Oct. 26, 2007
Writing on Scholar Painitng

1. Mi Youren (12 th c.):

“Yang Hsiung considered writing to be the “delineation of the mind.” Unless a person has a firm grasp of li [principle], his words cannot attain [a high level of wisdom]. In this regard, painting, as a form of discourse, is also a “delineation of the mind.” In these terms it is understandable that all [outstanding artists] in the past should have been the glories of their respective ages. How could this be anything that the artisans for hire in the market place could know about?”
trans. in Cahill, “Confucian elements,” p.92.

2. Feng Shan (11 th c.):

“Creation by means of brush and ink is not an achievement in itself;In essence it is the overflow of literary activity.Thus, true [painting] skill, in our time, is the property of us Confucians”
trans. in Cahill, “Confucian Elements,” p. 100.

3. Han Zhuo (ca. 1095-1125):

“Generally, before you even grasp the brush, you must concentrate your spirit and clarify your thoughts, then the image will seem to be before your very eyes. Hence, “the idea exists before the brush.”…

However, there are many defects in the practice of painting, the most serious of which is vulgarity. It arises from shallowness and superficiality and conforms to what is base. If a painter does not know standards and has no technical discipline, yet dashes things off confusedly aiming at spontaneity, or if he forces an antique blandness or dry lifelessness, even though in a kind of exquisite and delicate way, he will merely produce a kind of fake antique brushwork that is fundamentally unnatural…”
tr. Bush and Shih , 182-3.

4. Zhou Dunyi (11 th c.):

“The skillful talk much,
The awkward keep silent.
The skillful exert themselves,
The awkward are more retiring.
The skillful are the thieves,
The awkward are the virtuous.
The skillful bring misfortunes upon the people,
The awkward bring them happiness.

Ah! If only all people in the world were awkward! Harsh government would be discontinued; there would be tranquillity above and obedience below; customs would be purified and abuses ended”

“… there is Dao and there is skill. If one has Dao and not skill, then, although things have been formed in one’s mind, they will not take shape through one’s hands… [when] bamboo first comes into being, it is only an inch-long shoot, but its joints and leaves are all there. It develops from [shoots to stalks] rising eighty feet because this development was immanent in it. Now when painters do it joint by joint, and add to it leaf by leaf, will this be bamboo? Therefore, in painting bamboo one must first have the perfected bamboo in mind. Then, when one takes up the brush and gazes intently, one will see what one wants to pint and rise hurriedly to pursue it, wielding the brush forthwith to capture what was seen…

Now, if one knows how it should be done and cannot do it, inner and outer are not one, and mind and hand are not in accord.”
Trans. Bush and Shih, p. 207