After reading "Fifteen Lectures on Chinese Aesthetics" by Zhu Liangzhi

The study of Chinese aesthetics has a history of more than a hundred years, but its achievements are not as many as expected. This is due to the difficulty in defining the problems of Chinese aesthetics and the confusion of historical materials. However, the biggest disadvantage of Chinese aesthetics in the past fifty years is the lack of academic vision and method. Thus, one sentence can be turned into a lengthy treatise, and a lengthy treatise can be knocked down by one sentence. Prof. Zhu Liangzhi often says to do something academic. He himself also this self-discipline. The monographs published hereinabove have all been focused on this academic pursuit. And now this "fifteen lectures on Chinese aesthetics" should be viewed in the same way.

This book is the author's lecture notes for teaching Chinese aesthetics at Peking University.

This book is a collection of lectures on Chinese aesthetics taught by the author at Peking University. In this book, most of the author's words are unique, but not in the branches and leaves. This book is a great source of insights and insights from the author, and not just for the sake of the book, but also for the sake of the author, who is a great writer.

Looking at a book is like looking at a garden. Write a book review is just a sense of the richness and beauty of the house, the solidity of the material, the rationality of the frame, or some revelation of their own, and want to talk to the owner of the house a few more words. I don't want to do anything else.

About the book, the author's starting point in the difference between Chinese and Western, and then catch the difference between Chinese and Western philosophy, "Western philosophy is intellectual, discursive, while Chinese philosophy is life, experience. Life transcendence is the core of Chinese philosophy." (p. 2) It is conceivable that such a Chinese philosophy will make its relationship with art even closer. Thousands of years down the line, when we think of the philosophers, they were not just sitting around lecturing and discussing, but more of their living lives. This may be the beautiful spirit of Chinese culture that Tagore praised. Therefore, the Chinese aesthetics in the author's mind is "the science of transcendence of life", "a kind of science of settling down of life". (p. 2) The author has already made a clear statement about this book, so he does not need to rewrite it, but simply states as follows: "The fifteen questions extracted here from the auspicious feathers of traditional Chinese aesthetics are, in my opinion, important questions of life-transcending aesthetics. The fifteen lectures in this lecture can be divided into three units of meaning: the first five lectures trace the roots of the emergence of life-transcending aesthetics and its flux from five aspects, namely, Taoism, Ch'an, Confucianism, Saoism, and the philosophy of qiqing, which is the theory of roots. As far as aesthetics is concerned, the philosophy of Taoism is to be in harmony with all things and to meditate on the materialization of things; Zen Buddhism establishes the meaning of the world itself, and the green mountain from the green mountain and the white cloud from the white cloud contains such a reflection; Chu Rhetoric, with its tradition of aestheticism and sentimentalism, injects a special temperament into the Chinese aesthetics; the philosophy of Confucianism emphasizes the creation of new changes; and traditional philosophy of qihua emphasizes that heaven and earth and the nature of the world as the world where life flows, and so on, which play a key role in the establishment of the basic features of the Chinese aesthetics. These play a key role in establishing the basic characteristics of Chinese aesthetics. The middle five lectures focus on Chinese aesthetics' pursuit of beauty beyond knowledge (the beauty of speechlessness), beyond space (the space of the spirit), beyond time (the beauty of eternity), beyond oneself (seeing the big in the small), and beyond the color and appearance (the beauty of the big and the small), reflecting a unique transcendent aesthetic interest, which is the morphology of the aesthetics of life. The last five lectures, on the other hand, are a discussion of the categories of life aesthetics, involving the five basic categories of Realm, Harmony, Wonderful Enlightenment, Form and Spirit, and Nurturing Qi, which is the category theory of life aesthetics. The traditional Chinese transcendental aesthetics contains a lot of content, and the several important issues selected here are only a rough outline of the basic situation." (p. 3) The first five lectures, which examine the origin and flow of the mirror and know where it came from, are especially characterized by the fourth and fifth lectures, and by the discernment of the non-dual dharma in the second lecture. The subsequent chapters are all derived from this. The book is characterized by the fourth and fifth lectures, as well as the analysis of the non-dual dharma in the second lecture. The first chapter of this book is Zhuang, followed by Zen, and then Confucianism and Sao, which shows the author's orientation and knowledge. We look at the author seems to favor the Zhuang Zen, and this is only because they are too much effort on Chinese aesthetics, toil and trouble, in all fairness, this benefit is deserved. The author says in the introduction: "About the study of Chinese aesthetics, I thought that China is not the question of whether there is aesthetics in China, but what kind of aesthetics in China in the end; from the internal logic of Chinese aesthetics to grasp the characteristics of the Chinese aesthetics, not to take the Chinese aesthetics as a source of argumentation for the Western aesthetics is the study of Chinese aesthetics can not be ignored today." (p. 3) This is one interpretation of the legitimacy of Chinese aesthetics. This is an explanation of the legitimacy of Chinese aesthetics, which has been chewed over and over again by some people, and denied by others, not as warm and practical as "it is not a question of whether there is any aesthetics in China, but what kind of aesthetics is there in China". Here is the author's volume and confidence in Chinese aesthetics.

Whoever reads this book knows that it is worthy of being a typical book. Everywhere is an elite soldier. The wonderful explanations, special knowledge, and unique cuts in it are enough to open up the intellect. Even if you meet the eyes by chance, you will often see the treasure. This book is not exhaustive, and this is not the purpose of this book, however, the essence of Chinese aesthetics has been seventy-eight. Between the lines, this small book has a big world.

The author's painstaking efforts have been neglected in a hurry. It is not only the author's luck to have more, but also the reader's luck. But I don't have so much power to receive, there are only a few of the following in the heart:

1. Look at this book, the line of the scroll freely, the text of the clean and elegant, the material of the rich and wide review, are enough to take the law. Read this book to know the beauty of Chinese aesthetics. There is an overflowing breeze of calmness. The author is able to recognize the spirit of his ancestors in history, and he is more concerned with the differences than with the similarities. However, the author's intention is "to prove the similarity by the difference". The author has not devoted any chapter to the ways and states of integration of Confucianism, Buddhism, Taoism, Saoism, and the philosophy of qi chemistry, but he has done so in every chapter.

The author also discusses the similarities and differences of the present-day philosophers, but seldom touches on their rights and wrongs. ...... water to water, is not learning." As for the author has a fresh and authentic understanding, we readers should also first look at its differences. Although there is a discernment in the text, there is absolutely no negative spirit to win, and to raise oneself to maul others. Instead, the author is able to create a new idea in the place where he differs from the others. In the debate of Hao Liang, Zhuang Zi knows the joy of fish by watching fish, Zhu Guangqian thinks that this is "to push oneself to the object", "empathize with the object", the author thinks that it is questionable. (p.16) In addition to the three attitudes proposed by Mr. Zhu Guangqian, the author proposes a fourth one. This is not the author's attempt to seek new ideas, but is born out of a solid research. For the fourth attitude (i.e., Myriad Enlightenment), the author has written a monograph entitled "The Greatest Sound: An Aesthetic Examination of Myriad Enlightenment".

The author never boasts of his own learning and says that his work is rough, however, the author never slackens off, "If there is a doubt, I will refer to it again and again and return to it; if there is a unique view, I will invoke the past to prove the present, and I will make it smooth and stop afterward." (Pan Lei, "Day Knowledge Record Preface") This comparison can be slightly known as the author of the study. In the book, it seems to be what people can say, but it is difficult to say the purpose of the people, such as Zhuang, Zen, Confucian, Sao. The author, however, "tells people what they don't know because it is known to them". The exposition of the non-dual method shows the author's strength. The author can really Sun Qifeng reviewer's words depicted: "people's hands of the issue, so that the gentleman curved for the strip finger, people resting on their feet, so that the gentleman biased for the heat, but also nothing to admire, nothing to fear." The ancients said not idle people can not be idle, can be idle is not waiting for idle people. These points of calm is not a change of mind can do, but the deep roots of the rise of the present.

2. Read a book, look at its citations will know the breadth of knowledge, the sparseness of the power, which is the reader **** know. However, the citations of this book are limited to general knowledge, hidden and not obvious, it is difficult to produce such an effect. Just as we should not merely look at the splendor of a house, we should also pay attention to the hardships in the process of building it. As in the case of Bujinkan, its trailblazer is obvious at a glance. That is, such as page 40 on the "external teacher, in the source of the heart", page 83 on the Shi Tao Chu style, page 146 on the Chinese art of "do not set up the text, not from the text", page 209 on the authors of the ancient meaning of the full, all seem to be a handful, but the utility of the deep! The author of the book, all of which are the author's theories of learning. In this way, but also just to see on paper, as for this behind the literature involved in more than 10,000 counts. Not hard to come from the study, as Fei Yanfeng in the Fei's legacy, "a good argument, beautiful to hear only." The author searches and collects diligently, in this book is difficult to see, but, puts the eyes on the back of the book, can know that the road from its extremely solid. Chapter Xuecheng "chapter's posthumous and Chen Guanmin Ministry of Public Works on historiography": "scribe writing, but I fear not out of their own; historians of the text, but I fear out of their own." I think the value of this book is that its words are from the heart and out of their own, and there must be some of the original and not all out of their own. Can "for the ancients to establish the heart". I see in the book: the living spirit of Chinese aesthetics is in history. The spirit of history is not in theory. Perhaps the theory itself cannot hold the spirit of history. The author is obsessed with history, perhaps here. I think, in terms of the impact of this book, its impact on theory will never be small, but the revelation of history may be greater.

This book can be said to be "only for your own pleasure, not to be held and presented to you", but because of its roots, so it is the more for themselves and the more for others. People often cite "Wen Shi Tongyi? Answer to the guest in": "the high and bright more arbitrary learning, the submerged is still the work of kozo; the world of academia, can not help but have these two ways." The brilliant ones take kozo as their foundation, and the brilliant ones are more brilliant. The author's learning is like this.

3. Open the door to the future. This book can point out the way up, new people's eyes and ears, triggering new ideas. It is really a "light in the chaos". For example, the seventh and eighth lectures of this book emphasize on the clarification of the spatial and temporal view of Chinese art. This exposition allows us to revisit the small inventions of historians, but brings a lot of new ideas to the study of aesthetics. From this point of view, not only space and time, but also other concepts are of great relevance to aesthetics. In many ways, this book really "picks up the unfinished threads of the past and opens up the uncharted beginnings of the future". (Qing Xue Xue, "A Lady's Poetry") Reading this book, one realizes that "if one does not read much, one cannot prove the changes in the language; if one reads a lot but does not seek it in one's heart, then one is a vulgar scholar." (Quan Zuwang, quoting Huang Lizhou) Faithful but not false. The deep realization and memorialization enable the author to penetrate into the heart and hit the nail on the head. The author says, "The thought of mountains and forests, the joy of clouds and water, is not really in the mountains and forests and clouds and water themselves, but in the human mind." (Page 8) landscape poetry is not only in the description of the mountains and water, landscape painting is not only in the red and green, behind them is the spirit of life, so Zheng Banqiao's poem, "the flowing water is tantalizingly gone, the lonely boat is still at will" in the eyes of the author, "writing is not only about the flowing water and the lonely boat, but also about his mind, which is floating in the world of air. He writes about his mind floating in the world of air." (pp. 114-115) It is really rare to find a person who is not alone. As the author says, "The core of chi is the conveyance of the meaning of life, which depends on form, but cannot be obtained by focusing on form." (p. 113) I think that the author's strength is not in pointing this out, but in taking the spirit of life from it and conveying it in a vitalized form. The author's form of communication and the spirit of communication have reached a fusion. The author really "shows the realm with the realm".

4. Far-sightedness. People who do Chinese aesthetics are easily shocked by the vastness of historical materials and the complexity of history. The chapters in this book all come from history, and through the author's discerning eye, they have all become the spine of today's aesthetic construction. The fusion of history and theory is indeed a great skill. The peaks are climbed into the subtle. In the vast distance of history, the author lifts up in spirit. In the vast ocean of history, the author swims and rolls. He is like a man who has attained great freedom.

Scholars **** know, Chinese aesthetics is difficult to find specialized works, this book is called Chinese aesthetics fifteen lectures, and the author's focus is more than in the aesthetics outside. The author in the philosophy and art of the confluence of the spirit of aesthetics. Ancient people said that the more precise the analysis, the more skillful the escape, this is the most scholars to pay attention to, and the study of Chinese aesthetics scholars should pay more attention to. The author really hides the aesthetics of the world.

Another example is the rhyme of Sao Ren, not philosophy, but in aesthetics and great influence. The author is extremely elaborated, pushed to the depth, can see the author's high knowledge. I think we can see, outside of philosophy is beneficial to the aesthetics and not just that. That is to say, he speaks of the relationship between philosophy and aesthetics, but also does not stick to the concept of terminology, and focus on the two common place, not forcible integration. The two are not limited to the borrowing and transferring of quotations, but more in the convergence and integration of the spirit. This is an eye-opener for re-examining philosophy, aesthetics, and the relationship between the two.

5. The book is a good one. The author is good at separating the East from the West, but good at blending the ancient and the modern. Scholars often quote the West in order to emphasize themselves, and there are also contrasts between the East and the West in this book. However, I feel that the author sees the Chinese and Western echo, more cautious than happy. For example, the author says, "Zhuangzi's freedom is in fact 'by oneself', acquiring the right to dominate oneself, rather than handing over the right to knowledge, to the 'habitual mind' of the inner world. This is somewhat equivalent to what Spinoza calls the 'self-causal' theory, freedom with itself as the cause," the author makes the two acquainted, and immediately informs that there is something wrong, saying, "But there is a difference. Zhuangzi's freedom is a philosophical return from slave to master, from 'by him' to 'by self'." (p. 20) Those who do so are not cited extensively. I think this is due scholarly prudence.

The illustrations in the book are also particularly colorful, and they are extremely helpful in appreciating the wisdom that words leave out. Among them, there is the author's work, or the ancient people across thousands of years and miles to help. In addition, the author's method of reading, for example, is also worthwhile.

After reading the book I also triggered some doubts, although I dare not say that this is academic thinking, as if it is a conversation, but water to water, is not a conversation?

In the second lecture, the author's spirit and skill, so that we see a help the clouds high, leaning on the tree sleep alone Zhuangzi. The first sunrise really brings Zhuangzi to life, as he is the measure of things, the big system is not cut, forgetting the feelings and melting things. The author shows a world from Zhuangzi's words. The author's research is enlightened from the situation described by Zhuangzi, so Zhuangzi is irrational. However, if we consider the very act of Zhuangzi's description, I feel that Zhuangzi also has a clear and lucid attitude toward life. This attitude, when he describes, he is a scrutinizer of life, and when he describes the situation, he is a player of life, both of which, I think, have a great deal to do with aesthetics. The Chinese have a clear and lucid attitude towards life, which is different from the scientific rationality of the modern West. However, I think that this spirit of life is not completely irrational. It is the Chinese view of life as it should be. We can easily see this wisdom in Su Shi, which does not exclude the aesthetics of the past, nor does it lack the subtlety of the faint fragrance of flowers. A life of eyes to look at themselves, play with life. Knowing what life can and can't be.

In addition, the two words "great creation" (page 57) have been said for generations, and the state of mind is different. Or because the creation of the sky can not be clearly seen and give birth to fear, or because of its robust and meritorious and give birth to the heart of joy. That is, compared with the Wei Jin and Song Dynasty, the difference is great. For example, Tao Yuanming's poem, "Even if the waves of the great changes, not happy and not afraid," it can be seen that he, or people at that time for the great changes was once fear, and Shao Yong's poem: "Things are all reasonable me, the sky and do not say that the people on behalf of the", is full of harmony and joy of the words, although the same, and The words are the same, but the mentality is different. The book is a collection of poems that have been written in the same language, but with a different mindset.

This book can be said to be "for the ancients to establish the heart" of the masterpiece, in the process, the author has obtained the wordless pleasure is also overflowing. This book is the author's wonderful high top, small boat. The author is really "drunkenly singing wine in a field house, laughing and reading books of the ancients".

As for the relationship between this book and Neo-Confucianism, the status of the study of Chinese aesthetics, this book shows the transformation of the academic world, and not my shallow knowledge can not comment. However, we have learned so much from this book that we expect as much from it. Perhaps it is not only a book for the study of Chinese aesthetics, but will also be a book for the study of Chinese aesthetics in the future. This book review does not have the ability to see the big picture in a small way. If you want to realize the subtleties of the author and the book, you should read the original book. Players are good at its beauty, read it, and are sure to be satisfied with it; while the careful ones should not only be aware of it, but also know its force, and after reading this book, if they can read some of the author's other writings, the benefit can never be counted in the road. Therefore, the former can sink or float with it as much as he likes, while the latter has to have a unique eye. Therefore, the former eyes may only lovely, while the latter's eyes are not only lovely, but also honorable.

Thank you.

Thank you.