The term Miaowu ‘wondrous enlightenment’ （妙悟； Skt. *Subuddhi， *suśikṣita）, first introduced in the Records of Famous Paintings of Successive Dynasties （《歷代名畫記》， c. 847）, emerged as a novel description by Zhang Yanyuan （張彥遠) for the meditative state of the Eastern Jin painter Gu Kaizhi （顧愷之）. This usage exemplifies the integration of Buddhist terminology into early artistic theory, impacting subsequent Chinese artistic praxis and its critical vocabulary. This study analyzes the lexical meanings of Miaowu, tracing its origins through early medieval Buddhist texts and comparing it with contemporary Daoist sources. Through this, the paper examines Miaowu within the Records of Famous Paintings of Successive Dynasties, revealing the religious and cultural contexts underlying Zhang Yanyuan’s adoption of this critical Buddhist term. The analysis illuminates the profound influence of Buddhist and Daoist ideations on the formation of early medieval artistic theory, yielding a nuanced understanding of their enduring impact.
