Art is the prime mover of innovation. Art is the primordial happening of truth. Art is the very essence of life. That’s why I always cite Zhu Xi, you see?
“A half-acre square pond, a mirror opened wide,
Where sunlight and clouds wander side by side.
I ask, ‘How can its water stay so clear?’
‘It has a source from which fresh currents appear.’”
This “source of fresh currents” is the stream of creation. So when we explore the fountainhead of something, when we discover the origin of life, the feeling is profoundly different.
How did creation happen? I won’t elaborate much here, but look at the Xu Gua Zhuan (Sequence of Hexagrams) in the Yi Zhuan (Commentaries on the I Ching). This was written by Confucius and his disciples, specifically the section on the sequence of hexagrams, reaching the position of the Xian hexagram. What it says is truly brilliant. I could actually recite it from memory, but to be safe, I have it here. See:
“With Heaven and Earth, then came the myriad things.
With the myriad things, then came man and woman.
With man and woman, then came husband and wife.
With husband and wife, then came father and son.
With father and son, then came ruler and subject.
With ruler and subject, then came high and low.
With high and low, then ritual and righteousness found their place (cuò).”
Now, this “cuò” (措) — don’t mistake it for ‘mistake’ (错). It means ‘interwoven,’ implying ‘to implement,’ not ‘to err.’ To be honest, when young men and women are together, I think making a few mistakes can also be quite beautiful.
As we understand these things, our ancient sages summarized them so well. This process continually transforms life, layer upon layer. Confucian thought, in summarizing this, planted the seeds for the future systems of ritual and music, and the institution of rites. That’s why Dong Zhongshu’s policy of “banning all schools of thought except Confucianism” drew its justification from these ideas.
Look also at the Yue Lun (Discourse on Music), which states: “When the sage creates music, it is to harmonize with the nature of Heaven and Earth and embody the life of all things. Qian and Kun (Heaven and Earth) are simple and easy, thus elegant music is never tedious. When elegant music flows freely, all things find harmony.” Ji Kang, in his Sheng Wu Ai Yue Lun (Music Has Neither Sorrow nor Joy), spoke of “inherent harmony, sensed through the Grand Harmony, vast and all-encompassing.”
You see, throughout history, musicians and musical thinkers, when discussing music, have always drawn their arguments from the I Ching. In the Li Ji (Book of Rites), there is a chapter called Yue Ji (Record of Music), which contains a profoundly important sentence. Yet many musicians today neglect it, forgetting the essence of Chinese musical culture:
“Music springs from within; ritual takes form from without.”
This statement touches the very root. Music springs from within, thus it is tranquil; ritual takes form from without, thus it is cultured.
So, in the past, the system of rites and music was used to govern the world. But today, we have long cast aside the wisdom of these sages. The most fundamental point about music is this: music wells up from the inner heart — music springs from within. Ritual is social convention, externally prescribed and regulated — thus it takes form from without, creating culture, creating order.
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