Manual of Painting, Opening Volume

Preface X

Next is the Erya Erya (爾雅): The oldest surviving Chinese dictionary, dating to the late 1st millennium BCE. It is famously organized by categories, providing a systematic taxonomy of plants, animals, and the natural world., which classifies and categorizes things; next is the Li Sao Li Sao (離騷): "Encountering Sorrow," a masterpiece of ancient poetry by Qu Yuan (c. 340–278 BCE). It is renowned for its elaborate use of flowers and fragrant herbs as metaphors for moral virtue and political integrity., which presents symbols and provides metaphors. These three books Referring to the Classic of Poetry from the previous page, together with the Erya and Li Sao. are truly the one great genealogy of flowers, plants, and birds and animals Birds and animals (翎毛, lingmao): Literally "feathers and fur," this is the traditional technical term for the genre of painting focused on avian and mammalian subjects. in the world. I...

...should treat this as a manual of painting original: 畫筌 (huaquan). This term references a metaphor from the philosopher Zhuangzi about a "fish trap" (quan). Just as the trap is a tool to catch the fish and can be set aside once the fish is caught, the "manual" is a tool to help the artist capture the "spirit" of the subject.. Lately, I have been turning my thoughts toward this work. Whenever a spark of inspiration strikes, I immediately seize it and unravel the threads Unravel the threads (紬繹, chouyi): To pull silk from a cocoon; a metaphor for methodically organizing and developing a complex idea or text. so that my thoughts flow easily. My ten fingers flutter with vigor, and ideas surge forth. Even when I am in the middle of writing other poems or essays and have not yet finished, I also hurriedly call...