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Sublimity is the highest state of art. It was an important term in literary criticism in ancient China, similar to the ideas of “the oneness of heaven and humans” and “the miraculous work of nature.” The assertion that “heaven and earth exist in harmony with me and all things in the universe are inseparable from me,” as made in Zhuangzi’s (369?-286 BC) “On Seeing Things as Equal,” marked the beginning of this theory. A work of art with such excellence shows an aesthetic state wherein one basks in a blissful loss of division between him and his surroundings and heaven and man become completely merged. Whether it is a poem or a painting, it is so naturally created that it bears no mark of men’s “carving or chiseling.” The sublime in art occurs when the artist has had more than sufficient accomplishment, profound understanding and artistic technique. He will then be able to suit his actual execution of strokes to his fantasy by making everything at his fingertips work. Such an effect is achieved as if only by nature’s magical hand, not through human effort at all.
Jingjie (境界) originally meant border or boundary. Later, it was used to translate the idea of a mental realm in Buddhist sutras, a state of spiritual cultivation achieved after having overcome bewilderment in the material world. As a literary and artistic term, jingjie is mainly used to indicate the aesthetic depth in a literary work so as to give full expression to the author’s creativity, comprehension, and aesthetic faculties. A work reaching a high level of jingjie manifests the author’s true personality, transcends the ordinary, strikes a responsive chord in the heart of the reader, stimulates the reader’s imagination, and thus enhances the reader’s appreciation of his work. The term yijing (意境 aesthetic conception) came into being earlier than jingjie, which was formed under the influence of Buddhism in the mid-Tang period. In his Poetic Remarks in the Human World, modern scholar Wang Guowei （1877-1927）wrote extensively about jingjie. He often used yijing in the same sense as he used jingjie or the other way round. He created the theory of jingjie, in which he blended classical Western and classical Chinese aesthetics. Generally speaking, yijing refers to a perfect combination of the message the author conveys with the images he uses in his works, and it gives full rein to reader’s imagination. The concept of jingjie, however, foregrounds the sublimation of artistic images through mental insight, and emphasizes the role of the mental world in elevating the work of art to a higher level.
The term means to conceptualize an aesthetic feeling by selecting images that best express a poet’s sentiments and appreciation. The term qujing(取境) was coined by the Tang monk poet Jiaoran (720-796?) in his Poetic Styles. After conducting a review of how poets from the Six Dynasties to the mid-Tang Dynasty wrote poems, he concluded that to write poems, one must structure one’s thoughts ingeniously so as to generate a uniquely original conception with no trace of clichés. Then, after some deep thinking, an inspiration will arise and his imagination will run free. In this way, the poet can create a poem with a fine visionary world. Although the conception may be highly original, ultimately the style of the work should be simple and natural without any traces of having been laboriously crafted. This term is closely related to the terms jingjie (境界) and yijing(意境); together, they are part of a series of terms dealing with jing (境) in classical Chinese poetics.
The term refers to a state where the scene described in a literary or artistic work reflects the sense and sensibility intended. Jing (境) originally meant perimeter or boundary. With the introduction of Buddhism into China during the late Han, Wei and Jin dynasties, the idea gained popularity that the physical world was but an illusion, and that only the mind was real in existence. So jing came to be seen as a realm that could be attained by having sensibilities of the mind. As a literary and artistic term, jing has several meanings. The term yijing (意境) was originally put forward by renowned Tang poet Wang Changling (?- 756 ?). It describes an intense aesthetic experience in which one’s perception of an object reaches a realm of perfect union with the implication denoted by the object. Aesthetic appreciation in the mind is characterized by “projecting meaning into a scene” and “blending sentiment with scenery.” In contrast with the term yixiang (意象 image), yijing fully reveals the implication and the heightened aesthetic sense that an artistic work is intended to deliver. The concept is extended to include other notions such as sentiment and scene, actual and implied meanings, or mind and object. It also raises literary and artistic works to a new realm of aesthetic appreciation. After evolving through several dynasties, this concept developed into an important criterion to judge the quality of a literary or artistic work, representing an accomplishment drawing on classical writings through ages. It has also become a hallmark for all outstanding literary and artistic works. The term also represents a perfect union between foreign thoughts and culture and those typically Chinese.
The aesthetic conception evoked by a poem or prose transcends what a physical object denotes, and a reader needs to perceive and appreciate the beauty of such aesthetic conception. Jing (境) here refers to an aesthetic conception created by a poem or prose, while xiang (象) refers to the image of a concrete object portrayed in such writing. Composed of words, a poem describes individual objects through which it evokes a coherent poetic conception beyond the physical appearance of such objects. This proposition was first put forward by poet Liu Yuxi （772-842）of the Tang Dynasty to express his understanding of poetry. He pointed out that words and images were concrete while aesthetic conceptions were abstract and subtle and therefore hard to describe. Liu’s proposition, namely, aesthetic conception transcending concrete objects described, marked an important stage in the development of the theory of aesthetic conception in classical Chinese poetry.
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