Zen as a Creative Agency: Picturing Landscape in China and Japan from the Twelfth to Sixteenth Centuries by Meng Ying Fan A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Department of East Asian Studies University of Toronto © Copyright by Meng Ying Fan 2020 Zen as a Creative Agency: Picturing Landscape in China and Japan from the Twelfth to Sixteenth Centuries Meng Ying Fan Master of Arts Department of East Asia Studies University of Toronto 2020 Abstract This essay explores the impact of Chan/Zen on the art of landscape painting in China and Japan via literary/visual materials from the twelfth to sixteenth centuries. By rethinking the aesthetic significance of “Zen painting” beyond the art and literary genres, this essay investigates how the Chan/Zen culture transformed the aesthetic attitudes and technical manifestations of picturing the landscapes, which are related to the philosophical thinking in mind. Furthermore, this essay emphasizes the problems of the “pattern” in Muromachi landscape painting to criticize the arguments made by D.T. Suzuki and his colleagues in the field of Zen and Japanese art culture. Finally, this essay studies the cultural interaction of Zen painting between China and Japan, taking the traveling landscape images of Eight Views of Xiaoxiang by Muqi and Yujian from China to Japan as a case. By comparing the different opinions about the artists in the two regions, this essay decodes the universality and localizations of the images of Chan/Zen. ii Acknowledgements I would like to express my deepest gratefulness to Professor Johanna Liu, my supervisor and mentor, whose expertise in Chinese aesthetics and art theories has led me to pursue my MA in East Asian studies. The completion of my MA thesis would not have been possible without her patient guidance and constructive critiques on each stage of my research works. I am deeply indebted to Professor Amada Goodman, whose course on Zen Buddhism has widened the perspectives of my research; and to Professor Yue Meng, for her insightful inspirations to me on the ecological studies on nature and environment; as well as to Professor Graham Sanders, whose poetic teaching has enlightened me in the studies of classical Chinese literature and translations. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Professor Chen Shen, ROM Vice President, whose course on pre-Han Chinese art has provided me skillful training on my archaeological approach to museum studies. I have benefited greatly from my volunteer works in ROM under the mentorship of Dr. Wen-chein Cheng, Louise Hawley Stone Chair of East Asian Art. I am also very grateful to Dr. Hsiao-wei Rupprecht, for establishing my confidence through her support and encouragement. Many thanks to Yanfei Li, Eric Ma, Yun Wang, Summer Wen, Yu Wen, Iris Wu, Leslie Zhang, and all my friends, who made my graduate experience wonderful and unforgettable. My sincere gratitude also goes to the administrative support at the Department of East Asian Studies. This thesis is dedicated to my parents, Dr. Yujiang Fan and Jie Liang, who have always supported me with love. I appreciate very much the company of my aunt Tracy Liang during the years of my studies in Canada. Finally, to my husband Zongjie Kou, for his warmest understanding, tolerance, and love, I am thankful for having him in my life. iii Table of Contents Abstract .......................................................................................................................................... ii Acknowledgements ...................................................................................................................... iii List of Figures ................................................................................................................................ v Chapter One The Connotations of Chan/Zen Painting and Debates ...................................... 1 Chapter Two Chan and Landscape Painting in China ............................................................ 9 1. Landscape in Early Chinese Art Theories .............................................................................. 9 2. Dwelling in Mind: Huineng’s Innovation on Mind and Emptiness ...................................... 14 3. Alternative Seeing: Muqi and His Innovation of gufa 古法 (the Classical Standards) ........ 22 Chapter Three Aesthetic Thinking of Japanese Zen Arts in the Twentieth Century ......... 33 1. Okakura Kakuzo: Zen and the Individualism ....................................................................... 33 2. Daisetz T. Suzuki: A Phenomenological Reading of Zen Art .............................................. 38 3. Hisamatsu Shinichi: the Formless Self and the Art of Zen ................................................... 42 Chapter Four Landscape Painting in Muromachi Japan (1336-1573) ................................. 45 1. The Problems of hitsuyo 筆様 (Brush Patterns) ................................................................... 45 2. Pattern as an Inspiration: Landscape Paintings of Sesshu Toyo (1420-1506) ...................... 54 Chapter Five The Journey of Image of the Eight Views from China to Japan ................... 58 1. The Tradition of Eight Views of Xiaoxiang and its Spread to Japan .................................... 58 2. Muqi and Yujian’s Eight Views of Xiaoxiang as a Pattern ................................................... 61 3. Chan/Zen and Emptiness in Muqi and Yujian’s Landscapes ............................................... 70 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................... 74 Bibliography ................................................................................................................................ 78 iv List of Figures Figure 2.1 Attributed to Li Sixun. Sailing Boats and a Riverside Mansion. Tang dynasty. National Palace Museum, Taipei. ................................................................................... 13 Figure 2.2 Juran. Storied Mountains and Dense Forests. Five dynasties (907-960). National Palace Museum, Taipei. .................................................................................................. 20 Figure 2.3 Liang Kai. Snowy Landscape. Southern Song dynasty. Tokyo National Museum, Tokyo. ............................................................................................................................. 23 Figure 2.4 Xia Gui. Sailboat in Rainstorm. Southern Song dynasty. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. ............................................................................................................................ 24 Figure 2.5 Muqi Fachang. Guanyin, Crane, and Gibbons. Southern Song dynasty. Daitoku-ji, Kyoto. ............................................................................................................................. 30 Figure 2.6 Unknown. The 10th Plate, Both Vanished. Retrieved from Du Songbai 杜松柏 , ed., Chanshi Muniutu Song Huibian 禪詩牧牛圖頌彙編 [Compilation of Oxherding Pictures’ Chan Poetry] (Taipei: Li Ming Cultural Enterprise, 1983), 120. .................... 32 Figure 3.1 Liang Kai. Shakyamuni Emerging from Mountains. Southern Song dynasty. Tokyo National Museum, Tokyo. 43 Figure 4.1 Kano Masanobu. Zhou Maoshu Appreciating Lotuses. 15th century. Kyushu National Museum, Dasaifu. 51 Figure 4.2 Sesshu Toyo. Winter Landscapes. 1470. Tokyo National Museum, Tokyo. .............. 55 Figure 4.3 Kano Tsunenobu. copied from Sesshu Toyo. Winter Landscapes. 17th century. Tokyo National Museum, Tokyo. .............................................................................................. 56 Figure 4.4 Xia Gui. Part of Pure and Remote View of Streams and Mountains. 13th century. National Palace Museum, Taipei. ................................................................................... 56 Figure 5.1 Mi Fu. Part of Mountains and Pines in Spring. Northern Song dynasty. National Palace Museum, Taipei. 63 Figure 5 2 Mi Youren. Cloudy Mountains. Northern Song dynasty. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. ............................................................................................................... 63 Figure 5.3 Attributed to Muqi. Returning Sails off a Distant Shore. Southern Song dynasty. Kyoto National Museum, Kyoto. .................................................................................... 64 v Figure 5 4 Attributed to Muqi. Fishing Village in Evening Glow. Southern Song dynasty. Nezu Art Museum, Tokyo. ....................................................................................................... 64 Figure 5.5 Attributed to Muqi. Evening Bell from a Mist-Shrouded Temple. Southern Song dynasty. Hatakeyama Memorial Museum of Fine Art, Tokyo. ...................................... 65 Figure 5.6 Attributed to Muqi. Wild Geese Descending to Sandbar. Southern Song dynasty. Idemitsu Museum of Arts, Tokyo. .................................................................................. 65 Figure 5.7 Yujian. Mountain Marked in Clearing Mist. Southern Song dynasty. Idemitsu Museum of Arts, Tokyo. ................................................................................................. 66 Figure 5.8 Soami. Half of Landscape of the Four Seasons (Eight Views of the Xiao and Xiang Rivers). Early 16th century. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. ........................ 67 vi Chapter One The Connotations of Chan/Zen Painting and Debates “At first I could not