Preface to the Painting Manual

How can the "real" be seen as any different from the "painted"?

Those who paint dragons and "dot the pupils" original: "dianjing" (點睛). This refers to the legend of the 6th-century artist Zhang Sengyou, whose painted dragons were so lifelike that they flew away the moment he painted their eyes. enable them to fly; this shows that painting is not without its own life. Those who paint the lotus with leaves fluttering in the breeze and dewdrops dripping; this shows that painting is not without its own fragrance.

How can one know that the illusory huan: the Buddhist concept of illusion or the "phantom" nature of the material world cannot become the real zhen: truth, reality, or the authentic state of being, and that the real cannot become the illusory?

My kinsman Shen Jiefu Shen Xinyou (courtesy name Jiefu) was Li Yu's son-in-law and the publisher of the manual. He commissioned the artist Wang Gai to create the illustrations based on the sketches of Li Liufang. has released this First Collection of the Painting Manual, which has already dispersed the mist and clouds The phrase "dispersed the mist and clouds" (san yanyun) suggests that the manual clarifies the mysteries of art or that the work itself has been released into the world like a breath of fresh air....