Fish in a lotus pond,Motif pattern created from the discussion of two wise men
- Artemis
- Feb 7, 2024
- 2 min read
During the reign of Emperor Jiajing (1522–1566), there was a Wucai colored bowl that was considered a unique feature of the era. What stands out besides the contrasting colors is that the pattern has a deep philosophical meaning hidden behind it.
Going back 2,300 years ago, corresponding to the Zhanguo period (战国), there was a Chinese philosopher named Zhuangzi (莊子, around 369-286 BC), an important philosopher of Taoism who was widely known. In that era, there was another contemporary philosopher named Huizhi (惠子, about 370 - 310 BC) who was a friend of Zhuangzi but is not well known.
Huizhi and Zhuangzi frequently discussed topics, all of which were of great intellectual interest, such as Hao Liang's Controversy (濠 梁之辯)
existence that
One day, Zhuangzi and Huizi were walking on the bridge over the Hao River (濠水). Meanwhile, Zhuangzi saw fish in the river and said, “The fish swam freely and relaxed. This is the happiness of fish.”
Huizi asked. “You are not a fish. Why do you know that fish are happy?"
Zhuangzi replied: “You are not me. How do you know that I cannot understand the happiness of fish?”
Huizhi explained: “I am not you, so I do not know your feelings. You are not a fish, so you cannot understand the happiness of fish. This is understandable.”
Zhuang Zi suddenly said, “Please go back to the first point with which we began our conversation, when you asked the question, “Why do you know that the fish are happy?” That is, the question was based on the assumption that you knew that I knew the happiness of the fish. If you ask me where I found out, I'll say I found out from the riverside."
Hao Liang's argument
This story is recorded in the book “Zhuangzi, the River of Autumn” 《庄子.秋水篇), where Huizi quoted the phrase “非魚安知魚之樂” (You are not a fish. How do you know the happiness of a fish?) to communicate a logical thought: “You are not the person you are talking about. How can you know that person's feelings?” Nowadays, Chinese people often use this phrase to teach. Order or warn that “You should not judge others by your own views or thoughts.” This principle of Zhuangzi is similar to the teaching of Confucius (孔子 551-479 BC) that “What one does not desire, Do not mistreat others.”
From the debate between the two sages, especially 'Zhuangzi' who had a deep understanding of intuition. or sahajjaññā that arises naturally in the mind. This caused Emperor Jia Jing, who originally focused on Taoism, to bring the story of “Fish In Lotus Pond” comes as a motif in porcelain and colored patterns.
This porcelain bowl from the Jiajing-Wanli period has a pattern of fish in a lotus pond. The fish painted in the center of the inner bowl is a pattern of 'koi fish' jumping over the water (according to the motto of jumping up to the dragon gate).
The popular fish to draw in that era were river fish such as koi and Chinese sea bass.
Reference information
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