On The Doctrines Of Sushi's Calligraphy Thought

Dao is one of key categories in Chinese philosophy, which has been talking about since Spring and Autumn Period and Warring states Period. The follow-ups explain Dao on their precedent scholars' thinking achievements, especially of those living in Pre-Qin era. The meaning of Dao is different among different schools and in different times. Academic activities in China had been centered on Dao of Confucianism and Taoism since Qin and Han, and after Emperor Hanwu rejected other academic schools and promoted Confucianism, it had been in the major place in China academic area. Daoism tried to reconcile nature and Confucian ethical code as a philosophical sect in Wei and Jin dynasties called Xuanxue in Chinese flourished, which rooted in Taoism. Since that Daoism began to influence the academic activities of China. Buddhism passed into China in the later period of West Han dynasty, and it enriched itself by making use of the thought of Daoism and Confucianism. Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism began to merge together, and the content of Dao changed since.The social and political construction encountered violent changes in Mid-Tang, and new Confucian theory came into being the merge and argument between Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism. Nowadays study shows that Neo-Confucianism in Song dynasty, which is called Lixue in china, rooted in Confucianism and merged Taoism and Buddhism. There are biographies of moralists listed by the writer called Dao Chuan in Chinese in History of Song, and moralists'theories took the position of official academic from then on, and to some extent the content of Dao became narrower. Gu Yanwu picked on what the writer of did in the book History of Song. As a matter of fact, he was criticizing moralists and their theories. Some scholars even suspected that Dao was not a category of Confucianism and thought that Confucians borrowed it from Taoism, just as what Mao Qiling did, but he was half right and half wrong. Dong Fangshu refused to agree that, and he listed many places in which Dao was used in Confucianism classics to verify that Dao belongs to Confucianism too. The disagreements about Dao are the different academic views in different stages of academic history and history of thought. The different explanations about Dao among academic schools related to not only the trends of development of history of thought and academic history, but also to that of art history or the understanding and the reception of art.My thesis begins with the observance of the concept of Dao, and traces back to the origin of Dao, along which tries to find out what influenced Sushi's thought on art of calligraphy. Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism became merged since Sui and Tang dynasty, and the content of Dao changed. In Mid-Tang, Hanyu and Liu Zongyuan launched Classical Prose Movement, and Yuan Zhen and Bai Juyi started New Yuefu Movement. They proposed to return to classical doctrines of Confucianism. Dan Zhu and his students explained Confucian classics with a new way they annotated them as what they thought and not just abided by what their precedents said. Confucians of Song understood the meaning of Dao mainly related to Hanyu's thought, which was the direct source of their theories. Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism merged together. That was the figure of history of thought in Song dynasty. Under that way, Confucians of Song explained Dao, and they carried on what Hanyu did. Shu Xue was one of Confucian schools represented by the three Su, Sushi and his father and younger brother. Shu Xue was a Confucian school, and they took advantage of Taoism and Buddhism to understand Confucianism.Sushi's calligraphy thought that consists of Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism is a reflection of his Confucian thought of Shu Xue, and we call it the Dao of his calligraphy, which is the doctrine that he used to make judgments about calligraphy esthetic value and its ethic value. Sushi intended to accept Taoism and Buddhism, that was the difference between Hanyu and him, and it was historical. There was ethics of Confucianism, and there was nature of Taoism and empty contemplation of Buddhism in his calligraphy thought. His calligraphy was an emotional expression, and also it was perspective of ethics. He declared to train his morals as a standard of the Confucians. At the same time he wanted to write as his sense went. And as a Confucian, Confucianism took the main place in his calligraphy esthetics, and the functions of calligraphy as an ethic teaching tool were always important for him.The construction of Dao in Sushi's calligraphy thought determines his opinions about value judgments and esthetic judgments. In Shushi's views about calligraphy, there are some contradictions. He praised Huai Su and Zhang Xu's calligraphy, but on the other occasions, he criticized them severely, almost beyond what you can imagine. He promoted Yan Zhengqing's calligraphy because Yan owned great personality power according to the Confucian ethic, however he never stopped suspecting it. The contradictions were the conflicts of doctrines in Sushi's calligraphy thought. There was a strong ethic power, which pulled his judgment and made it deviate from calligraphy esthetic. It seemed that his esthetic sometimes was not very pure.At present, some scholars say style of Sushi's calligraphy is a kind of intention style called Yi in Chinese, and something must be done for us to analyze the construction of Yi. My thesis explains the content of Yi on the basis of acknowledge about Sushi's calligraphy thought, especially of its construction. I think Sushi's intention in his calligraphy consists of some part i.e. emotional factors, metaphysical meaning, and a way to explain the doctrines of Confucianism. Sushi made advantage of Taoism and Buddhism to understand the doctrines in calligraphy esthetic, and Sushi believed those doctrines were here and there, omnipresent.