Nature is silent,lush and green,endlessly procreating. Painting generally expresses the truth, goodness, and beauty of nature and human life. Its main aim being spiritual communication between the artist and the appreciating beholder. It relies on strokes and colour just in order to express the artist's thought,transmit it to the person who looks at the work of art,and arouse resonance in his heart. Painting develops certainly from concrete depiction through impression,semi-abstraction,and abstraction to formlessness. Religious painting usually intends to induce a reverential attitude in the believer and becomes a means to teach people to do good and avoid evil.
Ch'an painting makes use of the common ways of expression and moreover transcends the realm of religious arts as the ch'an practicioner is able to employ form because of formlessness thus bringing "the image of Tao" to the fore. In other words, his painting skills are so good that he can be creative, and at the same time he is able to elevate the level of religious art. He has firm hold of the source of life and is unfettered; freely painting his inner landscape he spreads the Buddhadharma.
In its secroh for an understanding of the style of Ch'an painting,the present paper develops along the following lines:
1. The preface describes the peculiar features of Ch'an painting.
2. Brush and ink:Nothing is more suitable to bring the contents of impressionistic painting fully into play than Chinece ink with its numberless shades which allow powerful works to be completed at one stroke.
3. Blanks:No difference exists between colour and blank,neither is attached to or given up. The felling of broadness to be found between painted and not painted space offers ample room for the spirit to raom.
4. Impressionistic painting:One plays with brush and ink and catches the spirit while giving up the appearance. The hand moves as the heart wishes, and reflects the mind of one who treads the Ch'an path.
5. Piercing to the given potential:When a Ch'an master instructs his student he pierces to the latter's given potential in a frightening way. His attitude,however,is personal,his words are humorous and full of wonderful flavour. Transcending the worldly and entering the holy,every sentence of them is a true expression and does not fall down to the level of relative truth.
6. The cultivation of the way:The oneness of heaven and man,mind and matter is the source of both life and the law of nature. When one realizes the original nature of mind,truth will be found in the commonplace. Adherents of the Ch'an School awaken suddenly through their cultivation and gain profound understanding of these truths.
7. Conclusion:Facing endless space,the Ch'an practicioner avails himself of one moment and shows others the storehouse of the true dharma eye. The Ch'an School professes "not to rely on scriptures and to transmit the