Visualizing the Invisible Body

Redefining Shanshui and the Human Body in the Daoist Context

Bibliographic Data

ID3413112
AuthorsZiyun Liu (0000-0003-2992-7590, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, corresponding author)
Year2022
Volume13
Issue12
Pages1187
Publication date2022-12-05
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueReligions (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2077-1444 • E-ISSN: 2077-1444
PublisherMDPI AG (PUBLISHER • IT)
DOI10.3390/rel13121187
OpenAlexW4310682237
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited7

This paper addresses the "invisible body in shanshui paintings" by redefining the correlation between shanshui and the human body in the Daoist context. I argue that the human body is not invisible in shanshui painting-it is ever-present through the agency of the shanshui. The correlation will be unpacked in two aspects. Firstly, shanshui is ontologically connected and shares a "corporeal" affinity with the bodies of human beings. Secondly and more importantly, with the development of inner alchemy (neidan 內丹), shanshui and the human body are identified as representative of one another. Shanshui becomes the body through the lens of the unique concept of neijing 內景 (inner landscape). As the powerful and redemptive mediation between human beings and the Dao, shanshui reveals not only the inner body but also the mechanism of inner energies. Furthermore, it offers a solution to solve the Daoist anxiety over the body's physical limitations by breaking down the constant confrontation and opposition between the "I" and the cosmos and reactivating one's primordial dependency on nature. Shanshui painting, in this vein, transcends the mundane body and provides access to the sacred truth and reality of the Dao

Aesthetics · Alchemy · Art · Epistemology · Human body · Literature · Physical body · Chinese history and philosophy · Computer Science · History · Philosophy

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