Oriental Health Aesthetics: The Time of Professor Qiu Zhenglun’s Explanation of the Book of Changes(41）

“The art of calligraphy and painting share the same origin, which naturally leads us to explore the relationship between the beauty found in the Book of Changes and the beauty of calligraphy and painting. As Yan Yanzhi of the Liu Song period during the Southern Dynasties noted, ‘Painting is not merely a craft; its achievement shares the same essence as the symbolism in the Book of Changes’—this concept originates from this very idea. Similarly, Zhang Yanyuan of the Tang Dynasty spoke of pictographic characters and calligraphy/painting sharing the same body. In the Qing Dynasty text Remarks on Painting by Shi Tao, it discusses how the concept of ‘the rotation of Qian and Kun’ (representing heaven and earth) originates from Yi studies. Qian and Kun have always been in this circular, rotating motion—heaven and earth rotate leftward; we must remember this point.

Consider this: when life forms within the mother’s body, when the embryo takes shape within the womb—isn’t its form, with the sperm and egg inside, like a new life diagram? It is the Taiji diagram, a vortex diagram. It resembles the whirlpools formed by floodwaters in rivers or the images of celestial nebulae in the sky. They are all the same: elusive and intangible, intangible and elusive. Within this, there is image; within this, there is form; within this, there is substance; within this, there is matter; within this, there is spirit. All exist within this process, so we should not try to distinguish them with excessive clarity.

Here, it is also mentioned that Chinese characters were primarily called ‘Han characters’ only during the Han Dynasty and afterwards. Before the Han Dynasty, stretching back to the Shang and Zhou periods, they were mainly called shu (writing) or zi (characters). During the Shang and pre-Shang eras, they were called wen. This distinction is quite simple: wen refers to single-component characters, while zi or shu refers to composite characters. Therefore, Mr. Zhang Gongzhe’s concept of ‘composite-character calligraphy’ (heti shufa) is actually an extension and derivation from this idea.

Thus, I believe that this concept—calligraphy and painting sharing the same origin—is fundamentally about ‘that one stroke that opens up the universe’. When we cultivate this idea of ‘one stroke opening the universe’ within our minds, each dot and stroke we create truly gains a life-direction of its own.”