41 承认艺术的最高境界存在，即是承认宇宙的最高原理存在；否定它的存在或违背它的原理，给人类带来的不是幸福，而是灾难。艺术家通过自己的作品，给人以启迪、净化，就是要把宇宙原理存在的精神，即宇宙精神表现出来。　　　

　　　　42 艺术境界是有层次的。不同层次的艺术境界，折射着艺术家不同层次的哲思。不同层次的哲思，表现出不同层次的艺术家。

　　　　艺术家不是救世主，他只是秉承宇宙赋予的“神性”去启迪人。人类要摆脱自己造成的困境，还要靠自己。艺术家也是人，他也生活在人类的困境中。

　　　　艺术家用作品去启迪唤醒人，自己必先是被启迪唤醒的人，灵魂得到净化的人。因此，艺术家必然是具有高度“宇宙意识”的人，最起码应是人类泥淖中拔出一只脚的人。

　　　　艺术家的哲思，靠艺术作品去实现。经过长久的实践、探索，也会用文字语汇总结出一定学术价值的理论。这种理论不是从书本到书本的理论，而是由实践到理论，又由理论到实践的反复思考体验的总合。故艺术家的理论和理论家的理论相比，更富于操作性，但在语言的条理化、逻辑性方面逊色，然却多有艺术思想的火花。　　　

　　　　43 研究一个艺术家的艺术成就，主要靠艺术家的作品，但不要忘了艺术家的艺术人生历程与艺术言论和著述，因为言论与著述更直接地表述了艺术家的思想。　　

　　　　44 承认宇宙最高原理的存在，并不是人类宗教式的信仰与崇拜，而是要有宗教性的感情。

　　　　45 主客体的圆融化一，即人天合一。正是“山川与予神遇而迹化”（石涛）。以客体的再现是自然的奴隶，是“人随景转”；以主体去表现客体是自然的主人，是“景随人转”，正是“山川脱胎于予”（石涛）。

　　　　46 对于天人合一的超越，即佛家说的真如、性空、如来、无生无灭、法性本空、缘起性空、佛我一如、一真法界。老子说的“无”。艺术家能悟通这些，其作品会“神”起来的，这叫自性圆明。

　　　　47 数者顺，道者逆。求艺者，应先顺后逆。以顺化逆，以逆化顺。

　　　　把主体精神与宇宙精神（本体精神）同化，从而获得宇宙--人生--艺术的真谛。作品中形象的构成蕴含着宇宙精神的大真、大善、大美，也即蕴含艺术家净化自我的情怀，是完成人格品操修养的有机组合成分。同时也表现了艺术家对宇宙生命的精神觉悟，体现了艺术家内在的生命与宇宙精神的深层契合。

　　　　48 艺术家要完成人格的高尚化，即大真大善大美的高度化合统一，那作品必然实现着自我与宇宙精神相融想荡的境界。这种境界不只是艺术家的创作心境，更重要的是在作品直观的感觉上表现出来--物化道境。

　　　　49 李可染先生说，“对于传统要用最大的决心打进去，再用最大的决心打出来”。是的，然而吾以为应该是“对于传统要理性地打进去，理性地打出来”。因为打进去的多，打出来的却很少，原因即在于缺乏理性或理性不理。

　　　　50 对于宇宙自然精神的认识，能有效地启动画家主体精神的能动性，使这两条精神主线化而为一。这化一的整合精神线通过画家艺术的直观视觉语汇表现出来，这即是作品的境界。

　　　　对于宇宙精神的认识，不是表象的，而是通过事物表象的存在形式，去颖悟内在的精神的大真大善大美，也即所谓的“大智若愚”、“大象无形”、“大美无颜”、“大音希声”。

　　　　这种大真大善大美的化合境界，要在作品直观形式中表现出来，实非易事。前人只是体验到了这种精神的永恒存在，在作品直观形式上并没有表现出来。今天的艺术家要表现出来，传统的艺术语汇有局限，必然要有在语汇范畴方面的质的飞跃创造。

　　　　这种创造，不是天上掉下馅饼来，而是综合古今中外的继承与吸收融会以及从宇宙自然原初混顿的太朴中去发现，“太古无法，太朴不散，太朴一散，而法立，法于何立，立于一画”（石涛）。这一画，从观念上要建立于自我。

　　　　51 宁做画家的理论，毋做理论的画家。宁做一个哲人的画家，毋做诗人的画家。

　　　　52 墨道山水画实质是把中国的哲学精神转化为中国的艺术精神的全过程的体验。

　　　　53 墨道山水画，作为一种“道”意识的活动方式，当然要受到“大道精神”的观照。道意识乃宇宙自然大道精神意识。从某种角度说，墨道画具有“宇宙学”的意义，因为它也充当了探讨宇宙自然的另一独特角色，这个角色是通过艺术的方式而表现出来的。

　　　　54 墨道山水画中的宇宙自然形象，蕴含迹化着自我净化的情怀，也即是人格修养的有机内容，不仅是向自然投射的情怀，也是我内在生命与宇宙精神的化合情怀，体现着我对自然的宇宙观。

　　　　55 自我人格净化的高尚化，就是我与宇宙精神相融荡的境界。这种境界是墨道山水的美学境界。也是我对山水画的审美意识。

　　　　要体会悟到宇宙精神的存在，是不难把握的。它是无形无象看不见、摸不着，不是独立的存在物，而是依附于你创造的形象而存在，蕴涵着大真大善大美的精神。这种精神是与你主体精神同化而为一，成为有机的“同体精神”，运用这种同体的精神去对待一切事物，用这种精神去描绘你的山山水水。

　　　　56 艺术家最大的生存价值，是显示出他的创造力，能否发现新的东西，表现新的东西。对自己已经取得的艺术成就不是占有，而应该是继续追求探索，因为艺术世界是无限的，用有限的生命去追求那无限的艺术境界。

Jizi’s Reflections on Art（three）

　　41. Acknowledging that the highest realm of art exists is acknowledging that the highest principle of the universe exists. To deny this principle exists or to turn your back on this principle does not bring happiness to mankind but disaster. By means of artwork, an artist inspires and purifies people. An artist grasps the spirit of the existence of this principle of the universe, and then artistically expresses this spirit of the universe.

　　42. Artistic realms have levels. Different levels of artistic realms reveal the different levels of an artist’s philosophical thinking. Different levels of philosophical thinking are expressed as the artist’s different artistic levels.

　　Artists are not the saviors of the world. They merely inspire people by upholding the “spiritual nature” that the universe has conferred on them. Mankind wants to free itself from the predicament it has created, but also wants to be self-reliant. Artists are also people, and they also find themselves in the human predicament.

　　Before artists can inspire and arouse people, they must first inspire and arouse themselves; they must become people whose spirits are purified. For these reasons, artists must be people who possess a high degree of  “awareness of the universe.” At the least, they must be people who have extricated one foot from the morass that mankind has made.

　　Artists’ philosophical thinking relies on artworks for expression. After a long period of practice and exploration, artists are also able to use a written vocabulary to summarize theories of a certain academic value. These theories are not those passed from one book to another, but rather they are a summarization of repeatedly thinking about experiences that go from practice to theory, and then from theory to practice. For this reason, if we compare the theories of artists and the theories of theorists, the artists’ theories are more practical but, in their linguistic ordering and logical aspects, however,  the artists’s theories are inferior, but their theories dazzle with far more artistic thinking.

　　43. In researching an artist’s achievements, we primarily depend on the artist’s artworks, but we should not forget the course of the artist’s life and the artist’s speeches and writings as these speeches and writings are a more direct statement of an artist’s thinking.

　　44. Acknowledging the existence of the universe’s highest principle is not the same as religious belief or worship, but it does have a religious sentiment.

　　45. The harmonious unification of subject and object is just the unity of man and Heaven.  This is really what is meant by “the mountains and streams and I had a meeting of the minds and I turned them into art “ (Shi Tao).* An artist who just reproduces the object is the slave of nature, and is “a person being transformed by scenery.” An artist who uses the subjective to demonstrate the objective is a master of nature, and is “a person who transforms a scene.” This is an artist who “gives birth to the mountains and streams” (Shi Tao).**

　　* The quote is from Chapter Eight, the Chapter on Mountains and Streams, in Shi Tao’s Quotations on Art. The original Chinese is: shan chuan yu yu shen yu er ji hua ye.

　　** Ibid. The original Chinese is: shan chuan tuo tai yu yu.

　　46. With regards to the transcendent nature of the unity of Heaven and man, the Buddhists refer to it as: Bhutatathata (literally: “thus always”), the emptiness of the nature of things, Tathagata (literally: “(he who) comes thusly”), nirvana (literally: “not subject to birth and death”), the emptiness of all dharmas, the emptiness of all things causally produced, the Buddha and I are not two (i.e. all sentient beings have the Buddha nature), and the dharma realm of the one reality.* Lao Zi referred to it as “non being.”**  If an artist is capable of intuiting these terms then his artworks will be “spirited,” and this is called “perfect understanding of one’s nature.”

　　* For more information on these Buddhist terms, Cf. Soothill and Hodous, A Dictionary of Chinese Buddhist Terms, various editions and reprints.

　　** Wu, “non being,” is a concept developed by Lao Zi in the Daode Jing.

　　47. The many flow along but the Tao ebbs. Artists must first flow and then ebb. Flowing transforms ebbing; ebbing transforms flowing.

　　Assimilate the subjective spirit and the spirt of the universe (the ontological spirit); from this you will obtain the truth* about the universe -- human life -- art. The composition of the artistic image implies the truth, goodness, and beauty of the spirit of the universe. That is, it implies that the artist’s mind is self-purified, and that the artist has completed an intrinsic combination of factors that allow him to evaluate the cultivation of his character.  At the same time, the composition of the artistic image expresses the spiritual awakening of the artist to the life of the universe,  and embodies the profound accordance between the inner life of the artist and the spirit of the universe.

　　* The term translated as truth is zhendi, a Buddhist term that is the “truth” of a sage or person of insight in contrast to sudi, the common truth of those who know appearance but not reality.

　　48. An artist must complete cultivating his character, as only then can the artist achieve a profound unity with truth, the good, and the beautiful.   His artworks will then inevitably reveal an artistic realm where the artist’s own spirit and the spirit of the universe are in mutually harmony and mutual purity. This artistic realm is not merely the artist’s creative state of mind, but more importantly the visual sensations of the artworks in this realm express the materialization of the Tao.

　　49. Mr. Li Keran (1907-1989), has said: “An artist must use the greatest determination to break into traditional art, and then use the greatest determination to break out.” This is so, but I also feel, however, that an artist “must rationally break into traditional art, and then rationally break out.”  The reason that so many artists break into traditional art but so few break out is that they lack rationality, or that their rationality is irrational.

　　50. With respect to knowing the natural spirit of the universe, the dynamism that effectively launches an artist’s subjective spirit also transforms the lines of these two spirits into one mainline. The whole spirit of this singular transformation is expressed by means of the intuitive visual vocabulary of the artist’s art. This is just the artistic realm of the artworks.

　　With respect to knowing the spirit of the universe, this spirit does not have an appearance but rather, by means of the existing exemplar of the appearances of things, allows the artist to understand inner truth, goodness, and beauty. This has been described as: “great wisdom is like stupidity,”* “great images have no forms,” “great beauty is unadorned,” and “great music uses sound sparingly.”

　　The realm that integrates truth, goodness, and beauty must be expressed in the artwork’s visual forms, and this is truly difficult. Our artistic predecessors embodied the eternal existence of this spirit of the universe through their own personal experiences, but this spirit was definitely not expressed in their artwork’s visual forms. Today’s artists, however, want to express this spirit but the traditional artistic vocabulary has limits, making necessary a creative leap with regards to the qualitative scope of artistic vocabulary.

　　This type of creativity is not just manna from Heaven, but rather is an integration of our absorbing and mixing the artistic inheritance from the past, the present, and from China and abroad so that it expresses that ‘Great Pristine’ that arose from the chaos of the primeval state of the universe.  “In primeval times, there was no artistic method because the Great Pristine had not broken loose from chaos. But as soon as the Great Pristine broke away from the primeval chaos, artistic method became established.  How did artistic method become established? It became established as the uniqueness of painting.” (Shi Tao)**  This uniqueness of painting, from a conceptual standpoint, must be established by the artist himself.

　　* The saying: “Great wisdom is like stupidity” originated with the Song Dynasty poet Su Dongpo.

　　** This quote constitutes the opening lines of Shi Tao’s Quotations on Art. My translation follows Wu Guanzhong’s explication in his Wo kan Shi Tao Hua Yulu. The ‘Great Pristine’ (tai pu) is another expression for the Tao. The Chinese for ‘the uniqueness of painting’ is yi hua and, as Wu Guanzhong notes, this expression has a wide variety of interpretations. I follow Wu’s explanation that the ‘uniqueness of painting‘ is simply the artist’s own, unique experiences.  Yi being understood to mean “unique” (weiyi).

　　51. Be an artist with theories, not a theoretical artist. Be a philosophic artist, rather than a poetic artist.

　　52. The Tao of Ink Landscapes are in essence experiencing for oneself the complete process of transforming the spirit of Chinese philosophy into the spirit of Chinese art.

　　53. The Tao of Ink Landscapes are patterns of activity for an awareness of the “Tao,” and of course they must be subject to careful observation as “the spirit of the Tao.” Awareness of the Tao then is just an awareness of the spirit of the Tao in the natural universe. Speaking from a certain perspective, the Tao of Ink paintings possess a “cosmological” significance because they play a further unique role as an exploration of the natural universe, a role expressed via an artistic mode.

　　54. The natural images of the universe in the Tao of Ink Landscapes imply making visible my sentiments purified; that is to say, the organic content of the cultivation of my character. These are not only sentiments projected onto nature, but also sentiments that combine my inner life and the spirit of the universe. They embody my cosmological view of nature.

　　55. The nobility in purifying one’s character is that it takes one to a realm where the self and the spirit of the universe are in mutual harmony and mutual purity. This kind of artistic realm is the aesthetic realm of the Tao of Ink Landscapes.  It is also my aesthetic awareness of landscape painting.

　　If one wants to appreciate and intuit the existence of the spirit of the universe, this is not difficult to do. This spirit has no form and no image and cannot be seen; it is intangible and cannot be touched; it is not a thing that exists independently. Rather, this spirit exists by attaching itself to the images that you create, where it embraces the spirit of truth, goodness, and beauty.  This spirit assimilates as one with your essential spirit becoming an intrinsic “consubstantial spirit.”* Use this consubstantial spirt to cope with things and events, and use this consubstantial spirit to depict your landscapes.**

　　* The term translated as “Consubstantial spirit” is tongti jingshen.

　　** Landscapes here repeats the two words for mountains (shan) and waters (shui) that make up the Chinese word for landscapes (shan shui) so that the author is literally saying “to depict your mountains and waters.”

　　56.  An artist’s raison d'être is to exhibit his creativity, and whether or not the artist can discover and express new things.  An artist should not hold onto artistic successes he himself has achieved but should continue to seek and explore because the art world is unlimited, so an artist should use his limited life to seek the unlimited artistic realm.

　　Translator: E. F. Connelly, PhD