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A Discussion on Lv Cheng’s Vijñapti-mātra Aesthetics Possible Conception and Its Modern Aesthetic Significance

Author(s)

Jingyi Gu

Affiliation(s)

School of Marxism, Shanghai University, Shanghai, China

Abstract

Lv Cheng, a Buddhist scholar and aesthetic pioneer who has been buried in history, published the “earliest monograph on the basic principles of aesthetics in China”.However,why is his unfinished work “Vijñapti-mātra aesthetics” forgotten in the current of the times and rarely reiterated? What is the modern aesthetic significance of such “Vijñapti-mātra aesthetics”? This article believes that the speculation about Lv Cheng’s “Vijñapti-mātra aesthetics” can be further explained by starting with Lipps’ theory of empathy and interest in Vijñapti-mātra. Only when the aesthetic subject uses “emotions” to “observe” “objects” can the aesthetic category be re-established.Through the expansion of “life”, aesthetic objects become aesthetic objects, and then through “heart”, “perception”, “observation”, and “love”, aesthetic experiences are re-perceived, and aesthetic values are re-evaluated with“love” as a link. Overall, the modern aesthetic significance of this “Vijñapti-mātra aesthetics” lies in allowing for the diversity of “beauty” through the wisdom of the “middle way” of “observation”;To achieve the localization of beauty in China through the intersection of environmental phenomena; to expand the aesthetic subjects “life” through the practical concept of “transforming knowledge into wisdom”, and to re-establish the individual’s aesthetic value, making one’s life poetic.

Keywords

Lv Cheng; Vijñapti-mātra Aesthetics; The Significance of Modern Aesthetic

References

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