Oriental Health Aesthetics: The Time of Professor Qiu Zhenglun’s Explanation of the Book of Changes(7)

Especially for those of us engaged in calligraphy, it is about the relationship between the brush tip and our inner self, the connection with the paper, and the interplay between ink and brush. These elements emerge and grow from the inner life force of our writing, becoming a vivid, living reality. Why? Let me distinguish between two concepts: assignments and artworks. What I often ask you to complete are assignments. Since they are assignments, they must be finished within a set timeframe. Shouldn’t the primary focus be on meeting the task’s objectives? But what about artworks? Can the task’s objectives be the main priority for an artwork? Absolutely not. Artworks embody creativity and vitality. What is the source of this creative vitality? It lies in discovering the origin of our life. The I Ching articulates this clearly. Take the Qian hexagram, for example. The hexagram statement reads, “Yuan, Heng, Li, Zhen.” What does “Yuan” mean? It is the same “Yuan” as in “Yuandan” (New Year’s Day). Why is it the first word in the hexagram statement? The Wenyan Zhuan (Commentary on the Words of the Text) explains: “Yuan is the chief of goodness.” “Yuan” signifies the origin of creation. Note this: wherever “Yuan” appears, it represents the beginning. Before the adoption of the Western Gregorian calendar, “Yuan” in China referred to the first day of the Lunar New Year, called “Yuandan.” Later, as we adopted the Western calendar, “Yuandan” was repurposed for January 1st. Thus, the first day of the year is now called “Yuandan.” In reality, the Lantern Festival falls on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month. “Yuan is the chief of goodness.” But what is goodness? Today, we often casually say that goodness means someone is kind-hearted or virtuous, right? That’s true, but it doesn’t capture the root; it reduces goodness to a mere attribute. Goodness is the origin of life. “At the beginning of life, human nature is inherently good.” This is life itself—it must grow, mustn’t it? “Yuan is the chief of goodness.” The highest form of goodness is life itself. Those who cherish life are the truest embodiments of goodness. For instance, consider those online who resort to extreme measures for clicks, like the cat abuse incident. They chase traffic, but their actions fundamentally contradict the origin of life.