Chapter 4 Check out the news
After seeing Master Xiaoyun's Zen paintings, it was already dusk in Taipei when we walked out of the exhibition room. Looking west along the straight Ren'ai Road, a round of golden sunset was hanging high on the top of the building.I walked in the direction of the setting sun, and found that the beautiful kapok trees on the entire Renai Road had all fallen, and green buds were growing from the branches of the seemingly dead kapok trees.
I suddenly felt that the golden orange-colored kapok is beautiful, but at that moment, the beauty of the delicate buds is not inferior.I also think of the kapok trees in the old countryside. They not only bloom beautiful flowers, but also form cotton fruits one by one. The flocculent kapok floats down from the air, and the scenery is more beautiful than the open and falling kapok, because it has both fruit and cotton, and can be scattered on the vast land.
It's a pity that people in Taipei are not blessed to see kapok with fruit, let alone the cotton wool in the fruit.I don’t know what the reason is, maybe the air is too dirty, maybe the sound of the car is too loud, maybe the sky is too gray, none of the kapok plants in Taipei can produce real kapok. The falling posture is even more beautiful.
I have seen the crystallization of countless artists' painstaking efforts, all of which are more or less impressive, but when we look at the paintings, our hearts are empty, but after we look at them, the whole thing is full, and sometimes our hearts are completely empty. In space, it always takes a long time before my heart calms down.
Looking at Master Xiaoyun's Zen paintings, the experience is completely different.It feels like we are reading Tao Yuanming and Wang Wei's pastoral poems in the middle of the night, a few short strokes, lightly written, can't arouse the surging emotions in our hearts, but calm our surging emotions.It is not that something is stuffed into our hearts, but it cleans out the vulgar worries that were originally filled in our hearts, just like a mountain stream after a heavy rain. The muddy filth was also washed away.
In the hustle and bustle of life, our hearts seem to be filled to the brim. This kind of fullness makes us not see the tree when we meet a tree, and the forest when we pass through a forest, not to mention being able to calm down and look at the grass and flowers on the roadside.Appreciating Master Xiaoyun's Zen paintings, it turns our full hearts into emptiness, and that emptiness can contain, allow the earth to shuttle, and can become a vast plain.
Master Xiaoyun has a painting. In the painting, a small man is carrying jute, and walks out of a grove of flying ink. In the margin, he wrote the following words: "There were three loads of jute, but now there is only one load; To put it down in one place is to feel at ease physically and mentally." It is exactly the feeling described.To reach the state of physical and mental ease, one must let go of the last burden, that is, to achieve the state of "the light of the world is like the moon and water, and the mind and body are as bright as glass".
I think the value of "Zen painting" is also different from ordinary paintings, that is, it may not have any amazing pens in a painting, but it pays attention to "touching machine". Compared with other arts, it is a needle. Compared with a balloon, the needle is tiny and indistinguishable, but it can touch the soul of a person. This is exactly what Master Xiaoyun said: "It is no different from opening up another clear source. In the finite there is an infinite kingdom—the kingdom of spirituality, where ethics and ethics are the evils in the realm of human beings, and spirituality is the light of compassion and wisdom radiated naturally by human beings.”
Then, the spirit of Zen paintings on the screen can be said to be "blank space", including the blank space of content and form. We cannot fully capture the meaning of the author on the screen, and he often leaves a clue , or many clues, the viewer can only fumble along the lines, and no matter where they go.
Also because of the characteristics of Zen paintings, its influence on Chinese art is immeasurable. The literati paintings since the Song Dynasty can be said to have some Zen flavors. The two most influential painters in the Ming Dynasty are Shi Tao and Shi Tao. One is Bada Shanren, whose paintings not only have a profound Zen state, but are also monks themselves.
Those who comment on Shi Tao have always believed that his art is "impossible", but he has picked up the methods of various schools in China and "created his own method". Master Xiaoyun talked about Shi Tao and used this metaphor: "How free and easy Shi Tao's painting style No matter what, it is just like the Southern Zen in China, after one flower and five leaves, all wind rules and instruments are put together." It is the opportunity of Zen painting that touches on the opportunity of Zen painting. There are rules for the "painting" of Zen painting, but the "painting" of Zen painting "Zen" can be traced, and it depends entirely on the cultivation of the Taoist mind.
How to cultivate Dao Xin?Master Xiaoyun has a painting of Gao Shi facing the wall, written in three or five strokes, and only inscribed a few words "Take a look at the news in tranquility".
People are always easily moved by moving things, because people always have a lively nature. It is said that there is no flower that does not fall, and there is no water that does not flow.But those who search in silence can realize the impermanence of all things and the true nature of human nature in the midst of flowers and water. This is cultivation!
Let's read a few poems about Jing often quoted by Master Xiaoyun, and find out the news about Jing:
The plum blossoms in the snow are blooming for the first time, and the dark fragrance is flying late at night;
Facing the cold lamp in silence, he suddenly opened his nostrils. (Zen Master Hanshan)
Where does the wind come from, the crowds shake the cave;
Listen to this silence, how can it rise and fall. (Su Dongpo)
Bijian spring water is clear, cold mountain moon is white;
Knowing the self-knowledge of the gods, the view of the sky is beyond silence. (Chan Master Han Shan)
The rosy color is light, the pine roots and the moon are light, and the sound of knocking is clear of the bamboo gap wind;
Who will meet me alone, the stars face north and the water faces east. (Zen Master Yongming)
Sitting alone with a poor heart and lonely apricots, there is nothing to do in it;
The west wind blows away the leaves of the door, leaving empty steps and moonlight. (Wang Wei)
Falling between the cold pines and rocks, there is no piano and no words to listen to;
This old man is not in love with a big name. He sits in a thatched pavilion and looks at the distant mountains every day. (Monk Jianjiang)
From the verses quoted above, it can be imagined that "messages in silence" are not obtained by pursuit, but by exploration. The most wonderful thing is the word "exploration". The problem is that busy modern people can enjoy this exploration. There are probably very few people.It's like the same kapok, which can bear fruit safely in the countryside, and the cotton wool is flying everywhere, but in the city, it can only bloom delicate flowers, but it can't bear fruit into cotton. I'm afraid even a silent kapok can feel it. The power of tranquility, let alone a person who can still meditate under the kapok tree?
Note: Master Xiaoyun, commonly known as You Yunshan, was born in Guangdong in 1914. He is a disciple of Gao Jianfu, a master of Lingnan School painting. He studied Indian art and taught Chinese art at Tagore University in India.Footprints all over the world and China's famous mountains and rivers.He is currently a permanent professor and director of the Institute of Buddhist Culture at Cultural University. In 1957, he shaved his hair and became a family. He devoted himself to the promotion of art and religion. For the first time in the past year, he held a solo exhibition of Zen paintings in Taipei. After seeing it, he was very moved, and I have a little memory of his feelings.
— May 27, 1983