《圖•像思維》後記
甲申春分，《圖•像思維》撰訖，感何如之！
《圖•像思維》原名《心靈風水學》，初稿創作於上世紀八十年代末，原是為當時所供職的海南省物業發展公司的一個房地產項目提供較新的策劃理念。其目的不外有三：一是給海南省海口市金融貿易區內的一塊三角形土地賦予一點文化內涵，起名為“風水•八卦百金城”高級商住區；二是給當時湧進海南的“冒險家們”——購房者與所購土地、房產找到與其心靈共鳴；三是借“陰陽五行說”中的“相生、相剋”原理，把五棟高層住宅依“金、水、木、火、土”相生關係布局，讓購房者各居其所。經過近兩年的建設，項目取得較大成功，為企業贏得可觀利潤，同時獲得了海南省“十大傑出建築獎”。
那么，何時萌發撰寫有關“心靈風水學”——《圖•像思維》念頭的呢？
三十多年前，打從能夠記事起，我就住在山西祁縣塔寺村，這個河畔小村離今天很有名的喬家大院只有幾里路。老宅是一座建於清末的三合院。在小院子裡，我過著無憂無慮的童年生活。天氣轉暖，一到晚上我便躺在外婆懷裡，聽大人們聊著久遠的故事，最有趣的便是從小院子的天井所圍成的“方形”天際，遙望一眨一眨的滿天繁星。有一天，外婆給我繪聲繪色地講述了老外公走西口的故事。在外婆眼裡，比她年長三十多歲的外公是一個偉岸而高深、勇猛而剛強的人，是敢獨闖大漠的“江湖高人”。據外婆講，外公懂“江湖語”，敢和西域“黑白兩道”的武林高手交鋒，年輕時曾在迪化（今烏魯木齊）經商，作過新疆大官的貼身保鏢。十二歲拜師學習武術，十六歲跟著掌柜學做買賣，二十歲走西口，一走就是五年、一共走了五次。我常想，一個小院子、小村子、小縣城的晉人、晉商，居然能有如此之舉，好生佩服！外婆還告訴我，外公每次回家都帶了好多的西域古籍和精美的工藝品送朋友。外婆在我12歲生日的時候，把她珍藏了多年的銅鎖送給了我，開鎖時，她貼在我的耳旁，輕輕地撫摸著我的頭，說：“外公常講：‘心大不如勢大，勢大不如力大，力大不如財大，財大不如道大，道大不如德大，德大不如天大’，我不解其意”。她讓我長大成人後慢慢領悟其中奧妙。一日，我乘著仲秋的皎月，從國小校回家。忽然，被一幅奇特的圖景所打動，眼前一亮，只見小樹林旁一隻黃狗正對著那輪滿月“發獃”。我駐足好一陣子，似有所悟，卻無以言表。仿佛感到那黃狗正和月亮“說話”。靜穆的自然、靜穆的鄉村、狗物我同一。其形、其態、其韻、其勢、其神至今仍清晰地在我的腦海中顯現著，啟迪著我的悟性。
小時候，我的膽子很小，怕黑、怕壞人、怕惡人、更怕鬼。以為真的有鬼存在。經常看見遇到難事的鄉親，就去求“陰陽”先生調“風水”來化解。在民間，“風水”的確神秘而玄虛，常能使人迷而信之，再加上別有用心的偽風水師貪人錢財，常常裝神弄鬼，花樣翻新。把人與自然、社會和諧共榮的風水本義歪曲了，把人與自然、社會和諧共生的風水精華擯棄了。風水被庸俗化、世俗化，倫為封建迷信，令人談虎色變。二十世紀八十年代初，我考入太原工學院修建築學專業。可惜當時過分偏重建築設計、結構、施工、材料、設備等純技術性的知識，對包涵著古老的東方哲學、深邃智慧的“和合”學說卻無暇顧及。至今，對蘊涵於中華文化中，強調自然、人、社會和諧共榮的可持續發展思想，仍未能深入發掘。吾以為，對東方古老的“風水”學說，應拋棄糟粕，宏揚精華。
吾行於太行汾水之間，仰觀五台聖境，探訪雲崗石窟，駐足懸空寺、遊歷平遙古城，解讀晉祠聖母殿，參拜佛光寺、感悟天龍山。在領略三晉大地物寶天華之餘亦沉醉於這片土地所承載的渾厚奇絕博大精深的文化底蘊之中……。透過對蘊藏於山水、人文之中圖像的整體把握，我悟到了“物、事、理”中的位置與層次，“勢、場、道”中的關係與網路，“靈、態、恆”中的互補與和諧。
十多年前，我在海南儋縣華南熱帶作物學院工作。一天，颱風剛過，忽爾飄雨，我匆匆走向圖書館，看見一隻老青蛙正背著一隻幼小的青蛙，在光滑油亮的公路上向水塘艱難地爬行著。我怦然心動，便彎腰用雙手輕輕地捧起青蛙“母子”，小心翼翼地把它們放在水中……。不一會耳際傳來“母子”和諧而優揚的鳴叫聲，這聲音是那樣的美妙而動聽！我不禁由蛙鳴而悟啟。
二十世紀九十年代初，我在廣西欽州工作。初夏，艷陽高照，我獨自在欽江畔散步。只見遠處一隻白貓，正在水邊端詳著自己的影子，是那樣的專注而入神，對旁邊的一切全然未在意。在實像與虛像、充實與空靈之間，形成物我同一的美景。余由靈貓而得象。易罡曰：圖為像之顯，象為形之底,觀像而忘形，忘形而得勢。無圖之像，則無力、無勢，也無神。無形之象，則無態、無能，也無道。圖像同構、形象共生。然，世人重物而輕形、重理而輕像、重能而輕勢、重機械累積而輕精練積澱。不亦惑乎？
善觀形者，感天地之動；善察勢者，懷仁愛之心；善悟道者，藏忠義之旨。故曰：“形定則態生，態生則場呈，場呈則靈應，靈應則勢呈，勢呈則道生”。
百年春來早，沉積數十載；一朝得穎悟，盡在圖像中。遂呈一百單八像於腦海，應一百單八字於心田，手神相通，形意比合，一氣呵成！
天地有道，大象無形。樂者喜之、善者化之、慧者悟之。對圖像的整體感悟，需在融合中超越、共生中揚棄、聚合中升華。
學棟識於聚勢齋
農曆甲申（公元2004年）閏二月初九
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It was with great pleasure that I finally finished writing Thinking in Graphics on the Spring Equinox day of the traditional Chinese Lunar Year of Jiashen ( 2004).
This book was originally titled Mental Fengshui, with its first draft written in the late 1980s, with the purpose of providing relatively new ideas for a real estate project of the Hainan Provincial Real Estate Development Corporation where I worked then. My intentions for it were threefold: First, to infuse some cultural content into a patch of triangular land, I named that high class office building compound “City of Hundred Golds of Fengshui and Bagua (Eight Diagrams)” ; second, to establish some mental resonance between the property owners, those adventurers who flocked into Hainan at that time, and the properties they purchased; and finally, to tap into the Theory of Mutual Begetting and Counter Contradicting of Yin, Yang and the Five Primary Elements (Metal, Wood, Water, Fire and Earth), I laid out the five residential high buildings into a mutually begetting structure as “Metal, Wood, Water, Fire and Earth” and allowed the buyers to live in wherever best suited their desires. After two years of construction, the project turned out to be a success and generated considerable profits for the corporation. It was also awarded as one of the Best Ten Architectures in Hainan Province.
Why and when did I hit upon the idea of writing such a book on “mental Fengshui” and finally start to “think in graphics”?
More than three decades ago, since I started to remember things, I lived in Pagoda Temple Village of the Qi County of Shanxi Province, a small village on a river bank, which was about one mile away from the well known Qiao Family Grand Courtyard. Our old residence was a courtyard house built in late Qing Dynasty, where I enjoyed my carefree childhood. When the weather was warm, every evening, I would lie in my grandmother’s arms and listen to those age old stories told by the adults. The most interesting part was staring up into the “square” of sky full of twinkling stars through what we called “sky well”, an opening formed by the eaves of the courtyard. One day, my grandmother vividly told me the story of my grandfather’s adventures beyond the Great Wall as a refugee. As my grandmother described, my grandfather, more than 30 years older than my grandmother, was a tall, heavily built, valiant, and tough guy, an itinerant kung fu master who dared to break into the vast dessert single-handed. According to grandmother’s story, grandfather understood the underworld argot and had challenged top martial arts masters both good and evil in the Western Regions. When he was young, he used to do business in Dihua (today’s Urumqi), and served as the close bodyguard of a high-ranking official of Xinjiang. He was bound apprentice to a kung fu master at the age of 12, and started to learn business from his master at 16. He went beyond the Great Wall when he was 20, and for 5 times in 5 years. Quite often, I would think that it was so admirable that a businessman, a commoner from a little courtyard house in a small village of a small town of Shanxi, could have had such an adventure! Grandma also told me that every time grandpa returned home, he would bring loads of ancient scrolls and exquisite handicrafts from the Western Regions to give out to friends as gifts. On my 12th birthday, grandma gave me a copper lock which she cherished and kept for many years. When she UNLOCKED it, she gently stroked my head, and talked to me in my ear: “Your grandpa often said: ‘Rather be powerful than ambitious; forceful than powerful; wealthy than forceful; resourceful than wealthy; virtuous than resourceful; and heavenly than virtuous.’ I couldn’t quite figure it out myself.” So she told me to gradually grasp the meaning as I grew up.
One evening, when I was going home from school bathed in the mid-autumn moonlight, I was suddenly touched by a unique picture and my eyes opened wide at a yellow dog at the edge of a grove blankly staring at the full moon. I stood there for quite a while and seemed to have caught some inexplicable message from the picture. I felt as though that yellow dog were talking to the moon. Serene was the nature; serene was the village. And the dog and I were at one with the surroundings. The image, the stance, the charm, the force and the spirit can still be re-visualized in my mind’s eye and inspire me.
When I was a little boy, I was very timid. I was afraid of darkness, afraid of bad guys, afraid of evil people, and the worst thing I was afraid of was ghosts, for I really thought they existed. I often saw villagers visit Yin Yang masters (wizards) to help them adjust their Fengshui to solve their problems. Among the folks, Fengshui is indeed mysterious and deceitful, often misleading people to superstition as a result of those fake Fengshui masters’ deceitful maneuvers with ulterior motives for material gains. The truth of Fengshui as a harmonious co-prosperity of man, nature and society is thus misinterpreted, and the essence of Fengshui as a harmonious co-existence of man, nature and society is also ruined. As a result, Fengshui is vulgarized and secularized as feudal dross of superstition, becoming a taboo for people to even mention.
In the early 1980s, I entered the Taiyuan College of Polytechnics, majoring in architecture. At that time, purely technical knowledge such as architectural design, structure, construction, materials and equipment were overestimated; nobody cared about the theory of Harmonious Integration as part of the ancient oriental philosophy. Even today, the thought of sustainable development contained in the Chinese Culture, which emphasizes harmonious co-prosperity of man, nature, and society, has not been studied in depth. I think that the essence of the ancient oriental Fengshui theory should be greatly assimilated with its dross discarded.
I traveled between the Taihang Mountains and the Fen River, paid respects to the holy spots in the Wutai Mountains, visited the Yungang grotto, stayed in the Suspended Temple, toured the ancient city of Pingyao, studied the Hall of the Holy Mother of Jin Shrine, worshiped the Temple of the Aureole of Buddha, and was inspired by the Tianlong Mountain (Dragon in Heaven). By traversing through the historical relics and natural treasures of the Shanxi Province, I became fascinated in the rich and deep cultural foundations laid in this vast land. Through integrated understanding of the imagery lying hidden in the mountains and waters, the humanity and culture, I have figured out the positions and layers among “the Matter, the Happening, and the Reason”; the relationship and network among “the Force, the Environment and the Resource”; as well as the complementarity and harmony among “the Spirit, the Stance and the constancy”.
More than 10 years ago, I worked in the South China Institute of Tropical Crops, Zhan County, Hainan Province. One day after a typhoon, when I was hurriedly walking towards the library in a sudden rain, I saw an old frog with a baby frog on her back difficultly crawling across the glistening driveway towards a pond. I was moved immediately and bent down to pick up the mother frog and son with both hands and carefully put them in the water. In a while, I heard a harmonious duet sung by the frog mother and son. How beautiful and lovely the voice was! I surely learned something from it.
In the early 1990s, I worked in Qinzhou, Guangxi Autonomous Region. It was a sunny day in early summer. I was taking a walk alone along the bank of the Qin River. I saw in distance a white cat staring at his own reflection in the water. He was so concentrated and fascinated that he ignored everything around him. It formed a beautiful picture, a unity of self and nature, something between the real image and the virtual image, between the full and the vain. I visualized my graphic from this cat. The Book of Changes says: Graphics are display of Images; Images are foundations of Forms; Observing the Images, you forget the Forms; Only by forgetting the Forms can you obtain the Power; Images without Graphics are void of either Force, Power or Spirit; Images without Forms are void of Stance, Energy or Resource. Graphics and Images are isomorphic, while Forms and Images are symbiotic. But the world stresses the Materials and neglects the Forms, stresses the Reason and neglects the Images, stresses the Energy and neglects the Power, stresses the mechanical accumulation and neglects the empirical summary. Isn’t it an error?
A good observer of the Forms feels the movements of Heaven and Earth; a good judge of the Power harbors benevolence; a good meditator of the Truth is loyal and righteous. So, as the saying goes, “As long as the Form is settled, the Stance is generated; as long as the Stance is generated, the Environment is displayed; as long as the Environment is displayed, the Spirit echoes; as long as the Spirit echoes, the Power emerges; as long as the Power emerges, the Resource comes. ”
In the earliest spring of a century, with an accumulation of several decades, I suddenly realized that it was all about graphics. With 108 graphics displayed in my mind and 108 characters printed in my heart, I finished this book as a coherent whole as if my hand and mind were one, perfectly matching its text and meaning.
Heaven and Earth have their ways, but extreme graphics are without forms. Those who love them may be able to enjoy them; those who are righteous may be able to assimilate them; those who are intelligent may be able to decode them. The overall apprehension of the graphics calls for a transcendence through the amalgamation, an abstraction of the symbiosis and a sublimation from the polymerization.
Xuedong
9th of intercalary February of the Lunar Chinese Year of Jiashen (2004)
