“Qi method” is not easy to incorporate, right? Because it is life energy—how does one use life energy? “Qi intention”—see, when someone gets angry, there’s some plausibility in that. “Qi state” is also possible, but the state of Qi is external, isn’t it? So, in this context, as you can see in Chinese figure painting, these three aspects are actually unified: capturing the spirit, the rhythm of Qi, and freehand expression are all integrated, all achieving this point. Of course, when it comes to the Preface to the Orchid Pavilion here, to be honest, since I started from scratch with Teacher Zeng, I spent a lot of time there, practicing in secret, but nothing seemed to work. Then one day, suddenly, Li Ming—you all know him, the chairman of the Anhui Calligraphers Association, Li Mingzhi—he was already quite accomplished back then and served as an instructor for our advanced training class. Since I was already a teacher and relatively older, when I went to study, I often aimed to showcase myself. They were very kind to me and showed great concern. Then, one day, I saw him teaching a student, and that one stroke enlightened me—it was the long slanting stroke in the character “Yong” (永), which relates to the “lüe” technique in the Eight Principles of Yong. I felt that when his brush moved across the paper, it seemed as if there was no endpoint, as if there was immense resistance within. That one moment awakened me. That very night, I finished writing the Preface to the Orchid Pavilion and hung it on Mr. Zeng Laide’s wall because I had gained confidence—I had infused Qi into it. He returned quite late, and I was afraid he might not notice it, so I deliberately waited for him. When he saw it, he exclaimed, “Hey, who wrote this? Zhenglun, was it you?” I said, “Yes.” He replied, “Hey, not bad, not bad. There’s hope.” To be honest, when we try to understand these things, we must not conceptualize them, especially when interpreting the I Ching. We must not conceptualize. Instead, use your experience, your life感受, your awakening to enter into it, experience it, complete it, strengthen it, enrich it, and elevate it. I believe these concepts will gradually come to life. True concepts are logical definitions—they are lifeless. So, when Kant spoke of transcendental synthesis, in art, it is transcendental synthesis, intuitive judgment—it is the critique of judgment. In theoretical terms, it is more akin to the critique of pure reason. What he aimed to do was to seek the laws of things, arguing that knowledge exists within us a priori—it is inherent in transcendental synthetic judgment. If you lack knowledge, how can you recognize the knowledge within things? This is the paradox he proposed. Indeed, Kant was remarkable—the Copernicus of philosophy. Just as Copernicus proposed the heliocentric model, Kant established the heliocentric model in philosophy, effectively revolutionizing previous explorations.
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