Oriental Health Aesthetics: The Time of Professor Qiu Zhenglun’s Explanation of the Book of Changes(19）

We have initially explored the relationship between the aesthetics of the Book of Changes and calligraphy. Truly grasping this connection is no easy task. I hope everyone can build confidence—I am confident I can continue teaching, and you students should also persist in listening. Along the way, some confusion is bound to arise.

Earlier, one student raised a point: “Before this, it was hard to feel confused in lectures. But in your class, I suddenly feel confused not just about calligraphy, but about many things beyond it as well.” Confusion comes in two forms: one is absolute confusion, which blocks your path; the other is positive confusion—through this state, we are prompted to rethink calligraphy and the Book of Changes.

The Analects touches on this topic. Zengzi said, “I daily examine myself on three points: whether, in transacting business for others, I may have been unfaithful; whether, in intercourse with friends, I may have been untrustworthy; whether I may have neglected to practice what has been taught.” How many of us today examine ourselves three times a day? Forget daily—do we even do it three times a week? Forget weekly—do we do it three times a month?  These “three times” represent his constant self-reflection. Without reflection, our lives are wasted away. Once we begin to reflect, confusion arises.

That student also mentioned “mystery” (xuánmiào). Indeed, as the Tao Te Ching says,

> The dark beyond the dark—the gateway to all mystery.

Without mystery (xuán), there is no birth, no embrace, no hidden code. Why “the dark beyond the dark”? That “beyond” is a verb. “Mystery” as a verb is the key—the key that unlocks the lock of the first “mystery.” So, the dark beyond the dark is truly the gateway to all mystery.

I believe this student’s question is a genuine one—not just a question for the teacher, but a question for oneself. It’s more than just fulfilling a task; it’s posing a question to your own life. Human life is indeed different from the lives of other beings in nature. This difference lies in the fact that we humans inherently exist.

Confucius said, “At forty, I was free from perplexities.” This doesn’t mean he had no confusion at all by forty. Rather, by that age, he had begun to gradually find keys to unlock the codes left behind by the past—to open that very door.