A THEORY OF ORIENTAL AESTHETICS: A PROLEGOMENON By Kenneth K.

Inada Philosophy East and West Volume 47, Number 2(April 1997) P.117-131 (C) by University of Hawai'i Press

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Different traditions, East and West, have come up with different ways to treat the subject or nature of aesthetics, from the bare perceptual data to the sophisticated logical forms, from the emotional, to the psychological, and from the imitative to the highly abstract quality of things. All of the theories have presented us with some sense of what aesthetics is all about, but at the same time none has captured that sense with absolute certainty and universality. At this moment, to be sure, we are unable seriously to engage aesthetic elements that are absolutely certain or universal in either the East or the West, but here I would like to narrow the field by concentrating on the East, especially aesthetics as it has evolved in the unique fusion of Buddhist and Taoist principles of experience. Once the task is done, the discussion of aesthetics could move on to the more lucrative and interesting realm of comparative aesthetics, a discussion worthy of another essay. Suffice it to say here that it is time to take stock of things and correct misguided views on aesthetics, especially where it is relegated to a secondary status in Western philosophy. My essay, in a way, is a critical examination of aesthetics as a legitimate field of philosophy, indeed as a most basic part of it, especially as seen in Eastern thought and culture. The heights of cultural achievement in many respects reflect directly on the profundity of a philosophy of life based on the aesthetic nature of things. I shall attempt to justify this statement. Eastern Metaphysics If there is one word that characterizes Buddhist and Taoist metaphysics it would be "dynamism," a word that, so far, is hardly germane to Western

metaphysics. The nature of things for both systems functions on the basis of impermanence (anitya) or constant transformation or change (yi, hua),(1) which poses a most challenging orientation in the seeking for an understanding of a philosophy of life. The historical Buddha's famous Fourfold Noble Truths focus on the universal nature of suffering (du.hkha), which begins at the very inception of life and continues until death is rooted in the subtle nature of experiential dynamics. The flip side of experiential dynamics is, of course, stasis or permanence (nitya). It is precisely here that the Buddha's singular contribution lies. That is to say, he revealed how normal minds are deluded by falsely adhering to permanent characteristics in the experiential dynamics and that the presence of these characteristics not only impedes but drastically distorts the natural holistic flow of experience. Moreover, he revealed that we tend to be empirically and rationally bounded, and P.118 this results in dichotomous acts, though they may be unconscious for the most part.(2) Indeed, to a Buddhist the very terms empirical and rational are suspect and come under strong indictment. To elaborate, the Buddha's insightful perception told him that the initial passionate nature (t.r.s.naa) relies on the dichotomy created between the perceiver and the perceived, and consequently attaches (upaadaana) to the dichotomized elements of the passions themselves. To use a popular metaphor, the empirical and rational functions are locked in a "catch-22" situation wherein the dichotomy renders any resolution impossible. As the saying goes, "You can't have your cake and eat it, too"-and thus, in the experiential dynamics, there is constantly a desire-attachment (t.r.s.naa-upaadaana) phenomenon inherent in each ordinary perception, which in turn becomes the basis for the incipient rise of stasis or permanence in our experience. The epistemic consequence of this phenomenon is the alleged postulation of the concept of a self (aatman) in perception, which in turn is the basis for continued suffering. The profound instruction of the Buddha, however, turned our attention to the fluid, unimpeded, non-static nature of experience, pointing to the pure, unclouded nature of existence (Dharma), otherwise known as nirvaa.na.

Taoist philosophy also developed along similar lines. It, too, promoted long and auspicious life based on the fluency, resiliency, and transmutability of ordinary experiences. Ordinary passions or desires relative to life are quite natural, but those that are strained or forced are not. The enlightened or illumined (ming) life knows nothing positive or negative as such but everything in terms of fluid naturalness (tzu-jan). The Tao is ubiquitous, exists everywhere (which is at once nowhere), and yet it is actuated at any time. It cannot be manipulated, especially in empirical and rational terms, but nevertheless it leaves its mark everywhere in subtle ways.(3) It is change itself exhibiting neither the yin nor the yang aspect separately since these two aspects of the Tao are dynamic conjunctives in a mutual and correlative bond at all times. The Tao is then the criterion for true natural existence, though invisible for the most part, and comparable to the Buddhist Dharma, the true norm of existence. Both systems are in essence philosophies of process or becoming. In the West, especially from the early Greek period, the process thought of such thinkers as Heraclitus, for example, was overshadowed in time by the brilliance and dominance of Plate, who argued cogently for being over becoming, permanence over impermanence, in laying the foundation of epistemology. Henceforth, we have been heirs to this Platonic legacy for over two millennia. The introduction of Christianity undoubtedly had a great role in perpetuating this legacy, for example in sustaining the spirit over the flesh. By the end of the nineteenth century and moving into the twentieth, however, our P.119 perception of things began to change and we even began to question and challenge the legacy. With such theories as relativity, quantum mechanics, and indeterminacy, the notion of permanence had to give way to impermanence. And with thinkers such as Bergson, G. H. Mead, Whitehead, Heidegger, and the postmodernists and poststructuralists, the trend had now decidedly moved in the direction of impermanence or becoming over being, although the manner in which becoming is matched with being differs greatly from one system to the next. Thus the dynamic nature of perception became the common ground for any discourse. In many respects, then, where the Western perceptual view on things has made a full circle from becoming to being to becoming, the Eastern view remarkably has held to its steady course on becoming

at all times. The Eastern view went further to probe the very nature of becoming itself. It realized that being and becoming are not to be treated as equals on the metaphysical plane, nor are they to be seen as opposing each other. In other words, the Eastern view of things prevented any dichotomous treatment of anything from the outset and in turn fostered exploration into the fullness of the becoming process. For, metaphysically speaking, becoming is the most fundamental concept to which all phases and elements must harmonize or conform. In this harmonizing and conforming process, the nature of being has an important role to perform, that is, to exhibit becoming in its so-called "visible" or "objective" nature. Yet this role, however necessary, is still regarded as secondary or peripheral to the nature of becoming. All this, to be sure, poses formidable questions. How does all this take place? Or, how can being be dynamically involved in becoming? More precisely, how can an alleged permanent character of being be accommodated by the fluidity of becoming? These questions and many more most certainly must have buzzed through the minds of the early thinkers. The profundity of Oriental thought is taxed at this very crucial point. It is the point where, I firmly believe, the clearest break occurs between East and West, a break that exhibits their differences in issuing forth disverse cultural forms. On this point, we may speculate that the Eastern thinkers came to realize the inadequacy of being itself to justify and manifest the fullness of becoming, and this further encouraged them to search for a fuller accountability for what is intimately involved in becoming. The answer they came up with was bizarre, to be sure, since something besides being lies at the bottom of becoming. The insight into this "something besides being" has strong shades of a scientific spirit where, in astronomy for example, a new star is found in virtue of the existence of unaccountable forces in the ambiance of existing stars, thereby providing a complete or holistic condition and view of that portion of the firmament. P.120

With similar exploratory spirit, both Buddhists and Taoists came to realize that another aspect of

becoming is involved in providing a fuller view.(4) This view is really an exercise in understanding the dynamics of complementarity. The coincidence of arriving at this complementarity by both traditions is perhaps one of the unmatched wonders of ideological ventures in the world. What, then, is the content of this coincidence? For the Buddhist, to make a long story short, it is the "discovery" of emptiness (`suunyataa) in the becomingness of things or emptiness in the beings-in-becoming. For the Taoist, again to shorten the story, it is the "discovery" of nothing (wu) in the Tao of things. For all intents and purposes, we may group emptiness and nothing together as depicting nonbeing.(5) Nonbeing of course is not the opposite of being but functions as a unique cosmological basis of all experiences. In both traditions, there is no denial of being and its place in becoming as a complementary element of nonbeing. In a sense, there is more than complementarity because there is also accommodation, as we will soon discuss. So now, as we return to the metaphysics of becoming, we have a fuller accounting by reference to two vital aspects or components at play, as seen in the following simplified diagram:

Becoming (experiential dynamics) / \ / \ Being Nonbeing (elements, dharma, yu) (`suunyataa, wu)

The two vital aspects of becoming are discussed in similar fashion by the two traditions, as both speak of the conventional or ordinary nature of things and the nonconventional absolute nature of things; the former refers to ordinary perception in the nature of being and the latter to inordinate, enlightened perception involving the realm of nonbeing. It should be clear from the outset that this is not promoting duality of any sort--not, at least, on the metaphysical level. If any strain of duality were to occur, it would be strictly in the epistemic realm, resulting from misguided empirical and rational functions. In the complementarity condition, it can be asserted that non-being is a more inclusive concept than being and that, paradoxical as it may seem, nonbeing includes or absorbs being of all kinds. Nonbeing is more extensive in this sense. In addition, it has universal traits, such as

resiliency, malleability, flexibility, and absorptive and accommodative powers. Being, on the other hand, is static, limited, isolated, and non-accommodative of nonbeing. And yet, in the final analysis, both being and nonbeing function within the selfsame realm of becoming. On this point, it was the great Buddhist thinker Naagaarjuna (ca. 150-250) who affirmed the coexistent and coevolving nature of the conventional and P.121 nonconventional (ignorant and enlightened or limited and unlimited) nature of things. He clearly stated: "Without relying on everyday common practices (i,e., relative truths), the absolute truth of existence cannot be expressed. Without approaching the absolute truth of existence, nirvana cannot be attained."(6) Thus, without the function of the conventional realm, the nonconventional does not transpire at all, which is to say, more specifically, that the empirical and rational functions are quite necessary for the realization of truth in the penetrating sense (praj~naa), that is, one that collapses both functions into the emptiness of things (`suunyataa). Oriental Dynamics and the Aesthetic Nature The realization of the truth of existence is, of course, the final goal in both Buddhism and Taoism--an elusive goal for ordinary souls, to be sure, and yet it must be kept in mind as we proceed to understand the dynamics involved in becoming as the basis for an aesthetic theory. It has also been revealed that there is a so-called parity of existence inherent in becoming in terms of the coexisting and coevolving natures of the conventional and nonconventional realms. As conventional creatures, we are bound by epistemic functions based on empirical and rational data; that is, from a tender age we have been conditioned by these data and have become unconsciously biased and have even developed some form of habit toward the perception of the tangible, substantive, and manipulable nature of things. But all this is a divisive or dichotomous function, a mere differentiating scheme from which we may or may not sense its futility. Should we by chance sense its futility, however, it would most likely be because at some point we become aware of the limitations of the divisiveness or fragmentation within the ambiance of the fullness of existence.

That is to say, perception involves particular elements not in isolation but as they are nestled within the total nature of things; or, in the language of our discussion, being or beings do not exist independently but belong to a larger realm of existence. To elaborate further on the dynamic tension involving being and nonbeing, I would like to resort to two highly technical terms: symmetry and asymmetry. I use them in special ways, as in process thought, in order to amplify the dual-faceted nature of becomingness. Although the terms do not exactly correspond to being and nonbeing, respectively, they are close to them and will permit us to have a better idea of the dynamics at play and open up the way toward the projected nature of the aesthetic. It will be allowed that some would find it difficult to associate with the correspondence of the two sets of terms, claiming that this correspondence is a bit strained, if not distorted, in our actual perceptual process. P.122 This dynamics, then, refers to the becomingness or the momentariness of existence. It means specifically that becomingness or momentariness has had a being-nonbeing or symmetric-asymmetric character all along. This dual aspect exhibits at once the internal linkage in the dynamics wherein one side is the "seen" (being or symmetric side) and the other the "unseen" (nonbeing or asymmetric side); where the former refers to the measurable, spatial, temporal, causal, and manipulable--in brief, all of the tangible nature of things--the latter refers to the opposite--all of the intangible nature of things. It was earlier mentioned that nonbeing is extensive and accommodative of all beings and indeed gives the latter their raison d'etre. All of this occurs constantly without either being or nonbeing dominating the other in the dynamics. If anything, it shows that our momentary perception of things has fuller, wider, and deeper dimensions than normally thought of, dimensions that go beyond mere surface appearances. It further shows that the symmetric and asymmetric round out the ongoing momentary perception. This dynamic perception is similar to the surging surf at a beach, where its active foamy appearance belies the constant support and content it is receiving from the unseen, intangible forces. With some imagination, I delineate the surging and rolling nature of perceptual phenomena thus:

If the symmetric nature depicts the so-called forward thrust in ordinary perception, the asymmetric nature, contrariwise, depicts a backward thrust, but here the nature of the thrust is significantly different in that it is without an act of dichotomy and consequent attachment. In this sense, the asymmetric represents the "pure" content as contrasted with the "impure" content of the symmetric.... In its non-attached nature, the asymmetric is not only pure but also open. And so in its backward thrust, it absorbs and accommodates everything including the content of the past as it gives way to the forward thrust of the symmetric. But prior to giving way to the symmetric, the open and pure asymmetric thrust has already incorporated fresh new grounds which will be taken over by the symmetric forward thrust. The asymmetric serves then as the pure potential in momentariness, i.e., the moment in its full realization, steps back, so to speak, before stepping forward. In this way, the symmetric-asymmetric relationship is a continuum of cyclic phenomena, a unique pulsation of interlocked momentariness.(7) The illustration above has presented a speculative microscopic view of perceptual dynamics. We are able to conclude that perception is not merely a one- or two- or even three-dimensional phenomenon but has deep grounding in the being-nonbeing (symmetric-asymmetric) dynamics, thus revealing its natural fullness and completeness at all times, however unconscious we may be to the elements of the process. This is yet another way of describing the dynamic nature of perceptual complementarity. P.123 Oriental dynamics, then, is always full or holistic, with the "presence" of the unseen nonbeing or asymmetric component at play in the process. To ignore this component is to remain with a truncated vision and understanding. But its "presence" means the opening up of a whole new realm and vision of things that is in store for us. In this dynamics, the initial point of contact between being and nonbeing or symmetric and asymmetric is most significant and crucial. It is precisely here that I wish to make bold to assert that Oriental aesthetics begins at the very contact point of being and nonbeing (symmetric and asymmetric), a point where there is a "balance, " though short-lived and

momentary, within the becomingness of things. Yet it "exists" in becomingness by virtue of its "presence" as sensed in subsequent becomingness. How does one capture its "existence" and "presence"l Not an easy task, to be sure, but at the same time not an impossible task. We are already anticipating much in Oriental aesthetics but the answer is quite simple--so simple, in fact, that many would simply brush it aside. The answer is: "Be the becomingness itself."(8) The answer seems redundant, and it is. Why? Because we are becomingness, pure and simple. The story goes that Ch'an Master Ma-tsu chided a monk for saying that the wild geese had flown away. He countered: "You say they have flown away, but all the same they have been here from the very first."(9) The meaning is subtle and profound in that the master was instructing the monk that the flow of becoming has neither a direction nor elements to be attached to, and that the truth lies in the immediacy of becomingness rather than in following the data presented by the senses. In a similar vein, Chuang Tzu referred to goblet words (chih-yen) as indicative of the nature of becomingness; that is, a conversation using these words could transpire without a word being spoken, so to say, and yet, paradoxically enough, it could be carried on all day long. So where could Chuang Tzu find someone with whom to convene in goblet words?(10) Incidentally, a goblet is an instrument that conveys water when filled and empties itself only to be filled again. The process is interminable but the job is done with ease. So should it be with all dialogues! So long as we live, we are organic creatures ceaselessly carving out niches in the total surroundings every waking (and even every sleeping) moment. There is no lapse in this carving out (Buddhist karmic acts) experiential process. The only lapse is lodged in one's perceptual process when the empirical and rational faculties take brief (at times extended) missteps by attaching to the data themselves. This is of course a diversion from one's own becomingness, a diversion where mere phenomena rule and influence the nature of the perceiver and subsequent becomingness. Should there be no lapses or diversionary acts, becomingness would naturally be in order such that one would be in rhythm with it or at home with one's own function. This state, however, depicts an ideal situation,

P.124

most difficult to attain and very rare indeed, and thus the average person could only hope to strive for an assimilation of this state of affairs. The whole Buddhist and Taoist traditions, with their respective cultural pursuits, have for centuries been guides and lures for individual assimilation and emulation. Be that as it may, the initial contact and balance of being and nonbeing or simply being-in-nonbeing can be looked upon as the crucial basis for the rise of aesthetic nature. It is also the beginning of the rounded, holistic view of perception where more than the nature of being is involved, though this perception is largely unsensed and unobserved. Yet the ordinary perceiver, surprisingly, retains an unconscious balance in his/her perception, although the balance may disappear at any time, in which case the imbalance points at the polarization toward the mere beingness of things. However that may be, the sustained balance is always a goal that is attainable by serious and dedicated training to fend off any movement toward the realm of being. It should be noted that the well-trained expert in any field, such as the martial arts, has by and large mastered this balance in perception and is thus able to function creatively. The expert is also at home with whatever techniques are required, but these are, in the final analysis, secondary and ancillary to the basic retention of balance in being-innonbeing. In the creative realm, the aesthetic quality exhibits itself in terms of the sustenance of the balance in becomingness. That is to say, rather than a once-displayed phenomenon of balance, the expert is able to preserve it in such a way that his work will issue forth something novel and unique. The aesthetic quality arises in virtue of capturing the balanced dynamic becoming or the fluid complementarity of sustained being-in-nonbeing. It should be noted that any polarization in the realm of being and attendant attachment to its elements will prevent the rise of any aesthetic quality since becomingness will now be dominated by a mechanical nature/procedure wherein elements are repeated in a strained sense. We could refer to this mechanical and repetitive nature as a form of ontological lag because such a nature deviates from and blocks the harmonious function of becomingness. The lag specifically refers to the attachment to the diversionary elements and slows down, so to speak, the natural flow of things.

Oriental Art We are all too familiar with the remark "Oriental painting is monochrome"-that is, it consists of black brush strokes on a white piece of paper. While the remark seems reasonable and fair, it is, unfortunately, grossly wrong and misleading. Basically, it is a dichotomous statement that is, in terms of black over white. More specifically, the perception of a monochrome painting arises because one is merely concerned with the aspect of being, the visible, tangible, and manipulable nature of things, P.125 and thereby judges the painting on the basis of the black configuration. But the painting is more than the black brush strokes on a white surface; the black strokes are not alone for they are the result of a complementary process that includes/involves nonblack components or the nonbeing aspect. In our discussion, the painting is a vital display of beings-innonbeing, a black-in-nonblack phenomenon. Consequently, rather than monochrome the painting should be referred to as nonchromatic or achromatic in order to preserve the series of holistic becomingness of the finished painting. In this sense, the color black happens to be merely a color without prejudice, for it could have been any other color used. A Zen story heard years ago illuminates this point very well. To a drawing class one day the Zen master assigned the subject of bamboo. With clean sheets of rice paper, black India ink, and a brush, the monks began to draw bamboos. The master observed each monk and his drawing very carefully but noted a monk whose work was not particularly on track. He summoned the monk to his quarters and prepared to draw the bamboo but this time with red ink. After the drawing was done with great verve, he handed it over to the monk saying, "This is the way to draw bamboos." The monk looked at the drawing with a puzzled face and responded, "But master, I haven't seen any red bamboos." To which the master immediately replied, "You are perfectly correct but I haven't seen any black bamboos either!" Now, if any color will do in Oriental painting, the metaphysical implications are profoundly great. It means, first and fundamentally, that the spectrum of colors is limiting as well as inexhaustive. Second and more importantly, it impels one to go

beyond the spectrum itself, to the realm of no-realm,(11) that is, to a preconscious realm, if you will, where discrimination and selectivity have yet to arise but which is still within the becomingness of things. In brief, this is the realm of nonbeing. The nondiscriminative or nonselective nature is not mere passivity or inaction since there is constant interpenetration and involvement of being and nonbeing--in short the beings-in-nonbeing. But what makes the latter possible? As intimated earlier, the presence of the nature of emptiness or nothingness within the becomingness complements and actuates the total function. For the uninitiated, this function is the most difficult aspect of Oriental dynamics to accept and to incorporate into one's thought and action. Francois Cheng, in a recent work titled Empty and Full: The Language of Chinese Painting,(12) has covered in some detail the nature and function of emptiness and its flip side, fullness of being. He says: "Emptiness is not merely a neutral space serving to defuse the shock without changing the nature of the opposition. It is the nodal point where potentiality and becoming interweave, in which deficiency and plenitude, self-sameness and otherness, meet."(13) P.126 Thus, emptiness is quite vital to the fluidity of beings-in-nonbeing, and without it the movement and evolvement of the so-called phenomenalin-nonphenomenal would not be possible. It is akin to the lubricant that keeps the flywheel spinning forever. Cheng goes on to cap his discussion by asserting that any Chinese work of art consists of four notions, namely vital breath (ch'i), inner principle or structure (li), intention or active consciousness (i), and spirit or divine essence (shen).(14) It would be too lengthy to discuss each of the four notions, but suffice it to say that these notions are so fundamental to the artist that he/she will spend interminable hours perfecting them, singularly at the beginning but collectively or in a unified way in the end. In brief, the artist must capture his/her own vital breath in harmony with the primordial breath that permeates all of nature. At the same time, he/she must assimilate his/her inner principle of life with the principle that extends to the world at large. Even before the brush is picked up, he/she must already have developed the earnest intention that will guide the hand toward broadening

and deepening the principle and vital breath. In such a way, then, the artist captures the spirit or divine essence in the very becomingness of things. All this is not merely an exercise in realizing the closeness of humanity and nature, nor is it an imitation of nature. Most significantly, it refers to the artist's creativity, which exhibits the aesthetic quality in every brush stroke.(15) A thing of beauty is always fresh, vital, principled, and divine; it is the exemplification of a work in graceful and disciplined motion, as seen, for example, in the performances of a dancer, an athlete, or a devotee of t'ai-chi. I recall a visit to a Japanese professor's home once when he pointed to a scroll of a tiger emerging from a bamboo grove and remarked, "What a beautiful painting! Just observe carefully, the tiger is looking at you from whatever angle you view the scroll." In brief, the tiger was alive and its piercing eyes covered all directions, truthfully reflecting the disciplined nature of the artist that extended his vital breath, inner principle, and intention, including the viewer's realm of existence, and there by produced a work imbued with divine essence, a marvelous thing of beauty. Buddhism and Taoism have naturally influenced Chinese art forms from the very beginning, but the influence took on added dimensions with the prominence of Zen (Ch'an) Buddhism during the T'ang dynasty (618-906). Zen experience, that is, the inner content of the enlightened person, has given great impetus to the development of various cultural forms that were later brought to Japan. Daisetz T. Suzuki, in commenting on the most conspicuous and characteristic features of Japanese art and culture, lists the following: imbalance, asymmetry, the "one-corner" (painting), poverty, sabi or wabi, simplification, aloneness, and other cognate ideas.(16) The three terms that P.127

come to our immediate attention are imbalance, asymmetry, and one-corner painting, which leaves vast spaces open not without reason. These are, of course, in line with our discussion in terms of detaching ourselves from the lutes of the realm of being where one would be entrapped in the visible, measurable, and manipulable nature of things. But cultural pursuits are not to be limited by this realm and instead should go beyond it to include the

nature of nonbeing. Zen, following basic Buddhist teachings, teaches us to abide in no fixed natures or permanent characteristics, for the fluidity of becomingness will not allow this, although human beings tend to manipulate the natural flow. A famous Zen poem shows us the way: The bamboo-shadows move over the stone steps as if to sweep them, but no dust is stirred; The moon is reflected deep in the pool, but the water shows no trace of its penetration.(17) Wabi and sabi are two distinct Japanese contributions to aesthetics. Wabi refers to the sadness/sorrow attendant with the failure to cope with the somewhat unkind vicissitudes of life within the context of the inexorable forces of impermanence or the transience of things. It is subjective in the sense that there is something aesthetic about it, a feeling/mood of poverty; or, as Suzuki says, a life of wabi is "an inexpressible quiet joy deeply hidden beneath sheer poverty,"(18)--to which I might add: when exposed to certain intimations of beings-in-nonbeing. It is a feeling of inadequacy arising out of the overwhelming presence of the macrocosmic nature of things. Sabi, on the other hand, although close to wabi on the nature of personal feelings, has an objective character of its own, as, for example, when we view art objects such as a teacup or a flower vase. These objects have beauty in their own imperfection, accompanied by antiquity or primitive uncouthness, and contain inexplicable elements that raise a particular object to the rank of artistic production.(19) In sum, both wabi and sabi, in subjective and objective modes, respectively, or to a degree jointly, stem out of aesthetic nature, the expression arising out of the capture of the natural balance and/or seeming imbalance in the becomingness of things. The one-corner painting originated in China and quickly came to Japan. It utilizes in a harmonious way what is called in painting empty space but which in reality depicts the continuum of beings-in-nonbeing, The seemingly empty nature of space is the "hidden" potentiality waiting for the appearance or creation of any and all beings. The one-corner painting is a plenum from any angle, but at the same time it evokes in its scantiness of brush strokes feelings of solitude, quietude, and serenity.

The grand scenic paintings of nature, especially in the genre of P.128

"mountains and waters," remind human beings of the ecexistent phenomenon of the finite and infinite realms of existence but, simultaneously, educe a feeling of aloneness in the vast universe. But the feeling is merely initial since the viewer will in time sense the intimacy with nature that will in turn bring forth joy and pleasure at the wondrous continuity or relatedness of existence. Thus aloneness is but a prelude to the complete understanding of natural phenomena. This is especially so in our discussion of the dynamics of beings-in-nonbeing where finite entities find a welcome home in the ever-present receptacle of nonbeing. Hoseki Shin'ichi Hisamatsu, a tea master and Zen enthusiast, confirms much of what Suzuki has elaborated. He in turn speaks of his own Zen-inspired seven characteristics of art forms.(20) They are asymmetry (fukinsei), simplicity (kanso), aged beauty in witheredness (koko), naturalness (shizen), profundity (yugen), otherworldliness or transcendence (datsuzoku) , and tranquillity (seijaku). Once again, the term asymmetry appears at the top of the list to emphasize the unique feature of Zen experience. The single underlying concept in all seven characteristics is the consciousness of the nature of nonattachment to any form. Culling from Zen literature, he reiterates the cardinal doctrine of the form of no-form (muso-no-so). This doctrine is actually a derivative of the Buddhist concept of nonself (anaatman) but is now applied specifically to nature and function in the cultural arts. In Japan, the doctrine is manifested in every work of art, such as chanoyu (tea ceremony), ikebana (floral arrangement) , the noh play, painting, music, archery, gardening, and haiku. Zen has had the greatest impact on chanoyu because of the initial patronage by the shogun, the military ruler, who quickly saw in Zen-inspired art a vital contribution to the samurai way of life. After all, the samurai was constantly in life-or-death situations, which are but deluded forms of existence, not conducive to proper battlefield conduct, and therefore concern for them must be removed by the practice of Zen meditation and chanoyu.

The four principles of chanoyu are wa-kei-sei-jaku, popularly translated, respectively, as harmony, reverence/humbleness, purity, and serenity/tranquillity. Needless to say, these principles come directly from Taoist and Buddhist teachings. Chanoyu is a simple, unadulterated form of enjoying tea in unadorned surroundings but also at once with a deep consciousness of beings-in-nonbeing. The great tea master Sen Sotan (1578-1658) once wrote a poem: "if asked the nature of chanoyu, say it's the sound of windblown pines in a painting.(21) This statement is enigmatic but profound for its multilayered imagery. First, there is the painting itself, second, the sight of tortured and twisted pines, and third, the sound of windblown pines. In stark contrast, the movement of the pines reveals the presence of a strong breeze blowing through them, and this, in turn, wakes the soul of the observer to

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the beautiful (divine) sound of the wind. The observer's deep vision and enjoyment are only broken temporarily by the soft beckoning voice of the master, "Have a cup of tea." NOTES 1 - Tao Te Ching 42, for example, describes transformation or production from the Tao to One, One to Two, Two to Three, and Three to Ten Thousand Things (i.e., the world). This is normally taken to be in logical and temporal order, but that would be too simplistic. Rather, in a very subtle and profound sense, it refers to a non-logical, nontemporal cosmological theory wherein the Tao, One, Two, Three, and Ten Thousand Things are all in dynamic relationship at all times. See Wing-tsit Chan, A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1963), p. 160. 2 - Historically, it is said that the Buddha, after his supreme enlightenment (nirvaa.na) , was confronted by his five erstwhile fellow truth seekers to reveal the reason for his change in

countenance. He refused to respond to their entreaties because, he told them very plainly, those who engage in empirical (sensory) matters have no means of achieving enlightenment. In modern terms, those who engage solely in empirical and rational matters are from the very beginning hampered and blocked in their search for the truth of existence because they are victims of attachments to the data reported by the senses and later entified by the mind. 3 - Tao Te Ching 1 asserts that the Tao has two facets, the sensory perceivable realm of the named (yu-ming) and the nonsensory, non-perceivable realm of the nameless (wu-ming). The dynamics of both facets opens the doors to the wondrous (hsuan) realm of existence. See Wing-Tsit Chan, Source Book, p. 139. 4 - I submit that my analysis is purely speculative, for there are other means, for example yoga discipline, of realizing that something other than being is involved in becoming. The point, however, is that being alone cannot justify the dynamics of becoming. 5 - I am well aware of those who would not group emptiness (`suunyataa) and nothing or nothingness (wu) together as depicting the nature of nonbeing. There are differences between the two concepts, especially as they appear in their respective systems or traditions. Buddhist emptiness is strictly an experiential achievement, and Taoist nothingness is both an experiential achievement and a cosmoP.130

logical fact in terms of depicting the ways of nature or the Tao. My position is that, given the above two subtle differences and taken within the general cosmological context, it would not be wholly wrong to treat them together in order to have a closer look at the dynamics of becoming. Moreover, as we will later discuss under the section on Oriental art, Buddhist and Taoist artworks seem indistinguishable in terms of delineating the aesthetic nature and quality. 6 - Muulamadhyamakakaarikaa (Verses on the Fundamental Middle Doctrine), XXIV.10 (Kenneth K. Inada, Naagaarjuna: A Translation and an Introductory Essay [Original publication, Tokyo:

Hokuseido Press, 1970; first Indian edition, Delhi: Sri Satguru Publications, 1993], p. 146. To Naagaarjuna's eternal credit, he firmed up Mahaayaana thought by sifting through the doctrines developed since the historical Buddha and enunciated in philosophic terms the true teachings of the Buddha. The middle way (madhyamaa-pratipad) was the key doctrine around which he identified in penetrative ways the dynamics of emptiness and experiential process (pratiitya-samutpaada). He insightfully asserted that the realms (ko.ti) of ordinary perception (samsaric activity) and inordinate perception (nirvanic nature) function in tandem and thereby give justification to the mutuality and passage from the samsaric to nirvanic realms. This mutuality and its embodiment or realization in ordinary experiences have yet to be understood clearly and appreciated. Hopefully, the discussion of Oriental aesthetics will further the understanding. 7 - "The Buddhist Aesthetic Nature: a Challenge to Rationalism and Empiricism," Asian Philosophy 4 (2) (1994): 145-146. 8 - This type of statement is replete in Zen literature where, for example, the Zen master instructs succinctly: "Be the green bamboo!" or "Be the fresh young willow tree!" 9 - Daisetz T. Suzuki, An Introduction to Zen Buddhism (New York: Grove Press, 1964), p. 89. 10 - See Burton Watson's translation, The Complete Works of Chuang Tzu (New York: Columbia University Press, 1968), chap. 27 on "imputed Words," pp. 303-308. 11 - The realm of no-realm reminds us poignantly of Zen and Taoist masters, who harped on this theme to get to the bottom of experiential reality. They discoursed on the fact that there is no permanent persisting nature to rank or position, even with masters themselves, and in classic ways they asserted, "I am a man of no-rank." Thus any dialogue between master and disciple should be carried P.131 out on the level of no-rank, a level that is neither debased nor exalted, but one that makes

direct/immediate contact with the reality of things. 12 - Francois Cheng, Empty and Full: The Language of Chinese Painting, trans. Michael H. Kohn (Boston and London: Shambala, 1994).

13 - Ibid., p. 51. Cheng seems to speak only from the classical Chinese standpoint, but the quote already has strains of Buddhism in China. 14 - lbid., pp. 100-101. 15 - Ibid., p. 62. Cheng discusses the fact that cosmology in terms of the permeation of microcosm and macrocosm is foremost to the painter and introduces the famous words of Wang Wei, "By means of a slim brush, re-create the immense body of emptiness." 16 - Daisetz T. Suzuki, Zen and Japanese Culture (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1970), pp. 27-28. 17 - Daisetz T. Suzuki, Introduction to Zen Buddhism, p. 132. 18 - Daisetz T. Suzuki, Zen and Japanese Culture, p. 286. 19 - lbid., p. 24. 20 - Hoseki Shih'ichi Hisamatsu, Zen-to-bijutsu (Kyoto: Bokubi-sha, 1958), p. 24. This book was later translated into English by Gishin Tokiwa as Zen and the Fine Arts (Tokyo: Kodansha International, 1971). 21 - Dennis Hirota, comp. and ed., Wind in the Pines: Classic Writings of the Way of Tea as a Buddhist Path (Fremont, California: Asian Humanities Press, 1995), pp. 25-26. -------------------------------------Aesthetics in Asia - Buddhism Buddhism Early Theravada Buddhism records the importance of aesthetic (Pali, Samvega) and distinguishes different kinds of reactions to beauty analogous to reactions to diversity. The Lotus Sutra of Mahayana Buddhism introduced the idea of paradise and encouraged the production of visuals and sounds in honor of the Buddha as meritorious; this later developed into the ideas that art could clarify reality and could make such abstract concepts more concrete. It also provides the earliest example of taking children's art seriously. Thus began the interest of Mahayana

Buddhism in art. The Japanese priest Kukai (774835) brought the Shingon Sect of esoteric Buddhism to Japan. Shingon recognized four main categories of art: (1) painting and sculpture, including mandala painting; (2) music and literature; (3) gestures and acts, including hand positions called mudras, ritual, and dance (much of which was ritual); and (4) the implements of civilization and religion. Kukai was the first Japanese to develop the theoretical dimensions of the visual arts. "For Kukai whatever was beautiful partook of the nature of Buddha. Nature, art and religion were one" (De Bary, 1958, p. 138). This was true of other Japanese Buddhists as well. Summarizing the Shingon view of art, Kukai wrote, "In truth, the esoteric doctrines are so profound as to defy their enunciation in writing. With the help of painting, however, their obscurities may be understood" (Tsunoda, pp. 137138). Pure Land Buddhism (10th13th century) brought enlightenment to the masses through chanting, dancing and singing, and paintings of paradise and hellpractices reflecting new views on enlightenment and who could attain it. The priest Ippen (12391289) insisted that the grace of Amida was not confined to the Pure Land Sect or even to Buddhist temples but was everywhere, even in Shinto shrines. Along with this popularization of religion occurred a concurrent popularization of Buddhist art. The Zen Sect has the most influential aesthetic tradition of all the Buddhist sects. Zen arts attest to the central values of "simplicity, the spirituality of the ordinary, and genuineness of heart," focusing on the maker's mind and the process rather than a final product (Kasulis, 1998, pp. 357 371; Suzuki). Painters with a few rough brush strokes convey the mind of the monk and enlightenment itself. In flower arrangement, oddly shaped twigs (only odd numbers are used) convey the simple beauty of the uniquely ordinary. The haiku poet uses a few words to evoke an idea that the reader completes. The gardener helps the rocks find where they want to be and where they fit naturally. In calligraphy, misshapen, oddly arranged characters convey with apparently childlike simplicity a renewed childlike view of the world. In cooking, the Abbot Dogen (12001253) insisted monks present the freshest foods beautifully to make meatless menus enticing. Zen arts set up relationships among artist(s), audience, materials, and the environment, as well as express and provoke enlightened mind (Bullen; Kasulis). Zen also countered any distinction between "fine" and "applied" arts and aesthetics, and strengthened, especially for Samurai warriors, the intimate relationship between the arts and martial training. ------------------------------Aesthetics in Asia - China China China has a diverse and ancient tradition in aesthetics. Early in the tradition, art was integrally related with metaphysics, social and political philosophy, and ethics. At this stage in the tradition, aesthetics had primacy over rational discourse (Hall and Ames, 1987). For Confucius (551479 B.C.E.), ceremony and music, "conducted with style like an artistic performance," define the behavior of the Confucian gentleman (Graham, p. 11). Music (yue) comprises instrumental music, song, and dance, primarily those of the sacred rites and ceremony (li). They both arise from and produce harmony, and, by transforming the heart, transform human relationsand therefore government. For Confucius, "all government can be reduced to ceremony" (Graham, p. 13). The Mohists, in contrast, "condemned music (re-construing morality) as a set of abstract principles" (Graham, p. 259). Xunzi (300237 B.C.E.) and his followers developed Confucius's idea that music was beneficial (or harmful if the wrong kind) into a general theory of the moral efficacy of music. Xunzi was the first to elaborate on the relation between music and ceremony. His "Discourse on Music" begins, "Music is joy, what the authentic man inevitably refuses to do without" (Graham, p. 260). Training in music, therefore, was crucial to education and government. On this view, the sovereign could use music and ritual to enlighten his people and thereby govern well. Yet by 530 C.E. poet-critic Xiao Tong liberated aesthetics

from ethics, writing that his selection for his literary anthology had been guided only by aesthetic merit, not moral considerations. From the fifth century to the present aesthetics was dominated by the arts of the literati class calligraphy, painting, and poetry, set in the context of natural landscapes or gardensappreciated in the setting of natural landscapes and gardens. Three characteristics define literati arts: its amateur status as the product of scholar-officials, its function as an expressive outlet, and its style (Bush, 1971, p. 1). The transition from political-ceremonial aesthetics to literati aesthetics of personal expression is seen in an essay attributed to the scholar Wang Wei (c. 415443), who situated landscape painting in relation to ceremony and the cosmos: [According to Wang Wei,] Paintings must correspond to the ba gua [the eight trigrams of geomancy], meaning that just as the ba gua are a symbolic diagram of the workings of the universe, so must landscape painting be a symbolic language through which the painter may express not a relative, particularized aspect of nature seen at a given moment from a given view point, but a general truth, beyond time and place. Though Wang Wei is full of wonder at the artist's mysterious power of pictorial compression, he insists that painting is more than the exercise of skill; "the spirit must also exercise control over it; for this is the essence of painting." (Sullivan, p. 97) Slightly later, Xie He (fl. 479501) outlined six principles for judging paintings and painters that have never been superceded: (1) animation through spirit consonance (qi yun), (2) structural method (literally bone means) in the use of the brush, (3) fidelity to the object in portraying forms, (4) conformity to kind in applying colors, (5) proper planning in placing elements, (6) in copying, perpetuating the ancient models (Soper; Sakanishi; Sullivan, p. 95; Wen). Although Chinese interpretations of principles 3 to 6 diverge, they are roughly equivalent to naturalism, coloring, composition, and training. Michael Sullivan (p. 96) explains principle 1 as follows: Qi is that cosmic spirit (literally, breath or vapor) that vitalizes all things, that gives life and growth to the trees, movement to the water, energy to human beings, and that is exhaled by the mountains as clouds and mist. The artist must attune himself to this cosmic spirit and let it infuse him with energy so that in a moment of inspirationand no word could be more appropriatehe may become the vehicle for its expression. Qi infuses all things, [with] no distinction between animate and inanimate. Seen in this light, the third, fourth and fifth principles involve more than mere visual accuracy; for, as the living forms of nature are the visible manifestations of the workings of the qi, only by representing them faithfully can the artist express his awareness of the cosmic principle in action. (Sullivan, 1999, p. 96; Wen, 1963) During the Southern Song Dynasty (11271279), philosophers undertook an intellectual defense of Confucianism against the challenges of Buddhism and Daoism in the Song Synthesis. In the field of aesthetics, this culminated in a synthesis integrating literati arts with ethics, mysticism, and education in the classics that continued till the end of the Qing Dynasty in 1911 (Chan; De Bary, 1960, chaps. 1719; Koller and Koller, chaps. 2122; Black). Mao Zedong (18931976) overturned the elitist literati emphasis on the classics and the value of the past. During the Republican Period (19121949), Lu Xun (18811936)writer, activist, and founder of the Creative Print Movementhad urged artists to use art in the service of revolution (based on European ideologies). In his 1942 Talks at the Yan'an Conference on Literature and Art (the foundation for Communist Chinese aesthetics until 1979), Mao adapted Lu's thinking to his revolution, acknowledging Lu as a source. Mao argued that the history of art was a product of

political-economic structures that must be rejected: Bronze Age art was the product of a slavebased society, while from Han (140 B.C.E.220 C.E.) to the twentieth century China was feudally unified under an emperor, from whom all value stemmed (McDougall). Yet Mao Zedong adapted aspects of literati aesthetics to revolutionary Communist purposes, including the use of images and texts to teach virtues and a belief in the power of art to transform the human heart and thereby political reality. In 1958 a print by Niu Wen integrated poetry into visual arta literati concept dating from at least the Songand peasants were adding poetry to their village murals. By the early 1960s even landscape painting in traditional media (guo hua) was adapted to Communist purposes: Huang Peimo's landscape print A Distant Source and a Long Stream (1973) incorporates the deliberate literati archaism and treatment of "empty" space literati aesthetics. But Mao focused on the massesboth as audience and as agents of their own transformation. This required the masses to be "the sole and inexhaustible source" of subject matter, and it required a new style depicting the masses as inspiring heroes, not as agonized victims (as in Lu Xun's writings). During this time, setting the framework for aesthetic understanding and debate were praise and criticism in government-published reviews of artworks that the government established as models of art; deviation was dangerous. The impact of Jiang Qing (1914?1991), Mao's wife and deputy director of the Cultural Revolution (19661976), is seen in her principles for "model operas" (19611965), codified to reform opera and all the visual arts, and in the feminist content of visual art during the Cultural Revolution (19661976). In 1953 Zhou Yang iterated Mao's advocacy of socialist realism, but declared the enrichment of Chinese tradition to be the objective of using foreign art and aesthetics. He concluded by advocating "free competition of various artistic forms" (Soviet and Chinese) and stated that Mao Zedong's guiding principle was "Let a hundred flowers bloom and a hundred schools contend." The debates over retention of traditional aesthetics and the inclusion of foreign components within Chinese arts continue in the early twenty-first century. Debates focus on the Chinese appropriation and critique of universalizing Euro-American paradigms and meta-narratives, "culture as leisure," and the resurgence of Mao fever and neo-nationalism. -----------------------Aesthetics in Asia - India India Despite the philosophical diversity within India, there is a surprising degree of consensus about the nature and importance of aesthetics and aesthetic pleasure (rasa). Like truth and goodness, rasa belongs to reason (buddhi); its relation to truth remains a major vein of speculation. Although the specific role that rasa plays in the human psyche depends on the metaphysical premises of a given philosophywhether dualistic or nondualistic, etc.rasa is a highly valued, central part of human experience. It encompasses sexuality, but also takes its place among the spiritual disciplines. The second basic concept of Indian aesthetics is kama, the pursuit of love and enjoyment. Kama includes refined aesthetic pleasure, sexual pleasure, and love of the divine (the human search for transcendence). The epitome of kama is found in the love of the divine Krishna and Radha, his consort, and in their dance, called the rasa-lila (the "playful dance of the god")a recurring theme in painting, poetry, and drama. The most famous text of the science of kama, Vatsyayana's Kama Sutra (Aphorisms of love) lists sixty-four arts and sciences in which a cultured person or courtesan was educated (Embree, p. 256). Bharata Muni's Natya Sastra (Treatise on dramaturgy) (written sometime between the 2nd century B.C.E. and the 2nd century C.E.), the first written theory of drama, claims that when humanity began to suffer from pride and the joyful life became full of suffering, the god Brahma created dramawith its attendants music, poetry, and danceto uplift humanity morally and spiritually by means of aesthetics (rasa) (Bharata, 2003).

From Bharata on, emotion (rasa, meaning "flavor" or "relish") is recognized as the heart of drama and all art. Rasa thus came to mean the feeling that a poet conveys to a sympathetic reader, aesthetic taste, or aesthetic rapture (Gupta). Rasa, the aesthetic rapture accompanying the appreciation of dance and drama, is mentioned in the Upanishads, and some claim that it is even comparable to "the realization of ultimate reality" (Tripurari, p. 10). The differences between aesthetic rasa and Brahman realization of the form of the Absolute became important philosophical issues. Krishna's rasa-lila (his love dance with Radha) provides one answer to these problems and leads to philosophical development of kinds of love (Tipurari, p. 37). This dance, first described in the Bhagavata Purana (tenth century?) and set in verse in the twelfth century, inspires poetry and paintings (together called ragamala); it forms the kernal for the devotional aesthetic called bhakti rasa popular in Vedanti [Tripurari]. Dating from the thirteenth century, the ragamala (garland of ragas) are painting albums, often with poems, based on ragas, the secular musical modes associated with particular feelings/flavors (rasa). The paintings depict male or female human heroes or divinities, identified by name and an emblem, in love scenes coordinated with time of day, season, and aesthetic mode, and sometimes a color, deity, planet, or animal. Although conceived within the framework of Hinduism, the rasa-lila reaches well beyond it: the Moghuls, who were Muslim, also commissioned pictures of the rasa-lila. Music in India has a similarly long aesthetic tradition. The Samaveda treats it as a divine art. Indian philosophers have been particularly interested in the aesthetics of sound (Malik), music and dance (Mittal; Iravati), and chant and storytelling (Kaushal). --------------------Aesthetics in Asia - Japan Japan Japanese aesthetics is unique among non-Western traditions in the degree to which it has permeated international awareness. It did this not only through the arts but also by introducing its extensive aesthetic vocabularywabi (a taste for the simple), sabi (quiet simplicity), shibui (subdued), iki (stylish, elegant), yugen (rich or deep beauty), etc. (for explanations, see Miner et al., pt. 4). Saito has reinterpreted sabi and wabi in terms of an "aesthetics of insufficiency." This vocabulary has often been interpreted as referring to an "eternal" Japanese spirit, but in fact it has undergone continuous expansion and reinterpretation since medieval times. The political uses served by both the aesthetics and their mythologizing interpretations comprises an important part of Japanese aesthetics in the early twenty-first century. Saito, for instance, reinterprets sabi and wabi in terms of an "aesthetics of insufficiency." Perhaps the most important area of current Japanese aesthetics develops the implications of the experience of being bombed and its aftermath(s), which seems to demand utterly new ways of "understanding." Several dichotomies are used to organize thinking about the arts in Japan, including the polarities between feminine and masculine, and between native and foreign (originally Chinese; since 1868, American or Western). The earliest Japanese writing on aesthetics, by Kukai (774835), was deliberately permeated by Chinese Buddhist philosophy. But a native Shinto aesthetic was evident a century earlier in the Manyoshu (Collection of ten thousand leaves), an anthology of folk songs and poems. Within the anthology, poems by Kakinomoto no Hitomaro (c. 658c. 708) exemplify a Shinto aesthetic in which there is a "total unity of world and people, time and nature, public and private motivations" (Miner et al., p. 176). Concern over what constitutes as Shinto or native aesthetic, often phrased in terms of what is "uniquely Japanese," continues through Kamo no Mabuchi (16971769) and Motoori Norinaga (17301801) to the novelists Tanizaki Jun'ichiro and Kawabata Kasunari in the twentieth century, and Emiko Ohunki-Tierney in the twenty-first. The single most influential figure in the history of Japanese aesthetics (according to Japanese specialists from the twelfth century on) was undoubtedly the Heian poet and diarist Murasaki Shikibu (c. 973c. 1014). Her explications of the philosophy of literature and painting in her novel

The Tale of Genji became famous (Tsunoda, vol. 1, pp. 176179). Genji discusses the aesthetics of gardens, calligraphy, nature (especially the moon and the seasons), paper and wrapping, incense, color, fashion, and music; it presents the aesthetic concepts miyabi (courtly elegance) and mono no aware (awareness of the pathos of things). It exemplifies quintessential Japanese values including the "aesthetics of indirection," ambiguity, elusiveness, allusion and it developed Buddhist impermanence into an aesthetic virtue. Subsequent critics extolled Genji. An ability to comment intelligently on it became necessary for establishing cultural credentials, although as a woman Murasaki also provoked anxiety. The literary and national-learning scholar Motoori Norinaga (17301801) developed the political and social dimensions of the expression frequently found in Genji of "the pathos of things" (mono no aware) and identified it as fundamental to Japanese culture and national identity (Miner, pp. 95 96; Nishimura). Heian women writers possessed a distinctive sensibility because they wrote in the vernacular rather than Chinese as men did; this allowed them to create their work within a native aesthetic distinct from that of male writers writing in Chinese (Keene). Murasaki's contemporary Sei Shonagon (b. c. 967) presented an aesthetics of everyday life (as well as discoursing on more standard topics) in her Pillow Book, one of the three great "prose miscellanies" (zuihitsu). Her format was used by other medieval aesthetic recluses, notably Kamo no Chomei (11531216), waka poet and man of letters. His Hojoki (Account of my hut) displays an aesthetic distance that typifies this genre. Fujiwara Shunzei (11141204) and Fujiwara Teika (11621241)father and son poets, critics, and anthologistsdevised new conceptions of literature and were the first to discern a history of poetry in Japan (Miner et al.). They assessed such matters as the temporalities of The Tale of Genji and ways of handling allusion. Shunzei advocated the aesthetic concepts yugen and sabi, relating them to Buddhist and Shinto values, and outlined a theory of effect in poetry that utilizes the poem's general configuration (sugata), diction (kotoba), and spirit (kokoro). Teika also wrote instructions to inspire poets. Saigyo (11181190), a poet from a warrior family who became a Shingon priest, wrote a travel diary, a collection with poems on war, and another with poems on Yoshino's cherry blossoms that "assisted in the gradual shift from the plum to the cherry as the ideal Japanese flower" (Miner et al., p. 223). He helped popularize the aesthetic recluse's ideal of seclusion from the world, poetry, and travel. Matsuo Basho (16441695)poet, critic, diarist, and travelerbrought the lowly and the commonplace into the subject matter and vocabulary for poetry and introduced new elements of humor (Tsunoda). In theater, Zeami (13631443), playwright and theater critic, established a critical vocabulary and aesthetics for No: yugen, monomane (imitation), ka or hana (flower)an allusion both to the transmission of his father's art and to the traditional aesthetics of Japanese poetry. Chikamatsu Monzaemon (16531725), a puppet-theater playwright whose works were adapted for the Kabuki stage, addressed the problem of realism in theater (Tsunoda). Kabuki (like most Asian theater) aims at presentation of an explicitly theatrical reality, unlike Western theater, which aims at representation of everyday life. Tea ceremony aesthetics of simplicity and austerity creates an appreciation of the ordinary and alternative modes of sociality. Based on Zen, it introduces mindfulness into everyday life. Several genres of gardens developed distinct aesthetics, specializing in allusion and reference (katsura); Zen-like mindfulness, simplicity and austerity, and/or relationships to nature, especially to the seasons, to natural landscape. By the early twentieth century novelists such as Natsume Soseki, Tanizaki Junichiro, and

Kawabata Yasunari explored through fiction ideas from Western aesthetics, such as Kant's disinterest. Akutagawa's famous short story "The Hell Screen" (1973) is an instantiationand an exploration of the ramifications for human lifeof the view that realism must be based on experience; the artist can only paint what he or she knows. -----------------------------