Zen is not a simple truth, but a realm.
The concept of Zen comes from Zen, but the artistic conception of Zen is not limited to Buddhism.
Regarding the essence of Zen, the story of Gaya Walker, the founder of Zen Buddhism, "smiling at flowers" makes people feel mysterious and unfathomable, while the story of Huineng, the sixth ancestor, "originally had nothing, where did the dust come from?" It's so detached that most people can't grasp the point.
So what is Zen? How do people shape and understand "Zen" through building entities and spaces?
1, the artistic conception of China gardens
China is the place where Zen really develops, and the Zen thought is also the place where it matures. Of course, the space and artistic conception of Zen also exist in the architectural space of China, so where is it?
We might as well review the development of Zen.
Zen originated in India, but rose in China in the Tang Dynasty. Zen monks are also called Zen masters, and many of them are very learned people. They had close contacts with many intellectuals at that time and had great influence on each other. They often measure wisdom and learn Zen together, which is called "fighting machine front".
After the five ancestors were tolerant, Zen was divided into two branches: gradual enlightenment and epiphany. After the efforts of the seven ancestors, the epiphany school finally gained the upper hand, and Shenzong Huineng was chased as the sixth ancestor, and the Tanjing of the sixth ancestor became a classic handed down from generation to generation. God is a long-lived monk. He has many contacts with scholars such as Du Fu and Wang Wei. Du Fu wrote the poem "Seven Ancestors Seeking Zen", Wang Wei wrote an inscription for Huineng, the sixth ancestor, and Liu Zongyuan and Liu Yuxi also wrote commemorative articles for Huineng. Among many poets, Wang Wei and Meng Haoran are especially good at landscape poems and have the reputation of "landscape poets". "Lonely smoke in the desert, the long river sets the yen" (Wang Wei) and "How wide the sky is, how close the trees are, how clear the water is, how close the moon is!" Meng Haoran is a perfect combination of language, picture, Zen and emotion, which makes people unable to tell the difference between poetry and painting. A few words have included composition, lines, colors and even artistic conception. The former sentence is rich in color and magnificent, and the latter sentence is light in pen and ink, quiet and far-reaching, which can be called a classic of landscape poetry. Wang Wei not only had the most contacts with Zen monks, but also directly applied his understanding of Zen master's artistic conception to garden construction, becoming an important gardener in the history of landscape architecture development in China. He organically shaped the artistic conception of landscape painting, landscape poetry and landscape garden into a whole, which directly contributed to the maturity of the poetic character of literati gardens. Wang Wei's private garden-"Wangchuan Bie Ye" is located in the mountain near Chang 'an in the Tang Dynasty (now at the foot of Zhong Nanshan Mountain in Lantian County, Shaanxi Province), which is the villa Wang Wei once lived in in his later years. Here the mountains are undulating, the blue waves are rippling, the trees are lush, and the birds are singing and the flowers are fragrant. After fully excavating the natural landscape, Wang Wei created more than 20 picturesque scenic spots. His "Chai Lu" series is specially used to make the finishing touch to his garden and stimulate Zen. Like "there seems to be no one on the empty mountain, but I think I heard a voice;" Go back to the depths of the forest and look back at me from the moss ","Leaning alone in the dense bamboo, I play the pipa and hum a song; The voice is too light, except for my comrade-in-arms Mingyue. , is an eternal quatrains, scene blend, profound Zen.
Garden is an artificial natural environment, and it is an environmental art form gradually cultivated and created by human beings in long-term production activities and social life. Gardens and buildings are both artificial environments, but the main difference between them is that buildings are essentially "shelters" to prevent natural infringement, while gardens are "communication places" where people yearn for being close to nature. Human beings are born in nature, and all activities revolve around the theme of communication with nature. If human beings want to survive and develop, they must always leave their homes and go to nature. Garden is an "ideal environment" for people's minds to reflect the beauty of nature. There are "hardware" such as flowers and birds that describe nature, and "software" such as people's thoughts, tastes and personalities that materialize into landscapes. Garden is a real ideal country in China. Compared with the usual architectural art, garden art involves more space, more components and freer forms of expression.
The traditional garden art in China has a long history. From primitive society to the disintegration of feudal society, it has gradually formed a complete theoretical system and unique artistic achievements. Its influence also spread overseas, reaching Korea and Japan in the 6th century, and Europe in the18th century, which made Europeans appreciate the oriental gardening art completely different from its formal gardens and set off a "China garden fever" in the European court.
As a system, China traditional garden art still has great vitality and practical significance today. On the one hand, the gardens enjoyed by the ancient royal family serve the broad masses of the people today, embellishing and beautifying today's urban landscape and social life; On the other hand, the contemporary concept of "landscape city" points out the direction for the future development of the trinity of "city-architecture-garden". Nowadays, city parks, country parks and famous mountains and rivers are all good places for people to visit and relax in real life. Their site selection, construction and transformation should absorb the nutrition of traditional garden art.
Traditional garden art in China is closely related to sister art such as traditional painting, prose and poetry. Only by grasping them as a whole can we fully and accurately understand the ideological connotation of China's traditional art. This is very important for us to improve our artistic accomplishment and at the same time establish a conscious awareness of sublating tradition.
The Origin of Garden Art
The origin of gardens can be traced back to human cultivation and animal husbandry in primitive society. Before that, human beings lived by gathering and hunting, chasing aquatic plants and living without a fixed place. Planting and animal husbandry have promoted human settlement, guaranteed food sources and made life relatively stable. Garden, nursery, garden, etc. Formed the primitive form of "artificial nature" and began the germination of garden art. In essence, garden embodies a kind of affinity attitude towards nature. Although people are still weak in the face of nature, they are awed by nature, but they are also fascinated by the comfort after food and clothing and the intoxication during harvest.
With the improvement of productivity, human beings have their own fields and pastures. This semi-natural area managed by people is the earliest prototype of the garden. After all, nature is an inseparable environment for human survival and reproduction. Although it has a tyrannical and terrible side, it often shows a sunny and gentle side. In the eyes of our ancestors, nature seems to have its own soul and its own joys and sorrows. All these emotions are expressed in natural phenomena. The personification of nature is the unchangeable ideological basis of our ancestors from beginning to end, and the conception standard of garden art is also based on this.
There is no exact physical evidence of what the earliest gardens looked like, but we can imagine the scene at that time: people engaged in production activities in the gardens on the one hand, and entertainment activities such as hunting competitions and picnics on the other. It not only has a strong secular utilitarian color, but also is full of wild and passionate romantic sentiment. Unlike later gardens, which are basically divorced from productive labor, they only have the nature of pure appreciation.
Composition of Traditional Garden Art in China
On the macro level, garden art emphasizes the overall design and the unified grasp of the environmental atmosphere. Microscopically, it also pays attention to the management of details, emphasizing that a scene and an event are thought-provoking and arouse emotions. Therefore, no matter the pool, pond, rocks, vegetation, architectural space, poetry, calligraphy and painting couplets, they are all elements of garden art.
L shanshui
Landscape is the basic element of garden and the direct embodiment of artificial nature. In China, no matter the north and south of the river, no matter the big garden or the small nursery, the landscape is an indispensable part of the garden. Constructing the image of mountain peaks and depicting the charm of river ponds has built a basic platform for shaping garden scenery. While sketching the natural appearance, we should also pay attention to extracting and expressing the humanistic temperament of the landscape, so as to "never forget the landscape" and "believe in heaven and express our feelings"
There are two ways to build mountains in gardens: piling soil and piling stones. Rock, commonly known as "rockery", is an imitation of natural rock in form, but it must not be limited to the pursuit of form. Dieshan pays attention to both form and spirit, and a few stones can summarize the natural scenery. "The mountains and peaks are beautiful and ancient", "The road is long and its Xiu Yuan is Xi", "Cliffs are more expensive than standing, and cliffs make them firm". Therefore, the mountains are "heavy rocks and mountains", the valleys are "deep streams and deep valleys" and "steep slopes", and the roads are "rugged stone roads", which seem to be harmonious and smooth. The roads are steep and straight, high and low, curved and straight, blocked and slippery, and the rocks on the roadside are rugged. In addition to accurate expression, it also needs to be integrated into the owner's ideological character and interest pursuit in order to be a top grade. We should pursue "the beauty of mountains and the love of stones". "Independent stacked stones are often masterpieces in gardens. The beauty lies in pointing out different landscapes and triggering different emotions. Guo (a painter in the Song Dynasty) has a poem describing the four-season stacking of stones: "The spring mountain is gorgeous and smiling, the summer mountain is green and dripping, the autumn mountain is bright and clean as makeup, and the winter mountain is bleak and sleepy" (Lin Zhi). Some gardens are famous for their piled stones. These strange stones have a high degree of formal beauty and slim and handsome shapes. They don't win by quantity, but require clear lines, obvious folds, big and small, and a feeling of flying and floating. Just like a scholar standing above Guang Chuan, his sleeves are in the wind and he is distinguished. The so-called "transparent, exposed, thin and wrinkled" is roughly the formal feature of this strange stone. For example, the "Jade Linglong" in Shanghai Yuyuan Garden, the "Guanyun Building" in Suzhou Liuyuan Garden and the "Qingzhi Show" in front of Leshou Hall in Beijing Summer Palace.
Water surface, like rocks, is an essential element in gardens. The water surface is neither too big nor too small. The key is to express the meaning of natural scenery. Compared with mountains, water is an "active element" and can be treated in different forms, both magnificent and tender. Guo pointed out: "Water is also a living thing, and its shape should be static, slippery, Wang, Yang, round, fat, surging, ..." And described various models that water can shape. Water control pays attention to gathering and dividing, not only to have lakes and ponds, but also to ignore rivers and ditches, and to skillfully arrange waterfalls to fall into the water in combination with topographic differences. In a sense, it is necessary to fully demonstrate the activity of water, emphasize the far source and endless end, and pay attention to the use of winding paths. "Spring water is as steep as waves." Ponds in larger gardens are treated as "around the hall and around the marsh", which makes the limited water surface clear at a glance. Highlighting the natural beauty of water bodies is an important principle of water control, and there can be no stagnant water deposition.
Flowers and trees
Flowers and trees are an important part of natural scenery. Flowers and trees change with the seasons, showing the essence of natural cycle, which is thought-provoking. Flowers and trees are rich in color and beautiful in shape, which are excellent materials for shaping the natural spirituality of gardens, so they are highly respected by garden workers. The greening of flowers and trees pays attention to the combination with the environment. The flat land is a "giant forest tree", and greening has become the protagonist of the landscape; The cliff is "hanging", and greening is the ornament of rocks; At the foot is "fireworks and grass, scattered all over the steps", which makes flowers and plants emerge from the gaps in the steps, showing wild interest and being very chic.
There are many gardens with flowers and trees as the theme, which can be seen from the titles of couplets, such as ancient trees and flowers, valley breeze, green wind and green island, pear flowers with the moon, perfume lotus flowers reflecting the sun and so on. Most of the buildings in the park are named after flowers and trees, such as loquat garden, Yulantang, Yuanxiangtang and Haitang Spring House in Suzhou Humble Administrator's Garden, Guixuan in the mountains of the master's garden, Zhuwai Pavilion, Cuilinglong in Canglang Pavilion and so on. The title echoes the scenery to arouse tourists' viewing mood.
Flowers and trees can also shape dynamic landscapes. If combined with wind, there can be vigorous grass, combined with rain, there can be rain hitting banana, residual lotus listening to rain, combined with light, there can be bamboo shadows reflecting the wall and moon shadows moving. There is a poem "The wind is like a flute, and the water is like a harp", which describes the sonata of the gardener listening to the wind, bamboo and nature at the water's edge. In these landscapes, people can fully feel the dynamics of flowers and trees and the sounds of nature, which, combined with the mood of the viewer, produce communication in the depths of the soul, which has the significance of borrowing scenery and expressing emotion.
The fragrance of flowers and trees has created countless landscapes. Wen Muxiang (staying in the garden), Yuan Xiang Yi Qing (Humble Administrator's Garden), Wen Miaoxiang Room (Canglang Pavilion), etc. "The flowers are warm at first sight" (Lu You) and "The light shines without sleep, and the heart is clear and fragrant" (Du Fu). There are flowers and trees in the garden, which is full of vitality.
In addition to the preparation of plants, gardens also attach great importance to the choice of animals, emphasizing different themes and artistic conception with different animals.
L architecture
The buildings in the garden have dual functions of landscape (object) and appreciation (subject), and the site selection pays attention to "half the mountains and half the valleys, listening to the eyes and thinking". There are many kinds of garden buildings, such as pavilions, pavilions, halls and towers, with diverse shapes and flexible combinations. Or by the mountains and rivers, or by cliffs and valleys, or slowly and continuously, or tall and straight, eclectic, with the principle of organic combination with the scenery.
The architecture in the royal garden is large in scale and the relationship between master and slave is clear. The layout emphasizes the symmetry of the central axis, and the landmark buildings are more prominent, such as the Buddha Pavilion in the Summer Palace and the White Pagoda in Beihai, which all play a leading role in the whole park. Private garden buildings are small in scale, imprecise in layout, tortuous in axis, imperceptible, lively and natural in layout, mostly set off by scene relations, and the landmark buildings that unify the overall situation are not obvious.
Geographically speaking, the garden buildings in the north are relatively simple and generous, with strong colors and strong contrast between light and shade; The garden buildings in the south are small and exquisite, with elegant colors and not strong contrast between light and shade.
L painting and calligraphy
Since the literati landscape garden, poetry and painting have formed an inseparable organic whole, which makes the traditional garden itself a wonderful image poem and three-dimensional painting and calligraphy. Ji Cheng, a famous gardener, and Cao Xueqin, a writer, once used the "natural picture scroll" as a metaphor for gardens. This is because the artistic conception pursued by classical gardens is completely poetic. Ye Shengtao, a modern educator, said, "The unanimous pursuit of designers and craftsmen (of classical gardens) is to ensure that no matter where visitors stand, there is always a perfect picture in front of them" (My Sincere Care for Gardens, Encyclopedia Knowledge No.4, 1979, p.58).
In classical gardens, the theme of landscape is highlighted by couplets of calligraphy and painting, and the finishing touch is made by calligraphy and painting, so that the interest of calligraphy and painting and the atmosphere of garden space complement each other. In traditional gardens, calligraphy and painting couplets can be seen everywhere, and there are countless excellent works. "There is always a saying in the autumn moon and spring breeze that mountains and rivers form their own family", which points out the perfect combination relationship between calligraphy and painting and gardens.
Characteristics of Traditional Garden Art in China
Although l is artificial, it is a fable.
Different from western gardening art which emphasizes symmetry and rules and highlights artificial traces, traditional gardens in China advocate the expression of natural beauty. The purpose of expressing natural beauty is to achieve spiritual peace through human aesthetic experience. This is also an expression of China people's basic idea of "harmony between man and nature" since ancient times.
The tendency of garden art to pursue and express natural beauty was mainly established in Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties. This is because great changes have taken place in the society of China at that time. The rise and fall of the country and the turmoil of the current situation forced literati to wander in the mountains in an attempt to get rid of the darkness of the world. The decline of national politics has created an opportunity for the development of literature and art, and the attitude of avoiding the world has made scholars look to the mountains and forests. In literary and artistic works, we pay attention to the aesthetic characteristics of natural landscapes, and consciously take "nature" as the responsibility of gardening art. In this way, garden art began to be freed from the atmosphere full of aristocratic pleasure in royal gardens and moved towards a new artistic path.
This progress of traditional garden art benefits from the achievements of writers and artists in landscape aesthetics research. They gained experience through careful observation of nature, and repeatedly scrutinized this feeling in literary works, thus gradually deepening the study of landscape aesthetics theory. "Thousands of rocks compete for life, and thousands of valleys compete for life, so vegetation covers them, so if there are many clouds, Xia Wei will be" (Gu Kaizhi), "Spring grass grows in a long pond, and the garden willows become songbirds" (Xie Lingyun), "Weak Sichuan is full of snappers, and idle valleys are full of gulls" (Tao Yuanming), "White clouds stop in Yin Gang, and Danpayao Yanglin. Shiquan Shu Qiong Yao, fiber scales ups and downs. Unless it is silk and bamboo, the mountains and rivers have a clear sound. What is waiting for Xiao Ge? " Zuo Si, these landscape poems of Wei and Jin literati, made a sound for the rise of literati gardens. Refining nature, subliming nature and landscaping have gradually become the dominant ideas of classical gardens. With this ideological basis, the expression techniques of traditional gardens in China tend to be more and more abstract, euphemistic and implicit. For example, in the specific treatment of water control in stacked mountains, it is most taboo to imitate the appearance and shape of stacked mountains, "not taking shape as energy" and "easy to get god, but hard to get shape". Emphasis is placed on refining the nuances of natural scenery, and manual cutting, processing, abstraction and arrangement are carried out to achieve the miraculous effect. At the same time, it should not be so simple that it completely loses its natural form. We must strike a delicate balance between form and charm. "Although it is made by people, it is natural" and "the shape is true and round, and God is harmonious and complete".
Of course, the ultimate goal of describing natural beauty from two aspects of form and spirit is to let the scenery implicitly reveal the owner's interest. Therefore, we should grasp the humanization of natural landscape, compare it with people's personality and temperament, and endow people with natural landscape, so as to realize the so-called "scene blending". Therefore, another outstanding contribution of landscape aestheticians is to develop anthropomorphic factors of natural scenery, personify natural scenery, and fix these exquisite and typical aesthetic experiences with freehand brushwork, so that different individuals' emotions can find a home in these aesthetic experiences.
L good borrowing, good body.
"Landscape" is the soul of gardens. Whether it is landscape flowers and trees or architectural paintings and calligraphy, it is necessary to form a certain "landscape" to have vitality. The quality of garden construction directly determines the success or failure of the garden. So at the beginning of building the garden, the first thing to consider is how to conceive. The so-called "seven-point master, three-point craftsman" plays a decisive role in the master's character and taste. When planning the landscape, we should pay attention to shaping the dynamic beauty. The scenery is fixed and dull, but lifeless. It is called "changing scenery" and "changing scenery" to closely combine the scenery with the streamline of people's activities and always keep fresh stimulation to people's senses.
In a garden, the scenery is not unique. Dividing different scenes into different areas is called "scene separation". The subtlety of classical gardens lies not only in the rich landscapes, but also in the good collocation between these landscapes, where the dew is exposed, the cover is covered, and the cover is covered. Scenery is divided into close-up and distant view. In order to enhance the depth of the scenery, it is necessary to absorb the distant scenery as much as possible, and sometimes "take" the scenery from other places outside the garden, which is called "borrowing scenery". Borrowing scenery is one of the most important techniques in gardening, and a good garden can be classified as "borrowing scenery skillfully" There are two kinds of borrowing scenery: from Suzhou Humble Administrator's Garden to Tiger Hill, from Beijing Summer Palace to Yuquan Mountain, "picking chrysanthemums under the east fence and seeing Nanshan leisurely"; Borrowing from nearby is to bring the nearby scenery into one's own field of vision and add color to the garden. "An apricot tree is out of the wall" and "a poplar tree should make two families spring". Borrowing scenery is often mutual, so there is a saying of "opposing scenery", that is, the scenery on both sides sets off each other and borrows scenery from each other. For example, Hanbi Mountain House and Guest Pavilion in Suzhou Lingering Garden, Yuanxiang Hall in Suzhou Humble Administrator's Garden and Weiyun Pavilion in Xiang Xue are all good examples of mutual contrast.
In addition, in order to increase the layering of the scene, the method of "isolating the scene" is often adopted. Scenery isolation refers to the use of partition fans, leaky windows, low walls, fences and plants to separate the scenery, in order to obtain the artistic effect of half-covering and half-revealing. It's like "hiding half her face in front of us behind her guitar", adding hazy beauty to the landscape. Similar to isolated scenes, there is also a "framing scene". Du Fu's poem "The window of Xiling contains snow, and the door of Wu Dong Wan Li is moored" is an excellent example of using doors and windows to freeze the picture of life. In traditional gardens, the methods of isolating and framing scenes can be seen everywhere.
Of course, good scenery needs to be enhanced by scenery, and unfavorable factors should be excluded from sight. Therefore, while borrowing scenery, we should also pay attention to "obstacle scenery". This is the truth: "For the moment, select customs and collect good customs" (Yuan Ye).
I give love to the scenery, hold something and express your wishes.
The purpose of classical garden construction is not simply to describe natural beauty, but to express feelings with the help of "scenery" shaping. Therefore, landscaping must have artistic conception, otherwise it will become a mere formality. The acquisition of this artistic conception is all-round, including mountains and rivers, flowers and trees, calligraphy and painting, couplets and other hardware elements.
The artistic conception inspired by scenery also has different levels, and different people and different times will have different effects. Generally speaking, only the most basic landscape level, the so-called "physical environment", can give people a beautiful visual experience; The kind of landscape that can reflect people's moral sentiments, ideals, tastes, wishes, philosophies and beliefs in the landscape and can be experienced by people can be regarded as reaching a height, which can be called "scenery" or "artistic conception". There are many examples of this high degree of scene blending in classical gardens.
For the creators of gardens, it is the highest pursuit and purpose to express their feelings and feelings in the scenery. Only in this way can their gardens be like people, and the owners and gardens can achieve a high degree of unity, so that the owners' mood can live in harmony with the outside world and the universe through the medium of gardens.