. Apparently, the three steps mentioned above imply a ladder of artistic development and personal cultivation as well. They are hierarchical in terms of both technique improvement and value judgment. During this process, painters go up step by step to upgrade their artistry, and consequently their working gets closer and closer to free creation without any mechanical obstacles or other confinements. This line of thought runs through the history of Chinese landscape painting. It can be traced back to Xie He and Zhang Zao who have discovered the hidden link between the three stages concerned.8 8 Xie He who lived in the fifth century sums up the art of painting into six leading rules stated above. Zhang Zao who lived in the eighth century is renowned to advocate the motto of “wai shi zao hua, zhong de xin yuan” (外师造化中得心源) that emphasizes the apperception of the living rhythm within the artist and the appealing scenes in nature.

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However, it is more explicitly stated by Dong Qichang and Huang Binhong, among others. Some of their ideas in this scope are already stated in a foregoing section about Daoism with reference to the rationale of spontaneous naturalness applied to painting landscape.

The Absence of Self and the Presence of Self Now, with respect to the aesthetic appreciation of landscape painting, what cannot be neglected is the essay about How to Contemplate Things (Guan wu pian) by Shao Yong (1011–1077). It provides a list of approaches. Two of them are most popular for their wider application. One is about how to “contemplate things in view of things” (yi wu guan wu), and the other about how to “contemplate things in view of self” (yi wo guan wu). According to Shao, to “contemplate things in view of things” is related to their own nature in itself. To “contemplate things in view of self” is subjected to one’s emotional projection in effect. Elsewhere, he asserts that one can be freed from emotional drives when being able to perceive things by virtue of the first approach.9 For he believes that by so doing one can go beyond the entanglement of subjective disturbance, and understand things objectively as they are in themselves. In other words, he prefers a kind of tranquil contemplation in order to investigate things for an insightful knowledge of them. Incidentally, what is meant by the notion of “things” is inclusive in principle, thus covering all objects, beings, events, and artworks. Interestingly, Wang Guowei extends the two methods of contemplation for the sake of poetic appreciation and evaluation. As he pronounces, There are [two kinds of poetic state distinguished between] the presence of self (you wo zhi jing) and the absence of self (wu wo zhi jing)…The presence of self is to “contemplate things in view of self”(yi wo guan wu), and hence what is contemplated is colored by the sentiments of self. The absence of self is to “contemplate things in view of things” (yi wu guan wu), and therefore what is contemplated is free from the distinction On the occasion of this apperception as a living experience, the internal self is harmonious and interactive with the external cosmos. 9 Shao Yong, Guan wu pian [How to Contemplate things]; also see Philosophy Department of Peking University (ed.), Zhong guo mei xue shi zi liao xuan bian [Selected sources in the History of Chinese Aesthetics], Vol. II, 17–20. The two methods in Chinese are yi wu guan wu (以物观物) and yi wo guan wu (以我观物).

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between self and things. Most of the ancient ci poets would succeed in composing works featuring the presence of self, but fail to creating works characterized with the absence of self.10

Accordingly, Wang moves on to illustrate them through typical examples. That is, “My tearful eyes ask flowers but they fail to bring an answer. I see blossoms fall beyond the swing”; “Shut up in lonely inn, can I bear the cold spring? I hear at lengthening sunset the home-bound cuckoos sing.” Such poetic lines embody the “presence of self.” “As I pick the chrysanthemums beneath the eastern fence, my eyes fall leisurely on the Southern Mountain”; “Cold waves are rippling lightly up, white cranes are flying slowly down.” These lines exemplify the “absence of self.” Psychologically speaking, the “presence of self” denotes a kind of poetic situation or atmosphere in which the viewer projects one’s feelings or sentiments into the object concerned in one sense, and identifies oneself with it in the other. It is for this reason that what is contemplated is open to be affected by personal sentiment, experience, reaction, ideal, expectation, belief, taste, and mentality in all. In contrast, the “absence of self” connotes another kind of poetic state or ambiance that exposes the viewer to spiritual freedom and tranquility. He is detached from any distinction between self and things involved, thus enabling him to perceive things as what they are in their own right. Yet, one may experience an implicit convergence with nature and transcend any form of this-worldly constraints. In other words, the “absence of self” features tranquil contemplation whereas the “presence of self” entails a subjective mood. To the degree of artistic effect, the former is more subtle and suggestive than the latter. Accordingly, it is more difficult for poets to obtain the subtle and suggestive realm of poetic imagery in their compositions. Conventionally, Chinese poetry and painting are closely interrelated to the degree that poetry and painting must be both poetic and picturesque in essence. It is especially the case with landscape poetry and landscape painting, because both of them describe mountscapes and waterscapes

10 Wang Guowei, Wang Kuo-wei’s Jen-Chien Tsi-hua: A Study in Chinese Literary Criticism (trans. Adele Austin Rickett, Hong Kong University Press, 1977), pp. 41–42. The English translation is modified according to the original text. The four key notions in Chinese are you wo zhi jing (有我之境), wu wo zhi jing (无我之境), yi wo guan wo (以 我观物), and yi wu guan wu (以物观物).

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through visual perception and imaginary creation. Moreover, a good piece of landscape painting is often determined by the four unique components at their best, the components that include the arrangement itself, the poem attached, the calligraphy on it, and the painter’s seal stamped. Hence, the two approaches can be applied to landscape poetry and landscape painting alike. As experienced in contemplating the landscape paintings by Dong Yuan (934–e. 962), Li Cheng (919–967), Fan Kuan (950–1032), and Guo Xi in the North Song period, viewers would like to feel the pastoral kinship between humanity and nature, as though they encounter the most inviting scenery in which they would like to make a tour and take residence. A lifestyle and aesthetic engagement seem to go hand in hand in these depictions of nature. Unrestrained by any preconditions related to any specific themes or ideas, viewers contemplate, rethink, and enjoy them as they are characterized with greater freedom and artistic space. Accordingly, the vistas and objects given in a complete and panoramic scene provide viewers with more room for discovery and expression by means of their own aesthetic sensibility. The paintings of this kind are richer and more diversified in meaning and significance, thus producing more lasting pleasure and enjoyment. In a word, landscape painting of the North Song is. characterized by an “absence of self” in a highly developed state. In fact, in all branches of art and literature….we can find examples of this kind of beauty any artistic conception characterized by an “absence of self”. This does not mean the artist’s own thoughts and feelings are truly absent, only that these have not been revealed directly…. In fact, artists are not always fully aware of how they are thinking and feeling when they doing a piece of creative work. Rather, it is in the very process of objectively depicting something—whether it be a natural scene, or a human action—that their thoughts and feelings, as well as the principal theme, eventually become richer, broader in scope, and more diverse in significance in the process.11

Incidentally, those painters abovementioned were feudal scholars and officials with their own aesthetic ideals and feelings for the natural scenes. They made their paintings to mirror their state of mind each in a more suggestive or indirect manner, say, they managed to detach themselves

11 Li Zehou, The Path of Beauty: A Study of Chinese Aesthetics, pp. 187–188.

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from what they were representing in their works. This would put the viewers under the impression that there seemed to be a kind of “absence of self” in their paintings. With the passage of time, aesthetic ideals and standards would change and develop for certain reasons under certain conditions. As the North Song went through its early and later phases into the South Song, the concept of “absence of self” slanted toward its opposite notion of “presence of self.” This change was leagued with the orientation and influence of the dominant style of Court Painting or Imperial Academy. That is, when the style of court painting (gong ting hua) in the North Song reached its acme, it called forth the nurture and experiment of a new style. This paved the way for the court painting in the South Song to offer something different. As perceived in the exemplary paintings by Li Tang (1066–1150), Liu Songnian (1131–1218), Ma Yuan (1140–1225) and Xia Gui (?), most of them feature a picturesque vision and poetic sentiment in a lyrical fashion, and demonstrate a limited or isolated scene each, a scene that is carefully selected, intentionally arranged, and meticulously portrayed. They are all treated in such a sophisticated manner, attempting to communicate poetic charm, hidden thoughts, personal feelings, and spiritual concerns. They appear so distinct from the more inclusive descriptions of complete scenes in the landscape paintings during the North Song period. Just as it affirms in the following observation: Compared with the artistic conception that prevailed during the North Song, artists of the South Song expressed their feelings and concepts more directly. But compared with the next stage [during the Yuan Dynasty], the artists still maintained a relatively objective or impersonal stand in their depictions of subjects and expressions of concepts and feelings. In other words, faithful representation of natural scenes and objects remained the basic principle, even thought this was coupled with a much more conscious and obvious seeking of poetic flavor and expression of feelings than in the North Song landscape painting. Paintings of this category and period should best be considered as representing an intermediate stage in the transition from “absence of self” to “presence of self”. They were still in an institutionalized academy style and were definitely not the sentimental works of literary men.12

12 Li Zehou, The Path of Beauty: A Study of Chinese Aesthetics, p. 194.

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Notwithstanding the disclosure of varied approaches to Chinese landscape painting, the observation given above is chiefly about the expression of subjective sentiments and insights through the description of appearances. As noticed in most cases, a good piece of landscape painting appears identical to the scene as is perceived and even envisaged in the living surroundings. No matter how philosophized the significance of landscape painting becomes, its style never parts completely with the reality. In William Watson’s view, “Its realistic side, in mountain forms, light, space and vegetation, can perhaps only be properly judged by one who knows soothing of the reality in China.”13 Now, to wrap up this discussion, I think it relevant to quote a fairly precise account of an insightful and empirical observation. For it can be taken as a useful frame of reference formulated through the eye of a viewer from the West. Say, The landscape is ideal and romantic; its chief aim is to induce mood, Stimmungslandschaft, as an aid to communion with nature, the Tao [Dao]. Another, simpler idea, perhaps never divorced from the landscape since the time of Ku K’ai-chih [Gu Kaizhi] himself, was that the viewer should imaginatively enter into the picture, cross that little bridge and follow that path winding up a gorge towards the majestic and unattainable peak that crowns the composition. Then came a philosophical idea entirely characteristic of Chinese thinking. A painter creates by ‘establishing the idea (meaning)’, and his work is the ‘trace’ he leaves of the idea. But painting is not to be described as a purely subjective process. It is the idea rather than the man which leaves the trace: the human mind has combined with a corresponding part of creative nature, which lies outside the painter, or at most includes him in a greater unit. Some spoke of the quintessence of landscape art (naming that differently—‘spirit resonance’, ‘structuring spirit’) as something existing objectively in nature, which is the artist’s business to discern and convey to his painting. Others…would say that the “structuring spirit” is a mode of perception supplied by the artist’s mind, without objective existence apart from the artist. These were different philosophic views that did not necessarily affect practice much.14

13 William Watson, Style in the Arts of China (London: Penguin Books, 1974), p. 83. 14 William Watson, Style in the Arts of China, pp. 85–86.

CHAPTER 11

The Rise of Modern Chinese Aesthetics

The outset of the twentieth century witnessed an increasing flux of Western ideas into China, a flux that motivated and facilitated the rise of modern Chinese aesthetics as an outcome of the exchange and collision between Chinese culture and its Western counterpart. Modern Chinese aesthetics has made progress along with a continuous interaction and communication between Chinese and Western aesthetics, and acquired a unique form and style in placing Western ideas in a close and reflective contact with Chinese heritage. In view of its method and content, the defining characteristic of Chinese aesthetics is the integration and assimilation of the historical into the modern as a result of East–West intercultural transformation. Historically speaking, there have emerged at least six modes regarding the rise of modern Chinese aesthetics over a span of a hundred years. Each of them has its own focus of interest, stands either as a precondition or frame of reference to the next, and exerts influence upon the others in all. When all of them grow to a greater extent, they work out a linear sketch of different stages of progression and investigation. In brief, the mode of fragmentary account is largely based on translation and introduction; the mode of systematic framing is characterized with systematic transplantation; the mode of theoretical incorporation is carried out by means of either creative transformation or transformational creation from a cross-cultural perspective; the mode of transcultural © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021 K. Wang, Beauty and Human Existence in Chinese Philosophy, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-1714-0_11

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rediscovery is operated through a critical comparison of distinct cultural origins and features; and the mode of comprehensive praxis is directed to eco-model of arts education with reference to the “discipline-based arts education.” As to the most fruitful outcome of long-term exploration, the theories of poetic state par excellence and art as sedimentation turn out to be most noteworthy, because of their strong appeal to critical reflections and theoretical reconsiderations. Compared with other forms of discourse in humanities in China, aesthetic discourse is more solid and substantial due to the normal access to more freedom of speech in a much larger space of thinking. For it helps enhance development and enlightenment in aesthetic, intellectual, political, and spiritual domains, and meanwhile, it stays most influential in the area of ideology as it entails public awareness of cultivating a good taste for the quality of life, among others.

Fragmentary Account China underwent a series of domestic political turmoil and invasion from some imperialist powers in the first half of the twentieth century. A lot of aspiring and patriotic academics deeply felt the destiny of the whole nation at stake. Confronted with severe challenges, they tried every possible means to look for the road of cultural reform for the salvation of the country and its people. At that time, the introduction of Western sciences and the pursuit of cultural transformation shifted their attention from the instrumental dimension to institutional and conceptual dimensions. Although the debate between “old learning” (Chinese) and “new learning” (Western) still lingered on, the former gradually withdrew to obscurity while the latter forced its way into prominence. Against this socio-cultural background, there arose such viewpoints as “Going beyond the distinction between Chinese and Western learning,” and “Looking for new voices in foreign cultures.” Those viewpoints turned out to be so prevailing that all sorts of Western theories and ideologies flooded into China through translated versions. As noted in the fields of aesthetics, art, and literature altogether, scholars made joint efforts to accelerate the translation and import of Western aesthetic theories in particular. They assumed that such theories could be employed to resolve the issues in the practice of Chinese art and literature, which would in turn help reconstruct the national mentality and identity to some extent. As discerned in the writings during this period of time, the Psychology of Art and

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Literature (Wen yi xin li xue) by Zhu Guanqian (1897–1986),1 for example, introduces and explicates Western theories with reference to Chinese sources. By so doing, it narrows down the cultural and theoretical distance between the two traditions. All this formed a rudimentary stage of developing modern Chinese aesthetics. As luck would have it, it gave a strong impetus to rediscover the aesthetic ideas in Chinese thought and aesthetic appeal in Chinese art and literature. According to social needs, cultural interests, personal tastes, and artistic ideals, those who engaged themselves in this undertaking selected some influential theories from Western aesthetics, incorporated them with relevant elements in Chinese heritage, and proceeded to propose some theories as hybrid products. By so doing, relevant commentary, critical or analytical, is made on such things as Kant’s theory of “disinterestedness,” “the beautiful and the sublime,” Schiller’s theory of “free play” and “aesthetic education,” Schopenhauer’s theory of “will to live” and “serene contemplation,” and Nietzsche’s consideration of “genius” and “Over-man,” among many others. Naturally, what occurred to their practice of fragmentary introduction were such side-effects as lop-sided interpretation, mechanical imitation, deliberate exaggeration, far-fetched argumentation, textual misappropriation, contextual misplacement, theoretical deformation, and so forth. For instance, the Kantian notion of “disinterested satisfaction” and the Schopenhauerian concept of “serene contemplation” were easily accepted under the condition of the Daoist extra-utilitarian tradition for carefree cultivation, mind-heart excursion, and pro-uselessness over usefulness in a pragmatic sense. All these side-effects could be seen as unavoidable consequences of fragmentary selection and a lack of systematic research. However, they appeared so inevitable in a socio-cultural context that was in urgent need of a solution to national salvation and survival. During this period, however, the rise of modern Chinese aesthetics embraced newly developed theoretical considerations. In this regard, Wang Guowei’s doctrines of jingjie as the “poetic state par excellence,” and guya as “classical gracefulness,” are often regarded as best evidences of aesthetic criticism from a transcultural perspective. At the same time, critical reflections on the traditional doctrines of Confucianism opened

1 This book is entitled in Chinese as Wen yi xi li xue (文艺心理学), which is an introduction to Western theories but illustrated through Chinese materials in many cases.

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up a new horizon in the scope of aesthetic education, and procured a persistent impact on the budding phase of modern Chinese aesthetics.

Systematic Framing The New Culture Movement that launched in 1919 propelled Chinese aesthetic studies onto a higher platform. In particular, the exercise of art education attempted to integrate aesthetics with art and literature, and it therefore took up collective responsibility for the enlightenment of the public and the rebuilding of national identity This motivated some Chinese thinkers to build up a formal discipline of aesthetics through systematic inquiry into basic categories and intellectual history altogether. It was intended to make the most of Western scientific methods by virtue of proper application, and meanwhile, to select valid elements from Chinese sources available. By so doing in the domain of modern aesthetics, it was schemed to formulate its disciplinary structure and improve its theoretical system. In this sphere, one of the leading figures was Cai Yuanpei (1868– 1940). Cai himself received philosophical training and approached aesthetics in the University of Leipzig and other universities in Germany. After his return to China, he took an active part in promoting The Approaches to Aesthetics (1921), lecturing on Western aesthetics, and drafting the outlines for the textbook On Aesthetics (in fact he drafted out two chapters on “The Tendency of Aesthetics” and “The Object of Aesthetics”). Since he became president of Peking University, his project of art education exerted nationwide influence, laid a solid foundation, evoked academic interest among researchers, and greatly inspired their initiative and engagement. Along this line of thought, 1960s witnessed the publication of A History of Western Aesthetics by Zhu Guangqian who received his post-graduate education in England and France. The book was edited by using a large chunk of first-hand materials from Western aesthetics translated and interpreted in Chinese. However, it is not until the first decade of the new millennium that Ru Xin (1931–) has led a task group and edited the most substantial history of Western aesthetics in four big volumes. It is well received in China due to its solid scholarship and updated reflections. During this decade, systematic investigation of Western aesthetics is also extended into the sources of Hellenic heritage. Several publications on Plato’s poetics or philosophy of art have turned

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out to be fairly substantial and fruitful as a consequence of improved classical scholarship and methodological experimentation. Another contributing factor to systematic aesthetic studies was found in the large amount of translated works. The author of the earliest translation was Liu Renhang (1884–1938) whose rendering of Modern Aesthetics was published in 1920. Later on, Zhu Guangqian, Zong Baihua, and other philosophers continued to translate many aesthetic classics, for instance, the Selected Dialogues by Plato, Poetics by Aristotle, Critique of Judgment by Kant, Lectures on Aesthetics by Hegel, New Science by Vico, Aesthetic Theory by Croce, and so forth. During the span of a decade from 1980s to 1990s, Li Zehou (1930–) initiated and edited “Translation Series of Aesthetic Works.” It has led to the publication over 50 translated texts from the West, covering mostly the major works on aesthetics in the twentieth century. An offhanded list includes the writings by Szgedi Lukács, John Dewey, Jean-Paul Sartre, Robin G. Collingwood, George Santayana, C. J. Ducasse, Hans R. Jauss, Della Volpe, Herbert Read, Mikel Dufrenne, Susanne Langer, Rudolf Arnheim, T. W. Adorno, and Jacques Derrida, among many others. All this provides much-needed materials for systematic aesthetic studies in China. A systematic construction of modern Chinese aesthetics achieved evident accomplishments from 1930 to 1940s. Theorists like Lü Cheng (1896–1989), Chen Wangdao (1891–1977), Li Anzhai (1900–1985), Fan Shoukang (1896–1983), Zhu Guangqian, Cai Yi (1906–1992), and Fu Tongxian (1910–1985, followed one another to produce many treaties on the structure of aesthetics, introduction to aesthetics, outline of aesthetics, psychology of art, periodic history of Western aesthetics, and so on. They made tremendous efforts to define the characteristics of the discipline in accordance with the triad division of truth, goodness, and beauty, analyze the essentials of aesthetics in light of philosophy and art criticism, reorganize the development of aesthetics through the main theoretical models with focus on sense of beauty, and establish a new framework of aesthetics against the old one in terms of practical rules of artistic creation. Meanwhile, systematic studies of Chinese art theory and criticism laid a solid foundation for the establishment of classic Chinese aesthetics. In this aspect, significant achievements were embodied in Cai Yi’s theory of new aesthetics, Zhu Guangqian’s theory of poetry, Feng Zikai’s theory of painting, Deng Yizhe’s theory of calligraphy, etc. Correspondingly, historical surveys and reconsiderations of Chinese aesthetics were conducted by

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a number of Chinese contemporary philosophers. The highly acknowledged achievers of them are Zong Baihua (1897–1986), Xu Fuguan (1903–1982), Li Zehou, Liu Gangji (1933–2019), Min Ze (1927–2004), Ye Lang, and others. As observed in their writings, there are traces of theoretical appropriation, conceptual shift, and semantic transfer in light of transcultural and transformational creation.

Intellectual Enlightenment The first quarter of the twentieth century witnessed the main publications by Lu Xun (1881–1936) as the foremost leading figure in modern Chinese literature and criticism. The Essay on M¯ aratic Poetic Power (1907)2 represents his early preoccupation with the Romantic poetry. As indicated by the title, “M¯ aratic” is the adjective form of “M¯ ara” as a mythological figure in Indian Buddhism. It is used here to mean what the English public called “devil” or “demon” with particular reference to Byron, a leading Romantic and deviant poet. As read in the essay given above, Byron is characterized by the M¯ ara allegory, and other Romantic poets are considered to be natural members of the M¯ aratic school. Thematically, this special case is used to evoke public attention, and to seek an alternative to resolve national crisis. It is actually a proclamation full of enthusiasm for democratic revolution and humanistic ideal, hankering after a fundamental change in Chinese mentality, promoting what the Romantic poetry “intends to revolt by action,” and calling for an “initiative and spirited kind of soldier.” In other words, it can be seen as a blend of Lu’s strong passion and political ideal, which aims at an intellectual enlightenment of Chinese people. Such enlightenment is enhanced against the background of reconstructing national identity and innovating cultural heritage, which is conceived as pivotal to actualize the integrity of lawfulness with purposefulness in light of the M¯ aratic poetic power and its socio-political effect. Accordingly, it is highly valued for its historic role in breaking up the old and setting up the new at the time when the transformational process of Chinese poetics moved away from the classical pattern of illusory harmony toward the radical paradigm of M¯ aratic sublimity.

2 This essay is titled in Chinese as Mo luo shi li shuo (摩罗诗力说).

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Noticeably, the essay itself draws on the Darwinian evolutionism as its theoretical basis, and exploits literary revolution as its practical means, attempting to offer a driving impetus for the intellectual enlightenment and social reform in the chaotic China then. Featuring an in-depth analysis of some global civilizations and their main causes of “decline from past prosperity,” it embraces a critical conception of cultural transformation, and purports at a flat denial of the conservative world outlook. This outlook is held by the old-fashioned advocates of cultural restoration who tend to dismiss and reject the keynote of national salvation via Westernization Movement. This movement is by nature a radical one, playing down the spiritual legacy in the indigenous culture, and backlashing the Confucian convention of moral education through poetry with non-depraved thought. To Lu’s mind, this convention is accountable for the suppression of genius individuality and the stasis of Chinese art and literature. Lu himself tones up the significance of education through new art, and bestows it with an indispensable role in upgrading aesthetic welfare. Consequently, he strives to affirm that the Romantic poets are outstanding for their vigorous pursuit, unbending spirit, and genuine expression, etc. In addition, their poetic power is able to break up the “filthy mess of stillness,” and to strike a note of rebellion. Hence an enthusiastic applause is dedicated to Byron’s margaric spirit and romantic style, intending to “resort to foreign land for a new voice.” In his belief, the transference of this kind is most likely to foster Chinese Byron and Shelley as “spiritual soldiers.” Such soldiers are supposed to possess awakening prophecy for literary revolution, and also conjectured as pioneers to pave the way for a new type of Chinese literature. During the span of time from 1906 to 1936, Lu Xun fought more than 30 years for the revival of Chinese art and literature in order to enlighten the Chinese people and reconstruct national character. It is widely agreed that his later accomplishments in such domains as new poetics, aesthetic pursuit, literary output, art criticism, political ideal of democratic revolution, and humanistic philosophy largely owed to this critical essay in question. As one of Chinese critics, a younger contemporary of Lu Xun, points out, The Essay on M¯aratic Poetic Power is a war proclamation calling on an ideological revolution in the old China. With a clear-cut stand and passionate tone, it reflects the most advanced level of democratic revolution before the Revolution of 1911. What is most noticeable therein is Lu

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Xun’s skeptic view, that is, “searching all over China, where could we find out our spirited soldiers?” Tentatively taken as the ideal form of expressing his aspirations, poetics literally turned out to be the object of his study through which he carried on with his idealistic pursuit. He also protested, “Is anyone striking a most sincere note to convert us to be kind-hearted, beautiful, and robust people? Is anyone striking a warming note to lift us out of chilly desolation?” For this, we have no reason to suspect Lu Xun’s political enthusiasm and readiness to fight for his idealism. As a matter of fact, the underlying theme of social reform is always well incorporated into his artistic creation.3

Ostensibly, Lu Xun is said to be firmly convinced that the Romantic or M¯ aratic poets in Europe as a whole be an abundant source of inspiration, for they are well in the position to strike the greatest masculine note in their languages and thoughts. In his hope, these poets differ from each other in their backgrounds, but they share the same ideal. In contrast to the soft lines groaned out by other submissive poets, the M¯ aratic poems turn out to be a powerful weapon for their vicariously excited readers to challenge the privilege of divinity and defy social establishment. Its rebellious spirit even finds its way to affect later generations, and its inexhaustible influence remains significant in human history. Despite the diversity of their individual character, nationality, action, or theory, the M¯ aratic poets manifest in their literary output the same poetic style, excelling with truthfulness, sincerity, unyielding fortitude, and so on. They never yield to the vulgar, but always focus on the noble. Practically, they manage to keep their peoples awakened and their nations fortified through their vigorous and thought-provoking compositions. Take Byron for example. He was always brave, defiant, brooding, and ready to march ahead. He loved both the Napoleonic destroying of the world and the Washington’s fighting for freedom. Eventually, he sacrificed his life to combat for Greek independence from the Turkish occupation. On this account, Lu Xun highly appreciates Byron, recommends him as a typical M¯ aratic character singing hymn to the mighty, and asks all the readers to welcome the birth of a Chinese Byron at any rate. Undoubtedly, Lu Xun champions the M¯ aratic school in order to express his admiration of Romantic ethos. He treats them as spiritual

3 Tang Tao, Lu Xun de mei xue si xiang [Lu Xun’s Aesthetic Thought] (Beijing: Renmin Wenxue Press, 1984), p. 67.

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soldiers and poetic geniuses. In Lu’s terminology, their strength is “so powerful to spur others,” demonstrating a soul-stirring charm and exemplifying a far-reaching impact due to their infinite creativity; their language is “so profound and appealing,” stimulating the depth of thought and arousing the passion for a change; and their voice is full of “beautiful majesty and macho,” representing a new tone from foreign land that is thought-provoking enough to overturn the old and stale. For this reason, the Romantic poetry is glorified as an alarming drum to dispel the bleak desolation out of China then. And meanwhile, it is expected to make people enlightened, courageous, and even revolutionary. Judging from the perspective of spiritual revolution, Lu Xun proceeds to identify M¯ ara with a spiritual warrior. In his opinion, warriors of this kind are saturated with strenuous and endless efforts, capable of “bringing to an end the desolation in China” and pushing forward “the second reformation.” They are no other than those who fight for liberty and democracy, say, those who “intend to revolt and aim to take action.” As read in “The Ideological Bigotry in Culture” (1908),4 Lu Xun sharply criticizes not only the Western materialism, but also the political superficiality of those who have embarked upon exclusive pursuit of advantages and material gains in the process of Westernization enterprise. By so doing, he intends to bring forth the possibility of “curbing the material development, spurring intellectual enlightenment, and appointing the trustworthy and competent individuals while unyielding to the stupid mobs.” The term “individuals” here bears two implications: one is pointed to individual liberation and self-dignity in a humanistic sense, and the other to a prophetic “fighter” of democratic and liberal ideal. This corresponds to Lu’s conviction that “the primary principle of life is to encourage individuality,” for individuality as a virtue is extraordinary in that those who have unparalleled will power are ready to express what they feel and wish, and brave to fight for what they pursue and expect. Although they may encounter failure or defeat from time to time, they will beat on, insisting to fulfill their ideals in the end. All this is an illustration of their noble characters in kind.5 In general, Lu Xun advices a real poet to be a revolution-spirited legislator just like those “spiritual fighters” of the M¯ aratic school. To his

4 This essay is titled in Chinese as Wen hua pian zhi lun (文化偏执论). 5 Lu Xun, Wen hua pian zhi lun [On the Ideological lopsidedness in Culture].

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understanding, those fighters write poems in order to resist malpractice in old conventions that prevent the development of poetry. They devote themselves to the ideal of justice, redouble their efforts to facilitate the “tide of reform,” fight against the outdated customs, and encourage the destruction of the old without any compromise. All of them are blessed with intuitive power, engaging themselves in endless pursuit and exploration, and marching forward without retreating an inch. Unfortunately, people in the street could hardly understand their deep thoughts and heroic deeds. If someone happens to recognize their outstanding characters, he will probably see them as those who come from the lofty realm, appearing so passionate, sincere, and high-spirited that nothing could frustrate them or prevent them from adventuring into the imaginative world. It is in this world that the beautiful substance exists and thrives.6 All in all, Lu Xun actively promotes the artistic principle that the true is beautiful, for what is true in art means the creative expression of genuine emotion and feeling. As a rule, the creative expression springs from the freedom of speech and thinking, which serves to suspend or terminate both typecasting ideology and external constraint. As for the genuine emotion and feeling, they grow out of the heart of the artist who is “really aroused without a single pretense.” To live up to this principle, an artist is expected to “transcend the classical model and stay candid about one’s belief,” which entails a “sincere” or m¯ aratic “spokesperson of truth.” Hereby, Lu unrelentingly rejects the idea of literature as a mouthpiece of the ruling, as a means of indulging in breeze and moon, or as an instrument to obscure the truth and mislead the public. Accordingly, the poems that “are intended to praise and please the ruling power” are worth nothing; the verses that “are empathetic with insect, bird, wood and spring” are mostly unable to discover real beauty; the art and literature that come out as mere “obscurity and deception owing to the fear for the reality” is next to the source that poisons and pollutes the mentality of the people. Being so indignant about the abuse of art and literature, Lu himself moves on to reinforce his argument in a satirical article “On Keeping Eyes Wide Open” (1925).7 In his view, Chinese people are prone not to face the reality in certain cases. Their mentality as such will lead

6 Lu Xun, Moluo shi li shuo [The Theories of M¯ aratic Poetic Power], 6th section. 7 The essay is titled in Chinese as Lun zheng le yan kan (论睁了眼看).

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art and literature astray, get themselves confused, and even deceive themselves with illusions. Hence he advises Chinese writers to remove their face masks, perceive the changing world as it is, and write with their blood to expose the truth. Under such circumstances, they are able to create a new world of art and literature, which is analogized to the “beacon light guiding the voyage of national spiritual development.” Critical and observant as he is, Lu Xun gets so close to see through the nature of the social crisis in his time. Say, if he went further to explore its most fundamental cause in terms of the problems and drawbacks of political institutional system, he would come out with a more adequate diagnosis of “knocking down the old world in order to set up a new one.” In spite of all this, Lu is among the first to recognize the urgency of cultural reform, intellectual enlightenment and reconstructing national character. The legacy of his thought is still of important relevance so as to play a valid role even today. It is worth mentioning that some of Lu’s radical views do not necessarily mean his rejection of all the attempts at cultural restoration. Instead, he expects the nostalgia of the past to be backed up by the endeavors to renew the old. In his opinion, the prospect of the country owes much to historical studies that should be critical of and clear-sighted about the past. Such studies can be deployed as a mirror through which many lessons can be learnt from critical reflections. As China keeps moving ahead along a promising journey, the innovation will go on without a stop. As Chinese people hold dear to their prosperous past, the renovation of the old will continue without a pause.8 This being true, the need to cherish the old and establish the new is desirable to address the dialectical unity in the case of cultural reform. The retrospective efforts are required to wake people up from day-dreaming. The journey toward the future is expected to have the old renewed and make the new thrived concomitantly. All this is directed to abandon depressive pessimism, overcome stupid obstinacy, destroy outdated conformity, recognize civilizational infinity, and pursue endlessly social and cultural progress.

8 Lu Xun, Moluo shi li shuo [The Theories of M¯ aratic Poetic Power], 3rd section.

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Transcultural Rediscovery The beautiful in art is most illustrious, expressive, and representative of every culture. Like Whitehead, Thomé Fang (Fang Dongmei 1899–1977) resorts to art as a relevant illumination of cultural traits and values. He proposes art education as a starting and pivotal point of transcultural reflection, transformation, and even creation due to its aesthetic appeal and cultural worth. The education of this kind begins with transcultural ponderings in view of cultural origins involved. This factually corresponds to modern Chinese aesthetics that continues to develop along with a comparative study of aesthetic cultures. Such study focuses more on cultural pattern, social ethos, artistic spirit, and aesthetic quality, among others. It requires vertical survey and horizontal analysis. Fang himself persistently probes into distinctive cultural origins from a transcultural perspective, and demonstrated respective cultural ideals and aesthetic qualities by means of comparison. He adopts a holistic standpoint and looks into three kinds of wisdom related to ancient Greece, modern Europe, and traditional China. Quite deliberately, he proceeds to demonstrate the thought-ways, lifestyles, cultural ideals, national identities, and artistic tastes each. According to his description, the ancient Greeks were well equipped with the faculties of intelligence that conduced to the wisdom of reality and produced the culture of rationality. They were therefore liable to pursue and justify truth with the power of reason. Their lifestyle was characterized with three forms of spirit in connection with Dionysus, Apollo, and Olympus symbolizing passion, reason, and lack of emotion. Among them the Apollonian spirit was regarded as the main stream. The modern Europeans would dedicate themselves to seeking after beneficial momentum that led to the wisdom of convenience and nourished industrial craftiness. They therefore developed the culture of worshipping might as right, thus driving emotion and feeling into illusion complex. Their lifestyle featured such three types of ethos as were reflected in the Renaissance, the Baroque, and the Rococo. The Renaissance was attributed to artistic enthusiasm, the Baroque to the scientific enlightenment, and the Rococo to the contradiction between emotion and reason. They could be integrated into the Faustian spirit. The traditional Chinese would be obsessed with taking delight in a subtle understanding of nature and change. They would rely on the wisdom of reality, make use of the wisdom of convenience, and accomplish the wisdom of equality. They therefore created a culture of subtleness and

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naturalness, attempting mainly to control the illusive and return to the sincere. With respect to what Fang believes, the respective features of the three cultures given have impact on their corresponding forms of artistic expression and aesthetic quality. In addition, he claims culture to be both a complete manifestation of the human soul and a sophisticated picture of human life, feeling and reasoning altogether. In order to understand the sense of beauty and aesthetic characteristics pertaining to a national identity, one should bear in mind the particular aspects of a national lifestyle and considerate the cosmic view of a nation as a whole. Relatively speaking, the ancient Greeks and modern Europeans tend to approach the cosmos from a scientific perspective whereas the traditional Chinese tend to approach it from an artistic perspective. Hence, there arise different tastes, judgments, and expressions, which might be thematically displayed on a well-lighted platform as follows9 : Cast

Ancient Greek

Background Setting

Limited cosmos The Pantheon in Athens Sculpture of naked body

Accessory scene

Subject matter

Imitating nature and its objects

Hero Acting Music

Apollo Singing eulogy The seven-stringed lyre and the harp

Situation

A sunny day after rainfall

Scene Season

Lifelike A clear autumn day

Modern European

Traditional Chinese Boundless cosmos Deserted wildness Gothic church Ancient temples in remote mountains Oil painting and Landscape musical instrument painting and flowers Governing nature and Following the Dao its objects and being unconscious of the object and the self Faust Poet Dancing Composing poetry The violin and the The bamboo flute piano and the inverted bell Lightening in a sunny The sound of the day flute in the moonlight Real illusion Illusionary reality Hot summer and cold Warm spring winter (continued)

9 Fang Dongmei, Sheng ming qing diao yu mei gan [Taste of Life and Sense of Beauty],

in Huang Kejian (ed.), Fang Dongmei ji [Selected Works of Thomé Fang] (Beijing: Qunyan Press, 1993), pp. 355–357.

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(continued) Mood

Outward expression of Struck by thunder, simplicity and shocked and stirred elegance up

Flower into dream and relaxation of mind

This condensed illustration does not transpose every factor onto the succinct table given. It just offers a sketch of some most perceivable and ostensible features of the three heritages concerned. Nevertheless, it goes down to the fundamental roots each so as to highlight their cultural origins for the sake of contrast. Quite interestingly, it lays bare the cardinal discrepancies and hidden resemblances between the three cultures. Take each “hero” on the table for example. “Apollo” is often viewed as a symbol of Greek mythology from which Greek art, ideal beauty, and even philosophical spirit are originated during the Hellenic Age. “Faust” is usually conceived as an image of European mentality that is aligned not only with persistent probe into the unknown, but also with non-stop curiosity about creating something novel. “Poet” is normally seen as a figure of spiritual freedom and rich imagination who is sensitive to the living environment and human condition; he enjoys contemplating the outer universe and speaking for the inner world, ready to identify himself with the object while roaming through visible and invisible landscapes. As regards the “music” performance, “the lyre and the harp” are played to produce the lyrical tone and unique harmonia of Ionic and Doric types. “The violin and the piano” are played to demonstrate the grand style and profound theme of symphony through orchistra. “The flute and the bell” are played to describe the pastoral ambiance of the poetic and the picturesque in particular. In brief, all the listed factors in each heritage are interrelated and interactive at large as an outcome of historical inheritance and innovation. Comparatively, the Greek origin of art is chiefly associated with its mythology, and tends to be mythical, pantheistic, mimetic, and divinely inspired at large. The traditional Chinese origin of art is deeply connected with the notion of heaven-human oneness, and tends to be picturesque, illusionary, intuitive, and morality-based in general. The modern European origin of art is closely coupled with its philosophy of both empiricism and rationalism and from its religious and scientific traditions, and thus tends to profound, explorative and truth-oriented in spite of being

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emotionally expressive. At this point, Fang himself looks into the interaction between the poetic state in art and the rational interest in science when examining the typical discrepancy between traditional Chinese culture and its Western counterpart. He asserts that science and art do not oppose each other, and they can reach a kind of win-win situation, if not a complementary one. Because the accomplishment of rational interest in science does not violate the fulfilment of the poetic state in art, and vice versa. Since different nations have some different characteristics in national identity and mentality, they are inclined to perceive art and science from different angles and values. All this is largely determined by their distinct world outlooks and cosmic views. As to the high and low evaluation of art and science, it varies from one to another as a result of different taste and judgment on different occasions.10 In my observation, Fang attempts to hold a balanced stance by treating art and science equally important, for they contribute a great deal to human existence and life quality. Any lopsided likings and doings are liable to be negative rather than positive in all cases. In addition, Fang proceeds to expose the demerits or weaknesses of Greek, modern European, and Chinese heritages apart from sharing sympathy with their respective merits or strengths. He does so in light of a broader international perspective and higher transcultural awareness. In his opinion, the wisdom of Grecian type is supposed to bear three main problematic aspects as are embodied in its tendency to abandon reality, eulogize ideal, deny body, and favor deities. It is therefore subjected to nihilism with regard to the human world, and to phantasm with regard to human life, among others. Consequently, it is conducive to the collapse of its culture and the decline of its philosophy.11 As to the wisdom of modern European type, it is largely over-engrossed in speculative debate and wonderful theorization. Accordingly, it leads Europeans to become crazy about intellectual reasoning and detailed analysis. When it comes to dealing with real facts, it tries to demonstrate the so-called profundity by covering up the ostensible dimensions, and 10 Fang Dongmei, Sheng ming qing diao yu mei gan [Taste of Life and Sense of Beauty],

in Huang Kejian (ed.), Fang Dongmei ji [Selected Works of Thomé Fang], p. 366. 11 Fang Dongmei, Zhe xue san hui [Three Kinds of Philosophical Wisdom], in Jiang

Guobao & Zhou Yazhou (ed.s), Fang Dongmei xin ru xue lun zhu ji yao [Thomé Fang’s Selected Writings on Modern Confucianism](Beijing: Zhongguo Guangbo Dianshi Press, 1993), p. 96.

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cook up fantastic ivory-towers by spoiling the wisdom-based aspects. As reflected in the psychoanalysis, it gives much heed to what is assumed to be true in day dreams and subconscious phantasies. As shown in the verification through deductive and inductive reasoning, it is still prone to pump up much skepticism and so forth. All this ends up in the dichotomy between mind and body, and the boundary between the inward and the outward.12 Then, when it comes to looking at the wisdom of Chinese type, it is affirmed to entail the understanding and attainment of the Dao in itself. Even though it lasts over 4000 years or so, it remains opaque rather than clear for a long time. One of the reasons lies in the thoughtway of Chinese philosophers, a thought-way that depends upon artistic imagination, moral cultivation, and personal utility for the preservation of mind and body. More often than not, it is slanting toward the theories of artistic absurdities and illusions, confined to the habit of ethical malpractice, obscured in the name of in-depth ponderings, and attached to self-pleased preferences. Being self-indulged in artistic reverie, moral compassion, and natural humaneness, it tends to be empathetic with the scene and image, and contrives to evoke a sort of aesthetic feeling all of a sudden. This being the case, it is deprived of the virtue of perseverance shared by scientists that encounters difficulties in getting to the bottom and copes with them by means of thorough investigation and critical analysis. It is therefore slow to probe into both the beginning and the end such that it falls into the shortage of logical thinking system.13 Still, Fang goes on to argue about the merits and demerits of the three kinds of wisdom by means of an essentialist approach. What he says mirrors part of what he used to know and think about the three traditions during the New Cultural Movement in 1920s. Hence it features some kind of overstatement and overgeneralization as well. Nevertheless, his critical reflections are thought-provoking as they encourage the readership to think twice about the criticisms given, especially about the implied necessity of placing art and science on the equal footing for the sake of cultural innovation in terms of creative transformation. Hence, they serve to rebalance the radical modes of self-indulged preference, narrow-minded bias, and pleasure-ridden superficiality, among others.

12 Ibid., p. 99. 13 Ibid., p. 103.

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Teleologically, Fang’s study of the three cultures attempts to sort out the characteristics of their typical origins in one sense, and strives to facilitate a possible transcendence through transformational creation in the other. It is thus pointed to a noble motive to fulfill the mission of upgrading cultural innovation and bettering human life. According to Fang in this regard, if a reasonable stance were taken to assimilate all virtues of valuable cultures, say, to synthesize the cognitive and aesthetic wisdom of the three sources, it would be able to go beyond their limits and enrich their values. Under such circumstances, it would ask for openmindedness, honesty, sincerity, integrity, creativity, and so forth. The so-called Overman in this case should be an ideal personality who would get over the defects of ancient Greeks, modern Europeans, and traditional Chinese in all. He would be adept at pursuing human perfection by absorbing their merits and excellences each.14 To my mind, this assumption is obviously romantic and idealistic; it is far from being attainable because it usually resides in mere imagination, if not wishful thinking. Notwithstanding that, it may shed some light on the context of cultural globalization and glocalization.

Theoretical Incorporation Having evolved out of the interaction between Chinese and Western cultures, modern Chinese aesthetics is almost always accompanied by comparative examinations between Chinese and Western heritages in categories and paradigms. Such examinations require a broader vision of transcultural studies, a dialogue based on equal footing, erudite knowledge of both Chinese and Western cultures, and critical reflections on different ideas and methods. All this facilitates the possibility of theoretical incorporation by virtue of creative transformation or transformational creation from a cross-cultural and trans-aesthetic viewpoint. For instance, 1950s witnessed a nationwide debate on the essence of beauty in China. The debate was launched under the direct influence of what was going on in former Soviet Union. As regards the defining of “what is beauty” in an ontological sense, there arose four typical views: The first was based on subjective judgment, the second on 14 Fang Dongmei, Zhe xue san hui [Three Kinds of Philosophical Wisdom], in Jiang Guobao & Zhou Yazhou (ed.s), Fang Dongmei xin ru xue lun zhu ji yao [Thomé Fang’s Selected Writings on Modern Confucianism], pp. 105–106.

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objective judgment, the third on subjective-cum-objective synthesis, and the fourth on socio-practical consideration. Consequently, the structural divergence as such brought forth a number of representative aestheticians known as Gao Ertai, Cai Yi, Zhu Guangqian, and Li Zehou, among others. What is common to all of them may be the reception of systematic philosophical training, the acceptance of the scientific spirit from Western tradition, and their familiar acquaintance with the standards and etiquettes of aesthetic scholarship. In addition, what they share among themselves are the background of traditional education, the cultural influence deeply rooted in Chinese heritage, and the sense of mission to rejuvenate Chinese aesthetics and art criticism. As noted in his book On Poetry,15 Zhu Quangqian tries to assimilate and synthesize Western and Chinese learning in general, and incorporate Chinese and Western poetics in particular. Through scrutinized analysis and comparison of rhythm, rhyme, taste, grammar, rhyming systems, he exposes authentically the basic and respective features of the techniques in Western and Chinese poems. His academic style, sound reasoning, convincing proofs, and wellgrounded conclusions mark a new milestone of modern Chinese poetics and aesthetics as well. What struck me as most important and significant was the “aesthetic craze” inspired by the second round of nationwide debate on the ontological issue about what is beauty in 1980s when China reform and open-door policy were initiated, experimented, and deepened in an overall and active manner. It marked the prime time of China for the development of aesthetics in the twentieth century. The debate was carried out theoretically and enthusiastically in the name of aesthetics, but directed to the hidden enterprise of socio-political enlightenment. It was working effectively as a powerful and self-conscious movement to break the ice of the rigid and suppressive ideological control as was implemented during the chaotic, destructive, and nightmarish period of the so-called Cultural Revolution. The ideological control then affected all walks of life and did tremendous damage to China and its people as a whole. At this stage, the aesthetic debate proceeded to expose the public to the fact that the free play of human faculties underlies the disinterested contemplation of the beautiful, and the thinking space of freedom preconditions the discussion of what is beauty per se. Hence compared with other orthodox 15 Zhu Guangqian, Shi lun [A Study of Chinese Poetics] (Chongqing: Guomin tushu chubanshe, 1943; revised version, Beijing: Zhonghua Shuju, 1948).

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disciplines in humanities, aesthetics played a more crucial part in the process of emancipating the patternized thought-way from the conventional routines and intellectual shackles. It then elicits the readership to head forward to the ideological liberation in a constructive and moderate manner. Under such circumstances, what is noteworthy is the transcultural approach employed by Li Zehou to develop his practical aesthetics. He has managed to transform the Kantian conception of subjectivity into subjectality, and created his theory of art as sedimentation with reference to Marx’s practical philosophy, Kant’s anthropology and critical philosophy apart from Carl Jung’s theory of archetype and Clive Bell’s hypothesis of significant form, among others. All this is articulated in his three renowned books including The Path of Beauty, Four Lectures on Aesthetics, and Chinese Aesthetic Tradition. Incidentally, the most distinctive characteristic of the interaction between Chinese and Western aesthetics is, as Mou Zongsan concludes in his analysis of East–West philosophies, to “dissolve antinomy.” Say, it is to admit both the particular and the universal, and then pursue the universal truth rather than a mechanical integration of the two. Thus in the process of communication and assimilation, the two sources retain their respective features instead of being patternized into one. Eventually, the particular does not exclude or negate the universal, and vice versa. Under such circumstances, it is possible to preserve the diversity in kind.16 This is equally true with the interaction and communication between Chinese and Western aesthetics.

Comprehensive Praxis Aesthetic education is specifically carried out by means of arts education. It plays an important role in the training exercise of whole citizenship in China. As noticed in the general guidelines of national curriculum, it is authorized as one of the five fundamental modes of education including the moral, intellectual, physical, aesthetic, and manual. The key reasons for this enterprise are related to a long-time pursuit in the twentieth century. 16 Mou Zongsan, Zhong xi zhe xue zhi hui tong shi si jiang [Fourteen Lectures on the Transformation Between Chinese and Western Philosophies] (Shanghai: Shanghai Guji Chubanshe, 1998), pp. 5-6.

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In early 1910s, for example, Chinese thinkers like Liang Qichao (1873–1929), Wang Guowei (1877–1927), and Cai Yuanpei were plunged in deep worries about the increasing decay of educational institution and social ethos under the opium plague in particular. As a pioneering thinker, Liang Qichao himself realized the role of art education as indispensable in human becoming and social life, and proceeded to make a proposal on “education by taste.” He was convinced that a good taste for aesthetic contemplation plus social responsibility would provide a solid basis of character building for qualified citizenship. However, constrained by the status quo of harsh conditions then, he could not put his ideas into practice even though he had done what he could in the theoretical domain. More or less in the mean time, Wang Guowei himself cried out for a nationwide awareness of art education in his investigation of educational strategies, human likings, and Confucian notions of personal cultivation through rites, music, and poetry. Moreover, he believed that aesthetic education would help cultivate a good taste for a sound appreciation of art, and such taste would in turn help reduce, if not eradicate, the bad opiumholic habit as the fatal cause of self-destruction. He reconsidered the mode of Confucian arts education with particular reference to Schiller’s philosophy of aesthetic education. He therefore wrote more extensively in this domain. Fortunately, Cai Yuanpei himself made a breakthrough. As appointed as the rector of Peking University, he committed himself to saving the Chinese nation through education and social reform. His outstanding achievement is renowned even today as it is not only marked by his conducting the first course of aesthetic education in Peking University, but also embodied in his persistent intention to use “aesthetic education to replace religion.” In this regard, he played down the superstitious, selfinterested, and radically pragmatic faiths in religions at large; in contrast, he played up the cognitive, moral, and artistic dimensions of aesthetic education. He seemed to have the conviction that the aesthetic state, aesthetic culture, and aesthetic play in Schiller’s theoretical exposure, for instance, would work together to make human fulfillment attainable because they could entail a much better form of aesthetic wisdom and produce much healthier pedagogical effects than religious cults. His pioneering spirit opened up a new field of aesthetic education in China, which laid a theoretical and practical foundation for his successors who are dedicated to the enterprise of aesthetic or arts education.

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The departure of the new millennium witnessed a new and comprehensive praxis of art education in China. With particular reference to the mode of “discipline-based arts education” in the United States, this praxis reconsiders the interaction and interplay between the four disciplines including art making, art history, art criticism, and aesthetics, draws a number of merits from the American mode and Chinese traditional sources, and finds new inspiration about how to redesign the curriculum for arts education in primary and middle schools. Then, it promotes an eco-model of arts education initiated mainly by Teng Shouyao and others. As formulated in the Art and Creation,17 the ecomodel is designed to level down the fences separating aesthetics, art history, art criticism, artistic creation, art psychology, art sociology, and cultural anthropology, only to establish and retain an ecological relationship among these subjects. It places much stress on mutual assimilation and infiltration between art appreciation and art making, through which it attempts to set up a potentially close link between the aesthetic sensitivity and artistic creativity. All this is based on the perception and analysis of artistic and organic forms in diversity, thus encouraging an exploration of the ecological interaction between distinct components in artworks. Apparently, the eco-model as such demonstrates too ambitious a goal and expects too demanding a qualification in the sphere of teaching and learning. It leads to further questioning and investigation as it leaves some room for theoretical clarification and practical justification. Nevertheless, its legacy cannot be ignored with respect to subsequent modification and continuing development.

The Poetic State Par Excellence The first quarter of the twentieth century witnessed the emergence of modern Chinese aesthetics in light of its Western counterpart. It was during this period that Wang Guowei wrote his Comments on Ci Poetry (Ren jian ci hua), a selection of his critical remarks on Chinese poetics that takes up a lion’s share of Chinese aesthetics. He was in fact torn between literature and philosophy as a result of his access to German idealism, his concern about the human condition, and his self-claimed talent for composing ci poetry. One of his major contributions to modern 17 Teng Shouyao, Yi shu yu chuang hua [Art and Creation] (Xi’an: Shanxi Normal University Press, 2002).

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Chinese aesthetics and poetics alike is the theory of “poetic state par excellence (jing jie shuo).” In his statement, we come across a gloatingly delivered thesis relating to his two predecessors: In his Poetic Discourse (Canglang shi hua), Yan Yu said: The poets of the Golden Tang period were concerned only about inspired interest in poetic charm (xing qu). Like the antelope that hangs by its horns leaving no discernible traces on the ground, their excellence lay in their crystallike transparency, no more to be grasped than a sound in empty space, the changing color in a face, the moon in the water or an image in a mirror. The words had a limit, but the meaning went on forever. However, what Yan Yu called inspired interest and what Wang Shizhen called subtle charm in rhythmic significance (shen yun) only seem to touch the surface, while the term of two characters, jing jie as poetic state par excellence, which I have chosen really probe the fundamental of poetry.18

This thesis is strong and interconnected with Chinese tradition. It is due to the fact that the author himself seems to stand on the shoulders of the preceding critics. In my observation, Wang Guowei is evoked and inspired by Yan Yu’s idea of “inspired interest” (xing qu) and Wang Shizhen’s notion of “subtle charm” (shen yun). Yet, Wang plays them down because he considers jingjie as the “poetic state par excellence” (jing jie) to be the most essential or fundamental of poetic creation and its aesthetic worth. Thus in his view, the “poetic state par excellence” accommodates within itself both an aesthetically touching or enlightening effect in view of “inspired interest” and a stylistic outcome or magic power of imagery in light of “subtle charm.” Moreover, the touching effect implies a subtle enlightenment in connection with the mystic chan or zen whereas the magic power indicates an obscure contemplation of the poetic style in terms of exquisiteness and far-reaching-ness. Therefore, neither of them could be specifically formulated owing to their vagueness and ambiguity. Relatively, the “poetic state par excellence” can be described, as Wang believed, in more tangible terms such as “authentic scenes” presented in a vis-à-vis manner and “sincere feelings” expressed to the extent of producing a heart-stirring and mind-freshening effect, for instance. It is 18 Wang Guowei, Ran Jian ci hua [Wang Guowei’s Comments on Ci Poetry], see Wang Kuo-wei’s Jen-chien Tzi-hua: A Study in Chinese Literary Criticism (trans. Adele Austin Rickett, Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 1977), 43. The translation is modified in this quotation.

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therefore treated as a so-called unity of subjective and objective, ideal and real, emotional and natural. Then, there arises the question: Why Wang Guowei boasts about his conception of the poetic state par excellence (jingjie) by proclaiming that it “really probes the fundamental of poetry”? Its answer varies from one to another. Yet, it is often generalized from three viewpoints: One affirms that the “poetic state par excellence” is more specific, substantial, and clear in articulation than the inspired interest and the subtle charm. The other assumes that the “poetic state par excellence” poses a new aesthetic standard, a standard that advocates the synthesis of these two tendencies: that the subjective part is more emphasized than the objective one in aesthetic contemplation, and representation is more important than expression in artistic creation. The third holds that the “poetic state par excellence” is more profound and exact than the inspired interest and the subtle charm, because of its particular stress on the “feelings” and “scenes (including events)” as two most primary components of literature per se. To my understanding, the doctrine of the “poetic state par excellence” “probes the fundamental” and thus becomes more fundamental than the other two doctrines concerned, because it is based on such features as the intuitive, the contemplative, and the philosophical. Wang tends to identify poetry with philosophy in the disclosure of the truth of the universe and human existence. In comparison, poetry is more intuitive whereas philosophy more abstract, but both of them are contemplative in kind. The “poetic state par excellence” is to Wang’s mind revealing the truth in question through vivid imagery, and therefore more inspiring, engaging, and thought-provoking. When manifesting itself through visual imagery, intuitive perception, and poetic wisdom, the “poetic state par excellence” helps people peak into and even get hold of the truth via aesthetic contemplation and philosophical reflection in a vicarious manner. By so doing, it leads people to focus on the cultivation of good taste and the discovery of an alternative way of dealing with the cares and worries encountered in life. On this account, Wang’s poetics seems to be preoccupied with the human condition aside from the aesthetic experience and artistic creation. Herein the notion “the human condition” is employed to indicate not merely the status quo of human existence, but also the true essence of human life in connection with the infinite of the universe. It is actually evinced in Wang’s catchphrase that “the poet is ultimately concerned

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about the universe and human existence,”19 pertaining to the concordance between the spirit of the universe and the meaning of human existence. If this interpretation happens to be right, the way of “probing the fundamental of poetry” that is proclaimed as the gist of the “poetic state par excellence” is intended to provide an ontological approach to an aesthetic and anthropological poetics in kind. To mention in passing, Wang Guowei enlarges the scope of the poetic state both through his writing and aesthetic judgment and through his capacity to absorb relevant elements from Western sources. His account of the poetic state has reminded many Chinese scholars of its hidden association with Schiller’s concept of “the aesthetic state” as elaborated in his 27th letter. But, in the specific context of Schiller’s thought, the concept is intended to idealize things such as aesthetic culture, aesthetic man, and the cultivated taste involved in “the aesthetic state.” It is related primarily to a concern for the advantages of aesthetic education rather than to a concern for the principles of artistic creation and appreciation. Schiller’s impact on Wang Guowei is permeated into his other theories concerning aesthetic education, spiritual detachment, and art as play than to his doctrine of the poetic state par excellence. Rather, there is a more direct link between jingjie and Geist (spirit) as stated in Kant’s Critique of Judgement: Of certain products which are expected, partly at least, to appear as beautiful art, we say that they are without spirit; and this, although we find nothing to censure in them as far as taste goes. A poem may be very pretty and elegant, but is without spirit.... Even of a woman, we well say, she is pretty, affable and refined, but without spirit. What then do we mean by spirit? “Spirit” (Geist) in an aesthetic sense, signifies the animating principle in the mind. But that whereby this principle animates the psychic substance (Seele)—the material which it employs for that purpose that which sets the mental powers into a purposively swing, i.e., into a play which is selfmaintaining and which strengthens those powers for such activity. Now

19 His catchphrase in Chinese is shi ren zi yu yu zhou ren shen (诗人之于宇宙人生). I find it associated with his penname Ren Jian (人间/Human World), which is also used for the title of his Ren Jian ci hua [Discourse on Ci Poetry]. Cf. Wang Keping, Jing jie “wei tan qi ben” de chen ceng yi wei [The Deep Implications of Jingjie as the Poetic State], in The Journal of Academic Monthly (Xueshu yuekan), No. 3, 2010.

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my proposition is that this principle is nothing else than the faculty of presenting aesthetic ideas.20

Whatever differences they may have, both the poetic state and Geist are chiefly concerned with the essence, vitality, and significance of art. In short, Wang develops his theory of the “poetic state par excellence” (jing jie shuo) not only as an ultimate measure of literary value, but also as an ideal standard of artistic creation, apart from a philosophical consideration of anthropological ontology. However, his account fails to offer any easily intelligible definition or systematically coherent clarification. The “poetic state par excellence” is like an eel that the reader may assume to have caught, only to find that it has slipped through his fingers. Hence, a contextual reading is required to gain greater confidence in understanding and assessing the “poetic state par excellence.”21

The Theory of Art as Sedimentation In my observation, what marks the development of modern Chinese aesthetics seems to be two leading theories as a result of transcultural creation. One is Wang Guowei’s theory of the poetic state par excellence (jing jie shuo) as briefed above. The other is Li Zehou’s theory of art as sedimentation (ji dian shuo) that is now selected into the revised edition of Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism.22 According to Li Zehou, art is the product of history based on human practice and symbolic creation. It involves a long process of sedimentation in the stratification of its form, image, and significance. Accordingly, a work of art is reckoned to consist in at least three interrelated stratifications and sedimentations, namely the stratification of form along with primitive sedimentation, the stratification of image along with artistic sedimentation, and the stratification of significance along with life sedimentation.

20 I. Kant, Critique of Judgment (trans. J. B. Bernard, New York: Hafner Press, 1951), pp. 156–157. 21 Wang Keping, Chinese Culture of Intelligence, pp. 357–359. 22 Zehou Li, “The Stratification of Form and Primitive Sedimentation,” from his Four

Essays on Aesthetics: Toward a Global View, in Vincent B. Leithch et al. (ed.s), Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism (New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 2010), 2nd edition.

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The stratification of form along with primitive sedimentation undertook a gradual progression of material and social labor. Its early stage emerged with the employment of certain aspects of natural order and form by primitives. Later on, it underwent the evolution of objective lawfulness and subjective purposefulness into a new unity. This unity conduced to the crudest forms of beauty and aesthetic experience. Eventually, it was through social labor and material production that humans created the forms of beauty. As humans lived with subjective emotions and sensations, they became more and more sensitive to the visible orders and apparent shapes, and also more and more capable of discovering an isomorphic correspondence with the external objects at the time when they commenced to utilize the laws of nature to produce the objects of beauty for either decoration or enjoyment. The awareness of the isomorphic correspondence was by no means an inborn mentality or capacity, but an outcome of the human activities of making and using tools for social production. It was therefore imbued with sociality and humanity as well. Although aesthetic experience features vague understanding, imagination, and intention, it is dominated by perception in any case. All this can be regarded as the prehistorical mode of humans’ spiritual world or the process of primitive sedimentation.23 The formal stratification of artworks commences from primitive sedimentation, but develops and extends itself in at least two directions: One is the naturalized humanity embodied not merely in such physical activities as Chinese breathing system for health condition and spiritual nourishment, martial art for bodybuilding and mind cultivation, and practical expertise for longevity, but also in the formal stratification of artworks, including life force and noble vitality. By means of considerable efforts, it gets the formal stratification of artworks to be tallied with the rhythm of the universe, and thereby to form an isomorphic structure. That is, why the key principle of garden designing in Chinese tradition emphasizes the value of naturalness, for it suggests that a fine garden appear “as if it were created by nature itself even though made by man.” With respect to the other direction, it refers to the Zeitgeist and sociality, say, the ever-changing objects, events, and relationships that embody the tendencies of different times and societies which would cause formal variations and aesthetic trends. Briefly, the 23 Li Zehou and Jane Cauvel, Four Essays on Aesthetics (Lanham et al.: Lexington Books, 2006), p. 134.

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formal stratification involves three forces as such: primitive sedimentation, naturalized humanity, and social life underlined by ideology in religious, political, ethical, and cultural scopes. These forces are intermingling and interplaying in intricate patterns.24 Subsequently, the stratification of image along with artistic sedimentation would have a person’s emotion and desire as are humanized and expressed through symbols. These symbols, such as the Chinese taiji (Great Ultimate), the Christian cross, and the Buddhist mandala, constitute the subject matters, themes, and even contents of mimetic arts in particular. In both China and the West, art originated from ancient witchcraft practices through its rituals, whereas aesthetic experience originated from human labor. As the rituals developed, they divided into three branches: The first branch recognized and reflected natural things, which gave rise to science; the second controlled and organized the masses into group activities, which gave rise to religions, political systems, and ethical norms; the third imitated the production and phenomena in real life to form lively images, thus demonstrating the formal aspect of witchcraft. This formal aspect is related to gestures, languages, costumes, and performances, thus leading to both art making and artistic praxis. With respect to the stratification of significance along with life sedimentation, the significance that is suggested in the images of great artworks gives rise to significant form. It is therefore inseparable from the sensuous images. Yet, it transcends such images, and means more than the perceptual power of sense organs and the emotional desires realized in art illusions. It in fact humanizes the psychological condition of humankind, and accounts for the endurance of artworks that enables them to provide continuing satisfaction of aesthetic experience instead of momentary effect like fireworks. Saturated with such significance, great artworks are provoking not merely the pleasures of the ear and eye, but the pleasures of the heart and mind. Moreover, they are appealing to those who enjoy both lofty aspiration and moral integrity. As a rule, they are thus created as emotional symbols, so rich in and characteristic of significance and life sedimentation. Thus embodied in the stratification

24 Li Zehou and Jane Cauvel, Four Essays on Aesthetics, 144. Also see Li Zehou, Meixue si jiang [Four Essays on Aesthetics] (Beijing: Sanlian Bookshop, 1989), p. 205.

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of significance is the degree of fulfilled human nature.25 Now the significance in artworks specifically refers to the deepest meaning of human life and the human condition in essence. Such significance cannot be divorced from human life itself. In this case, it can be considered to be the significance of human life above all. Although its expression is sometimes mystical and even religious, it is still felt related to human life in reality. In practice, art serves in its own way to preserve the significance of human life, and often demonstrates itself as the materialized confirmation of the incessant expansion of a person’s spirituality and substance. In short, art is the product of history. Its creation and development involve the stratification of form, image, and significance parallel to primitive, artistic, and life sedimentation. The three stratifications are interrelated to the extent that a hard and fast line between them can be hardly marked out as it is supposed. For they interweave and interpenetrate one another along with the three sedimentations, which conduces to the organic unity of the structure in a great artwork. Regarding the three sedimentations, we may arrive a tentative conclusion that primitive sedimentation results in aesthetic, artistic sedimentation results in form, and the life sedimentation results in art. All this makes up a dynamic and changing process in close association with the daily experience of humankind as a whole.26 When looking into Li Zehou’s philosophizing about art as sedimentation along with cultural and aesthetic psychology, I find it more stimulating in a methodological sense as it straddles two cultural domains, Chinese and Western. It can be conceived as a transcultural approach by and large. For it proceeds from a fundamental basis on such constituents as Chinese traditional thoughts in the mainstream of Confucianism, Marx’s practical philosophy in view of historical materialism, Kant’s critical aesthetics of judgment, Bell’s hypothesis of significant form, Freud’s psychoanalysis of the unconscious, and Jung’s probing into the archetype. It is especially so in respect to Li’s aesthetic ponderings about art. Interestingly, he appropriates some suggestions and even concepts from Marx, Kant, Freud, and Bell, but reconstruct them in new shapes and implications in his own system, in which they seem to fit well as though they were salt dissolved in water. All this comes out from a critical transformation

25 Li Zehou, Meixue si jiang [Four Essays on Aesthetics], pp. 237–238. 26 Wang Keping, Chinese Culture of Intelligence, pp. 406–411.

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and creative synthesis in a Chinese context of glocalization, and consequently leads Li to widen his thinking scope and venture across some theoretical boundaries encountered in his speculative pursuit.27

27 Ibid., pp. 418–424.

CHAPTER 12

How-to-Live Concern and Fourfold Engagement

As observed in the main stream of Chinese culture and thought, what is aesthetically beautiful is usually allied with what is ethically or morally good. This tendency combines aesthetics with ethics in many cases, just like a medal of two sides, largely corresponding to one of the most straightforward affirmations. That is, “ethics and aesthetics are one.”1 In the philosophical arena, the two disciplines are deemed as one for their similarity and interaction in three main aspects at least. Firstly, their respective propositions “cannot be expressed” clearly in language if compared with logical and mathematical ones. When assumingly formulated, they turn out to go beyond the distinction between true and false. For this reason, they may be discoursed in a poetic manner, and thus exempted from providing universally accepted conceptual definitions. Nevertheless, they do offer something important and valuable for consideration and reflection, because they are associated with the meaning of life through either ethical explorations or engaging artworks. Subsequently, both moral judgment and aesthetic judgment are essentially “transcendental” in the Kantian elucidation, and purporting to something above or beyond the world as a result of bringing into effect either categorical imperative or disinterested satisfaction. As noted in 1 Ludwig Wittgenstein, Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus (trans. C. K. Ogden, New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 2003), p. 151. The statement follows: “It is clear that ethics cannot be expressed. Ethics is transcendental. Ethics and aesthetics are one” (6.421).

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021 K. Wang, Beauty and Human Existence in Chinese Philosophy, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-1714-0_12

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aesthetics for instance, taste is indisputable in general, because it is varied from person to person in spite of its linkage with the universal through the particular as well as the conception of common sense (sensus communis ). Last but not the least, both ethics and aesthetics are designed to be a condition of the world in terms of value philosophy, because ethics is concerned with the good (goodness), and aesthetics with the beautiful (beauty). Accordingly, a work of art as an expression of beauty is an object examined in terms of permanent form; the good life as an embodiment of goodness is the world examined in terms of permanent form as well. This procures an interrelationship between art and ethics that serve to arouse mystical feelings.2 In actuality, the permanent form of beauty and goodness are absolute in kind and metaphysical in essence. This can be dated back to the Platonic ideas of kallos in itself and agathos in itself. Such ideas are either united or identified with each other from a metaphysical viewpoint. All these three aspects are more or less conforming with Chinese aesthetic and ethical ponderings from past to present. Now we take Li Zehou, a contemporary philosopher, for a case analysis. It is mostly unthinkable to look at his aesthetics without attending to his ethics. Intrinsically, the aesthetic and moral modes of judgment in his writings are closely integrated due to his preoccupation with the how-to-live issue. In this respect, he proposes a full-fledged development of human capacity as an alternative to address it. Such development is a process of human becoming, during which human capacity is escalated to its full extent in light of human subjectality3 as the ultimate outcome of human fulfillment. This specific discussion commences with ontological reflections on the how-to-live concern with reference to Confucian, Kantian, and Marxist philosophy. Then, it proceeds to examine the structure of human capacity in terms of the cognitive, moral, and aesthetic dimensions. Along this line of thought, it moves on to look at a fourfold aesthetic engagement in the dynamic interaction between the four acts in question. All this is pointed to the Heaven–Earth realm of human living that is metaphysicized in Li’s conception of aesthetics as the first philosophy.

2 Ludwig Wittgenstein, Notebooks (883, October 7, 1916). 3 This special concept in Chinese is zhu ti xing (主体性), which is coined by Li Zehou

and distinguished from subjectivity as zhu guan xing (主观性) in certain cases.

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The How-to-Live Concern The how-to-live concern is a pivotal one in Li Zehou’s practical philosophy of subjectality that is also termed as historical ontology of anthropology. This concern can be specified as “how the human being is to live.” It is in fact a transfiguration of the Kantian question about “what is the human being?” or “what the human being can make of himself?” Simply put, it is a question about the possibility of human becoming. It is indirectly approached in the Three Critiques, and directly approached in the Anthropology from a Pragmatic Point of View. As Kant himself could not expound it any further because of his departure, Li Zehou resumes the incomplete task and explores it from a practical instead of transcendental standpoint. Actually, Li deviates from Kant at this point by giving up the concept of universal necessity a priori, and goes ahead to ally with Marx by accepting the idea of social objectivity stemmed from human practice or making-using tools in labor. Moreover, he returns to classical Confucianism and rediscovers relevant sources so as to develop his ontological method of human becoming and human living alike. As noted in Li’s exploration, what is prior to the how-to-live concern is the why-to-live question. The question is brought forth against the status quo of the human condition shrouded in a blanket of diversified strictures, including such social and psychological ills as injustice, inequality, poverty, deprivation, frustration, depression, maniac, loneliness, nothingness, care, worry, anxiety, and so forth, not to speak of such destructive threats as civilizational clashes, international conflicts, regional wars, and terrorist attacks, among many others. Worse still, the biggest of all challenges come from the hard fact that life is short in a stream of time, and death befalls all men alike at any moment. In extreme cases, some may realize that they have never lived at the critical moment of death, because their life has been concealed in a life against free will and natural rights. All this seems to revive the hidden echo of the old skepsis about “to be or not to be” in Hamlet’s self-questioned murmurings. Nevertheless, an optimistic view arises out of a ray of hope to make human living worthwhile by virtue of pragmatic wisdom principally in aesthetic and ethical domains. In this aspect, a renowned stance advocated by Martin Heidegger is none other than facing death in order to live. It touches upon a negative overtone of modern existentialism. Reversely, Confucius advocates a more positive attitude, advising people to live without bothering about death,

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because “unknown yet is life, much less is death.”4 This attitude implies three things at least: (1) The first priority is given to life instead of death, according to the logical inferring that if life is not understood yet, how death can be understood. (2) Life is related to the human world and the living reality while death related to the underworld and odd fantasies of spirits, ghosts, and deities. Confucius focuses on the former but ignores the latter. (3) Life is this-worldly by nature whereas death is afterlife in eschatology. What is to be cherished is the true value of life, and what is to be suspended is the natural term of death. Actually, in Chinese convention, the span of life is often likened to the cycle of grass,5 and death befalls all things alike. Both of them are so natural. But how to live a life is open to many choices and possibilities. In order to strengthen the argument given above, Confucius offers a number of relevant alternatives. One of them announces, “Having heard the Dao in the morning, one may die content in the evening.”6 By this announcement is meant the demand for making the greatest efforts possible to attain a real knowledge of the Dao in lifetime. Conceived as the paramount principle of reciprocal humaneness and universal love, the Dao purports to build up a moral character of a superior person, and facilitate a humane governance for the common good. This being the case, one feels so gratified and dies so happily after having attained the Dao itself. Confucius expects human individuals to make the most of life for the discovery of the Dao, because it embodies the greatest worth of living and the truest virtue of humaneness. In addition, Confucius claims that “A man with lofty ideals and humane virtue never gives up the virtue of humaneness to save his life, but sacrifices his own life to accomplish the virtue of humaneness.”7 As the statement denotes, a man of this type demonstrates a fine personality and noble spirit, morally obliged to tread upon the sure path of humaneness as the highest principle similar to the categorical imperative in Kant. In order to retain his moral character and fulfill his social commitment, he is ready to put aside his own interest and sacrifice his own life. Take Yan Hui, a disciple of

4 Confucius, The Confucian Analects, 11:12, in The Four Books (trans. James Legge, Changsha: Hunan Press, 1995). 5 The old saying in Chinese is ren sheng yi shi, cao mu yi qiu (人生一世, 草木一秋). 6 Confucius, The Confucian Analects, 4:8. 7 Confucius, The Confucian Analects, 15:6.

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Confucius, for example. As alleged to draw bitter joy from his persistent exercise of reciprocal humaneness, he did not retreat a single inch within three months when living a hard life with meager daily provisions. He was highly praised by his master because they both shared the same values.8 All this leads to “the exemplary paradigm of Confucius-Yan’s joy”9 that has been promoted by Neo-Confucianism ever since the Song Dynasty (970–1279). As observed from above, the positive attitude toward life upheld among Confucians is coupled with moral obligation, social commitment, heroic spirit, altruist orientation, and so on. It can be traced back to the rites–music heritage. As read in the Discourse on Music (Yue lun),10 for instance, the conception of yue as music indicates a historical duration from antiquity. It is hereby identified with le as joy.11 Such identification not merely reveals a defining property of music itself, but also procures a strong impact upon the Chinese mentality. It is also affirmed in the Huainanzi that “music education is to resolve cares and worries,” intending to have people understand good music and appreciate real joy at the same time.12 This tradition is asserted to enhance the musical sensibility in an aesthetic sense, remold the joy-conscious character in an anthropological sense, and consolidate the optimistic spirit in an ontological sense. These three aspects are interwoven in the deep structure of Chinese cultural psychology and life philosophy at large. In practice, the musical sensibility helps heighten the aesthetic awareness of the artistic, moral, and social functions of music, the joy-conscious character declines no bitter joy and seeks delight from varied experiences including miserable encounters, and more significantly, the optimistic spirit enables people to become what they are, never losing a ray of hope at confrontation with the gravest crises and hardships. Thus they

8 Confucius, The Confucian Analects, 6:11. 9 It is expressed in Chinese as Kong Yan le chu (孔颜乐处), which is recommended as

a lifestyle according to the classical Confucian ideal. 10 Xunzi, Discourse on Music, in The Xunzi (trans. John Knoblock), Vol. 2, pp. 648–

649. 11 The Chinese notion of yue as music and that of le as joy are distinct in pronunciation but share the same Chinese character (樂/乐). 12 Chen Guangzhong (ed.), Huainanzi [The Book of Huannanzi] (Beijing: Zhonghua Shuju, 2013), vol. 1, p.387.

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are prone to perceive the interaction between the negative and positive sides of all matters, and prepare for the fishy interplay between fortune and misfortune in changing situations. This being true, they tend to be on guard against potential dangers, and live in high consciousness of crisis emergencies, from which they draw pragmatic wisdom, care-ridden pleasure, and useful strategies to tackle any unexpected challenges or catastrophes. Knowing well the uncertainty of human existence sandwiched between Heaven and Earth, they have no other choice but resort to self-reliance under all circumstances. In Li’s elucidation, Chinese culture is one of optimism by nature, running parallel to the joy-conscious character and aesthetic sensibility. It is directed to a positive stance to human living, and an active motivation of human becoming. It is found relevant and helpful to sort out the why-to-live question and the how-to-live concern.

The Structure of Human Capacity Li revisits classical Confucianism with particular reference to the Kantian moral anthropology and the Marxian practical philosophy. In order to address the how-to-live concern, he proposes an anthropo-ontological approach, which is both material and formal in kind. It is material because of its instrumental function, and it is formal because of its conceptual guidance. It is so recommended as to meet the two determinants of human nature: the satisfaction of sensory needs, and the fulfillment of conceptual needs. Judging from the anthropo-ontological standpoint, human nature is the outcome of human culture, a complicated and interwoven synthesis of two leading aspects: animality and sociality. One is originated from sensory needs to preserve physical existence and species reproduction; the other is derived from human socialization and cultural education, hence rejecting brutal carnalism and beastlike behavior.13 These two aspects are historically cultivated and sedimented into human capacity, the process of which is proclaimed to range from Marx’s technosocial structure (the material dimension) to Kant’s cultural-psychological formation (the mental dimension). It follows that human capacity as such

13 Li Zehou, “Of Human Nature and Aesthetic Metaphysics,” (trans. Liu Jian), in Wang Keping (ed.), International Yearbook of Aesthetics: Diversity and Universality in Aesthetics, Vol. 14, 2010, p. 4.

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underlies human nature, gratify human needs, and secure human existence. Along this line of thought, its full-fledged development is schemed as a working alternative to handle the how-to-live concern. Being the most important component of human nature, human capacity arises out of the cultural-psychological formation comprising at least three dimensions known as the cognitive, aesthetic, and moral. According to Kant, these three dimensions stand for three relevant types of faculty. The cognitive dimension is referred to “correct understanding” that “contains the ability and skill to comprehend truth.” If it is meant “the faculty of cognition of rules (and thus cognition through concepts) in general, it composes the entire higher faculty of cognition in itself.” It is considered to be correct and healthy only when “it contains an appropriateness of concepts for the purpose of its use. By joining together sufficiency (sufficientia) and precision (praecisio) we arrive at appropriateness, which constitutes the quality of the concept. Appropriateness contains neither more nor less than the concept demands (conceptus rem adaequans ). Hence a correct understanding is the first and foremost of all intellectual faculties, because it fulfills its purpose with the fewest means.”14 Then, the moral dimension is pertained to pure practical reason as a faculty of deriving the particular from the universal. Such reason can be also explained by means of the faculty of judging and (in a practical regard) acting according to principles. Humans are rational beings such that they need reason for every moral (consequently also religious) judgment, and cannot rest on statutes and established customs.15 In this scope, “pure practical reason” is identical to moral reason in service. The principles according to which moral judgment and action are made usually indicate moral laws established through reason with authority over rational beings. These moral laws are specified by the “categorical imperatives” as the condition of universality. Characteristically, they are absolute and unconditional for all agents. That is to say, they apply to everyone unconditionally in the same way, and bear universal validity independent of any ulterior motive or end. They are for rational beings the imperatives that command categorically, and the relation of such a will to these laws

14 I. Kant, Anthropology from a Pragmatic Point of View (trans. Robert Louden, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006), pp. 90–92. 15 I. Kant, Anthropology from a Pragmatic Point of View, p. 93.

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is dependence upon mere obligation and duty that signify a moral necessitation.16 Each imperative of this kind is formally stated as such: “Act only on that maxim through which you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law.”17 Now the aesthetic dimension is pointed to the aesthetic (instead of the technical or the practical) “power of judgment.” As this faculty is aimed only at what is feasible, fitting, and proper, it is not as lustrous as the faculty of understanding that extends knowledge. For it merely makes room for sound understanding, and sets up its linkage with reason. Distinct from natural understanding that can be enriched through instruction with concepts and furnished with rules, this power of judgment lies in the faculty of discerning whether something is corresponding to the rule involved. Therefore, it cannot be instructed, but only exercised. That is why its growth is called maturity based on one’s long experience. However, if there were doctrines for such power of judgment, then there would have to be general rules according to which one could decide whether something was an instance of the rule or not, which would generate a further inquiry into infinity.18 Insofar as it is affirmed above, “if understanding is the faculty of rules, and the power of judgment the faculty of discovering the particular in so far as it is an instance of these rules, then reason is the faculty of deriving the particular from the universal and thus of representing it according to principles and as necessary.”19 As a consequence, these three faculties “constitute the entire range of the intellectual cognitive faculty; especially if this faculty is also judged as competence in promoting the practical, that is, competence in promoting ends.”20 Accordingly, they are proclaimed to generate the underlying structure of human capacity. In accord with his conception of the human being as the historical being from the anthropo-ontological perspective, Li reflects on the constitution of human capacity in light of Marx’s approach to techno-social

16 I. Kant, Critique of Practical Reason (trans. Mary Gregor, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2015), p. 29. 17 I. Kant, Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals. (ed. Mary Gregor, New York: Cambridge University Press, 1998), p. 422. 18 I. Kant, Anthropology from a Pragmatic Point of View, p. 93. 19 I. Kant, Anthropology from a Pragmatic Point of View, p. 93. 20 I. Kant, Anthropology from a Pragmatic Point of View, p. 92.

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substance, Kant’s articulation of human mentality, and the Confucian conception of emotional substance. However, he strives to go beyond their limits, and open up a new window on the development of human capacity. As he argues, Historical ontology comes from Marx, Kant and Chinese tradition, but deviates from them to quite some extent. More specifically, it differs from Marx who merely heeds the social aspect of homo sapiens but ignores the psychical dimension of the individual. It differs from Kant who ascribes the psychological form to the super-human reason but neglects its origin of historical living in actuality. It differs from Chinese tradition that lays an excessive stress on usefulness but makes light of the vital importance of abstract speculation. However, historical ontology as such absorbs and integrates them all. It generally brings forth its key arguments via the concepts of pragmatic reason and joy-conscious culture, and intends to deal with the issues of psychological constitution concerning an all-round realization of personal potentials in modern life.21

What does he do then in accord with this argument? He proceeds to bestow the structure with such three elements as “free intuition, free will and free enjoyment.”22 In his explication, “free intuition” is in contrast to “original intuition” (intuitus originarius ). It is surely human intuition as is derived from the power of imagination and cognition of experience in Kant. It is hereby distinct in terminology, but identical to rational intuition as a cognitive faculty for logic, mathematics, and dialectic concepts. It is represented in the mode of “rational internalization,” and traced back to human practice by using, making, innovating, and adjusting tools for diversified labor in a long process. During this process, a variety of lawful models and forms are preserved and accumulated in practical activities of humankind, which are then transformed into an informational system of languages, symbols, and cultures, and finally internalized, condensed, and sedimented into human psychological formation. All this builds up the human capacity of appreciating and understanding the world at large. The capacity is cultural in essence. It contains an intellectual structure acquired through learning from infancy. As regards the ability of rational 21 Li Zehou, Shi yong li xing yu le gan wen hua [Pragmatic Reason and a Culture of Optimism] (Beijing: Sanlian Bookstore, 2005), p. 108. 22 These three concepts are termed in Chinese as zi you zhi guan (自由直观), zi you yi zhi (自由意志) and zi you xiang shou (自由享受).

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intuition, it is the same with the ability of free creation according to Albert Einstein. It is hereby labeled as free intuition by Li himself.23 Rationality is the use of reason. Human rationality is a formal constitution internalized through the application of reason to both materially practical and symbolically rational activities. Such activities are associated not only with the development of intellectual faculty for scientific knowledge, but also with the nourishment of creative mentality for aesthetic sensibility, among others. Next, “free will” is pointed to ethics and the reality of human existence. It brings out the scope of human subjectality that overrides utilitarian superficiality. In Kant, a will bears the capacity to act according to the principles that are produced by reason. Reason then assumes freedom and conceives of principles of action in order to function appropriately and effectively. In other words, reason is the producer of such supreme principles of action as moral laws. Kant regards moral laws as categorical imperatives that command unconditionally everyone to act in the same way given. Thus the only way to act freely in the full sense of exercising moral autonomy is to act upon categorical imperatives. In this case, a will to act freely and universally means a will to act morally and autonomously according to categorical imperatives, which in turn gives rise to the free will and make the agent become immediately conscious of moral laws. Hence in Kant’s definition, if the determining ground of a will is none other than the universal lawgiving form of categorical imperatives, this will must be thought as independent of the natural law of causality. Such independence suggests freedom in the strictest or transcendental sense. Therefore, a will for which the mere lawgiving form aforementioned can alone serve as a law is a free will.24 Undoubtedly, categorical imperatives are unconditional and universal commands. They display moral dignity, represent moral autonomy, and possess unmatchable force as well. They well disclose the ethos of Kant’s moral sense that is noble and idealistic for certain. As discerned in his historical ontology of anthropology, Li asserts that individual practice is

23 Li Zehou, “Kangde zhe xue yu jian li zhu ti xing lun gang ” [Kant’s Philosophy and an outline of constructing a philosophy of subjectality], in Pi pan zhe xue de pi pan [Critique of the Critical Philosophy: A Commentary on Kant] (Beijing: Renmin Press, rep. 1984), pp. 425–426. 24 I. Kant, Critique of Practical Reason, p. 26.

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required to set up the structure of the subjective will, and human individuals are expected to shoulder the obligation for the existence and development of humankind. Such moral sense and action make up the psychological mode of human subject, and go beyond the specific interests of any era, society, and group. Naturally, they are conducive to the formation of will power and moral psychology as a result of “rational coacervation.”25 Such coacervation comes out of human practice, action, emotion, wish, and other sensibilities, just like “rational internalization” that occurs in cognitive activities through sensory intuition. Then it ends up in the true form of a free will in ethics, corresponding to free intuition in epistemology. Moreover, its moral worth coordinates the unity of humankind as a whole while upsetting the causal law and utilitarian effect. Bearing the features of the sublime, it arouses such moral feelings as “admiration and reverence.”26 These feelings are self-conscious and rational, characteristic of human beings alone. As to “free enjoyment,” it purports to enjoy the perception and experience of pleasure that effects in the beautiful through sensory intuition and aesthetic judgment. It is free by nature because the beautiful as free form is not merely the union of lawfulness and purposefulness, but also the product of humanized nature. Corresponding to this free form is the aesthetic state of mind as a synthesis of sensation and rationality in one sense, and as an outcome of humanized internal nature in the other. More specifically, the aesthetic state of mind can be regarded as the final attainment of human subjectality, and the most explicit manifestation of human capacity as well. At this point, what is of humankind in its historical entirety is sedimented into what is of a human individual; what is rational is sedimented into what is sensible; and what is social is sedimented into what is natural. As a consequence, the nature of animal-like senses is humanized, and so is the nature of animal-like psychology. For example, eros becomes love; natural links become human relationships; natural senses become aesthetic faculties; and instinctive lust becomes

25 This term in Chinese is li xing ning ju (理性凝聚). 26 According to Kant, “Two things fill the mind with ever new and increasing admi-

ration and reverence, the more often and more steadily one reflects on them: the starry heavens above me and the moral law within me. I do not need to search for them and merely conjecture them as though they were veiled in obscurity or in the transcendent region beyond my horizon; I see them before me and connect them immediately with the consciousness of my existence.” Cf. I. Kant, Critique of Practical Reason, p. 129.

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aesthetic feeling. All this entails the true mode of free enjoyment and the ultimate aspect of human subjectality through historico-cultural sedimentation.27 In other words, all this implies aesthetic capacity characterized by “rational melting” in accord with “aesthetic sedimentation.”28 All in all, “free intuition” is coupled with “rational internalization,” and “free will” coupled with “rational coacervation.” Both of them grow out of sensation in which rationality is either internalized or coacervated. As to “free enjoyment,” it is aligned with “rational melting,” for it arises out of rationality sedimented in sensation. “Free intuition” and “free will” are expressed in the ability, action, and volition of rationality, whereas “free enjoyment” expressed in the desire, feeling, and expectation of sensation. It is through the service of “free enjoyment” that human convergence with nature is rendered attainable. This convergence connotes the oneness between heaven and human. In Chinese tradition, it stands for both the aesthetic realm of human life and the ontological realm of super-moral being, thus facilitating the possibility of superseding the religious by the aesthetic. For the essence of beauty is, according to Li, the embodiment of human fulfillment. The philosophy of beauty is the summit of all humanities. Hereby what is probed relates to the possibility of human subjectality, and what is exposed relates to the formation of cultural psychology.29

Beyond Aesthetic Engagement According to a recent investigation, the notion of human subjectality is taken as a “new conception of human self.”30 Because of its objective 27 Li Zehou, “Kangde zhe xue yu jian li zhu ti xing lun gang ” [Kant’s Philosophy

and an outline of constructing a philosophy of subjectality], in Pi pan zhe xue de pi pan [Critique of the Critical Philosophy: A Commentary on Kant], pp. 434–435. 28 Li Zehou, “Human nature and aesthetic metaphysics”, in Wang Keping (ed.), International Yearbook of Aesthetics: Diversity and Universality in Aesthetics, vol. 14/2010, p. 5. 29 Li Zehou, “Kangde zhe xue yu jian li zhu ti xing lun gang ” [Kant’s Philosophy and an outline of constructing a philosophy of subjectality], in Pi pan zhe xue de pi pan [Critique of the Critical Philosophy: A Commentary on Kant], p. 436. The Chinese expressions for “rational melting” and “aesthetic sedimentation” are respectively li xing rong hua (理性融化) and shen mei ji dian (审美积淀). 30 S. Rošker, “Li Zehou’s notion of subjectality as a new conception of human self”, in Philosophy Campus, 2018:13, wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/phc3, p. 1.

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existential features, human subjectality is not constrained to the level of each human subject alone. It assumingly includes the ability to establish interactive relationships with others in the living environment that involves a variety of human community such as society, nation, class, and organization. Hence Li Zehou intends to advocate two kinds of human subjectality: One is directed to each individual’s identity, and the other directed to the human race as a whole. Both of them help humanity create a structure of human subjectality, a structure that is super-biological and deeply rooted in a universal necessity. As a rule, the objective dimension of human subjectality can be found in the social realization of material reality through the process of production. It demonstrates itself not merely in the structural connection between technology and society, but also in the linkage between social existence and practice. Meanwhile, human subjectality accentuates the subjective level of social consciousness, which reveals itself in culturally conditioned mental states or psychological formations. Following this paradigm, the constitutions of human subjectality are basically differing from the subjective awareness of human individuals. Rather, they are linked with the products of human history that manifest themselves not only in the formations of spiritual and intellectual culture, but also in the structures of ethical and aesthetic consciousness.31 As read in what Li himself observes: Analytical philosophy, structuralism, and many other streams of the contemporary capitalist world (like for instance philosophical methodology or epistemology) are cold philosophies, which overlook the substance of subjectality. In addition, Sartre’s existentialism, the philosophies of the Frankfurt School, and other fashionable currents (like for instance the philosophy of rebellion or the philosophy of emotion) on the other hand,

31 S. Rošker, “Li Zehou’s notion of subjectality as a new conception of human self”, pp. 3–4. Also see Li Zehou, 1986. “The philosophy of Kant and a theory of subjectivity.” In Analecta Husserliana—The yearbook of phenomenological Research 21, The phenomenology of man and of the human condition, II: The meeting point between occidental and oriental philosophies (edited Anna-Teresa Tymieniecka, Dordrecht, Boston, Lancaster, Tokyo: D. Reidel Publishing Company, 1986), p. 136, and Li Zehou, Mei xue si jiang [Four Lectures on Aesthetics] (Guilin: Guangxi shifan daxue chuban she, 2001, rep.), p. 43.

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are blindly propagating the individual subjectality. They have nothing to do with the practical philosophy of subjectality.32

To my understanding, “cold philosophies” are presumed to be the philosophies that not merely “overlook the substance of subjectality,” but also neglect the emotional root of human becoming. They are most likely left under the overarching impact of conceptual abstraction or instrumental rationality. As regards the particular case of human individuals, when the development of human capacity is up to a full-fledged degree, it leads to the highest degree of human individuality, freedom, autonomy and independence, in a word, the highest achievement of which human as human is capable. It is at this stage that the wholeness of human becoming is enhanced in light of human subjectality per se. Historically speaking, Li’s notion of human subjectality was initially employed to highlight the rise of enlightenment in early 1980s soon after the disastrous period of the so-called Cultural Revolution (1966–1976) in China. It was pronounced deliberately to fill up the ideological vacuum, and to spur a self-conscientious pursuit of value selection and political freedom for self-development. Intellectually speaking, it was designed to remold the old-fashioned guardianship discourse in order to meet the growing political needs of the great majority, and the necessary theoretical needs of the merging reform in its initial exploration. At that time, the curtain of ideological manipulation was somewhat swayed and lifted up because of its self-defeating effect in one sense, and the crying demand for a new space of thinking in the other. It was then replaced by a humanistic rediscovery of Marxism with reference to the Western heritage of humanism. Guardianship discourse was so dominant for a decade or so during the harsh time of the Cultural Revolution, and then reduced to a considerable alternation when the Open-Door policy was introduced to accelerate the China Reform. All this entailed a period of New Enlightenment in China throughout 1980s. Hence the promotion of human subjectality can be seen as one of the hammers utilized to break the ice of theoretical and ideological rigidity.

32 Li, Zehou, “Guanyu zhutixingde buchong shuoming” [A supplementary explanation of subjectality], in The Journal of the Graduate School of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, 1985/1, p. 21.

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As to the key characteristics of human subjectality, they tend to cover individual uniqueness, practical sociality, historical sedimentation, cognitive initiative, moral autonomy, creative ability, aesthetic transcendence, and the like. Comparatively speaking, Li himself distinguishes his concept of subjectality from the Kantian notion of subjectivity, and formulates it in terms of anthropological ontology as well as practical philosophy. He further develops it together with human capacity, but proposes it as the acme of human capacity and the ultimate outcome of human fulfillment. He attributes it to the possibility of aesthetic transcendence in association with disinterested satisfaction, purposefulness without a purpose, detachment from the immediate reality, and so forth. For this reason, Li tenders much more attention to the aesthetic dimension of human capacity in general, and of human subjectality in particular. He tries to do so for a number of reasons. Fore and foremost, the real meaning of human living is essentially aesthetic, for a relevant contemplation of it enables the human being to find out the way of living well in an artistic, purposeful, and disinterested manner in spite of the socio-psychical ills aforementioned. Such manner applies not only to a moral will, but also to a world outlook. According to Li’s articulation of aesthetics as the first philosophy, it elicits the human being to choose a worldview through imagination based on sensible preferences. As an aesthetic choice, such worldview represents a world picture of beautiful order. Even though the picture cannot be sorted out as true or false, the worldview that is aesthetically imagined provides much food for thought. In this respect, the real theme of aesthetics is about the entire world and human life of sensibility instead of art alone. Human life is to be eventually realized through the joy or pleasure experienced in landscapes and embodied in the heaven–human convergence. Hence the “grand aesthetics” of Chinese type is considered to be the truest when compared with its counterpart in other cultures. Such aesthetics is treated as the first philosophy, because it implies an intuitive assumption of the world (the cosmos) that exists in a mysterious manner and lies beyond the limit of human knowledge. Accordingly, the human worldview itself contains a mixture of “rational mystery” and “sensible mystery,” which is inclined to provoke a profound feeling of admiration and a mystical experience of faith.33 33 Li Zehou, Guan yu “mei yu dai zong jiao” de za tan da wen [An Interview: A Rambling Talk about “Aesthetic Education Replacing Religion],” in Liu Zaifu, Li Zehou

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Secondly, aesthetic experience is both sensuous and spiritual in effect. It is conducive to the growth of aesthetic sensibility that is both the bud and fruit of human capacity. It is more significant in that it entails spiritual sublimation in a mode of “aesthetic transcendence.”34 At this point, it straddles two interrelated states: the initial state of human becoming, and the supreme state of human fulfillment. According to Li, Aesthetic experience is related to sensuous and animal-like desires. For this reason, pleasures drown from music and sexuality have become prevailing in pop culture today. However, aesthetic experience attempts to go beyond such desires, and strives for “transcendence” in a pure spiritual scope. It is therefore differentiated from mere entertainment and decoration, and intended to pursue a super-biological state and living realm.35

Yet, the “transcendence” mentioned above is not “pure” at all, for the human being can only pursue it within the physical body from which the mind cannot be separated. It is therefore called “aesthetic transcendence” that relies on not merely the interaction between the mind and the body, but also the interconnection between the objective and subjective time. Herein by the objective time is meant to live in the stream of time with spatial occupation, which features the numbers of day, month, and year due to social objectivity. It is accounted for by human birth, mortality, and body that take up the organic space. By the subjective time is meant temporality without spatial occupation, which is symbolized by immortality or eternality in respect to the spiritual home. Provided that, only the experience of the reality that all is nothing (no meaning, no causality, no utility) but still stays alive appears to be a mastery of temporality. As detected in Chinese tradition, such transcendence is usually obtained from the mystical experience of “heaven-human oneness,” and drawn from the concordance between the human cultivation and the cosmic rhythm hidden in both humanized nature and naturalized humanity. All this is linked with the “emotional substance” as the fundamental root of

mei xue gai lun [An Introduction to Li Zehou’s Aesthetics] (Beijing: Sanlian Bookshop, 2009), pp. 218–219. 34 Li uses the term as shen mei chao yue (审美超越) because he rejects the term of inward transcendence (nei zai chao yue内在超越). 35 Li Zehou, “Human Nature and Aesthetic Metaphysics,” p. 8.

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human becoming.36 To my understanding, it is of theoretical importance to bring “aesthetic transcendence” into the focus of thought, because it entails aesthetic self-consciousness and sublimation. As we humans cannot perceive and conceive any real thing except under the conditions of space and time, both the objective time and subjective time cannot leave out space at all. If a distinction between them is to be made, the objective time is related to the space and time of sense experience in general, whereas the subjective time related to the space and time of psychical experience at large. A typical example is the conception of “the wind and moon turning out in a day” (momentary existence) as “the broad sky being of ten thousand years” (eternal existence). The former scene implies the space and time of sense experience, and the latter scene implies the space and time of psychical experience. The conception as such is attained through sudden enlightenment and self-liberation as an outcome of human enculturation and cultivation, pertaining to transcend sense experience and secure spiritual freedom, which enables humans to shift from the finite sphere into the infinite one. This is fundamentally a different type of spatial and temporal experience on the part of human beings who are higher organisms with rational faculty and cultural mechanism. A reference to Cassirer and Bruno would shed light on this point.37 Thirdly, aesthetic education is recommended to substitute religion, not only because the former does not oppose the search for “perfect” experience of religious spirit, but also because human existence connects the physical body with the unconscious cosmic rhythm, which gives rise to the heaven–human convergence in association with “aesthetic transcendence.” By virtue of fostering a fine taste, aesthetic education helps

36 Li Zehou, “Human Nature and Aesthetic Metaphysics,” p. 8. 37 According to Cassirer, “we must analyze the forms of human culture in order to

discover the true character of space and time in our human world…There are fundamentally different types of spatial and temporal experience. Not all the forms of this experience are on the same level. There are lower and higher strata arranged in a certain order” (Ernest Cassirer, An Essay on Man, New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1944, rep. 1975, p. 42). According to Bruno, man’s self-liberation leads to what follows. That is, “Man no longer lives in the world as a prisoner enclosed within the narrow walls of a finite physical universe. He can traverse the air and break through all the imaginary boundaries of the celestial spheres which have been erected by a false metaphysics and cosmology. The infinite universe sets no limits to human reason; on the contrary, it is the great incentive of human reason. The human intellect becomes aware of its own infinity through measuring its power by the infinite universe” (Ibid., p. 15).

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human individuals to overcome the tragic sense of nothingness and hardship of human existence. As acknowledged in Chinese tradition, this tragic sense is twofold, say, “void and non-void” in the meantime. It is void in terms of nothingness, and non-void in terms of immediate reality, both of which are pertained to the dual properties of the phenomenal world and the human condition. Under such circumstances, human individuals are encouraged to face the hard fact without any expectation of divine protection or redemption, and to approach an aesthetic realm of thisworldly living in pursuit of inward transcendence. Such realm of living is sustained by “emotional substance” with a tendency to cherish life in the stream of time and make it worthwhile by all means. As a necessary and sufficient condition, the way of cherishing life awakens human individuals to the extent that they will be ready to drop off all the illusions, and to tackle all changes, events, occasions, and contingencies encountered during the span of life.38 Last but not the least, the aesthetic realm of this-worldly living in spiritual freedom is metaphysical and ontological in kind, for it is pointed to the full-fledged development of human capacity, the self-realization of human subjectality, and the whole becoming of human as human. In this scope, aesthetics is taken as the first philosophy due to its embodiment of the beautiful order and the mystical vision of the cosmos in its entirety. Accordingly, the way of cherishing life becomes a true aesthetic experience of an ontological kind, even though it is akin to contemplating a sunset over the hills or scrutinizing a poem on the landscapes. All this supposedly comes out of the following fact: Man is self-awakening in his own way. He accepts his accidental and limited existence, and struggles to survive without blaming God or others. He tries to learn from the bottom and then moves up to the above, which means metaphorically to approach spiritual freedom through personal cultivation…Therefore, the ideal of human becoming as the final end of nature will be realized …in the pursuit of aesthetic metaphysics through emotional substance.39

38 Li Zehou, “Human Nature and Aesthetic Metaphysics,” pp. 10–11. Also see Liu Zaifu, Li Zehou mei xue gai lun [An Introduction to Li Zehou’s Aesthetics], p. 230. 39 Li Zehou, “Human Nature and Aesthetic Metaphysics,” p. 13. Also see Liu Zaifu, Li Zehou mei xue gai lun [An Introduction to Li Zehou’s Aesthetics], pp. 218, 228–229.

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Ostensibly, “the ideal of human becoming as the final end of nature” is none other than the full-fledged development of human capacity in light of human subjectality. Li hereby champions an aesthetic approach that means more than it seems. It is designed to cover three interrelated acts of illuminating the true, furnishing the good, and making life worthwhile through the beautiful.40 It occurs to me as though it entails a trifold aesthetic engagement. I personally find it plausible to extend it into a fourfold engagement by taking into account the act of creating the beautiful according to the proper measure.

Illuminate the True Through the Beautiful The first act of “illuminating the true through the beautiful” (yi mei qi zhen) is to make the most of aesthetic feeling and free imagination. It is underlined by the “aesthetic double helix” that may also lead to new findings in science and technology.41 Herein the notion of “double helix” is borrowed from the discovery of the DNA molecular composition that encodes the information for making proteins. It is used hypothetically with an aesthetic tag to suggest that the secret of aesthetic feeling and judgment be decoded in the future development of brain and genic sciences. Discernably, both aesthetic feeling and free imagination are so stressed due to their functions not simply in aesthetic experience and artistic creation, but also in scientific discovery and technological invention. The beautiful is at this point connected with what is called a “thing in itself” (Ding an sich) in the Kantian catchphrase. What can be known are the sensory objects that are conjectured as mere appearances stemmed from the “thing in itself.” What is unknown is the “thing in itself” that affects human senses and faculties when it comes to think over this noumenon given. The cosmos as a whole does exist according to its natural lawfulness, but remains largely unknown to human beings. Such lawfulness is “created” by exercising “the proper measure” (du 度). As a rule, it engages not only logical and dialectical discursion, but also

40 Li Zehou, “Human Nature and Aesthetic Metaphysics,” p. 7. 41 Li Zehou, “Human Nature and Aesthetic Metaphysics,” p. 7.

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human emotion and imagination. It hereby signifies a key to “transcendental imagination” and the core of “illuminating the true through the beautiful.” Moreover, the act as such is also intended to inspire cognitive power and gain real knowledge of the “thing in itself” of a new type, a type that is tallied with the “coexistence of humanity with the cosmos.”42 This is a metaphysical assumption without which aesthetic experience would have no origin, and formal sense would find nowhere. The cosmos presents the object a priori whereas the cognitive power of man-made symbolic system resembles the subject a priori. Both of them are unified through human praxis from the perspective of historical ontology. With the help of “illuminating the true through the beautiful,” the human being manages to peep into the mysteries of the cosmos, and to secure a position for human existence therein. It is via such an active life that the communion between humanity and the cosmos is made possible. It is therefore a must to have a metaphysical hypothesis of such a “thing in itself” in order to secure the concordance and coexistence of humanity with the cosmos (nature), because it will generate an indispensable premise, enabling humans to bring an order to the cosmos or the world in which they reside. On this occasion, humans are apt to give a beautiful order to the cosmos or the world. The beautiful order is essentially cosmic and worldly, sensible and divine. It is by no means a byproduct of pure subjective willfulness or wishful thinking. Instead, it is a manifestation of the crucial relationship between the beautiful and the true on one hand, and between human emotion and rational truth on the other. Furthermore, it is concerning not merely the theory of knowledge, scientific discovery, and technological invention, but also the deep meaning and significance of anthropological ontology. For example, Sir Michael F. Atiyah affirms that mathematics arises out of “invention” instead of “discovery.” In this field, humans are characteristically to make choices out of thousands of possibilities according to the law of beauty. The insight is corresponding to Li’s affirmation: the development of mathematics is originated from the abstraction of sensible operations, which exemplifies a special case of “illuminating the true through the beautiful.”43 That is to say, the abstract

42 It is termed in Chinese as ren yu yu zhou gong zai (人与宇宙共在). 43 Liu Zaifu, Li Zehou mei xue gai lun [An Introduction to Li Zehou’s Aesthetics],

p. 222.

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and the sensible are interactive as much as the true and the beautiful. In all these cases, the law of beauty counts much more than expected.

Furnish the Good Through the Beautiful The second act of “furnishing the good through the beautiful” (yi mei chu shan) is to draw aesthetic feeling from an underlying faith in emotional substance, and to find inspiration for a sound human interaction with the cosmos.44 Such faith and inspiration help the human being to take up an affective view of the cosmos. This view in turn fosters a quasi-religious feeling for the cosmos, and facilitates an aesthetic awareness of the concordance between humanity and the cosmos, which will be conducive to establish the Heaven–Earth realm of human living (tian di jing jie).45 In principle, the Heaven–Earth realm is both moral and aesthetic in kind. It calls for emotional and faith-based support, thus resorting to the inner historicity of the human being, and cherishing the natural span of life within this world. Say, it is so worldly that it never bothers about how to pray God for a prerogative admission into the so-called paradise. As a lifestyle, the realm is recommended as a Chinese way of dwelling poetically on the earth. It may be perceived as a fantasy a priori from a quasi-religious or religious standpoint. However, it is pragmatically positive because it encourages the human being to exist in this world despite all the difficulties and hardships. It is schemed to work with an affective view of the cosmos, carrying out a kind of self-conscious affinity for the concordance between humanity and the cosmos.46

44 Li Zehou, “Human Nature and Aesthetic Metaphysics,” p. 7. 45 This notion of tian di jing jie (天地境界) can be traced back to Xin yuan ren

[The New Original Men] by Fung Yu-lan (Feng Youlan 1895–1990) in 1947. It is mainly concerned with the approach to freedom, moral transcendence, and self-awaking possibility. As regards moral transcendence, Fung examines into four realms of human achievement as follows: the natural realm that is characterized with simplicity based on naturalness, the utilitarian realm that is characterized with self-interestedness based on sociality, the moral realm that is characterized with righteousness guided by moral substance, and the Heaven–Earth realm that is characterized with serving Heaven–Earth in pursuit of moral transcendence. Cf. Fung Yu-lan (Feng Youlan) 冯友兰, Ji gao ming er dao zhong yong 极高明而道中庸 [Reach the greatest height and brilliancy and follows the path of the mean] (Beijing: China Guanbo Dianshi Press, 1995), p. 367–434. 46 Li Zehou, “tian di jing jie” [About the Heaven-Earth realm], in Liu Zaifu, Li Zehou mei xue gai lun [An Introduction to Li Zehou’s Aesthetics], pp. 228–230.

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The cosmos is structurally tripartite, including heaven, earth, and humankind at large. As to the Heaven–Earth realm, it is twofold in essence, signifying a way of human living between Heaven and Earth in one sense, and a tri-unison of heaven, earth, and humankind in the other. It usually features inseparableness and harmoniousness among the three parties involved. According to Zhuangzi, a human individual at this stage could go so far as to claim that “Heaven and Earth were born at the same time I was, and the ten thousand things are one with me.”47 As Heaven and Earth are symbolic of the cosmos in Chinese thoughts, the Heaven–Earth realm can be also recognized as the cosmic realm, in which human beings have reached moral transcendence and become cosmic beings. They are then prone to conceive the cosmos (nature) as their spiritual home, and to shoulder a sense of mission to take care of it. They will commit themselves to eco-environmental protection, rethink their self-development in light of the cosmic harmony, and hanker after their convergence with heaven, earth, and the myriad things. The cosmic harmony comes by and large from the concordance and coexistence between humanity and nature. It mainly depends upon two most crucial modes of social practice and human enculturation: “humanized nature” and “naturalized humanity.” Judging from their developmental sequence and interactive connection, humanized nature contributes a precondition to naturalized humanity, and naturalized humanity in turn serves as a complementary counterpart to humanized nature. In brief, “naturalized humanity” involves four primary activities at least. The first is to perceive nature as a shelter to reside and facilitate a harmonious relationship; the second is to return to nature for aesthetic contemplation of its beautiful landscapes; the third is to help the myriad things in nature grow properly through appropriate protection; and the fourth is to learn how to breathe naturally (e.g., through appropriate practice of qigong as breathing exercise somewhat similar to yoga) in order to conciliate the rhythm of human body and heart with that of nature, which is most likely to entail heaven-human oneness. All this is associated with a kind of aesthetic feeling or state of mind, in which the rational is fused with the emotional, the subject identified with the object, and the social consciousness accompanied with the individual freedom. In a word, by virtue of “naturalized humanity,” human individuals will return 47 Zhuangzi, Discussion on Making All Things Equal, in The Complete Works of Zhuangzi (trans. Burton Watson, New York: Columbia University Press, 2013), p. 71.

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to nature for dwelling poetically so long as they are capable of freeing themselves from the control by instrumental rationality, from the alienation by material fetishism, and from the enslavement by the system of power, knowledge, and language, among others. As one of the activities mentioned above is aligned with aesthetic contemplation and appreciation, it accordingly operates through free enjoyment as part of human cultural-psychological formation. Compared with the service of the humanized faculties and emotions, the “naturalized humanity” exposes humans to free enjoyment in an aesthetic and spiritual sense. For this reason, Li asserts the superiority of the aesthetic dimension to the cognitive and ethical dimensions. The aesthetic dimension is neither the internalization of reason (the cognitive) nor the condensation of reason (the ethical), but the sedimentation of both reason and sense. It helps rectify “the seven human emotions including joy, anger, sorrow, fear, love, hate and desire”48 and procure “the delight in heaven-human oneness.”49 Interestingly, the idea of “furnishing the good through the beautiful” results from transformational creation. It purports to synthesize implicitly the Marxist conception of applying the law of beauty to human practice, the Kantian assumption of beauty as the symbol of morality, and the Confucian preoccupation with moral nourishment via emotional substance. The beautiful can be divided into two leading kinds known as the pure and the dependent whereas the good into the unconditional (absolute) and the conditional (utilitarian). Teleologically, these two categories are interwoven with each other despite the tendency that one is used as the means while the other taken as the end. Functionally, they are all pertained to the pragmatic worth of aesthetic metaphysics in terms of the cultural-psychological formation through social practice.

Make Life Worthwhile Through the Beautiful What follows hitherto is the third act of “making life worthwhile through the beautiful” (yi mei li ming ). It is aimed at emancipating human individuals from all cares and worries about life and death, enabling them

48 It is termed as qi qing zheng (七情正) in Chinese. 49 It is termed as tian ren le (天人乐) in Chinese.

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to live at ease and without fear.50 It is common knowledge that humans are mortals, and they live to die for certain. Facing their natural term each, they live on resolutely disregarding the limited span of time. Intellectually and emotionally, they learn from the past experiences in order to find a way out, strive to attain a better understanding of human existence under varied circumstances, and manage to appreciate the infinite and mysterious cosmos. Sentimentally if not sorrowfully, they retain their attachment to life and cherish it even though they are highly aware of the destined death. Still, they are well prepared to confront with whatever happens to them. They know the fact that they are bound to vanish eventually into the stream of time. Yet, they are resolute to uphold the will to live, and ready to die for such a reason: it is better to cherish life, and have no panic for death; it is sheer folly to be haunted with life-and-death anxiety. Having reached this level of self-consciousness, they come closer to the Heaven–Earth realm of human living, and tend to have aesthetic feelings mixed up with admiration and reverence. Noticeably, human life is preset in a natural term, and human living is a dynamic process. Both of them are subjected to the hierarchy of human needs. When the basic needs (physical and material) are gratified, the higher needs (social, aesthetic, and spiritual) come along. Judging from an aesthetic point of view, the sense of beauty occupies an important ranking. As noted in this aspect, there arises a free play of such faculties as human perception, intuition, imagination, judgment, and understanding. They all work interactively and assist people to sublimate their aesthetic sensibility, taste, and wisdom, which in turn leads them to contemplate and appreciate the beautiful. What is beautiful in nature and art is ubiquitous in varied forms, genres, styles, structures, and symbols. It waits for a mind’s eye or a musical ear to find it out. In general, it can be divided into three broad types, encompassing what “pleases the ear and the eye,” what “delights the mind and the wish,” and what “inspires the will and the spirit.”51 Briefly, the first type particularly appeals to the senses of hearing and sight of the viewer. It involves beautiful forms, images, appearances, shapes, colors, sounds, and rhythms, among others. These elements can 50 Li Zehou, “Human Nature and Aesthetic Metaphysics,” p. 7. 51 This mode of division is proposed by Li Zehou. The three types of the beautiful are,

respectively, termed in Chinese as yue er yue mu (悦耳悦目), yue xin yue yi (悦心悦意), and yue zhi yue shen (悦志悦神).

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be widely perceived and enjoyed due to their visual features, inviting attractions, sensuous pleasures, and so forth. It is available in natural scenes, landscape paintings, pop songs, folk dances, country music, and so forth. The second type largely delights the mental state and the intentional wish of the contemplator. It comprises more significant forms, meaningful contents, grotesque imagers, magnificent proportions, sophisticated métier, and artistic tour de force. These components can be apprehended and appreciated through an integrated working of such faculties as aesthetic sensibility, understanding, imagination, association, judgment, feeling, and so on. They are usually applied to works of art and landscapes blended with culturescapes in unique settings or contexts. The aesthetic experience at this stage is facilitated by means of deep apperception and percipience, thus touching the mental state, affecting the intentional wish, and above all, provoking more reflections or ponderings. The third type inspires the will and the spirit, conducive to evoke a kind of cosmic spirit and mysterious feeling. It covers something great, sublime, symbolic, and even divine. It can be effectively appreciated by means of serene contemplation and sudden enlightenment. It is therefore quasi-religious in that it spurs “peak experience,” transcending all kinds of sensuous pleasures and psychological delights. Such experience conforms with both the heaven-human oneness and the cosmic realm of human living. On this account, what is void is also non-void for individuals of high aesthetic sensibility and wisdom, because they live poetically in freedom from cares, fears, worries, and other tangible entanglements. Such a way of life is contemplative, detached, disinterested, and harmonious and peaceful. It appears as if it were this-worldly and other-worldly at the same time. It is expounded and metaphorically expressed in many classical Chinese poems and literary essays. An offhanded example can be taken from Wang Wei’s output. It portrays an enlightened experience of seeking after the chan message in scenic surroundings, and strikes the reader as a contemplative reflection upon the chan as dhyana in its own nature. It reads, Not knowing the way to the Temple of Fragrance, I’ve thus been plunged in the maze of cloudy peaks! Through the ancient woods without a human trail, Still, where’s this tolling from that height sneaks? The gurgle of rills seems choked by perilous rocks. Above the green pines the sun looks pale and cold,

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And at twilight arises the melody of an emptying pool, Pure mind leaves the Passion-Dragon to Dhyana’s hold.52

As seen in the poetic depiction, it is an expression of a personal excursion through the ancient woods without a human track and even human traces. Having lost his way, the solitary traveler continues to explore the unknown place with persistent curiosity and interest when hearing the bell ringing somewhere from a hidden temple. The flowing rills, perilous rocks, the approaching dusk, and the emptying pool all come along in sequence, creating an ambiance of mystical quietude while demonstrating an attraction of natural environment. Quite symbolically, “the melody of an emptying pool” implies not only the beauty of the scenic spot, but also a self-conscious action to purge the mind of all wants denoted by the “Passion-Dragon.” Accordingly, the term of “Dhyana’s hold” indicates the triumphant conquest of the internal monster of desires by virtue of a spiritual meditation and mental serenity. All this means to free life from care-ridden concerns and psychical disturbances. The whole poem provides an aesthetic appeal of beautiful landscape and a philosophical touch of self-purification. On this account then, it serves to verify the possibility of making life worthwhile through the beautiful under certain circumstances.

Create the Beautiful According to the Proper Measure We have so far formulated the three acts relating to the trifold aesthetic engagement. Now what strikes me as necessary is the additional act of “creating the beautiful according to the proper measure” (yi du chuang mei). For it serves to enrich the aesthetic dimension of human capacity in light of human subjectality. To Li’s mind, “the proper measure” relies upon technico-social substratum, and bears a root-like character. It is therefore perceived as “the first category of historical ontology.”53 Active in the praxis of human 52 The poem is titled In Search of the Fragrance Temple (过香积寺). Its original versions follows: “不知香积寺, 数里入云峰。古木无人径, 深山何处钟? 泉声咽危石, 日色冷青松。 薄暮空潭曲, 安禅制毒龙.”. 53 Li Zehou, Shi yong li xing yu le gan wen hua [Pragmatic Reason and a Culture of Optimism], p. 108; Li Zehou, Lishi benti lun [Historical Ontology], p. 10. Li Zehou

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production, it functions as a fundamental basis of man-made (subjective) invention and natural (objective) discovery.54 In actual operation, it is none other than a good command of the most appropriate technique employed to handle all matters and tasks encountered. It therefore entails technical correctness, suitability, and effectiveness. It seems approximate to what ancient Greeks thought of as pan metron ariston (the best measure for all). As objectified in what ancient Chinese conceived as the golden mean or perfect equilibrium, it is practically applied to many areas such as the art of music, art of war, art of politics, and so forth. It can be therefore equalized with the principle of ultimate appropriateness and best proportion in both qualitative and quantitative considerations against the background of ever-changing situations.55 Insofar as what I can see, the proper measure is supposed to operate at three major planes. First and foremost, it is at the plane of material and symbolic operations that engages physical and spiritual praxes, such as productive activities, language communications, artistic creations, scientific explorations, religious prayers, and so on. Secondly, it works at the plane of dialectic wisdom as it goes through the operational field to the existential counterpart. It is mirrored, for example, in the “complementary interaction between Ying and Yang,” the “unity in diversity,” and the “unity of opposites.” Thirdly, it performs at the plane of unique creation. Characteristic of superb properness that is neither too much nor too less, it is employed to create what is artistically beautiful and meanwhile to foster the sense of beauty among those who are contemplating the beautiful. Hence it can be utilized to produce the beautiful throughout such activities as material production, human living, and art making. It delivers a pleasant feeling of mental freedom and nourishes the sense of beauty itself. Accordingly, the beautiful represents the free operation according to the proper measure and also the sufficient manifestation of human capacity. However, the measure itself is “skill” whereas the beautiful is

keeps this book of his in a very important position. He sometimes substitutes the book title with Ren lei xue ben ti lun [Anthropological Ontology], and sometimes with Ren lei xue li shi ben ti lun [Anthropological and Historical Ontology]. 54 Li Zehou, Li shi ben ti lun [Historical Ontology] (Beijing: Sanlian Bookstore, 2002), p. 13. 55 Wang Keping Wang, Chinese Culture of Intelligence (Singapore: Palgrave Macmillan, 2019), pp. 195–196.

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“art.” “Art” is above “skill” owing to its free and creative use of “skill.”56 In the final analysis, the proper measure contains a root-like trait in its causality-based operation as is shown in the three planes.57 As to the subtlety of applying the proper measure to practice, it can be illustrated by the cook allegory in the Zhuangzi. It reads, A cook was cutting up an ox for Wen Hui. Wherever his hand touched, his shoulder leaned, his foot trod and his knee thrust, there was the sound of ripping and the sound of slicing, which kept time with the rhythm of the dance of the Mulberry Grove and were as melodious as the music of the Jingshou. When asked how he achieved such perfection in his skill, the cook put down his knife and replied, "What I love is the Dao, which is more advanced than skills. When I first began to cup up an ox, I saw nothing but the whole ox. Three years later, I saw no more the whole ox. Now I deal with the ox in my mind instead of my eyes. The senses stop functioning, but the mind is activated. Following the ox’s natural veins, my knife slips through openings between its muscles and slides through crevices in the joints. I take advantage of what is already there. The knife has never hesitated at the juncture of blood vessels, not to mention the big bones. A good cook changes his knife every year because he uses his knife to cut. An ordinary cook changes his knife every month because he uses his knife to hack. My knife has been in use for nineteen years and has cup up several thousand oxen, and yet its edge is still sharp as if it were newly whetted. There are crevices in the joints, but the blade of the knife has no thickness. There is certainly plenty of room for the blade of a knife without thickness to enter the joints where there are crevices. This is why the blade of the knife that has been in use for nineteen years is still sharp as if it were newly whetted. Nevertheless, when I come to a complicated joint and see that there will be difficulty, I proceed cautiously, fixing my eyes on it, moving slowly and cutting gently until the part is quickly separated and drops like a clod of earth to the ground. Then standing with the knife in my hand, I look all around with triumphant satisfaction. I then clean the knife and put it away.58

56 Li Zehou, Shi yong li xing yu le gan wen hua [Pragmatic Reason and a Culture of Optimism], p. 42. 57 Wang Keping, “Li Zehou’s View of Pragmatic Reason,” in Roger T. Ames and Jinghua Jia (ed.s), Li Zehou and Confucian Philosophy (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2018), pp. 240–247. 58 Zhuangzi, The Complete Works of Zhuangzi (trans. Burton Watson), Ch. 3, pp. 82–84.

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As noted in the description, the cook himself demonstrates his masterful skill through a process of cutting up an ox. What he is doing is said to keep up with the rhythm of the dance and music popular and graceful in antiquity. It seems as though he is performing a kind of action art to his heart’s satisfaction. Sure enough, all this exhibits his perfect repertoire owing to a good command of the proper measure. He seems to know the complex structure of the ox inside out. Seeing it as a whole with his mind instead of his eyes, he is capable of figuring out all the trivial openings between the muscles and the crevices in the joints where he operates his knife so freely and accurately. Hereby the openings and crevices count a great deal because they attest the practical repertoire and provide a perceptual space, a space that allows free and accurate use of the knife itself. He naturally follows the openings and dismembers the ox without encountering any obstacles caused by the complex and delicate joints, which enables him to retain the blade of his knife as sharp as it is freshly honed even after using it for 19 years. In my observation, Zhuangzi seems to make a special case of the repertoire of moving the knife freely between the tiny crevices in the joints that provide an incredibly minute space. The repertoire in this case appears technical, but is actually spiritual. In other words, it is hereby pointed to spiritual freedom rather than technical feat. As a rule, the space of spiritual freedom varies while the nature of such freedom remains the same. Empirically in a human society, the space of freedom in general is most likely narrowed down and even compressed to considerable degrees by social, political, and religious constraints. Worse still, these constraints tend to work together toward human alienation and ideological brainwashing. If we do want to retain our spiritual freedom under such circumstances, we really need to overcome all the obstacles and attain a high level of personal cultivation, particularly in the spiritual realm. This is definitely crucial and necessary because it determines the quality of life and the probability of existence. Hence Zhuangzi advocates spiritual freedom in light of the Dao itself as is verified by the cook’s affirmation of his love of the Dao that is much more advanced than his skill. Such freedom strikes me as a defense against any form of human alienation and ideological brainwashing because of their jeopardizing of the true self. Noticeably, the story of the cook shows how the great technique counts in this particular case, and justifies how it is connected with the mastery of the proper measure. If human individuals have achieved a good command of the proper measure, they are well in a position to develop a

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solid technique. They can apply it to creating the beautiful in art besides many other things. As practice makes perfect, its application will handy and smooth in accord with what is expected and wished, thus eliciting creative freedom, aesthetic freedom, and spiritual freedom. At this stage, it guides the practitioner to upgrade his repertoire and approach the unlimited over the limited in his profession. Herein the unlimited is created out of the limited as a matter of fact. For instance, the piano keyboard has a limited number of 88 keys in all. Yet, an outstanding pianist can play it well for an unlimited number of music pieces. It is also the case with the flute and many other musical instruments. Evidently, the beautiful in art is man-made, but diversified in style. It becomes so because of aesthetic, cultural, philosophical, socio-individual, technical, and other reasons. However, all these reasons are aligned one way or another with the proper measure beneath which lie purposefulness without a purpose and lawfulness without a law. On this account, it can be claimed that a real mastery of the proper measure will expose the creator of the beautiful to free imagination, free creation, free spirituality, and free enjoyment as well. As depicted in the foregoing discussion, the how-to-live concern is linked with the human condition today. Li Zehou proposes a full-fledged development of human capacity as an alternative to address this concern. This development in terms of cultural-psychological formation consists of such three key dimensions as the cognitive, aesthetic, and moral, which are reconsidered with reference to the Kantian critical philosophy, the Marxist practical philosophy, the Confucian humanistic philosophy, and Li’s historical ontology. When human capacity reaches its greatest height, it gives rise to the accomplishment of human subjectality. Both of them are intimately interrelated because they share the similar determinants given. The ideal state of human subjectality is seen as the acme of human capacity and the ultimate outcome of human fulfilment, standing for the highest achievement of which human as human is capable. In order to obtain the final objective, much emphasis is placed on the aesthetic dimension of human capacity and subjectality alike. For this dimension is both a budding stage of human development and the final end of human fulfillment. Characteristically and teleologically distinguished from its Western counterpart, Chinese aesthetics is deployed as a foundation stone of Li’s historical ontology, practical philosophy, and aesthetic metaphysics altogether. It is closely leagued with such notions of emotional substance, proper measure, emotio-rational structure and

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pragmatic reason.59 It is expected not only to enhance the development of human capacity, but also to address the how-to-live concern with aesthetic sensibility and wisdom. Say, it is intended to lead human individuals to approach the ideal of human subjectality as a new conception of human self, emancipate them from socio-psychical entanglements for the sake of spiritual freedom, and eventually enable them to live a worthwhile life in this world rather than any other. Incidentally, when applied to creating the beautiful, the proper measure helps human individuals develop skill into art, transform creative freedom into spiritual freedom, and sublimate artistic appreciation up to aesthetic transcendence. Moreover, its application is coupled with “illuminating the true through the beautiful,” because they both are directed to the special role of practical aesthetics. Similarly, the conception of emotional substance as a fundamental root of human psychology is connected with the act of “furnishing the good through the beautiful,” because they both are pointed to promoting the internal value of aesthetic metaphysics. All this is due to the conviction that the beautiful illuminate the true and symbolize the good. Accordingly, the aesthetic sensibility of the beautiful serves as an enlightening energy that inspires the contemplator to gain insights into the epistemological worth of the true, and to cultivate the moral consciousness of the good. In respect to the three dimensions in question, the aesthetic dimension features sensuous, open and transcendent possibilities, working to upgrade human capacity to its full extent while entailing a special form of common sense (sensus communis ) peculiar to humankind alone. This common sense can be treated as an integration of human capacity with human emotion. As allied with the “disinterested contemplation” and “purposefulness without a purpose,” it facilitates not merely the satisfaction of the aesthetic needs according to the momentum of emotional substance, but also the attainment of the moral ends according to the categorical imperatives either in Kant or Confucius.

59 Wang Keping, “Li Zehou’s View of Pragmatic reason,” in Roger Ames and Jia Jinhua (ed.s), Li Zehou and Confucian Philosophy (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2018), pp. 225–237.

Epilogue

According to Ernst Cassirer, “Beauty appears to be one of the most clearly known of human phenomena. Unobscured by any aura of secrecy and mystery, its character and nature stand in no need of subtle and complicated metaphysical theories for their explanation. Beauty is part and parcel of human experience; it is palpable and unmistakable. Nevertheless, in this history of philosophical thought the phenomenon of beauty has always proved to be one of the greatest paradoxes.”1 I think it especially so in the context of Chinese cultural heritage. It is not merely “part and parcel of human experience,” but part and parcel of human existence. For it generates an organic integration of aesthetic phenomenon and aesthetic welfare, without which human life is found not worth living. Moreover, “its character and nature” provoke some kind of metaphysical reconsideration and facilitate aesthetic transcendence, with respect to the Heaven–Earth realm of experiencing “the phenomenon of beauty” or the beautiful in both nature and art. This realm in essence is aesthetically sublimating, anthropologically ontological, and spiritually quasi-religious, which in turn pertains to the possibility of human becoming and the enhancement of human subjectality. Trailing through this book as a whole is a discussion of the beautiful for human existence or human living from the perspective of Chinese

1 Ernest Cassirer, An Essay on Man (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1944, rep. 1975), p. 137.

© Foreign Language Teaching and Research Publishing Co., Ltd 2021 K. Wang, Beauty and Human Existence in Chinese Philosophy, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-1714-0

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aesthetic culture. It covers the primary properties, functions, and characteristics of the beautiful in art, nature, and personality in varied contexts. It exposes diversified modes of beauty that are verified through specific works of art from past to present, and draws three fundamental rationales from Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism, rationales that include equilibrium harmony, spontaneous naturalness, and subtle void. In order to illustrate their applications in practice, it resorts to the analyses of music, poetry, landscape painting, and other genres of art. At the final stage, it looks into the fourfold aesthetic engagement with particular reference to the how-to-live concern from the perspective of historical ontology or practical philosophy of subjectality. Regarding the fourfold engagement in the interactive acts stated above, it makes the most of the aesthetic dimension that straddles a number of provinces including the true, the good, the beautiful, and human living. It is aimed at the attainment of aesthetic transcendence mainly grounded on two paramount orientations: the heaven-human oneness and the culture of optimism. They both represent the primary ethos of Chinese culture at large. Respectively speaking, the oneness of this kind is often treated as the supreme aesthetic realm tallied with Heaven–Earth realm of human living. The optimism as such is originated from the Chinese musicrites heritage that features joy-consciousness and aesthetic stance toward everyday life. Historically and practically, it procures a strong impact upon Chinese cultural tradition and national mentality altogether. Naturally and effectively, it evokes aesthetic sensibility in a metaphysical sense, remolds joy-conscious temperament in an anthropological sense, and consolidates the optimistic spirit in an ontological sense. These three traits are interwoven in the deep structure of cultural psychology and life philosophy in China. Empirically and actually, the aesthetic sensibility pertains to the aesthetic appreciation of the beautiful in art and nature, the joy-conscious temperament makes the national mentality accustomed to granting bitter joy or drawing delight from sufferings and miseries, and the optimistic spirit, all the more instructive and significant, enables Chinese people to become what they are, never losing a ray of hope at confrontation with the gravest crises and hardships. Thus they are ready to acknowledge the interaction between the negative and positive sides of all matters, and prepare for the possible interplay between fortune and misfortune in varied situations. This being true, they tend to prepare for the worst, and hope for the best. They usually get accustomed to crisis-conscious thinking, and

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keep alert against potential dangers even in peacetime. Meanwhile, they manage to appreciate bitter joy while searching for possible alternatives to cope with unexpected problems and challenges. Knowing well the difficult condition of human existence as is sandwiched between Heaven and Earth, they have no other choice but persevere in self-reliance under all circumstances. To the extent of their self-consciousness of human living as such, they are distinct from the Christians who are fortunately exposed to divine grace and redemption. Thus in many cases, the Chinese majority are liable to suffer more, and paradoxically, enjoy more, because of their enculturated sense of bitter joy either in difficult situations or under harsh conditions. They are fond of human living with an optimistic spirit and matter-of-fact attitude. They tend to celebrate a joy-conscious and morality-based life in this world. In general, their way of life is like a boat against the current. It beats on, so persistently, no matter what difficulties it confronts with. This is repeatedly verified through the ups and downs in the long course of Chinese history. Nowadays, people tend to go to the theater and cinema during the weekends, and travel to landscape attractions and historical sites across the world during the holidays. By so doing, they have easy access to perceive and enjoy what is artistic or beautiful, etc. As a popular phenomenon in China, millions of citizens, young and old, are fond of dancing, singing, or playing a musical instrument (the flute, zither, accordion, and so forth) at public squares or in public parks. I assume that they enjoy doing so for three reasons at least. Physically, they intend to build up their health condition. Psychologically, they take it as a way of social interaction with others. Aesthetically, they feel themselves into dancing and singing for pleasure and appreciation. More often than not, one may come across some Chinese seniors who are reciting old poems from the Tang or Song Dynasty when taking a walk individually.2 In my observation, they would like to do so for three 2 I have met some of them when taking a walk along the Lancang River in a remote place from Beijing. The way they recite the classical poems by Sushi, Wang Wei, and others often reminds me of an interesting experience of mine in the autumn of 1998. I was then invited to work together with a small crew of Bavaria TV Station headed by Dr. Richard Blank. They were making a documentary series about “Children and Poetry in the World” as they were much concerned about the kids from affluent societies who became indulged in watching TV and playing video games instead of reading classical poems as an important part of a cultural heritage. They came to China to produce “Children and Poetry in China.” I escorted them to visit such cities as Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou,

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reasons as well. Firstly, they used to read and recite these classical poems during childhood and early schooling, and developed a strong interest in them ever since then. Such poems may have become part of their being. They recite them as though they review their past, reconsider their present, and envision their future. Secondly, they recite these pomes when they are aged, attempting to practice their memory and reduce the risk of falling into victims of Alzheimer’s disease. Thirdly, they appreciate the poetic world and its aesthetic charm as is based on the picturesque imagery, emotional expression, and philosophical worth. Most of the practitioners may not use the word “beautiful” to describe the practical and aesthetic values of such arts as dancing, singing, music, and poetry, but they are undoubtedly able to feel, contemplate, and appreciate them in their own right and in their own way. Furthermore, they are highly aware of the beautiful in art and nature, and pragmatically capable of employing them to upgrade their living condition and life quality. For this I believe a good taste is prone to generate aesthetic wisdom, which will in turn bless those who are hankering after a worthwhile life per se.

Guilin, Jilin, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Kunming, and Lijiang, among others. Wherever we went, we would ask some school boys or girls under ten years old to recite some classical poems they had learnt from textbooks or elsewhere. My task was to translate them from Chinese into English, and select what the pupils did in order to pick out what was repeated in their recitation. All of us enjoyed the process of the work indeed because the poems concerned were impressive and memorable due to their plain language, musical rhythm, rich imagery, and philosophical value and so on. My colleagues from Germany were so amazed to see and hear that the poems recited by kids or pupils were written more than thousand years ago but still stayed alive with Chinese people from generation to generation. This legacy is retained and reused all the time as it gives the reader much delight, pleasure, inspiration, and enlightenment.

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Index

A absence of self, 246, 248 aesthetic and moral interaction, 46 aesthetic awareness, 1, 3, 116, 158, 228, 285, 301 aesthetic dimension, ix, 282, 288, 295, 303, 306, 310, 311, 314 aesthetic impulse, 3, 5, 17 aesthetic sedimentation, 292 aesthetic sublimation, x aesthetic transcendence, x, 203, 295–297, 311, 313, 314 agathos , viii, 282 art as sedimentation, xi, 252, 269, 275, 278 artistic perfection, 74 art of breathing system, 123, 125, 141 Atiyah, Michael F., 300 B the beautiful, viii–xi, 3, 5, 7, 96, 105, 113, 120, 125, 127, 142, 143, 147, 151, 190, 197, 202, 207, 215, 216, 219, 228, 237, 240,

244, 253, 260, 262, 268, 282, 291, 298–301, 303, 304, 306, 307, 310, 311, 313, 314, 316 beautiful words, 120, 144–146 beauty, vii, viii, x, 1, 3, 5, 6, 14, 16, 17, 34, 48, 49, 62, 64, 77, 78, 82, 95, 111, 126, 127, 135, 142, 143, 145, 147–149, 151, 152, 156–159, 164–166, 168, 170, 172, 173, 178, 181, 189, 193, 202, 205, 207, 215, 216, 226, 227, 255, 260, 264, 267, 268, 276, 282, 292, 300, 301, 303, 306, 313, 314 beauty of music and rites, 34, 36 beauty of the ideal personality, 56 Bell, Clive, 15, 269, 278 big-goat image, 2–5 bronze art, x, 13, 14, 23–26, 28, 29, 31

C Cai Yi (蔡仪), 255, 268 Cai Yuanpei (蔡元培), 254, 270

© Foreign Language Teaching and Research Publishing Co., Ltd 2021 K. Wang, Beauty and Human Existence in Chinese Philosophy, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-1714-0

325

326

INDEX

Chan Buddhism, ix, x, 187–189, 191, 194, 195, 197, 198, 200–202 Chang Jian (常建), 218 chan joy, 198 chan realm, 189, 198–200, 202, 203 chan sense (message), 189, 191–194, 197 chan (zen) as dhy¯ ana, 96, 187, 190, 195, 198 Chen Wangdao (陈望道), 255 Chu ci poetry (楚辞), 175, 180, 183 cognitive dimension, 80, 287 comprehensive praxis, 252, 269, 271 Confucianism, viii–x, 33, 45, 54–56, 62, 63, 65–68, 70, 78, 86, 92, 106, 112, 115, 119, 120, 126, 127, 134, 157, 176, 188, 199, 205, 208, 214, 253, 265, 267, 278, 283, 286, 314 Confucius, 38–43, 45, 46, 55–57, 59–63, 71, 72, 74, 75, 77, 79–83, 86, 91, 112, 113, 115, 142, 146, 157, 178, 188, 212, 213, 215, 228, 283–285, 311 contemplate things in view of self, 245 contemplate things in view of things, 245 contemplative attitude, 151 cosmological and quasi-religious implications, 51 create the beautiful according to appropriate measure, 306 creative transformation, xi, 251, 266, 267 cultural-psychological formation, ix, 65, 192, 286, 303, 310 D Daoism (Taoism), viii–x, 64, 92, 119, 120, 123, 125–127, 129, 134, 138, 148, 152, 154, 155, 157, 158, 176, 187, 188, 199, 201,

202, 205, 206, 208, 210, 226, 242, 245, 314 Dao Sheng (道生), 201 Dao (Way), 66, 70, 106, 155, 156, 162, 172, 206, 207, 238 Deng Yizhe (邓以蛰), 255 detachment, 4, 28, 87, 90, 119, 120, 136, 137, 192, 193, 199, 229, 240, 274, 295 Dong Yuan (董源), 247 Dragon Boat Festival (端午节), 175, 177 Du Fu (杜甫), 94, 98, 224 dynamic beauty, x, 10, 12 E earth-made music, 159, 161 eight correct paths, 68, 70 emptiness, 136, 139, 152, 188, 191, 193–195, 197, 198, 200 equilibrium harmony, ix, x, 75, 77–79, 82, 95, 108, 314 equilibrium harmony as beauty, 55, 75, 83 expressive and significant form, 13, 14 eye-perceived paintings, 166, 243, 244 F Fang Dongmei (Thomé Fang 方东 美), 262, 263, 265, 267 Fan Kuan (范宽), 247 Fan Shoukang (范寿康), 255 Feng Zikai (丰子恺), 255 ferocious beauty, x, 21–23 five beautiful acts, 60 five colours, 233 five constant virtues, 61 five ugly things, 60 four attainments, 240, 241 four determinants, 97

INDEX

four-factor theory, 97 four-fold engagement, xi, 299 four unique components, 232, 247 fragmentary account, 251, 252 free and easy wondering, x, 120, 131, 132, 156, 188 free and happy roaming, 120, 131 free enjoyment, 289, 291, 292, 303, 310 free intuition, 289–292 free will, 62, 90, 132, 283, 289–292 Fu Baoshi (傅抱石), 233 furnish the good through the beautiful, 301 Fu Tongxian (傅统先), 255

G Gao Ertai (高尔泰), 268 g¯ ath¯ a , 189, 190 goat-man image, 2, 6, 7 gradual enlightenment, 190, 191 great beauty of silence, x, 147, 150, 151, 157, 161, 243 grotesque beauty, 23–25 grotesque imagery, 175, 178, 180, 305 Guan Shanyue (关山月), 233 Gu Kaizhi (顾恺之), 249 Guo Moruo (郭沫若), 29, 30 Guo Xi (郭熙), 240, 241, 247

H harmonious beauty, ix, 12, 35, 111, 216 harmonization without being patternized, 46 harmony, 18, 35, 39, 42, 45, 46, 50–53, 57, 58, 67, 74–76, 82, 91, 99, 110, 111, 137, 149, 159, 256, 302

327

harmony without uniformity, 46, 57, 58 having no-depraved thought, 86–91 Heaven and Earth, 51–53, 93, 110, 116, 127, 128, 132, 140, 148, 150, 152, 156, 157, 159, 160, 162, 166, 168, 171, 172, 208, 242–244, 286, 302, 315 Heaven–Earth realm, 282, 301, 302, 304, 313, 314 heaven-human oneness (oneness between heaven and human), x, 70, 159, 169, 173, 215, 227, 264, 292, 296, 302, 303, 305, 314 heaven-made music, 159, 161, 162 Heidegger, Martin, 205–208, 228, 283 hidden stream, 205–207 holy person, 120, 121, 123 how-to-live concern, xi, 282, 283, 286, 287, 310, 311, 314 Huang Binhong (黄宾虹), 168, 170, 233, 245 Hui Neng (惠能), 189–191 human capacity, 243, 282, 286–289, 291, 294–296, 298, 299, 306, 307, 310, 311 humaneness, 35, 40, 41, 55, 58, 59, 61–63, 65, 69, 71–73, 77, 100, 101, 145, 266, 284, 285 human existence, ix–xi, 2, 19, 70, 77, 116, 123, 173, 188, 197, 198, 200, 265, 273, 274, 286, 287, 290, 297, 298, 300, 304, 313, 315 human fulfilment, 310 humanized nature, 291, 296, 302 human nature, 23, 42, 50, 55, 71, 77, 79, 105, 106, 111, 214, 215, 278, 286, 287, 292, 296–299, 301, 304

328

INDEX

human subjectality, 282, 290–295, 298, 299, 306, 310, 311 Huxley, Aldous, 227

I ideal personality, viii–x, 33, 43, 54–56, 62, 63, 67, 70–73, 77, 78, 81, 120, 129, 159, 267 illuminate the true through the beautiful, 299 independent personality, x, 120, 122, 126, 127, 131, 132, 134, 146, 150, 169, 170, 172, 236 inspired interest in poetic charm, 96 intellectual enlightenment, 145, 256, 257, 259, 261 intended meaning, 84, 85 interactive and complementary relationship, 47, 49, 207 inward transcendence, 56, 87, 150, 198, 296, 298

J Jaspers, Karl, 55 joy-consciousness, 115, 314 Jung, Carl, 269, 278

K kallos , viii, 1, 282 Kant, Immanuel, 152, 253, 255, 269, 274, 275, 278, 283, 284, 286–293, 311 Kum¯arajïva, 201

L Laozi (Lao-Tzu), 119, 120, 127–130, 141–146, 148, 149, 151–153, 155, 156, 161, 208–211, 238

Legge, James, 34, 35, 38, 46, 47, 51–53, 57, 62, 64–66, 68, 74, 76, 80, 81, 83, 212, 284 Liang Qichao (梁启超), 270 Li Anzhai (李安宅), 255 Li Bai (李白), 94, 98, 180, 219–223 Li Cheng (李成), 247 Li Kuchan (李苦禅), 233 Li Shangyin (李商隐), 94 Li Tang (李唐), 248 literary mind, 92, 93 Liu Gangji (刘纲纪), 83, 112, 256 Liu Songnian (刘松年), 248 Liu Xie (刘勰), 92–94, 145 Liu Yuxi (刘禹锡), 94, 219 Liu Zongyuan (柳宗元), 217, 218 Li Zehou (李泽厚), 11, 17, 18, 20–23, 30, 44, 50, 70–73, 83, 92, 95, 112, 144, 157–159, 178, 180, 182, 185, 188, 192, 194, 196, 213, 215, 247, 248, 255, 256, 268, 269, 275–278, 282, 283, 286, 289, 290, 292, 293, 295–301, 304, 306–308, 310, 311 lóng and fèng (dragon and phoenix), 9, 12 Lü Buwei (吕不韦), 36, 48, 49, 117 Lü Cheng (吕瀓), 255 Lu Xun (鲁迅), 256–261

M Mahãyãna Buddhism, 200 the majestic, 216, 220, 221, 223, 224, 228 make life worth living through the beautiful, 303 man-made music, 159–161 M¯ aratic poetic power, 256, 260, 261 Marx, Karl, 269, 278, 283, 286, 288 Ma Yuan (马远), 244, 248

INDEX

mei (美) as beautiful (beauty), viii, 2–4, 6, 7 Mencius, 62–65, 84, 85, 112, 115 Meng Haoran (孟浩然), 94, 98, 224, 225 mind-heart excursion, 125, 134, 135, 137, 138, 141, 163, 253 mind-inspired painting, 159, 166, 168, 170–172, 243, 244 Min Ze (敏泽), 256 mode of music education, 33, 47 mode of rites education, 33, 47 Mohism, 99, 176 moral dimension, 49, 77, 80, 287 moral symbolism, 208, 212, 214, 215, 228 Mou Zongsan (牟宗三), 269 Mozi (墨子), 99–107, 112–115 multifunction of music, 36 the musical, 37, 38, 42, 48, 107, 116, 124, 216, 225, 228, 285 mutual production, 120, 142, 151–154

N naturalized humanity, 213, 276, 277, 296, 302, 303 negative utilitarianism, 101, 104, 105, 115 Nietzsche, Friedrich, 253 noble man, 65 nothingness, 198, 200, 283, 298

O optimistic spirit, 115, 116, 180, 285, 314, 315

P painted pottery, x, 13, 17–19 patriotic sentimentalism, 179

329

perfect happiness, 35 perfect person, 121–123 performance of rites, 43, 45, 82 personality beauty, ix, 56, 64–66, 77, 78, 120, 127, 176 personality charm, 126, 127 philologos , 120 philopraxis , 120 Plato, vii, viii, 254, 255 play in arts, 70–72, 234 poetic beauty, 95 poetic sentimentalism, 176, 179 poetic state par excellence, xi, 98, 252, 253, 272–275 poetic wisdom, 72, 120, 189, 190, 194, 203, 273 positive utilitarianism, 106, 115 aramit¯ a , 190 prajñ¯ a p¯ presence of self, 245, 246, 248 Q qi (气) as vital energy, x, 64, 160 Qian Mu (钱穆), 215 Qu Yuan (屈原), 175–177, 179–184 R rational coacervation, 291, 292 rational internalization, 289, 291, 292 rational melting, 292 Read, Herbert, 15, 173, 255 reciprocal benevolence, 59, 61 righteousness, 49, 58, 61, 63–65, 69, 71, 76, 77, 100, 145, 301 rites, 6, 8, 21, 25, 33–35, 41, 43–54, 57, 61, 71–73, 75, 83, 90, 91, 99, 100, 111, 113, 114, 270, 285, 314 rites-music tradition, x, 21, 31, 33, 41, 43, 49, 55, 81, 99, 106, 111, 112, 115 Ru Xin (汝信), 254

330

INDEX

S sageliness within and kingliness without (nei sheng wai wang ), 61, 69 sage-saint (sheng ren), 56, 70 Schiller, Friedrich, 253, 270, 274 Schopenhauer, Arthur, 253 self-purification, 120, 134, 148, 149, 152, 306 self-reliance, 116, 117, 286, 315 self-transformation, 124–126, 200 Seng Zhao (僧肇), 201 sense of beauty, 3, 4, 13, 47, 255, 263, 265, 304, 307 serene contemplation, x, 48, 90, 141, 162, 193, 199, 237, 253, 305 serenity, 193, 197, 200, 201, 306 shaman, 6–9, 26 shamanism, 7, 25 shamanistic features, 7, 175 Shao Yong (邵雍), 245 Shi Lu (石鲁), 233 significant form, x, 15, 16 six rules of painting, 234 soundless music, 152, 158, 159 spiritual freedom, ix, x, 28, 120, 122, 125–127, 131, 132, 134, 146, 150, 151, 159, 163, 169, 170, 172, 196, 198, 200, 202, 203, 216, 219, 239, 243, 246, 264, 297, 298, 309–311 spontaneous naturalness, ix, x, 92, 93, 119, 120, 147, 154–159, 161–166, 238, 245, 314 spontaneous naturalness as beauty, 154, 156 subjectality, 269, 283, 290, 292–295, 310, 314 subtle awakening, 191 subtle void, ix, x, 189, 193–195, 197, 198, 314 subtle void as beauty, 194, 198

sudden awakening, 189, 191, 192, 194, 196–198, 200 s¯ unyat¯ a , 190, 191, 193–198, 200 superior man (jun zi), 39, 41, 43, 56–63, 66, 70, 77, 106 super replicas, 166 Su Shi (苏轼), 94, 169, 170, 201, 216, 217, 223, 233 symbolic beauty, 25 synthetic beauty, 232, 233 systematic framing, 251, 254 T Tao Yuanming (陶渊明), 162, 163 Teng Shouyao (滕守尧), 271 theoretical incorporation, 251, 267 three distances, 241 three-stage progression, 251 totemic symbols, 1, 6, 10, 12, 20 totemism, 9, 10, 12, 25 transcultural creation, 275 transcultural rediscovery, 252, 262 transformation of things, 124, 125, 159 true person, 120, 122–124, 126, 127, 130–132, 136, 139, 140, 146, 150, 156, 158, 159 true words, 120, 144, 145 U the ugly, 120, 142, 143 uniformity, 57, 58, 79 V void, 168, 190–195, 197–201, 298, 305 W Wang Guowei (王国维), 98, 245, 246, 253, 270–275

INDEX

Wang Wei (王维), 94, 98, 163, 164, 168, 193, 194, 201–203, 216, 217, 305, 315 Wang Yuyang (王渔洋/王士祯), 95, 97 water allegory, 205, 208, 211, 228 waterscape(s), 164, 185, 205, 207, 208, 212, 213, 216, 217, 219–224, 228, 229, 246 Way (Dao), 66, 70, 106, 140, 155, 156, 172, 206, 207, 238 Way of Heaven, 52, 120, 127–130 Way of Human, 129, 302 Way of Sage, 129 the well metaphor, 207, 228 Wen Huaisha (文怀沙), 180 Wittgenstein, Ludwig, 281, 282 worthy man, 56 Wu Changshuo (吴昌硕), 233 X Xia Gui (夏圭), 248 Xie He (谢赫), 167, 234, 236, 237, 242, 244 Xiong Shili (熊十力), 87–89 Xu Fuguan (徐复观), 256 Xunzi (荀子), 47, 50, 99, 106–116, 214, 285

331

Xu Shen (许慎), 2, 3, 36, 37, 43

Y Yang, 12, 18, 92, 145, 181, 183, 184, 208, 307 Yan Yu (严羽), 95–97, 272 Ye Lang (叶朗), 256 Ye Xie (叶燮), 95–97 Yin, 5, 208 Yuan Zhongdao (袁中道), 225–227

Z zen (chan), 196, 272 Zhang Daqian (张大千), 233 Zhang Ruoxu (张若虚), 219 Zhang Yanyuan (张彦远), 171, 233, 237, 238, 243 Zhang Zao (张璪), 167, 244 Zhuangzi (Chuang-tzu), 27, 28, 119–127, 130–141, 143, 144, 146–148, 150–152, 156–162, 170–173, 302, 308, 309 Zhu Guangqian (朱光潜), 254, 255, 268 Zhu Xi (朱熹), 83, 86, 88, 90, 96 Zong Baihua (宗白华), 255, 256