20 GREEK AND CHINESE ART IDEALS 



The conception of the Dragon as the power of water, 

 thunder, rain and wind and of the Tiger as the power of the 

 earth are probably Taoist hi origin. But the Chinese cannot 

 claim originality in respect to the Dragon saga; which is 

 also commonly used in early and mediaeval European 

 mythology. Taoism degenerated into derhonology and 

 magic, the quest for the Elixir of Life and immortality; 

 leaving in permanent form many quaint and diverting 

 motives for art workers in textiles, wood and porcelain. 



The Taoist Heaven, which is a curious blending of 

 Taoist and Buddhist ideas, may be given as an instance of 

 an imaginative conception which has inspired an infinitude 

 of beautiful art work in China. The Taoist Heaven is 

 placed within the confines of the Buddhist Western Heaven 

 among the Kwen Lun mountains between the Jasper Lake 

 and the Waters of' Immortality. On the slopes of Shou shan 

 lies the Palace of Si Wang Mu, the Fairy Queen of the 

 Western Heaven who, attended by the Phoenix and her 

 fairy handmaidens, awaits the wandering sages with the 

 mystic peaches in her hand, the taste of which gives 

 immortality. 



The Influence of Buddhism 



The influence of Buddhism on the art of China may be 

 described as profound but degrading, hieratic art invariably 

 resulting in the mechanical reproduction of formal types. 

 The grandeur of the imaginative conceptions of Buddhism 

 are often seen in Buddhist paintings and its symbolic 

 development in all the arts is extremely interesting. The 

 true note of Buddhist art is dignified serenity. In the words 

 of Sakyamuni "The wise having listened to the law become 

 serene like the waters of a deep still lake" The Chan or 

 Contemplative school of Buddhism seems to have had the 

 purest influence on Chinese art by its association with the 

 beauties of nature in the Meditation Groves where poetry 

 and the arts were cultivated. Saint Francis of Assisi who 

 preached to the birds and wrote the Canticle of the Sun 

 seems to have been a kindred spirit. 



The Buddhist Trinity, composed of the Buddha, Omito, 

 supported by Tashichi Pusa, the Great One, and Kwanyin, 

 the all Compassionate Pusa (son of Omito in the mystic 

 sense), the Three Sages of the Western Heaven assiduously 

 worshipped by the Northern or Mahayana Buddhist, forms 

 the subject of innumerable pictures and carved figures of 

 infinite variety of treatment. The same Kwanyin in an 

 obscure way later changed sex and became the most popular 



