The last we met, I was in my rickety boat, traveling through the painting. My lover the Emperor, as you may recall, was in the boat behind me, drunk and painting peonies. He was singing an old song from the Tang dynasty that good old Mi Fu had taught us. I may as well confess this to you now, Dear Readers, but sometimes, on days and moods like this, I almost feel myself falling out of love with the Emperor. For, in fact, there was something about Mi Fu that drew me. Perhaps it was his style of clothing. I mean, how many men, I ask you, would dress in the Tang fashions popular hundreds of years earlier for no other reason than they simply liked the styles back then?
For Mi Fu--- like your devoted Peony-- loved the Tang dynasty. And really, was it not the most impressive dynasty in all history? And, to a certain provincial Warlord I would say this: I did not name this blog Tang Dynasty Times because it was #4. Not to mention, it is very bad form to use ancient bronzes for an ashtray.
Anyway, back to my boat.
Did you notice, Dear Readers, the dream journey of the painting's title?
Dream Journey over Xiao Xiang 瀟湘臥遊図巻
Written in Chinese as "sleep/rest" 臥 and "play" 遊. My new friend, Master Wang laments the way "play" has been belittled in the West. Interestingly, the philosopher I work for in Hiroshima says the same thing. And one third person as well. Many of you will recall that I have been happily debating with Grand Historian Bao Pu about the legendary kanji scholar Shirakawa Shizuka. After an impressibly long lifetime (even by Japanese standards) of studying kanji, do you know what kanji he famously said he prefered above all others? His most beloved kanji was "play."
It turns out, though, that originally, 遊 didn't mean "play" in the sense that we know the word today but rather meant "journey." Hence the title of the painting. Shirakawa explained that the character displayed the image of a man going out on a journey, carrying a tall flag, perhaps not unlike that of China's first great traveler Zhang Qian who was dispatched by the emperor on a secret mission in the 2nd century BC. Luce Boulnois describes his travels:
Zhang Qian led his horse, carrying the insgnia of is imperial mission: a bamboo pole over two meters long, with three tufts of yak-tail hair attached to it. This yak tail hair can reach two meters long and has always been an emblem of power across a large part of continental Asia.
Kidnapped not once but twice by the deadly Ziongnu, Zhang skirted the Tariim basin, traveling south of the Kunlun Mountains, making it as far as Ferghana-- place of the heavenly horses. He was gone over 30 years and having lost all of his men except one, he finally made it back to the capital. And, they say that he somehow brought back that flag. I think in China, Silk Road history begins with his remarkable journey to open up the West. I personally have always been astounded by the flag: he lost all his men, was kidnapped twice, married, had children, but somehow, he kept that flag with him right till the end.
The image of a journey.
Shirakawa loved the kanji for "play" because of this. (Stele at left was erected in his hometown in Fukui). He also loved the inherent idea of freedom-- since he said in ancient times, the idea of "freedom" was thought to be how the gods "played" and lived-- in perfect freedom.
遊ぶものは神である。神のみが遊ぶことができた。
遊は絶対の自由と、ゆたかな創造の世界である。それは神の世界に外ならない。この神の世界にかかわるとき、人もともに遊ぶことができた。（中略）
遊とは隠れたる神の出遊をいう。
（遊学論）
"Play is something sacred. Only the gods could truly play. Play signifies absolute freedom and a rich world of the imagination that existed only for the gods. When people came to access this world of the gods, they too were able to play. And when they played, the gods would come out and join them"
I, too, like the idea of play as a journey-- not necessarily a journey of geography (in time and space) but rather the idea of an inner journey of absolute freedom and rich imagination. Like traveling through a painting, really.
This week, Alan Sanders did a really thought-provoking program on Providence called, Philosopher's Zone: Providence Lost? The guest philosopher, Genevieve Lloyd, talks about her new book in which she tries to
recapture what I think of as a lost set of interconnections in philosophy, especially, I mean the interconnections were always very strong in traditional philosophy; they've been lost largely in more recent philosophy, which sees its connections, its affinities more with science. There's nothing wrong with that, but I think in losing touch with those old connections with literary writing, philosophy has lost the opportunity of engaging directly with non-philosophers, with non-academics, about issues that they have a right to expect philosophers were always concerned with. So one of my agendas is to try to re-establish those lost connections with imagination, and with emotion, that were very much part of older philosophers' writing.
Perhaps one thing that can be fulfilling about studying ancient philosophy in general-- East or West-- is precisely this connection that philosophy once had with imagination and emotion.
And, by the way, the notion of providence, I think will come in handy when looking at Fingarette. I am still waiting to hear from our man who is MIA... but I think we will be starting next week at the latest? Alexus, I have given you fair warning about Spinoza so no hair pulling!
Sam also responded at his place on the idea of "bad virtue"... so more there as well.
Finally, I would be remiss to not mention the anniversary of Orchid Pavilion. In China, I think you all celebrate-- along with the Qing Ming Festival (清明節) -- according to the lunar-solar calendar. Here, we celebrate by the Gregorian calendar on March 3rd.
Below is Master Wang's 游目帖 ("play" "eye" "book")-- in the cursive script.
Here we are-- Master Wang and Me-- Watching Geese.
The poem on the painting reads:
How pleasant are the elegant bamboo and trees!
In a peaceful pavilion, relaxing with bare stomach,
how wonderful it must feel!
Writing the Daodejing for a Daoist friend,
He leaves behind a romantic image–a man who loves geese.
Watching Geese
Posted by: Peony (who also loves geese) | March 02, 2009 at 05:43 PM