Huatong Spirit (Understanding of Chinese and Western Aesthetic Thoughts)

Author: Du Hanfeng
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2002-01-01
Features: The Zuo Zhuan recognizes that the beauty of music arises from the harmonious fusion of the various elements that constitute its overall structure. The beauty of music cannot be separated from the overall artistic effect of these elements. "Harmony and the differences between them," "harmony" and "sameness" each have specific qualitative definitions and cannot be confused. Yan Ying's theory of "complementing each other" and "mutually reinforcing each other" is quite insightful. "The ruler said, 'Is harmony the same as sameness?' The reply was, 'No. What the ruler considers acceptable may have unacceptable aspects, and the minister offers the unacceptable to complete the acceptable. What the ruler considers unacceptable may have acceptable aspects, and the minister offers the acceptable to remove the unacceptable. Thus, the governance is balanced without conflict, and the people have no disputes. Therefore, the Book of Songs says: "There is also a harmonious soup, it is both cautious and balanced. Sour and sweet are silent, there is no dispute at this time." The former kings harmonized the five flavors and the five sounds to calm their hearts and establish their governance. Sounds are like flavors: one, two bodies, three categories, four substances, five sounds, six laws, seven tones, eight winds, nine songs, to complement each other. Clarity and obscurity, small and large, short and long, fast and slow, sorrow and joy, firmness and softness, quickness and slowness, high and low, entering and exiting, dense and sparse, to mutually reinforce each other. The nobleman listens to it to calm his heart. A calm heart leads to harmonious virtue. Therefore, the Book of Songs says: "Virtuous words are without flaw." But now, it is not so. If the ruler considers something acceptable, the minister also says it is acceptable. If the ruler considers something unacceptable, the minister also says it is unacceptable. This is why sameness is unacceptable."② The contradictions in the vast world are everywhere and always present, but they are still within a unified whole. The opposition between the two sides of a contradiction cannot be separated from the unified whole. Yan Ying's theory of "complementing each other" and "mutually reinforcing each other" reminds us of the words of the ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus: "Opposites combine to create beautiful harmony."② In the Tongyu·Zhou Yu Xia, it is written: "The governance is like music, music follows harmony, and harmony follows balance. Sounds harmonize with music, laws balance with sounds. Metal and stone move it, silk and bamboo carry it forward, poetry conveys it, singing praises it, gourds express it, clay pots support it, hides and wood regulate it. When things are in their proper place, it is called music. The peak of music is called sound. Sounds harmonize with each other, and fine and large are balanced, called balance. There is no stagnation of yin, nor scattering of yang. Yin and yang follow order, winds and rains come timely, auspicious life flourishes, people are harmonious and benefit, things are complete, and music is achieved. The upper and lower are not exhausted, so it is called the correctness of music." Harmony in music brings harmony, and harmony in governance brings stability. Connecting music closely with governance essentially treats music not just as an art but as a means of governing the state, using this means to achieve orderly social and political order and stabilize the governance mechanism. Indeed, music has its relative independence, but as soon as it serves as a means of governing the state, music is incorporated into the entire social system and plays an irreplaceable role. A nation's aesthetic ideals in music are unified with and reflected in its social and cultural psychological structure. Yu Min, in his monograph The Development of Aesthetic Concepts Before the Spring and Autumn Period, argues that in the late Western Zhou Dynasty, discussions of harmony did not involve the transformation of contradictions or the degree and centrality of contradictions. By the late Spring and Autumn period, discussions of harmony involved the transformation of contradictions, with the core being moderation without excess. Moderation became the soul of harmony and the essence of harmony. He points out: "In Shi Bo's 'Harmony gives birth to life,' it has not yet touched the emotions within the sound, naturally, it would not involve whether the harmony between sound and emotion is appropriate. By the late Spring and Autumn period, it delves into the emotions within the sound and involves the relationship between emotion and reason. Thus, the harmony of sound and the harmony of emotion both have a degree, a moderate, excessive, and insufficient degree. In contrast to excess and insufficiency, it is moderation, which is also centrality. Therefore, at that time, anything that met the specifications of the harmonious five sounds was called 'central sound,' and 'the stopping point of central sound' was called 'central sound.' Thus, the core of harmony revolves around the degree, with centrality prominently reflected. Imbalance is clearly marked as 'excess' (i.e., excess). This characteristic of moderate and immoderate balance in aesthetics is clearly reflected in the musical aesthetics of the late Spring and Autumn period." Confucius, in his aesthetic philosophy of music, emphasized moderate balance. In Confucius's view, when emotions in music are moderate and do not exceed limits, they meet the requirements of moderate balance, and the same applies to sorrow. Confucius's musical aesthetic philosophy elevates "harmony." The moderate balance principle he proposed, "Music is joyful without excess, and sorrow is not hurtful," has a great influence on the Yue Ji. "The Master said, '(The Song of the Peacock) is joyful without excess, and sorrow is not hurtful.'"① "The virtue of moderation is the ultimate virtue!" "Moderation" is a branch of Confucian philosophy. It requires the mutual dependence of the two sides of a contradiction, allowing them to develop within suitable limits without disrupting the harmonious unity of contradiction. The moderate balance principle of "Music is joyful without excess, and sorrow is not hurtful" reflects his "moderation" philosophy. This moderate balance principle emphasizes the appropriateness of emotional expression. It requires the subject to grasp the appropriateness of emotions when participating in aesthetic activities, which is beneficial to the cultivation of character and physical health. Therefore, this moderate balance principle is based on a humanistic stance, truly considering the physiological and psychological functions of the subject and making a rational choice. Any behavior that excessively damages emotions is not the ultimate goal pursued by aesthetic ideals. Achieving unity within opposition, without a one-sided negation to complete dialectical operation, is one of the fundamental spirits of Chinese classical philosophy, Chinese classical art, and even Chinese traditional culture. It continuously opens the path of the spiritual world in the history of the Chinese nation's aesthetic consciousness. The Yue Ji emphasizes that music is the art of harmonizing relationships, and "harmony" is a main thread that runs through the Yue Ji. "Music promotes unity, and rituals promote differences. Unity brings closeness, and differences bring respect."② The social functions of "music" and "rituals" are different. "Music" achieves unity among human relationships, while "rituals" achieve differences among human relationships and society. "Great music harmonizes with heaven and earth, and great rituals follow the rhythm of heaven and earth." "Music is the harmony of heaven and earth; rituals are the order of heaven and earth. Harmony, so all things are transformed; order, so all things are distinguished. Music is created by heaven, and rituals are regulated by earth. Excessive regulation leads to chaos, and excessive creation leads to brutality." The Yue Ji exaggerates the function of music to the extent of encompassing heaven and earth, which is inevitably somewhat forced. In the view of the Yue Ji, music embodies the spirit and will of heaven and earth, serving as the criterion for harmonizing objective things in the world. The "harmony" of music is not only in the harmony of tones woven together by different instruments but also in the harmony of the entire natural world. Extending the harmony of music to the harmony of nature shows the broad aesthetic vision of ancient Chinese people and their attitude and feelings toward nature. The harmony of music is indeed a concrete verification of natural harmony. Nature, as the place where humans live and rest, forms an organic body closely related to humans, thus full of the vitality of great transformation. Just as nature is meaningless without humans, humans are meaningless without nature. Not only is the musical practice of the subject itself harmonious, but the natural rhythm of the subject's life is also harmonious. German philosopher Schopenhauer once said, "If corresponding music is matched to any situation, behavior, process, or environment, then music seems to reveal the profound meaning of all these situations, behaviors, etc.; music appears as the clear and correct annotation for all these things"①.
III. The Emergence of Emotional Levels in Music
Chinese classical music aesthetics does not neglect the concern for the emotional levels of music. Because any art must rely on the subject's emotions to be created, appreciated, and criticized. As an art, music cannot avoid involving emotional levels. The two theoretical threads mentioned above have already touched on some aspects of the emotional levels of music. In this thread, we will focus on discussing it. The Book of Documents·Yao Dian writes: "Kui! The ruler commands you to oversee music, to teach the young, to be upright and warm, generous and cautious, firm but not cruel, simple but not arrogant." It recognizes the characteristics of the emotional levels of music. Music can make people upright and warm, generous and cautious, firm but not cruel, simple but not arrogant. In the Analects·Yang Huo, there is a passage that expresses Confucius's views on how music can move the heart and promote benevolence. "The Master went to Wu City and heard the sound of strings and singing. The Master smiled and said, 'Why use an ox knife to cut a chicken?' Zi You replied, 'In the past, I heard from the Master that "a gentleman learns the Way and loves people, and a small man learns the Way and is easy to command." The Master said, 'You, two or three, are correct. What I said earlier was just a joke.'"