Artistic Forms Created by Gods

Qin, the game of “go,” calligraphy and painting are the artistic forms created by Gods.

I think that the culture passed down from Gods to humans include the artistic forms of gin (a zither-like plucked instrument), the game of “go” (played with 181 black pieces and 180 white pieces), calligraphy and painting.

Qin, “go,” calligraphy and painting are the four artistic forms in ancient Chinese culture and have a long history and profundity behind them. Their common feature is that they just need simple tools, are based on profound meanings, and can produce diverse artistic styles.

Modern culture and art are passed down from ancient people, and ancient culture, and art is handed down from a prehistoric age or a “prehistoric culture”. Then, who created this prehistoric culture and the respective art forms? Gods did. Just as qigong is prehistoric culture, so is Taiji (the symbol of the Tao school, popularly known in the West as “yin-yang symbol), Hetu, Luoshu (prehistoric diagrams that appeared in ancient China and are thought to disclose the changes of the course of nature), the Book of Changes (an ancient Chinese book of divination dating from the Zhou dynasty), and the Eight Triagrams (a prehistoric diagram thought to disclose the changes of the course of the nature). But who passed on prehistoric culture to humans? Gods did. Of course, the prehistoric culture does not include the painting in the form of impressionism, modernism, abstractionism, the music of disco and rock-and-roll, which are the deviated and not the art passed down by Gods.

Why did Gods pass the artistic forms of qin, “go,” calligraphy and painting to Chinese?

Gods offered Chinese people the supplementary methods of culture and cultivation—qin, “go,” calligraphy and painting. Qin makes people feel pleasant and harmonious; “go” enables people to stay calm and rational; calligraphy gives people solemnity and steadiness; painting makes people worship Gods and Buddha since ancient paintings were mostly in the image of Buddha, Tao, and God. That is, qin, “go,” calligraphy and painting can contribute to one’s inner tranquility, provide mental relaxation, open up one’s wisdom, and teach humans moral lessons.

I guess that five thousand years ago in the beginning of China’s semi-divine culture, qin, “go,” calligraphy and painting began to become popular. The artistic forms from Gods together with religion, philosophy, history and literature enlightened, cultivated, trained, and people. The human mind was systematically molded and enriched.

Zhang Cui Ying once said, “Art comes from the universe.” She wrote in her book My Path to Art, “Chinese painting is an art passed down by Gods, with an ancient history not just of a few thousand years, but with a much longer history, just like China’s qigong that has a very long history.”

I think that qin, “go,” calligraphy and painting are prehistoric culture. If everything has their own origin, where is the origin of the four artistic forms? They came from the universe and were passed down to Chinese people by Gods.

Translated from Chinese at http://www.yuanming.net/articles/200307/22212.html