Madhyamapratipad and Poetic Rules: The Aesthetic Inspiration of Chinese Poetics (V)

Zhang Jing

Journal of Peking University (Philosophy and Social Sciences) ›› 2017, Vol. 54 ›› Issue (3) : 52-60.

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PDF(1842 KB)
Journal of Peking University (Philosophy and Social Sciences) ›› 2017, Vol. 54 ›› Issue (3) : 52-60.
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Madhyamapratipad and Poetic Rules: The Aesthetic Inspiration of Chinese Poetics (V)

  • Zhang Jing
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Abstract

Madhyamapratipad is one of the most basic concepts in Mahayana Buddhism philosophy. Jiao Ran (皎然) was a Buddhist monk and poet of the Tang Dynasty. As an important poetic theorist in Chinese poetic history, he clearly illustrated his poetic theoretical system constructed with the method of Madhyamapratipad in his Poetic Style (《诗式》) and Poetic Discussion (《诗议》), which presented some poetic theoretical connotations using Madhyamapratipad for reference in Chinese poetics. The concept of Madhyamapratipad was also reflected in the poems and poetic theories of many other poets and poetic theorists. Madhyamapratipad is mainly an internal methodology instead of being simply shown on the surface of poetics, which presents itself as a poetic proposition with rich theoretical connotations. Madhyamapratipad played a very important role in distinguishing the characteristics between Chinese and Western poetics. For example, it made the way of a poet as an aesthetic subject to deal with an object shift from individual and partial into integral treatment and comprehension. Because of the infiltration of Hannya (般若) Madhyamapratipad into Chinese poetics, image and aesthetic imagery were characterized with obvious phantom. When the mindsets of “neither A nor B” and “non-A and non-B” in Madhyamapratipad were introduced into poetic theories, there occurred various morphological variations which greatly increased internal tension of classical poems. The clearing up of the language glossary by “freedom from distinction”and “the one and only way”further formed the aesthetic values system of poetics beyond language.

Key words

Madhyamapratipad (中道【中观】) / poetic rule / freedom from distinction / Buddhist Theory by Monk Zhao (《肇论》) / phantom

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Zhang Jing. Madhyamapratipad and Poetic Rules: The Aesthetic Inspiration of Chinese Poetics (V)[J]. Journal of Peking University (Philosophy and Social Sciences), 2017, 54(3): 52-60
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