Relation between the inner world and the outer world

a. There is no such thing as objective reality; we give life and meaning to the outer world.

There is a very famous statement of Liu Zongyuan’s 柳宗元, the great poet and man of letters of the Tang dynasty :

Beauty does not exist in itself; it takes shape in the eyes of the beholder.23 夫美不自美，因人而彰。

What he meant is that no beauty can exist independently as an isolated object, which has nothing to do with the beholder. Beauty can only be when “it is being ‘discovered’, ‘awakened’, or ‘lit up’.”24

People sometimes argue that, even before you look at it, a mountain is already a mountain. So is a flower, or a river, and so on. The existence of a thing does not depend on whether it is being noticed or not. They confuse the notion of wuse物色 (an object in its purely physical sense) and that of yixiang 意象 (an image created through the interplay between the outer world and the inner world of the beholder). When the Chinese talk about “beauty”, it is always the beauty of yixiang意象that is referred to. This is a very crucial point in Chinese traditional aesthetics. A thing in its scientific and practical sense can very well exist on its own, but beauty does not lie therein. Beauty lies in the vivid and ever-changing yixiang 意象 created by the beholder, which is derived from a “subjective interfusion with the objective reality of things.”25

For a better understanding, let us look at some poems treating the same theme: the moon.

23

My translation. Liu Zongyuan柳宗元,Notes Written at Mao Pavilion of Matui Mount《邕州柳中丞作馬退山茅 亭記》in Classical Prose with Critical Commentary《古文評註全集》(197-?), vol. 2, juan 9, p. 21.

24

My translation. Ye Lang, Foundations of Aesthetics, p. 44. 25

When the moon’s at the tip of the willow, I know I’ll meet my lady there

after dusk.26

－ Ouyang Xiu (The 15th

night of Lunar New Year)

月上柳梢頭，人約黃昏後。 － 歐陽修《生查子‧元夕》

Before my bed shines the light of the moon. I wonder, is it frost upon the floor?

I lift my head, and gaze at the bright moon. I lower my head, and long for home.27

－ Li Bai (Quiet Night Thoughts)

床前明月光，疑是地上霜。舉頭望明月，低頭思故鄉。 － 李白《靜夜思》

I resent you for not being like the moon seen from the tower by the river, For not following me everywhere, South, North, East, West – Everywhere;

For not being with me always and never leaving me. I resent you for being so like the moon

seen from the tower by the river, For waxing and waning,

Waxing and waning.

When will we two be together again?28

－ Lü Benzhong (1084-1145) (The Moon Seen from the Tower by the River)

恨君不似江樓月，南北東西，南北東西，只有相隨無別離。 恨君卻似江樓月，暫滿還虧，暫滿還虧，待得團圓是幾時？

－ 呂本中《採桑子‧江樓月》

26

My translation. See Complete Lyrics of the Song Dynasty《全宋詞》(1965), vol. I, p. 124. 27

My translation. See the slightly different version in Complete Poems of the Tang Dynasty《全唐詩》, juan 165, p. 1709.

28

With the same unchanged object / wu 物 or wuse 物色 (the moon), we have three entirely different sets of Image or yixiang 意象: Ouyang Xiu sees a happy moon as he anticipates a rendezvous with his beloved; Li Bai’s moon is cold and lonely and causes him to feel homesick (he is also probably rather drunk as usual!). The moon of Lü Benzhong is even more intriguing － within a short space of time, it represents two diametrically opposite feelings, following the change in the lover’s state of mind. These examples bring us the following insight: no object, no natural scene, no circumstance has any intrinsic meaning of its own. There is no such thing as an objective reality (a reality that is identical to or that brings out the same truth for any beholder). We are the ones who give life and meaning to the outer world.

b. The outer world is the mirror of our mind 心賴外物以顯現 The Patriarch Mazu Daoyi馬祖道一 of the Zen school once said:

Seeing any form is seeing the mind.

The mind is not mind in itself; it exists through form.29 凡所見色，皆是見心。心不自心，因色故有。

An emotion remains on a conceptual level within the mind until it is fully experienced. The outer world serves as a vehicle to call it forth. In Chinese poetry or any other form of artistic creation, inspiration may seem to cause a certain emotion to flow within you. But in fact it is something already inside you which is being called forth. These feelings instantly project back onto the object. The resulting work of art, in turn, becomes the crystallization of the poet’s inner world.

Withered vine, Ancient tree, Twilight crow; Little bridge, Running stream, 29

My translation. Shi Daoyuan釋道元, ed., Transmission of the Lamp of the Jingde Period《景德傳燈錄》(2000), juan 6, p. 641.

Homestead. Old road, West wind, Lean horse,

Sun setting in the west;

Broken-hearted man at the world’s end.30

－ Ma Zhiyuan (Autumn Thoughts)

枯藤老樹昏鴉，小橋流水人家。

古道西風瘦馬，夕陽西下，斷腸人在天涯。 － 馬致遠《天淨沙‧秋思》

This poem is like a Chinese painting. It consists of nothing more than a series of images. Together these images evoke a bleak and desolate autumn scene. Without a single explicit word of sadness or homesickness, the melancholy of a broken-hearted traveler is fully revealed.

The first line in the Chinese, “Withered vine, Ancient tree, Twilight crow”, depicts a sad and lifeless environment, which mirrors the poet’s mood. The next line, “Little bridge, Running stream, Homestead”, brings with it the human warmth of a home. However, it also reinforces the loneliness of the traveler, for he is still on an “Old road” with his “Lean horse” in the “West wind”. The sun is setting after travelling through the sky all day. But the poet is still “at the world’s end”. When will his time come to return home? This is a perfect example to illustrate how the poet projects his feelings to colour external objects so that his inner world is simultaneously reflected. In Chinese Traditional Aesthetics, subject and object are always mutually identified in this way.

“That” comes from “this”, “this” is derived from “that”; “that” and “this” give rise to each other.31 － Zhuangzi (chapter II)

彼出於是，是亦因彼。彼是方生之說也。 －《莊子‧齊物論》

This is the very essence of “Heaven and Man as One” as applied to artistic creation and appreciation.

30

Adapted from the translation by Chang, Creativity, pp. 179-180. 31

So we can conclude as follows:

In Chinese Traditional Aesthetics, beauty is not perceived as something static, concrete and externally independent, something found outside of the self. Beauty lies in the image, or yixian 意 象, which is created through spontaneous communication and interaction between the exterior world and the interior world of the beholder 情景交融. In other words, we manifest our inner life (情 － joy, sorrow, anger, melancholy), by allowing it to resonate and fuse with a certain aspect of the external world 景. Even as the outer world is given inner life, the inner world is at the same time illuminated objectively. The artist gives meaning to the object; the object beckons to the artist’s inner world. Beauty is a process of becoming. Poetry is about capturing the inner emotional truth of an instant.

IV.

The Stage as Pavilion : an empty space

In traditional Chinese architecture, the “pavilion” 亭子 is one of the most characteristic units. With a pointed roof, a few columns, and a completely empty space inside it, this architectural form is found on every mountain and in every designed garden 園林. The interesting thing, however, is that people do not come to a pavilion for its own aesthetic or artistic value. They do so because in this empty little space they can admire the surroundings in a quiet and leisurely manner. The special location and the structure of the pavilion (the columns, for example, serve somehow as a picture frame) provide endless possibilities for the contemplation of the wonder of Nature.

Looking up I can behold the greatness of the universe; looking down I see the abundance of all things. My eyes and spirit journey around with no limitations. It is an utmost pleasure to see and to hear. A true joy indeed.32

－ Wang Xizhi (Preface to the Anthology of Lanting Pavilion) 仰觀宇宙之大，俯察品類之盛。所以遊目騁懷，足以極視聽之娛，信可

樂也。 － 王羲之《蘭亭集序》

32

My translation. See also Minford and Lau, Anthology, p. 480, for the translation by H. C. Chang, and for the Chinese text, the companion volume, p. 182.

Waterside verandah vies with flowery arbour;

Autumn moon and spring breeze, each vaunts its charm. Only here in this pavilion empty of all things,

Can I sit and contemplate the entirety of the Universe.33

－ Su Shi (Hanxu Pavilion) 水軒花榭兩爭妍， 秋月春風各自偏。

惟有此亭無一物， 坐觀萬景得天全。

－ 蘇軾《涵虛亭》

The true value of a pavilion, therefore, is that it allows us to call forth and appreciate any chosen part of Nature. In other words, it brings the infinite into a finite place.34 In Chinese Classical Theatre the stage has exactly the same function as a pavilion. Instead of showing off its glamour and sophistication, that is, instead of having all sorts of realistic and extraordinary settings, it completely annuls its particularity as a stage. It is nothing but a bare space, “empty of all things”, from which anything can emerge, from which the entirety of the universe can be contemplated. Similarly, the basic props, “one table and two chairs” 一桌兩椅 as they are commonly referred to, have no specific meaning either. They can be literally table and chairs, or a bed, or a mountain, or any number of other things. In short, they are whatever the actors and audience say and think they are. This neutral and indefinite nature of the stage creates no restrictions or limitations whatsoever. On the contrary, its emptiness enables us to embrace every imaginable scene, to conjure up endless varieties of beauty. Changes in time and space are as free (and take place as swiftly) as the speed of our thoughts. The only difference is that the beauty of life and Nature is not placed directly in front of us (as it would be if we were looking out from a pavilion). It is made manifest through the performance of the actors and musicians. (This will be further illustrated in chapter III “Confucianism and Stylization”)

33

My translation. SeeFeng Yingliu馮應榴, ed., Complete Poems of Su Dongpo《蘇軾詩集合注》(2001), p. 642. 34