How to understand China's traditional artistic spirit?

The formation and development of Confucian aesthetics are influenced by Confucius' thought with "benevolence" as the core. Confucian aesthetics has a strong political and ethical color, emphasizing the unity of beauty and goodness, and the utilitarian tendency is obvious. Confucianism advocates "joining the WTO", "self-cultivation, governing the country and leveling the world", worrying about the country and the people, being upright and upright, and advocating "worrying about the world first, then enjoying the world", "being poor is immune to the body, and being up to speed is helping the world". Du Fu, the representative figure of Confucian aesthetics, never changed his original intention, although his political career was bumpy and his political ambition was never realized, and he experienced an Anshi rebellion, wandering from place to place and living in distress. Even in the extreme embarrassment when writing "The Hut is Blown by Autumn Wind", what Du Fu prayed for was not personal happiness, but the warmth of the poor people on earth. Influenced by Confucian aesthetics, Du Fu's poems are very rigorous, paying attention to antithesis, neatness and rhythm, such as his quatrain: "Two orioles sing green willows, and a row of egrets go up to the sky. The window contains autumn snow in Xiling, and the Wu Dong Wan Li boat stops at the door. " Four poems, 20% even, antithesis neat, one sentence and one scene, tied. The formation and development of Taoist aesthetics are influenced by the ideological system of Laozi and Zhuangzi with "Tao" as the core. Taoist aesthetics advocates the way of nature and pursues the absolute freedom of individual spirit, which has a distinct tendency of super-utilitarianism. Taoism advocates "birth". It is believed that the ideal personality who can truly observe heaven and earth and realize Tao should coexist with heaven and earth, be one with all things, flow with nature, shine with the sun and the moon, and travel abroad. "Li Bai, a representative figure of Taoist aesthetics, had political ambitions and was given to the Hanlin as a tribute by Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty. However, he was not taken seriously in politics and was excluded by powerful people. A year later, he was "paid back", left Chang 'an and traveled all over the famous mountains and rivers. Li Bai's poems and songs are full of the meaning of Taoism, longing for the absolute freedom of spirit, and immortals and wine have become the themes that Li Bai often sings. For example, "I am a madman of the Chu people, singing a crazy song arguing with Confucius, and holding a green jade staff in my hand, I passed through the Yellow Crane Tower in the morning. The five mountains are sacred mountains, and they are far away, and they are good at visiting famous mountains all their lives. " The style of Li Bai's poems and songs is eclectic and free and easy, which shows the elegant side of Li Bai's Taoist thought. Zen Buddhism is China Buddhism. It is argued that "heart" is the origin of the world, "all laws are born of heart", the position and function of "heart" are lofty, and "seclusion" means avoiding the world. Zen Dharma is born of "heart", the environment is created by "heart", and "heart" is empty, so everything and phenomena in the world expressed by "heart" are illusory. Although Wang Wei, the representative of Zen aesthetics, is influenced by Confucianism and Taoism, he is more influenced by Buddhist Zen aesthetics. Wang Wei has served in Beijing for a long time, and his official position is correct. In his later years, he was determined to serve the Buddha. "After retiring from the DPRK, he burned incense and sat alone to meditate." Wang Wei's poems are full of Zen. For example, "there seems to be no one on the empty mountain, but I think I heard a voice." Sunlight, entering a small forest, reflected from the green moss to me. " It is the constant collision and integration of Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism that influences and determines the constant change and development of China's traditional artistic thought and aesthetic taste, and forms the spirit of China's traditional art, including the following six aspects.

Tao is the spirit of China's traditional art, and Tao is the highest category of China's ancient philosophy, which is divided into heaven and humanity. Heaven is a theory about the fundamental problem of the universe, and human nature is a theory about the fundamental problem of life. Taoism of Laozi and Zhuangzi focuses on "heaven" or "nature", while Confucianism of Confucius and Mencius focuses on "benevolence" or "reason". The Buddhist nature of Zen Buddhism is similar to the concept of Tao. The unity of man and nature in Tao means that the basic spirit of China's ancient philosophy is to pursue the harmony between man and nature. The idea of "the harmony between man and nature" has had a great influence on the traditional culture of China and the traditional art of China. "Unity of Heaven and Man" is the core category of China traditional culture. It is not only a theory about the relationship between man and nature, but also a theory about the ideal and value of life. The idea of "harmony between man and nature" holds that man is a part of nature, and there are universal laws in nature, which people should abide by. In addition, "the unity of man and nature" also emphasizes that human nature is heaven, moral principles are consistent with the laws of nature, and the highest ideal of life should be the harmony between man and nature, including the unity of man and everything, as well as the unity of man and man. In a sense, one of the most fundamental differences between China culture and western culture is that the former emphasizes "the unity of man and nature" while the latter emphasizes "the dichotomy of subject and object". Qi is the vitality of China traditional art. The spirit of material is spiritualized and animated, which can be said to be the essential feature of China's "Qi Theory". "Qi" occupies a very important position in the traditional culture of China. Not only Chinese medicine, qigong, opera performance, painting and calligraphy all talk about "qi" first. China's traditional aesthetics uses "Qi" to explain the origin of beauty, and advocates artistic description and expression of the rhythm and harmony of the endless life and vitality of all things in the universe. On the one hand, China's aesthetics attaches great importance to nourishing qi and advocates that artists should constantly improve their moral cultivation and knowledge level. "Qi" is a summary of the artist's physiological and psychological factors and creative ability. On the other hand, it is required to combine the artist's subjective "Qi" with the objective "Qi" in the universe, so that "Qi" becomes a symbol of the inner spirit and artistic life of works of art, especially the "verve" in China's traditional aesthetics is full of national characteristics and refers to the rhythmic beauty of aesthetic objects. The category of "Yun Qi" was born in the Han Dynasty, which attached importance to "Qi" in philosophy and "Rhyme" in music. It matured in Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, and all kinds of arts advocated vivid expression of the beauty of things. "Vivid charm" has become the general principle of Chinese painting creation, which profoundly reflects the basic characteristics of China's classical aesthetics.

Heart, Aesthetics of China Traditional Art From the very beginning, China Traditional Aesthetics and China Traditional Art attached great importance to human subjectivity, holding that art is the surface of the heart and the heart is the king of all things, and advocated the monism of heart and music, heart and things. Therefore, China's classical aesthetics and China's traditional art have always emphasized the integration of aesthetic subject and object, and have always believed that the beauty of literature and art lies in the integration of emotion and scenery, mind and things, and man and nature. Such as Li Bai's "Since from a pot of wine among the flowers, I drink alone. No one is with me. Until, holding up my cup, I asked the bright moon to bring me my shadow and make the three of us. " At the same time, China traditional art attaches great importance to the integration and unity of reason.

Dance is the musical wisdom of China's traditional art. In this ancient land of China, primitive totem songs and dances and fanatical witchcraft rituals once formed a spectacular scene of dragon and phoenix dances. Therefore, in the ancient art of China, poetry, music and dance were trinity at first, but only later did they gradually divide and form different artistic categories with their own characteristics. However, this "music and dance" spirit with strong vitality has not disappeared. On the contrary, the spirit of "music and dance" gradually infiltrated into various artistic categories in China, reflecting the vivid form and style of dance. Dance is typical of all artistic fields. China's paintings and calligraphy tend to dance, and solemn buildings also have cornices.

Wu and China's intuitive thinking of traditional art. Attaching importance to intuition is one of the important features of China's traditional way of thinking. This traditional way of thinking has also had a great influence on China's traditional artistic thinking and aesthetic thinking, especially the perceptual and intuitive aesthetic thinking with "enlightenment" as the core. "Enlightenment" is the most free state of mental activity and an experienced and rewarding creative way of thinking. Although everyone can be savvy, only by learning from others and making continuous efforts can we reach the realm of savvy. As one of the important categories of China's aesthetics and art, "Wu" occupies a very important position in the creation and appreciation of China's traditional art, and a series of related categories such as "epiphany" and "wonderful enlightenment" are derived. In a sense, a real artist must be "savvy". The biggest difference between artists and artists is that the former controls skills with Tao, while the latter has skills without Tao.

As well as the dialectical thinking of China's traditional art, China's traditional aesthetics and traditional art advocate "harmony is beauty". The two concepts of "harmony" and "neutrality" are both closely related and different. "Harmony" refers to the diversity of things and the unity of opposites, which is the realization of the unity of all parties to the contradiction; "Neutrality" refers to the correct principles and methods to deal with contradictions in things, and it is the way and standard to realize this unity. "Harmony" refers to the unity of diversity or opposition, and "Harmony" and "Homology" are two different concepts. "Tong" only combines the same kind of things indiscriminately; And "harmony" is to unify different or even opposing things into a whole, that is, to pursue diversity and unity. Therefore, avoiding the heavy and seeking the difference and seeking the change not only does not contradict the overall thinking mode of peace, but on the contrary, it embodies the artistic thinking characteristics of "violating but not committing crimes, being harmonious but different". Ancient philosophers in China sought "harmony" through diversity and unity, but also found "harmony" through unity of opposites. Compared with the unity of diversity, the unity of opposites is closer to the fundamental law of the development of things. Explaining "harmony" with the unity of opposites shows that the ancients in China had a deeper understanding of the essence of "harmony". The thought of unity of opposites has become a distinctive simple dialectical thinking view in China's ancient philosophy, and it has had a great influence on China's traditional aesthetics and art. Because of this, many categories of China's traditional aesthetics and art exist in the form of unity of opposites, such as rigidity, softness, reality, movement, form and spirit, quality, feeling, scenery, image and artistic conception. Among them, more is in the unity of contradictions. It is this dialectical thinking, which shines with the rational wisdom of the Chinese nation, that has had a great influence on China's traditional art and aesthetic thought, and formed a dialectical view of harmony with national characteristics-the "harmony" in China's traditional art and aesthetic thought. This realm of "harmony" emphasizes the harmony between man and society and advocates the unity of Confucianism's emotion and reason. In Taoism, it emphasizes the unity of man and nature and advocates the unity of mind and matter; Zen emphasizes the harmony between man and heart and pursues the purity of spirit, "that is, the heart is the Buddha." Such "harmony" runs through from individuals to society, from humanities to art, from everything in the world to the whole universe. The harmonious beauty of "harmony between man and nature" is obviously the highest pursuit of China's traditional art, and China's aesthetics requires the unity of beauty and goodness. Although Confucianism and Taoism have different opinions on the so-called highest realm of goodness, it boils down to the fact that "harmony between man and nature" is the highest realm, and the so-called "harmony between man and nature" is also an aesthetic realm, which is the unity of truth, goodness and beauty.