"a Dream Of Red Mansions," The Religious Spirit

As the peak of ancient chapter-formed novel, A Dream in Red Mansions reflects Chinese classical culture in many different aspects. Among which religious culture is the most impressing factor for both the writer and the work. Therefore Buddhist and Taoist aesthetic appear in the work's major idea and the expression. Former research on the relationship between A Dream in Red Mansions and religious related problems were mostly focused on the idea of "Empty and Form". As a matter of fact, the religious spirit in A Dream in Red Mansions is not limited in the understanding of "Empty and Form". Instead it is a general system included "mind" "wash-away", "true-fantasy", "cause and effect" and "relief" ideas. From the religious concern, this paper search for the five religious aesthetic categories. And start from these two perspectives: the major idea and the expression form. It analyzes the consciousness of religious aesthetic in A Dream in Red Mansions, the narrative form itself and its concrete expression in describing the ritual, character, and Chinese poetry. It is the aesthetic artistic conception make A Dream in Red Mansions highest position in aesthetic value. It helps not only in realizing cultivate function through "introducing to the real", but also developing its unique romanticism realist style and elegant common good. The full text of the structure from the foreword, and concluding remarks constitute the body. The body of which is divided into four main parts:In the first part it analyzes the religious aesthetic categories in A Dream in Red Mansions through the idea of "Mind, Empty and Form", "Wash-away and True-fantasy", "Karma, Cause and effect", "Round and Inaction" and "Enlightenment and Relief".Starting from the creative subject, the second part analyzes the writer's creative major idea and the expression of religious concern in narrative form.The third part analyzes the concrete expression of religious spirit. It's discusses the ritual aesthetic interest and its social philosophical origin, the creation of religious characters, and the religious feeling in Chinese poetry in A Dream in Red Mansions.The fourth part summarizes the religious aesthetic value in A Dream in Red Mansions through aesthetic form, aesthetic function and aesthetic conception.