Beauty and Human Existence in Chinese Philosophy

Preface
Acknowledgments
Contents
1 The Pictographic Character and Totemism
	The Pictographic Character for Beauty
	The Big-Goat Image: Flavor and Taste
	The Goat-Man Image: Rituality and Spirituality
	The Dynamic Beauty: Two Totemic Symbols
2 The Pottery and Bronze Art
	The Expressive and Significant Form
	The Ferocious Beauty
	The Grotesque Beauty
	The Symbolic Beauty
	The Chime-Bells and the Galloping Horse
3 Ethos of the Rites-Music Tradition
	The Beauty of Music and Rites
	The Multifunction of Music
	The Performance of Rites for Harmony
	The Aesthetic and Moral Interaction
	Cosmological and Quasi-Religious Implications
4 Confucian Ideal and Equilibrium Harmony
	The Beauty of the Ideal Personality
	A Further Enhancement of the Ideal
	Basic Methods of Personality Development
	A Dual Expectation of Artistic Perfection
	Equilibrium Harmony as Beauty
	Moderation of Emotional Expression
	An Integrated Interpretation of Poetry
	A Moralized Principle a Priori
	An Extended Scope of the Literary Mind
	Three Modified Theories of Poetic Beauty
5 Critique of Mohist Utilitarianism
	A Challenge to Confucian Values
	Against Music and Negative Utilitarianism
	For Music and Positive Utilitarianism
	Reflections on the Opposing Views
	From Joy-Consciousness to Optimistic Spirit
6 Daoist Pursuit and Spontaneous Naturalness
	The Beauty of the Daoist Personality
	The Pragmatic Way of the Sagely Person
	The Spiritual Freedom of the True Person
	The Mind-Heart Excursion for a Good Life
	The Beautiful and the Ugly
	Beautiful Words Versus True Words
	The Great Beauty of Silence
	Contemplative Attitude and Mutual Production
	Spontaneous Naturalness as Beauty
	Soundless Music and Stylistic Creation
7 Beyond Poetic Sentimentalism
	Personality Beauty of Qu Yuan
	Grotesque Imagery as a Tour de Force
	Expression of Heart-Felt Emotions
	A Sentimental Concern in Question
8 Chan Buddhism and Subtle Void
	The Idea of Chan as Dhyāna
	The Poetic Wisdom of Gāthā
	Sudden Awakening and Chan Sense
	Subtle Void as Beauty
	The Poetic Art of Chan Realm
9 The Water Allegory and Waterscapes
	The Hidden Stream
	The Water Allegory
	The Moral Symbolism
	The Beautiful Waterscape
	The Majestic Waterscape
	The Musical Water Sounds
10 The Art of Painting Landscape
	The Synthetic Beauty
	The Six Rules
	A Hierarchy of Five Levels
	The Four Attainments and the Three Distances
	The Three Steps of Painting Landscape
	The Absence of Self and the Presence of Self
11 The Rise of Modern Chinese Aesthetics
	Fragmentary Account
	Systematic Framing
	Intellectual Enlightenment
	Transcultural Rediscovery
	Theoretical Incorporation
	Comprehensive Praxis
	The Poetic State Par Excellence
	The Theory of Art as Sedimentation
12 How-to-Live Concern and Fourfold Engagement
	The How-to-Live Concern
	The Structure of Human Capacity
	Beyond Aesthetic Engagement
	Illuminate the True Through the Beautiful
	Furnish the Good Through the Beautiful
	Make Life Worthwhile Through the Beautiful
	Create the Beautiful According to the Proper Measure
Epilogue
References
Index