北京大學哲學系 彭 鋒
每次看雷子人的畫，都有一種想寫點什麼的衝動，但一直沒能動筆。這不完全是因為自己的疏懶，也是因為子人的畫實在不容易把捉得住。子人的作品不易把捉，這不僅因為他的每幅作品都在傳達某種難以言表的寓意，而且因為他的作品在不斷地變化，好不容易就他某個時期的某類作品整理出一點思路，卻總是在動筆之前就為他的新的作品所推翻。要將看子人的作品時的那股子衝動訴諸文字，就這樣一再延宕，直到有一天腦海地突然跳出一個“水”字，那些按捺不住的衝動終於有了一個噴涌而出的窗口。
水能夠將我對子人的畫的各種感覺要素凝結成一個整體。不管子人的畫風前後有多大的變化，不管每幅作品的寓意有多麼的不同，它們都能給我一種水的感覺。也許正因為是一種水一樣的感覺，而水又是看無定形、察無定色、聽無定聲、聞無定嗅、品無定味的東西，所以這種感覺總是在躲避語言的捕捉，跟我做著若即若離的遊戲。但一俟找到了水這個字來做統攝，那些混沌而龐雜的感覺就好像突然間得到了澄清。其實，這種水的感覺就是對子人的畫的風格、調質、用中國美學的術語來説就是境界或意境的感受。境界或意境不是畫面上一種確定的要素，也不是畫面上各種要素的總和，而是統攝畫面上諸要素的一種形而上的特質，它就像統攝有機體各部分的靈魂一樣。離開有機體的各部分就沒有靈魂，但靈魂又並不是居於有機體的某個部分或所有部分之中。繪畫的境界就像有機體的靈魂一樣，只能給人一種總體感受，不能訴諸條分縷析。
分析畫面上的各個部分不可能得到畫面的總體感受，但畫面的總體感受卻可以照亮畫面的各個部分。老實説，在從子人的畫中看出水的境界之前，我並沒有發現他的繪畫跟水有多大的關係。當然，我知道畫面上出現了一些水的符號或意象，但並沒有覺得它們有什麼特別的意義，甚至並不覺得它們有什麼特別突出的地方。一旦找到水這個字來概括我對子人的畫的總體感受之後，他的作品中的水便似乎一下子多了起來。江河湖泊中盪漾的是水，水管噴頭中流的是水，還有許多不知來源的聖水神水，即使是那些沒有直接畫水的畫面，也給人一種到處都瀰漫著水氣的感覺。儘管從畫面上的這些水的符號或意象中不能推導或分析出水的境界來，但對水的境界的把握無疑有助於我們重新認識這些水的符號或意象。正是這些水的符號或意象，將子人的畫面整個給帶動了起來，給人一種氤氳滋潤的美感。那些沒有直接畫水的作品之所以也給人一種到處都瀰漫著水氣的感覺，這除了受到那些畫水的作品的連帶影響之外，恐怕與子人高超的水墨技法有關。事實上，許多以水為題材的作品並不給人以水的感覺。比如，在一些畫水的油畫作品中，我們可以看到像鏡子和冰面一樣的凝固的水，像蠟花和潮流一樣的流動的水，但它們都很難給人以氤氳滋潤的美感，更談不上中國文化中那種特有的水的德性。但這也並不是説只要是水墨畫法就能給人以水的感覺，甚至並不是給人以水的感覺的水墨就一定高明。這跟繪畫的題材有關。根據不同的題材，水墨既可以像水一樣滋潤，也可以像火一樣焦灼；既可以像水一樣流動，也可以像山一樣沉穩。儘管水墨的表現範圍遠非僅止于水，但畫水的水墨總以滋潤流動為上，而流動滋潤也最能體現水墨的特性，因此與水有關的水墨最終總是略勝一籌。
但即使是氤氳滋潤的畫水的水墨也並不都能給人以水的感覺。這與繪畫的主題有關。如果用氤氳滋潤的畫水的水墨來表達一種友情，它可能會給人一種“清”的感覺；如果用它來表達一種鄉情，它可能會給人一種“醇”的感覺；如果用它來表達一種恩情，它可能會給人一種“深”的感覺，如此等等。只有用它來表達一種特別的男女之情的時候，它才能給人一種“水”的感覺。感覺不僅是對物的感觸，更重要的是對情的感受，只有當物與情給人的感覺一致時，才能給人一種統一的情感基調，給人一種明確的感受。畫家當然可以用氤氳滋潤的畫水的水墨來表達友情或鄉情或恩情等等，但只有用它來表達一種如水一般的男女之情的時候，才能給人一種最明確的“水”的感受，因為在後一種情況中，繪畫的對象、繪畫的方式和繪畫的主題達到了最完美的結合，它們從不同的層次共同服務一種明確的感覺的塑造。儘管這種明確的感覺不一定都能找到適當的文字來表達，但它比文字表達要更為深刻、甚至更為精確。
現在的問題是，如何理解如水一般的男女之情呢？人們不是通常説如火一般的男女之情嗎？讓我們通過簡要的分析來回答這個問題。子人的繪畫中，女人是一貫的主角，男人的角色則變化不定。有時候男人是跟女人匹配的、共同演繹愛情故事的角色；但更多的時候男人只是各種各樣的配角，他們以非常不相稱地小的形象出現，表達對那個水一般的情色世界的各種心理反應，這樣的男人形象並不是情色世界的構造者，而是情色世界的見證者；還有一些繪畫只有女人形象，男人被完全趕出畫面，成為畫面之外的觀看者。因此，我們可以説，子人的繪畫展示的是男人眼中的女人的情色世界，這跟女人的眼光看男人或男人的眼光看男人或女人的眼光看女人都很不相同。在男人的眼光中，女人是或被希望是水做的骨肉，具有溫潤、柔軟、任意塑造等特性。
不可否認，子人的繪畫中所展示的情色世界有許多性的成分或暗示，但這些性的成分或暗示卻並不給人以強烈的生理刺激，原因在於男人更多地被安排在一個旁觀者而不是參與者的位置上，畫面上展示的情色世界是一個經過了靜觀的凈化的世界，或者説是一個經過了水的洗禮的世界，它已經失去了那種原始的或本能的衝擊力，而成為可以自由把玩的對象。子人繪畫所展示的那個情色世界十分類似于曹雪芹在《紅樓夢》中所塑造的大觀園，那裏姿態萬千的眾女子都是寶玉“意淫”的對象。“意淫”不同於“皮膚濫淫”和“好色不淫”。“濫淫”只有性的成分，“不淫”沒有性的成分，“意淫”則界于二者之間，它消減了生理上的直接和強迫，增加了想像上的豐富和含蓄，是人們對情色世界進行自由觀照的惟一方式。與如火一般燒灼或泥一般渾濁的濫淫不同，意淫總是如水一般澄靜。子人的畫之所以能給人一種總體上的水的感覺，一個很重要的原因就在於他揭示了一個只可意淫的、水一般的情色世界。
隨著時間的流逝，《紅樓夢》中的大觀園開始頹敗，那個水一般的情色世界逐漸毀滅，無限美好的有情之天下終究是一個太虛幻境，人們最終必須面對那個現實世界註定是個無法澄清的染缸。這是《紅樓夢》讓人警醒、引人深思的地方。子人的畫中也體現了這種思考。畫家借畫面中出現的那些神態各異的小男人表達了這種思考，他們有的驚異，有的木然，他們在觀看著，思考著。這是一種複雜的、不確定的思考，也許沒有人能夠完全了解他們的思考內容。
只要體會到畫家的這種沉思，就不難感受到子人的畫面隱約傳達的一種惆悵。這種惆悵源於美好世界終將何去何從的疑問。那種水一般的情色世界最終會像水一樣傷逝無痕嗎？對於在中國文化中熏陶起來的人們來説，答案似乎不幸地是肯定的。兩千多年前的夫子就有“逝者如斯”的感嘆，踞于水的境界的最高點的就是傷逝，這是在這種感嘆中成長起來的中國文人的一種獨特的情愫。
Water: The Affective Quality of Lei Ziren’s Paintings
Peng Feng
Department of Philosophy, Peking University
Every time when I appreciated Mr. Lei Ziren’s Paintings, I somehow had a desire to write something for them. But I did not really begin to write for a long time. It is not only because I am lazy, but also because the paintings are not easy to be interpreted. Since Ziren always expressed some implied meaning and profound messages in each of his paintings, and especially he often changed his styles, and so it is quite obvious that Ziren’s paintings are too flexible to be grasped. Sometimes I got an idea for his paintings in some period, but it is always confused by his new paintings before I began to write down it. It is the very reason why my desire to write something for the paintings had been delayed for a long time. One day when I thought about the paintings, suddenly I got the word water. Thanks to the word water, which inspired me to unify my diverse ideas about the paintings into this paper.
Indeed, only the word water could unify my diverse feelings upon the paintings. No matter how big the style of Ziren’s paintings changed, and no matter how diverse the meaning of Ziren’s paintings would be, could all of them give me a feeling of water. Perhaps just because of the feeling of water, and especially that water is something could be seen but has not a definite figure, could be lessoned but has not a definite sound, could be smelled but has not a definite smell, and could be taste but has not a definite taste, and so it is always beyond my description. But all of my confused and diversified feelings suddenly changed to be easy to express as soon as I found the word water to put them together. Indeed, the feeling of water is the feeling of the manner, tone, and ideal state (jingjie) or spiritual state (yijing), borrowed the terminologies from Chinese aesthetics, of Ziren’s paintings. The ideal state or the spiritual state is not a definite element which can be pointed out on a painting, and not the summation of all such elements, but a metaphysical quality of a painting which even could be not pointed out on a painting but could unify all of such elements as a painting. Anything could not be a painting without this metaphysical quality, just as anything could not be a creature without the soul. We indeed cannot find the soul totally out of the parts of an organism, but the soul is not something as a part, or some parts, or all of the parts of an organism. The ideal state of a painting is just like the soul of an organism, which can be only felt as a whole, not be analyzed into definite elements.
We cannot get the feeling of a painting as a whole by analysis of the parts of the painting, but the feeling of a painting as a whole can illuminate its parts. Frankly, I did not find that there is some special relation between Ziren’s paintings and water before I understood the ideal state of the paintings. Of cause, I had seen some symbols or images of water on the paintings, but I even did not think that they have special meaning. Nonetheless, I found that there seemed to be much more water on the paintings as soon as I used the word water to describe my feeling of the paintings as a whole. On the paintings, we can see waters in rivers and lakes, we can see waters running from the pipes, we can see so many holy waters without origin, and we can feel waters even on the paintings which did not paint any waters. Although we cannot reach the ideal state of water by analyzing the water-symbols or water-images, it is unquestionable that comprehending the ideal state of water is helpful for me to rethink the water-symbols and water-images. It is very these water-symbols and water-images that make Ziren’s paintings flexible, moist, and fluid, which can give appreciators a special aesthetic experience of water.
Why can the paintings that do not paint any waters be felt misting everywhere? It is not only because that our feeling of these paintings is easily influenced by those paintings painted waters, but also because that Ziren acquires excellent skill of ink and wash painting. In fact, many paintings painted waters cannot give appreciators the feeling of water. For example, among some oil paintings painted waters, we can see the fixed water looks like glass and ice, or we can see the moving water looks like wax-flower and tide, all of them cannot arouse appreciators the aesthetic experience of the moist, the flexible, and the fluid, and, of cause, all of them cannot symbolize the special virtue of water that can be only found in Chinese culture. But it is not to say that the ink and wash painting can inevitably arouse the feeling of water, and it is not to say that only the ink and wash painting that can arouse the feeling of water is the best. According to different subjects, ink and wash painting can arouse the feeling of the moist as water as well as the feeling of the parching as fire, and the feeling of the fluid as water as well as the feeling of the steady as mountain. However, the subject of ink and wash painting is not limited to water, but the ink and wash painting painted water should always favor the moist and the fluid, and the moist and the fluid are the best characters to show the idiosyncrasy of ink and wash painting, and so the ink and wash painting related to water is always better than others.
But, even if the ink and wash painting painted water, which looks like the moist and the fluid, cannot necessarily arouse the feeling of water. It is depended on the motif of painting. If the ink and wash painting painted water, which looks like the moist and the fluid, is used for the expression of friendship, it would arouse the feeling of the pure; if the painting is used for the expression of nostalgia, it would arouse the feeling of the mellow; if the painting is used for the expression of thanksgiving, it would arouse the feeling of the deep; only if the painting is used for the expression of a special love between man and woman, can it arouse the feeling of the water-like. The feeling is not only come from the information of the object, but also come from the emotion of the subject, and only both come together, can a painting have a uniform affective tone, and give appreciators a definite perception. Surely, the ink and wash painting painted water, which looks like the moist and the fluid, can be used for the expression of friendship, nostalgia, thanksgiving, and so on, but only it is used for the expression of the special water-like-love between man and woman, can it arouse a definitive feeling of water, because in the latter case, the object, method, and motif of the painting perfectly come together, all of them serve for the creation of a definitive feeling. Although this definitive feeling cannot be articulated in words, it is more profound, and even more definitive than any language.
Now, how should we understand the special water-like-love between man and woman? Don’t we usually say the love between man and woman as fire? Let me answer this question through a little bit analysis of Ziren’s paintings. In Ziren’s paintings, woman is usually the leading role, and the role of man is uncertain. Sometimes, man’s role matches the woman’s, and both speak the same love story. But in many cases, man is only the various supporting roles, and their figures are usually painted very small, which express the various psychological responses to the lovers. This kind of man is not the co-creator of the love-world, but it’s witness. In some cases, we can say only woman, and man is totally driven out of the paintings and become a spectator in the real world. So, we can say, what Ziren’s paintings express is the woman’s-love-world from man’s perspective, and it is very different from what woman see man or what man see man or what woman see woman. According to man’s perspective, woman is, or is wished to be, the body made from water, which should have the characters of gentle, soft, flexible, and so on.
Undeniably, we can find some erotic elements in the love-world created by Ziren’s paintings. But these erotic elements or hints do not arouse the strong physiological stimulation, because man is usually painted as a spectator not a participator. The love-world shown on the paintings is a love-world purified by the contemplation or washed by the water, and so it loses the primitive or instinctive power and is transformed into a world that can be appreciated freely. The love-world manifested by Ziren’s paintings is somewhat like the Grand View Garden (Da Guanyuan) in Cao Xueqin’s Dream of the Red Chamber (Hongloumeng), where various young women are the lovers of Baiyu’s “lust of the mind” (yiyin). However, “Lust of the mind” is quite different from “lust of the flesh” (pifu lanyin ) and “love of beauty without carnal desire” (haose buyin). “Lust of the flesh” is just the sexual desire, “love of the beauty without carnal desire” is totally free from the sexual desire, and “lust of the mind” is something between them, which decreases immediacy and compulsion in psychology but increases the rich and the implicit in imagination. “Lust of the mind” is the only way for man and woman to contemplate the love-world. Especially, “Lust of the mind” is always clear as water, which is very different from the “lust of the flesh” that is burning as fire or slimy as mud. The most important reason for why Ziren’s paintings can arose the feeling of water as a whole is that he successfully create a water-like-love-world that can be the only object of “lust of the mind” .
As the story progressed, the Grand View Garden in Dream of the Red Chamber began to decline, and the water-like-love-world gradually died out. Eventually, the beautiful and enjoyable love-world showed its true figure as a dreamland, and real world where the man and woman have to live is predestinately a dye-vat that cannot be clarified in any way. The tragic end of Dream of the Red Chamber is what makes the man and woman be cautious and fall in thinking. We can find such thinking in Ziren’s paintings. Ziren expresses this thinking through the small men he created in the paintings, who have various expressions, some surprised, some woodenheaded, and all of the men are watching and thinking. It is a quite complex and uncertain thinking, and perhaps nobody knows what are thought in this thinking.
When one sympathizes with the painter on this thinking, it is not difficult for he or she to understand the deep melancholy expressed by these paintings. This melancholy originates from the doubt: where is the destination of the beautiful and enjoyable love-world? Would the water-like-love-world die away without any traces just like waters? For the intellects nurtured in Chinese culture, the answer is unfortunately yes. More than two thousand years ago, Confucius could not help saying “it passes this way.” What is on the top of the ideal state of water is lamenting over the passing, and it is the special inner feelings of Chinese intellects grown up in the Confucian plaint.