Discourse on the Nature of Aesthetics in the History of Chinese Thought

This paper attempts to provide a brief but holistic grasp of the ancient Chinese system of aesthetic thought. Aesthetic perception is caused by aesthetic objects, and the object that generally causes aesthetic perception to be satisfied, perfected, and pleasant is beauty. Aesthetics should not only study the laws of sensation, but also the laws of the objects of sensation. In other words, aesthetics should not only become aesthetics, subject aesthetics, but also the study of the essence of beauty, object aesthetic object. Therefore, this paper explains the ancient Chinese aesthetic thought, and will focus on the ancient Chinese theory about the essence of beauty and the sense of beauty.

The ancient Chinese view of beauty has both differences and similarities. The so-called "the same", that is, Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism are similar to each other, the same way, the end of the differences in the same place, or the ancient Chinese cultural canon is quite popular, the dominant point of view. In ancient China, the general view of beauty is as follows:

One, "taste" is beauty

This is an objective understanding of the nature of beauty in ancient China without value tendency, which can be regarded as a philosophical definition of the nature of the state of the nature of beauty. From Xu Shen of the Eastern Han Dynasty, who interpreted "beauty" as a kind of "sweet" flavor, to Duan Yucai of the Qing Dynasty, who said, "The beauty of the five flavors is all called sweet," literalists generally defined beauty as a kind of taste that pleases the palate. The interpretation of "beauty" by ancient literalists reflects the general understanding of "beauty" as a "sweet" flavor in ancient China.

Confucius "was not afraid to eat, not afraid to chop," and "did not know the taste of meat for three months" when he heard the beautiful music of "Shao". Lao Tzu originally despised desire and sensation, but he took "for the belly not for the eyes" as the "sage" code of life, and recognized the "great beauty" - "Tao" - as his own. -He also called the Tao, which he recognized as the "great beauty", the "tastelessness" of the "taste", and made it the "ultimate taste". The Tao is called the "taste" of "tastelessness" and is regarded as the "supreme taste". Buddhists also have the idea of "the most flavorful and tasteless".

The idea of "taste" as beauty constitutes the most fundamental difference from the Western view of the essence of beauty, which limits beauty to the pleasures of sight and sound.

Xu Shen (c. 58 AD - 149 AD), courtesy name Shu Chong, was a Han scholar.

A native of Zhaoling County, Ru Nan County (now Zhaoling District, Luohe City, Henan Province) during the Han Empire, Xu Shen devoted his life to the promotion and development of traditional Chinese culture. The Shuo Wen Jie Zi (Explaining Characters in Chinese) was the most elaborate work of Xu Shen's life, costing him half of his life's work. Because of his monumental contribution to the science of writing, Xu Shen was honored as the "Sage of Words".

Second, the beauty of "meaning"

This can be regarded as the value of the ancient Chinese definition of the essence of beauty of course, in which the ancient Chinese aesthetic ideal is placed. Ancient Chinese aesthetics believes that beauty is a kind of pleasant taste, and this taste is not mainly in the form of the thing itself, but in the humanized spirit contained in the thing.

This spirit can be manifested as the immediate projection of emotion, intuition, and intention of the aesthetic subject during the aesthetic illumination, so-called "the object is viewed with emotion, so the words must be exquisite" (Liu Feiqiao), "I view the object, so all the objects are colored with me" (Wang Guowei), and can be manifested as an objectified taste, which is mainly not in the form of things themselves, but in the humanized spirit of things. Can be expressed as an objectification of the spirit of the subject, the so-called "jade beauty has five virtues" ("Shuowen Jiezi" "jade" article), "flowers wonderful in the spirit" (Shao Yong).

Plums, orchids, chrysanthemums, and bamboos have been the favorite objects of literati throughout the ages because of their conformity to the Confucian ideal of the "gentleman". Mountains, water, springs, forests, because it is the ideal of emptiness and tranquility, so it has become the Taoist disciples, the world's favorite place to live.

Yuan Wang Coronation, ink on silk, 151.4 cm long, 52.2 cm across

Collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei

The beauty of reality stems from the "humanization of nature", and the beauty of art is also "the objectification of the essence of man". "Poetry is the expression of the will, literature is the study of the heart, and calligraphy is the study of the heart. "Poetry is the expression of the will", "literature" is "psychology", "calligraphy" is "painting from the heart", and "painting" is "writing". "The writer who enters a person's mind is also a man of emotion" (Zhang Xuecheng), and "if the emotion is not deep, then there is no way to thrill the mind" (Jiao Hong), and only through the depth of meaning can one have "more than one flavor". Only with a deeper meaning can there be "more flavor".

This is why the ancients advocated that "meaning is the mainstay of literature" and "spirit is the mainstay of poetry, calligraphy, and painting" (Fang Dongshu). Ancient China thus formed the "fun" said. "Interest", that is, "interest"; "interest", that is, "meaning". The "fun" theory condenses such an ancient Chinese view of the nature of beauty: intentionality is flavorful. This is clearly different from the Western objectivist view of aesthetics.

Ching Zhang Zongcang's "Imitation of the Landscape of the Woodcutter of Huanghe Mountain" (old collection of Wang Guowei)

Third, "Tao" as beauty

This is another form of the definition of the value of the essence of beauty in ancient China, and it is also a materialization of the ancient Chinese conception of "meaning" as beauty. This is where the more obvious moral ideals are placed.

Confucianism takes moral fulfillment as beauty, such as Confucius said, "Taoism is beauty", Mencius said, "the fullness of beauty", Xunzi said, "not complete and not pure is not enough for beauty". Taoism also takes moral fulfillment as beauty. Zhuangzi has a "virtue full of symbols", clearly regarded beauty as a symbol of moral fullness, which describes a lot of physical deformity and moral integrity of the "supreme man", "God". Lao Zi said, "The great sound has no sound, and the elephant has no form", and Zhuang Zi said, "The world can't compete with the beauty of simplicity", "sound", "no form", "simplicity", and "no form". The "sound", "formlessness" and "simplicity" are all moral images of "inaction" and "nature".

Chuang Tzu's portrait

Four, isomorphism for beauty

This is the ancient Chinese understanding of the psychological nature of beauty. Human nature "loves the same and hates the different," and "if you meet yourself, you will be contemptuous and sarcastic, and if you are different from me, you will be frustrated." "The same voice responds to the same gas." "All things are different from what they are, but from what they are." These are clear illustrations of the idea of isomorphism as beauty. It originates from the ancient Chinese cultural system of the unity of heaven and man, and the unity of things.

In ancient Chinese culture, heaven and man, things and I are born from the same source, they are the same kind of things, they are heterogeneous and homogeneous, and can sense each other. The Huainanzi puts it well: "The universe of heaven and earth is the body of one person." "Things are the same, this standard corresponds." This induction belongs to the phenomenon of ****ming, which is pleasantly beautiful.

In fact, in ancient China to "meaning" for the beauty of the "Tao" for the beauty of the idea, already contains the subject and object isomerization for the beauty of the deep consciousness. (Dong Zhongshu), and "heavenly reason" is "my heart". The beauty of heaven and earth is the objectification of the beauty of the subject, and thus presents a certain isomorphic state. According to Taoism, the Great Tao is the most beautiful. To grasp the emptiness of the Taoist body, the cognitive subject must look at it with an empty and quiet mind, so to speak, "always have no desire to look at its wonderful, always have the desire to look at its mere" ("Laozi").

In line with this, the Buddhists believe that the true beauty is the Buddha's way, the Buddha's way is Nirvana, Nirvana is the silence of emptiness. All the law, with the real heart of the view that is to insist that there, with the empty heart of the view that is to be empty, which is called "inside and outside with, into its illumination" (monk Zhao "Prajna ignorance theory"). It can be seen that the most beautiful way recognized by Taoism and Buddhism is the isomorphism of the subject's empty mind on the object. This mirrors the modern Western Gestalt aesthetics.

Fifth, the "text" as the beauty

Ancient China did not deny the beauty of the form of the object, despite the "meaning" and "Tao" as the ideal beauty.

"Wen", in the ancient Chinese language, has the meaning of "decoration" and "beauty". The idea of "wen" as beauty is the centralization of the ancient Chinese idea of beauty of form. The original meaning of "文" is "交文", "错画"(Xu Shen), i.e., the texture of the form or the form with texture. Because the form of this characteristic gives people a pleasing sense of pleasure, so "Wen" has a derivative meaning of "beauty".

The fact that ancient China regarded "wen" as beauty reflects that while the ancients favored moral beauty and content beauty, they also did not completely ignore decorative beauty and formal beauty. In treating the beauty of decoration and form, Confucianism, which attaches importance to "ritual and religion", has shown a strong tradition of "good writing". Since Confucianism was the dominant ideology in ancient times, through the strong advocacy of successive rulers and physical practice, "good writing" has become the traditional custom of the whole society of the Han nation. In contrast, Buddhism and Taoism are not "literate". Taoism from the perspective of human nature without feelings and desires to require "closed eyes and plugged", to eliminate the beauty of literature, Buddhism from the "color is empty" premise to accuse the beauty of color as a mirror. Due to the inherent contradictions of these doctrines, they were not convincing to the ancient public, and thus did not have a fundamental impact on the dominance of Confucianism's ideology of the beauty of "literature".

The concepts of beauty by taste, beauty by heart, beauty by way, beauty by syncretism, and beauty by writing are the common views of ancient China on the nature of beauty. It constitutes the overall characteristic of the Chinese aesthetic view of the essence of beauty.

However, it is not enough just to notice the above characteristics of the overall outlook. Looking deeper into it, ancient Chinese aesthetics also shows certain differences in the schools of thought on the nature of beauty, which are mainly reflected in the differences between Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism.

Writing/Qiu Zhixiang

Picture/Web