從鄭玄與朱熹注「繪事後素」探討孔子的文質觀與人格美學=Examining Confucian's Concept on Form and Quality and Human Aesthetic from Zheng Xuan and Zhu Xi's Takes on the Theory "The paintwork is executed on top of the white background"
“Book Pa Yih” in the Analects by Confucius discusses the theory, “The paintwork is executed on top of the white background.” This article tackles the conflicts of interpretations between Zheng Xuan of Han dynasty and Zhu Xi of Song dynasty on this text. Zheng Xuan followed the system of ritualism by Xunzi, and Zhu Xi preferred Mencius’ theory of human good nature. Although the two differed in their practices, they, nevertheless, were both accomplished in the teachings of the sages. The book, Conscience Teaching and Humanistic Teaching, by Zeng Zhao-Xu examines the religious aspects in Confucianism, and the essay,From Ren Dao to Reflect on The Ultimate Manifestation of Confucianism, explains that conscience teaching and humanistic teaching sit at the two ends of ren dao (or human way).This paper explores the aesthetic dealt with in the concept of ren dao found in Confucianism’s humanistic teaching. Seeking to depart from Zheng Xuan and Zhu Xi’s different takes on the theory: “The paintwork is executed on top of the white background”,this paper attempts to reexamine the relationship of benmo (end and means) and tiyong (the form and function) dealt with in Confucianism within the context of form and quality. Through the coupling of form and quality, the ideal personality in Confucianism makes up the core discussion of this paper. Many modern academic papers have dealt with the issues presented in “The paintwork is executed on top of the white background” from the perspective of aesthetics, but have neglected to consider that the aesthetic issues in this theory were originally interpreted differently in the exegesis found in Han and Song dynasties. The philosophical assumption with aestheticism found in Confucius’s teaching with this notion of “The paintwork is executed on top of the white background” centers around his personality theory on the teachings of ren. The purpose of this paper deals with the aesthetical issues in the theory of “The paintwork is executed on top of the white background”, with the interpretive differences found in the exegesis conduced in Han and Song dynasties clarified,arguing that a personality theory based on ren is predetermined in the concept, with the ideas of benmo and tiyong applied. This take on the personality theory based on ren is embodied in the ontology of ren. Bearing this in mind, Han and Song dynasties’ exegesis interpretive differences, though different, were seeking to reach the same destination, as they both fall into the personality theory of ren.
