Taking Nature as One's Model: An Analysis of the Aesthetic Style of Naxi Dongba Script
Wang Shuxun and E Man's 2014 article situates Naxi Dongba script within traditional Chinese aesthetics. Drawing on Guo Xi's concept of the 'heart of forest and spring,' the authors argue the Naxi ancestors' direct, aesthetically attuned contemplation of nature allowed Dongba characters to become images sharing the same quality as nature itself, echoing Sun Guoting's calligraphic ideal of 'sharing in the wondrous existence of nature' and Daoist concepts of Dao and qi. Through examples such as the characters for 'strike,' 'snake,' 'rat/rabbit,' and 'crane,' they show how Dongba script's economical, dynamic lines both represent and express the ontological essence of things rather than merely depicting them, reflecting a Naxi ethnic character shaped by animism, polytheism, and Daoist influence via the Dongba religion. The authors conclude that Dongba script's rough, artless, nature-following style embodies a life-philosophy in which script becomes a living record of cosmic and human vitality.
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