Confucianism, Taoism, Zen Influencing Traditional Chinese Painting Arts

Ancient Chinese civilization, with its long history, has embodied various styles of local or exotic culture. However, regardless of their roots, they have at last been accepted and assimilated by the mainstream culture of China, and furthermore, have gradually evolved into sinicized academic forms. Chinese literates, including a notable part of artists, have a deep complex of philosophy, which is actually not only a kind of mental support for them, but also a crucial content of the ethnic culture as a whole. Philosophy serves for civilization of the societal ethic and customs; dominates the long history of Chinese ideology development; and influences some forms of non-mainstream ideology. Taoism advocates link with nature Confucian focuses on societal cohesion. While Zen takes root in sublimation of spirit. The core ideas that are promoted by these three forms of ideology, that is, link with nature, societal cohesion and sublimation of spirit, are exactly the three aspects of an entity.In the history of traditional Chinese literate painting, Taoism, Confucianism and Zen are the most influencing among all the over passed and existing genres of Chinese traditional philosophy. The reason lies not only on their doctrines of civilizing, culturing and cultivating, but also on their contribution to the promotion of the whole society's aesthetic level. Without philosophy, which is the vane on the development road of the ethnic culture, different forms of arts will find it difficult to locate themselves. This is especially the case in the history of ancient Chinese painting. The many literate artists just couldn't separate the styles and contents of their works from the religion and philosophy. Religious and philosophy elements seem to be indispensable for the ancient Chinese literate artists to endow their work with tastes and patternsAs the source and lifeline of Chinese culture and arts, Taoism, Confucianism and Zen have imposed on them (Chinese culture and arts) the most far-reaching and noticeable influence. This paper, set within the frame of Chinese painting history, seeks to answer the following key questions: What is the societal base for this influence? How do the literate artists understand these three genres of philosophy (Taoism, Confucianism and Zen) and how do they combine their understanding with their painting styles? What forms of arts have been evolved in this process?...