The Research On Theoretical Connotation And Value Of Xu Wei's BENSE Theory

Xu Wei(1521-1593),as a vanguard who has opened a new era for cultural romanticism in the middle of Ming Dynasty, has made tremendous accomplishment in poem, calligraphy and paintings, dramas, riddles and military theories,and he is a glorious landmark in both literal and artistic histories.The word of BENSE has a long history,and Xu Wei explains it as object nature. The author explores the theoretical connotation of Xu's "BENSE" Theory from the angle of philosophical ontology, discusses the extension of the theory in Xu's personality on the basis of his experiences and cognates Xu's artistic practice to comb out bis artistic theories. The extension and demonstration of BENSE Theory in Xu's artistic works are illustrated in this thesis.The author divides thesis into four parts to explore the theoretical value of "BENSE" step by step. The nuclearou concept of Xu's BENSE Theory is considered as the starting point, then its philosophical connotation and Xu's personality and his literal works are successively discussed.Chapter One deals with the grand cultural background of the period in which Xu's BENSE Theory was born. The prosperity of commodity economy brings about a new social class—the townsfolk, those who placed much emphasis on valuing ones' own characters. This consciousness prevailed at that time. Meanwhile, the scholars and bureaucrats could not help getting stuck in the messy and complicated political affairs. XINXUE proposed by Wang Yangming through "combining the cognition and performance" is the symbol of liberation of personality and thoughts in Ming Dynasty.Chapter Two mainly contains the philosophical connotation of Xu Wei's BENSE Theory. After carefully combing out the history of "BENSE",the author analyses his literary background featuring "upholding WANGXUE, mixing with Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism" and finds out that the connotation of "object nature" in BENSE theory is that "nature" means "DAO" and "ZHONG", namely the "emotion" between "mind" and "reason".That is the originality of Xu Wei's BENSEThe author pays a lot attention to the personality attitude, namely propagating "ZHENWO", on the basis of "object nature" in Chapter Three. Also she analyses Xu's life experiences and illustrates his strugglings and grief resulted from the gap between his ambition to be a "SHI" and being a "JIREN" in practice.Xu's unprecedented artistic accomplishments are introduced in Chapter Four. In his glorious and strange artistic world, Xu's wailful poems, lifelike dramas, brilliant calligraphy and smoothly paintings all show his emphasis on "BENSE" and his unique and innovative artistic features. Xu's artistic styles and his spirit of pursuing freedom have profound implications for descendants.