What are the forms of aesthetic culture?

Ancient China's general view on the nature of beauty is not a single, but a complex complementary system, with flavor as beauty, meaning as beauty, Taoism as beauty, isomorphism as beauty, and literature as beauty, constituting the overall characteristics of ancient China's view of the nature of beauty. Ancient Chinese views on the nature of beauty are the same but different at the end. For example, Confucianism believes that nature is more beautiful than virtue, and that love is beautiful, and that harmony is beautiful, and that the form of "fitness for purpose" is beautiful; Taoism believes that nothing, beauty, lightness, softness, naturalness, vitality, and appropriateness are beautiful; Buddhism believes that nirvana, silence, and death, as well as the symbols of nirvana -- roundness and light -- are beautiful; Buddhism believes that nirvana, silence, and death are beautiful. In Buddhism, the symbols of Nirvana, Silence, Death, and Nirvana - roundness and brightness - reflect the diversity of ancient Chinese theories of beauty. The ancient Chinese theory of aesthetics focuses on the characteristics and methods of aesthetics. The theory of aesthetic characteristics deals with the pleasure, intuition, objectivity, subjectivity and truthfulness of beauty. The methodology of aesthetics emphasizes chewing and reminiscing, observing things with oneself, and absorbing things in silence and emptiness, which echoes the ancient Chinese theory of the essence of beauty.

This paper tries to make a brief and overall grasp of the ancient Chinese aesthetic thought system. In my opinion, aesthetic perception is caused by aesthetic objects, and the object that generally causes aesthetic perception to be satisfied, perfected and pleasant is beauty ① . 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 be the study of the sense of beauty and the subject's aesthetics, but also the study of the essence of beauty and the object's aesthetics. Therefore, this paper will focus on the ancient Chinese theories about the essence of beauty and the sense of beauty in order to explain the ancient Chinese aesthetic thought.

Ancient China's universal view of the essence of beauty

Ancient China's 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, or the ancient Chinese cultural texts are quite popular, the dominant point of view. Ancient China's general view of beauty is as follows:

One, the "flavor" as beauty. This is an objective understanding of the nature of beauty without value tendency in ancient China, which can be regarded as a philosophical definition of the natural state 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 that "the beauty of the five flavors is called sweet", literalists generally defined beauty as a kind of palatable taste. The interpretation of "beauty" by ancient literalists reflects the general understanding of "beauty" as a "sweet" flavor in ancient China. Confucius, who "was not afraid to eat, was not afraid to eat", heard the beautiful music of "Shao" and "did not know the taste of meat for three months". Lao Tzu originally despised desires and sensations, but he took "for the belly, not for the eyes" as the rule of life for "sages", and recognized the "great beauty" - "Tao" - as his own. Tao, which he recognized as the "Great Beauty"-"Tao", and called it the "tasteless" "taste", and made it the "ultimate 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 restricts beauty to the pleasures of sight and hearing.

Second, the idea of "meaning" as beauty. This can be regarded as the value of the ancient Chinese definition of the essence of beauty as a matter of course, in which the ancient Chinese aesthetic ideals are embedded. Ancient Chinese aesthetics believes that beauty is a kind of pleasant taste, this taste, mainly not in the form of things themselves, but in the humanized spirit contained in things. This spirit can be expressed as the immediate projection of emotion, intuition, and idea of the aesthetic subject during the aesthetic illumination, so to speak, "Things are viewed with emotion, so the words must be clever and beautiful" (Innofo Liu), and "Things are viewed with me, so all things are colored with me" (Wang Guowei), or as an objectified spirit of the subject, which is not only the taste of the object, but the spirit of the humanization of things. It can also be manifested as an objectified subjective spirit, so-called "Jade is beautiful with five virtues" (Shuowen Jiezi, "Jade"), "Flowers are wonderful in spirit" (Shao Yong). Plum, orchid, chrysanthemum, bamboo, because it is in line with the Confucian ideal of the "gentleman", so it has become the object of affection of writers and artists throughout the ages. Mountains, water, springs and forests, because they are the ideal realm of emptiness and tranquility, have become the beloved habitat of Taoist priests and monks. The beauty of reality originates from the "humanization of nature", and the beauty of art also lies in the "objectification of human nature". "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 writing that enters one's heart is also emotion" (Zhang Xuecheng), "If the emotion is not deep, it will not be able to thrill one's heart" (Jiao Hong), and only when the meaning is deep can there be "a surplus of flavor" (Jiao Hong). ". That 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 theory of "interest". "Interest" means "interest"; "flavor" means "meaning". "Interest" condenses the ancient Chinese view of the nature of beauty: intentionality is flavor. This is clearly different from the Western objectivist view of aesthetics.

Thirdly, the "Tao" is beauty. This is another form of the ancient Chinese definition of the value of the essence of beauty as a matter of course, and it is also a materialization of the ancient Chinese concept of beauty as "meaning". It is also a materialization of the ancient Chinese concept of "meaning" as beauty. A more obvious moral ideal is implied. Confucianism regards moral fulfillment as beauty, such as Confucius' saying that "Taoism is beauty", Mencius' saying that "fulfillment is beauty", and Xunzi's saying that "incompleteness is not enough to be beautiful". Taoists also regard moral fulfillment as beauty. In Zhuangzi, there is an article entitled "Virtue Fulfillment", which clearly regards beauty as a symbol of moral fullness, and describes a number of "supreme beings" and "divine beings" who are physically deformed but morally complete. Lao Zi said, "A great sound is like a sound, and an elephant is like a formless object", and Zhuang Zi said, "The world can't compete with the beauty of simplicity", "sound", "formlessness", "simplicity", and "formlessness". Hsi Sheng", "formless" and "simple" are all moral images of "inaction" and "nature". Buddhists believe that the beauty of the world is empty and unreal, and that the true beauty is Nirvana, the Buddha's way of life, which has the qualities of "immaculateness", "coolness", "tranquility" and "peace". It has the beautiful attributes of "immaculateness", "coolness", "tranquility", "happiness", and "light".

Four, isomorphism as beauty. This is the ancient Chinese understanding of the psychological nature of beauty. Human nature "loves the same and hates the different", "will be their own is contemptuous, different from me is frustrated." "The same voice responds to each other, the same breath seeks the same." "All things are different from what they are, and they are the same 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 but homogeneous, they can sense each other. The Huainanzi says, "The universe is the same as heaven and earth, and the body is the same as one person." "Things are the same, this standard corresponds." This kind of induction belongs to the phenomenon of ****ing, which is a pleasant beauty. In fact, in ancient China to "meaning" for beauty, to "Tao" for the idea of beauty, has included the subject-object isomerization for the beauty of the deep consciousness. Confucianism believes that "everything is prepared by me", "I know heaven after I have done my best" (Mencius), "benevolence" is "heavenly mind" (Dong Zhongshu), "the heart of heaven" (Dong Zhongshu), and "the heart of heaven" (Dong Zhongshu). (Dong Zhongshu), "heavenly reason" is "my heart", the beauty of heaven and earth is the objectification of the beauty of the subject, thus presenting a certain isomorphic state. Taoism believes that the Great Tao is the most beautiful. To grasp the emptiness of the Taoist body, the cognitive subject must view the Taoist body with an empty and quiet mind, so to speak, "always have no desire to view its beauty, always have desire to view its mere" ("Laozi"). Similarly, Buddhists believe that the true beauty is the Buddha's way, the Buddha's way is Nirvana, Nirvana is the silence and emptiness. The Buddhist believes that the true beauty is the Buddha's Way, which is Nirvana, the emptiness of the world, and that the Buddha's Way is Nirvana, which is the silence of the emptiness. The Buddha's Way is the Nirvana, and the Nirvana is the silence of the emptiness of the world. It can be seen that the way to the highest beauty recognized by Taoism and Buddhism is the isomorphism of the subject's empty mind on the object. This mirrors the modern Gestalt aesthetics of the West.

Fifth, although the ancient Chinese took "meaning" and "Tao" as the ideal beauty, but did not deny the beauty of the form of the object. "Wen", in the ancient Chinese language in the meaning of "decoration", "beautiful". The idea of "wen" as beauty is a concentrated manifestation 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". In ancient China, "wen" was regarded as beauty, reflecting the fact that while the ancients favored moral beauty and content beauty, they also did not completely neglect the beauty of decoration and form. 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, and through the strong advocacy and practice of successive rulers, "good writing" became the traditional custom of the whole society of the Han nation. In contrast, Buddhism and Taoism are non-literary. Taoism from the perspective of human nature without feelings and desires to require "closed eyes and plugged", to eliminate the beauty of the text, the Buddha from the premise of "color is empty" accused of the beauty of the color of the water in the mirror. Due to the inherent contradictions of these doctrines, they were not convinced by the ancient public, and thus did not have a fundamental impact on the dominance of Confucianism's idea of "literature" as beauty.

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