With a sharp hiss, a black ghostly goshawk suddenly descended from the sky with the horror of death. A white flower snake walking on the ancient wood, before it could react, the sharp claws of the goshawk had already pierced deep into its abdomen, the snake instinctively struggled and twisted, and the body was already miserable... The eagle and the snake looked at each other, their eyes filled with unwarranted anger and the horror of death, the eagle opened its mouth to emit a ferocious roar; the snake also opened its mouth, and the torn body hurt its liver and intestines. A tragic scene of eagles and snakes fighting each other makes people shudder and thrilling.
This is a real scene shown in the Chinese painting "Eagle and Snake Fight". After viewing the painting, in addition to the shock, people can't help but think about the inner meaning of its picture.
The Western philosopher Nietzsche once used the eagle and the snake as a specific artistic image to appear in literary works, and he designed the overriding eagle as the embodiment of reason and spirit; let the snake, a creature living in the dark zone, serve as a symbol of desire. In his view, spirit and desire cannot be denigrated from each other, they are opposed to each other but also interdependent, the spirit is connected to reality through matter, and the material is enhanced by the spirit.
If we interpret human civilization in terms of Nietzsche's theory, then this civilization is like the unity of the allegory of the eagle and the serpent. High-end spiritual pursuit, without the snake-like steadfast materialistic life can not be reflected; and the simple materialistic life, without the eagle-like foresight can not be sublimated, only the organic combination of the two, can make human civilization continue to develop. In the real world, however, such an idealized humanistic design can only be a utopian fantasy.
Looking back and admiring this shocking Chinese painting, its aesthetic meaning is slowly presented.
"Eagle and Snake Fighting" is a Chinese painting that borrows material metaphors from people, and the painter is a contemporary living Buddha. As a world-renowned cultural giant, he knows the concepts of Eastern and Western cultures and the living conditions of all sentient beings, and his concern for the fate of sentient beings is incomparable. The reason why he truly presented the scene of the eagle and snake fighting to the death in front of us seems to be to awaken our compassion and penetrate the difficulties and misery of the existence of the six sentient beings. In this tragedy, the goshawk seems to be the winner, in fact, what is the fate that awaits it? Perhaps, just as it was feasting on the snake, the hunters had already aimed for its life. These are the six sentient and real destinies.
In the long history of mankind, such a giant saint with immeasurable compassion as the contemporary living Buddha often warns us with various wisdom and skillful art forms to face up to the misery of life, so as to inspire and guide mankind to break through the shackles of its own destiny and enter the smooth path of light and happiness.
Written by/Tao Guang