The world is impermanent, and life is like a play. When mortals encounter life and death, pray to God to worship Buddha first. If you encounter a skull, you will be scared.
During the Southern Song Dynasty, the painter Li Song once created a painting of a fan on silk with color on paper, called "Skeleton Fantasy Play". People say that this painting is extremely strange, and no one can fully understand its connotation.
Today we will take you into this painting to see what is the mystery in it.
1. Walk into the painting and have a unique concept
Li Song's "Skeleton Fantasy" is a fan-faced album, with his signature on the left and the exclusive seals of collectors on the right.
At first, if you look at the painting as a whole, you will see that there are only four people in the painting, in groups of two. Then take a closer look at the figure, and in front of you on the left side is a large skeleton wearing a gauze hat and a transparent gauze robe, and he sits on the ground with his right hand propped up on his knees, and sits casually.
And in the hand is a marionette, the puppet is very unique, it is a small skeleton. The little skeleton was lifted on all fours, with its right foot on the ground and its left foot raised, as if in a funny motion.
Next to the little skeleton was a young one-year-old child, lying on the side, staring intently at the little skeleton, as if everything was new. The child looked at it with great interest, and stretched out his right arm forward, as if he wanted to grab the little skeleton.
Behind the child was a young woman, perhaps because the child had no concept of skeletons, and when the woman saw that he wanted to grab them, she was reaching out to stop them, and her face was embarrassed.
And the last character is the most inconspicuous mother behind the big skeleton. The woman is a first-time mother, she is nursing her children, she has kind eyebrows, and she has a maternal aura.
The characters in this painting are lifelike, and the characters are separated from each other and connected. In terms of composition, it is also a major feature.
Looking at this painting, first of all, there will be a distinction between black and white, left and right, and the painter uses the goods and walls on the left side as the background, making the skeleton with dark attributes more gloomy. Place the child and woman on the right side in the open space to add a sense of brightness.
The picture is roughly like this, most people will feel fear and disgust at the sight of a skeleton at first, and pity and weakness when they see a child.
Therefore, this painting will have a serious sense of separation when you see it at first, and it will be called "weird". So what is the meaning of the painting, and what is it hidden?
2. Background introduction, in-depth thinking
Most of the modern people's impression of skeletons is that there are many elements of "death", "bad luck" and "horror", and as early as the Song and Yuan dynasties, skeletons appeared in people's daily life as a humorous metaphor.
The earliest record of skeletons began with Zhuangzi's views on them during the Warring States period. There is a sentence in the "Zhile" of "Zhuangzi", which is like this: "Zhuangzi's Chu, seeing the empty skull, the skull is tangible, and he is beaten with a horse, so he asks it", Zhuangzi linked the skeleton with life and death, so the skeleton was inseparable from life and death in the earliest days.
The core idea of Li Song's painting is life and death. Zhuangzi once said: "Fang is born and dies, and Fang is dead and live." "Taoism believes that everything goes naturally, and life will inevitably lead to death, and death is a new beginning.
The large skeleton and the child in the painting represent death and new life respectively, life and death are separated and entangled with each other. This also makes sense of what the Buddhists call extinction and nirvana.
On the opposite panel, there is Wang Xuanzhen's book Huang Gongwang's "Drunk in the Sky" song: "There is no skin and flesh, there is a burden of suffering and sorrow." The puppet also smoked the grandson's line and made a small appearance to tease the enemy. Is it shameful to see through it? Stay in your own five miles. ”
This is very interesting, he thinks that skeletons without skin and flesh carry pain and sorrow, but make children laugh, and what people may see is only superficial, and sometimes it takes phenomena to see the essence.
Finally, let's talk about the uniqueness of this brush and ink technique. The painter's image of the skeleton is very vivid, the brush strokes are twisted and supple, and the bones are shaped perfectly, so people feel that the skeleton is lifelike.
Speaking of clothing, the pen is unique, and the portrayal of the silk robe is not stiff, but makes people feel elegant. The depiction of the utensils and the site also highlights the contrast of color, light and shadow vividly, so that the painting is black and white.
Therefore, this painting is worthy of careful viewing in terms of conception and technique.
Third, the life and death of the Song people are different
There are many interpretations of Li Song's painting in later generations, but the real connotation should be analyzed according to the events and personal life experiences at that time. But it is undeniable that this painting not only shows his witty and humorous expression, but also conveys the Song people's views on life and death.
As we all know, the Song Dynasty was open to the people and developed the economy, and when the king revised the ritual system, the folk customs were also influenced by Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism. Influenced by Confucianism, by the Song Dynasty, "rites" had always been a quality and system valued by kings and society.
From Song Taizu to Song Renzong, many books and systems related to rituals were published during this period, such as "Kaibao Tongli", "New Edition of Lige", "Taichang New Ceremony" and so on. The most far-reaching and representative ritual of the Song Dynasty was the "Five New Etiquettes of Zhenghe", and the purpose of such ritual revisions was ultimately to maintain social stability.
Since Buddhism was introduced to China during the Han and Han dynasties, the concept of life and death has been interrelated with the cycle of cause and effect. Various ways of sacrificing to communicate with the gods are also shown in the "Five New Rituals of Political Peace".
Therefore, the funeral method of the Song Dynasty changed and formed its own unique system. The most notable are the fasting and pujas, which are still influential today.
Through the change of funeral methods, we can look back and forth at the Song people's view of life and death. In fact, for a thing, there are a thousand Hamlets for a thousand readers.
The Song people had a very complex view of life and death, and were influenced by Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism, as well as the integration and exchange of various ideas. Some people think that death is heavier than Mount Tai, and some people think that death should be as light as a feather; Some people die to pursue the truth, and some people die to liberate themselves and avoid the troubles of the world.
The pursuit of human nature, the detachment of the spirit, or the political struggle or the cultivation of liberation from suffering, the thoughts at this time are all wonderfully colliding and merging with each other.
The Song people did not keep their mouths shut about life and death, on the contrary, they were very willing to explore the essence of life, or they had the courage to face death.
In the context of the convergence of the three religions, Buddhism, the people, and Confucianism pursued the afterlife and the understanding of death differently. In daily life, people use the Confucian concept of life the most, that is, to be happy and know one's fate.
epilogue
Therefore, literary works and works of art from ancient times to the present can not only reflect the artist's own life experience and inner thoughts, but also reflect the background of the current society and the spirit of the times.
Li Song's painting not only reveals his own view of life and death, but also has great significance for future generations to study the spiritual and humanistic aspects of the Song Dynasty.