| Wang Wei is the famous poet in the most prosperous age of Tang Dynasty whose poems mainly describe the free, simple, placid, and natural idyllic life, which contain profound aesthetic thoughts. Although Wang Wei did not create any special works on aesthetics, with a few remarks in this respect, the aesthetic thoughts in his poetry makes one feel real and vivid: His poetry, regarding the simple idyllic scenery and the quiet mountains and rivers as aesthetic objects, exhibits his pursuit of a simple, detached, free and natural life as well as an ideal harmony between the outside world and himself.Wang Wei believes in Buddhism and Zen philosophy in particular. His aesthetic thoughts has been influenced by Buddhism, especially by the South Zen philosophy. The flourishing age of Tang Dynasty is the critical period for the fmal formation of Zen philosophy whose disposition ontology ("Everybody is a Buddha"), epistemology ("Emphasizing individual mind") and theory on realm ("heart and world become one") glow with aesthetic brilliance, thus promoting the development of the aesthetic theory at that time and finally bringing fundamental reforms to aesthetic consciousness, aesthetic objects, aesthetic form, aesthetic psychology and so on. And the most distinguished representative is Wang Wei, who was crowned as the "Buddha of Poetry". Integrating different views in Zen philosophy such as "Everything is unreal", "Everybody is a Buddha", theory on practicing Buddhism and the life philosophy of "letting it be", Wang Wei exhibited a brand-new unique aesthetic thoughts formed under the influence of Zen philosophy, bringing a refreshing atmosphere to the aesthetic idea in the flourishing age of Tang dynasty. The formation of Wang Wei's aesthetic thoughts marked the final integration of Buddhism and Zen philosophy into literati's mind and their lives. The thirst for aesthetic experiences, the desire to waken individual appreciation of the beautiful and the discovery of pure beauty not only had brought the birth of a new aesthetic ideal, but had also intrinsically become a localized Chinese cultural spirit, reflecting the intrinsic inexorable course in Chinese aesthetic history from Northern We Dynasty and Jin Dynasty to the flourishing age of Tang Dynasty, Wang Wei opened up anew aesthetic vista in the flouring age of Tang Dynasty, marking another step to maturity of China's poetics and aesthetics.Chinese aesthetics has always been unsystematic. Zen philosophy had not taken its basic shape until Song Dynasty. However, the aesthetic ideal had been realized by Wang Wei. Therefore, as far as the author of the thesis is concerned, Wang Wei's aesthetic thoughts is an indispensable part in the Chinese aesthetic history, linking the preceding with the descending, a study of which would be of great significance. After a deep and thorough research into Wang Wei's life and his views on Zen philosophy, the author combed out Wang Wei's aesthetic thoughts contained in his poetry, and affirms its important status in the Chinese aesthetic history.The thesis is divided into four chapters.Chapter one analyzes Wang Wei's life experiences, his poems, his communication with the monks and later generations' comments on him, aiming at making a textual research on Wang Wei's Buddhist belief, and noting the influence of South Zen to Wang Wei's later religious thought. Wang Wei's aesthetic thoughts were precisely formed in his firm belief in Zen Philosophy.The second chapter analyzes Wang Wei's aesthetic tendency formed under the influence of Zen. In terms of aesthetic objects, Wang Wei sought beauty in rural scenery and natural scenery. In terms of aesthetic form, Wang Wei take simplicity and quietness as beautiful, opening up a new vista in aesthetics, fostering the birth of "aroma", another important concept in Chinese aesthetics.The third chapter elaborates on Wang Wei's exposition of aesthetic psychology and aesthetic sense from three perspectives: the aesthetic mind of a poet's standing aloof from this mortal life, the aesthetic state ("the merging of the mind and the outside world"), and the brand new aesthetic experience ("awakening and quiet"). Then the author points out that compared with Tao Yuanming's aesthetic psychology of detaching himself from "trivial chores", Wang Wei could well be called as detaching himself from "the world" which is a more complete aesthetics of life. And Wang Wei's pursuit of "blending mind and outside world" is the third adjustment made in the relationship between aesthetic subject and aesthetic object since the early Qing Dynasty which later literati made strenuous efforts to achieve and finally fostering the formation of the "Yijing" theory. The aesthetic experience of awakening and quiet is Wang Wei's greatcontribution of melting the religious thoughts into the aesthetic psychology which is a new development in the aesthetic manner theory in Chinese ancient aesthetics. To sum up, Wang Wei's aesthetic psychology demonstrated in his idyllic poems has a universal significance.The last chapter explains the influence of Wang Wei's aesthetic thoughts on ancient Chinese literary theories. It marked Buddhism and Zen had melted into the literati's conception and their lives in its true sense. The thirst for aesthetic experiences in real life, the awakening of the free individual aesthetics and the discovery of pure beauty, had not only formed a brand new aesthetic ideal, but had also intrinsically become a localized Chinese cultural spirit, reflecting the intrinsic inexorable course in Chinese aesthetic history from Northern We Dynasty and Jin Dynasty to the flourishing age of Tang Dynasty. Wang Wei opened up a new aesthetic vista in the flouring age of Tang Dynasty, marking another step to maturity of China's poetics and aesthetics. .Wang Wei's aesthetic thoughts is a milestone in Chinese aesthetic history. |
