印度佛教哲学对中国古代的文学与艺术产生过显著的影响，影响特别深刻的是原始佛教的“苦”谛（Duhkha-satya）与大乘佛教的“空”论（Sunya-vada）。“苦”，梵文Duhkha, 英译Suffering；“空”，梵文Sunya, 英译Void。“苦”谛就是“一切皆苦”的真理，“空”论就是“万法皆空”的学说。
相传佛陀在鹿野苑初转**，他说法的要点是四圣谛。第一谛“苦”谛说人生是苦，人生之苦包括生、老、病、死、怨憎会、爱别离、求不得等痛苦。痛苦的原因在于欲望。只有灭绝欲望才能消除痛苦。要消除痛苦必须遵循正确的道路即八正道或中道。大乘佛教哲学以两个学派为代表，一派是龙树（约公元150年）创立的中观派，一派是无著（约公元400年）创立的瑜伽行派。这两派哲学原来都基于《般若经》宣讲的“空”论。中观派强调智慧（般若），运用辨证的方法，把心与物直接归结为“空”，通过揭露关于“绝对”的所有言论的自相矛盾性显示“空”的真谛；瑜伽行派强调冥想（禅定），采取直觉的态度，把物归结为心，再把心归结为“空”，在冥想深处凭借净化的意识感悟“空”的真谛。
印度佛教哲学的“苦”与“空”的观念，增强了中国文学与艺术的悲剧意识和思辨色彩。
佛教早在东汉（25-220）初期就已传入中国，在南北朝（386-581）时期成为一种盛行的宗教。印度佛教哲学的“苦”与“空”的观念随着印度佛经的翻译被引进中国。南北朝时期战乱频仍，中国人生活在水深火热之中，因此很容易接受佛教的“苦”与“空”的观念。这些观念逐渐渗透进中国文化思想的整体结构，在中国文学与艺术中也引起了明显的变化。北朝时期敦煌莫高窟的《尸毗王本生》、《萨埵那太子本生》等壁画，描绘了割肉贸鸽、舍身饲虎等故事自我牺牲的血腥场面。壁画构图动荡，造型夸张，色彩凝重，渲染着浓烈的悲剧氛围。这些血腥的牺牲场面恐怕也曲折地反映了当时中国人的苦难生活。从那时起，观自在——在中国通称观音，成为最受中国人崇拜的救苦救难的菩萨。为了强调这位男性菩萨的悲悯和慈爱，从隋朝（581-618）和唐朝（618-907）以来，观音的偶像通常被塑造成端庄温柔的女性形象。
印度佛教哲学在更高层次上吸引了许多中国文人，他们迷上了“苦”与“空”的观念。佛教观念找到了进入儒家思想的途径，并与道家玄学融为一体，形成了中国化的佛教禅宗。不少中国诗歌和绘画也受到禅宗思想的影响。例如，王维（699-759）是唐朝杰出的山水诗人和山水画家，他信奉禅宗，主张“心空”。他的山水诗经常描绘“空山”、“空林”景象，他的山水画也追求空寂的意境。苏轼（1037-1101）是宋朝（960-1279）最有才华的文学家，他发现了禅与诗之间的相似之处。他写的一首诗以禅喻诗：“上人学苦空，百念已灰冷……欲令诗语妙，无厌空且静。静故了群动，空故纳万境。”苏轼的词境界开阔，在他豪放的词中也发出了“人生如梦”的喟叹。
在清朝（1644-1911）治下佛教一度得到了皇家的庇护。前明朝（1368-1644）的一些遗民对新朝不满，只好到佛教避难所隐居，吟诗作画，影射当朝。清初“四僧”是指四位明朝的遗民“画僧”，包括弘仁（1610-1664）、髡残（1612-1673）、朱耷（1626-1705）和石涛（约1642-1707），他们的绘画主要表现了亡国之痛和人生之苦。髡残在他的一幅名画《树上禅僧图》（树上禅僧是画家自况）中题词：“世界婆娑，安居是它。问我来甚，不知云何。处上视下，身处高柯。栖息无虑，乃在鸟窠。人说我险，我说你魔。参空一切，贝叶经多。”朱耷是明朝宗室后裔，在他的一幅手卷《鱼石图》中，有怪石、莲花和两条小鲤鱼。鱼造型怪诞，眼睛朝天，似乎正在逃离世界。朱耷的一首诗提到莲花是佛教的象征和避风港。由此可见，在“四僧”的绘画中体现的“苦”与“空”的观念，反映了对现实世界的厌恶与逃避。
中国古典小说名著《石头记》或《红楼梦》是清朝的曹雪芹（1715？-1763）所作，在某种意义上也是讲述爱情痛苦和人生空幻的悲剧，说明“空即是色，色即是空”（Sunya is Rupa, Rupa is Sunya或Void is Form, Form is Void）的哲理。这部小说的题目也叫《情僧录》。在小说第一回，作者借用一位空空道人表达了肯定佛教对万物超自然的先验图式的信仰的主题。结果，“空空道人因空见色，由色生情，传情入色，自色悟空，遂改名情僧，改《石头记》为《情僧录》。”在小说第五回，主人公贾宝玉跟随警幻仙姑神游“太虚幻境”。在“太虚幻境”石碑两边的一幅对联是：“假作真时真亦假，无为有处有还无”。根据印度大乘佛教哲学的“空”论，“空”（Sunya或Void）即是“真”（Satya或Truth），“色”（Rupa或Form）即是“假”（Asatya或Fiction），也即是“幻”（Maya或Illusion）。所谓“太虚幻境” （the Land of Illusion）实际上就是一种“空”的“色”（a Form of the Void），或者说是一种“真”的“假”（a Fiction of the Truth）。在“太虚幻境”里一座宫门上写着四个大字“孽海情天”和一幅对联：“厚地高天，堪叹古今情不尽；痴男怨女，可怜风月债难酬。”我们知道，爱情是痛苦的，爱别离是人生最深的痛苦。虽然人可以“自色悟空”，但失恋之苦仍然无法从“空”中解脱出来。因此，《红楼梦》的爱情悲剧至今仍能引起无数读者深深的同情。
Duhkha and Sunya
(Suffering and Void)
__Impact of Indian Buddhist Philosophy in Chinese Art and Literature
By Wang Yong
The Indian Buddhist philosophy produced a notable impact on Chinese art and literature in ancient times. Especially profound influence belongs to Duhkha-satya or the Truth of Suffering (Everything is Suffering) in Proto-Buddhism and Sunya-vada (Everything is Void) in Mahayana Buddhism.
The Buddha preached his first sermon in the Deer Park at Benares. The essentials of his preaching are the Four Noble Truths. The First Noble Truth is that life is Duhkha or Suffering. The life’s suffering includes: birth, old age, sickness, death, union with what one does not like, separation from what one dose love, not to obtain what one desires. The reason for suffering is desire. Suffering must be caused to cease by overcoming desire. Suffering will cease if one finds the path of deliverance, which is the Eightfold or the Middle Path. The philosophy of Mahayana Buddhism is represented by two schools of the Madhymikas founded by Nagarjuna (c．150 A．D) and the Yogacarins founded by Asanga(c．400 A．D). Both are based primarily on the doctrine of Sunya or Void as taught in the Perfection of Wisdom Sutras. The Madhymikas emphasize Wisdom, and their method is dialectical. They reduce mind and matter directly to Sunya, the truth of which is revealed by exposing the self-contradictory nature of all statements about the Absolute. The Yogacarins, on the other hand, stress Meditation, and their approach is intuitive. They reduce matter to mind and then mind to Sunya, the truth of which dawns upon the purified consciousness in the depths of meditation.
Such as the concepts of Duhkha and Sunya of Indian Buddhist philosophy increased the tragic consciousness and philosophical thinking in Chinese art and literature.
Buddhism had been brought to China in the early Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220), and it became a flourishing religion during the Northern and Southern Dynasties (386-581). The concepts of Duhkha and Sunya of Indian Buddhist philosophy were introduced into China following the translations of Indian Buddhist texts. During anarchical warfare, the Chinese people lived in an abyss of suffering, so they were easy to receive the concepts of Duhkha and Sunya of Buddhism. These concepts gradually penetrated the entire fabric of Chinese culture and thought, and created a profound change in Chinese art and literature. The murals such as “Jataka of King Sivi” and “Jataka of Prince Sudana” of Dunhuang Magao Grottoes in the Northern Dynasties, depicted the bloody scenes of self-sacrifice about stories of cutting own flesh to save a dove or giving own life to feed hanger tigers . The mural’s pictorial composition is turbulent, its figures exaggerative, its colours solid and heavy, and the atmosphere it conveys intensely tragic. These bloody scenes of sacrifice perhaps tortuously reflected the suffering life of Chinese people at that time. From that time, Avalokitesvala, known in China as Guan Yin, became the most popular Bodhisattva, he has been widely worshipped by Chinese people, because he is a Bodhisattva who helps the needy and relieves the distressed. In order to stress the pity and kindness of this male Bodhisattva, Guan Yin was usually moulded as a dignified and soft female image since the Sui Dynasty (581-618) and the Tang Dynasty (618-907).
The Indian Buddhist philosophy had an appeal on a higher level to many of the Chinese intelligentsia. They were fascinated by the concepts of Duhkha and Sunya. The Buddhist concepts found their way into the Confucian thought, and they fused with the Taoist metaphysics into one, then it formed the Chinese Buddhist Zen (Dhyana) sect. Some of the Chinese poetry and painting received influences from Zen thought. For example, Wang Wei (699-759) was an outstanding landscape poet and landscape painter in the Tang Dynasty. He believed in Buddhist Zen and advocated “the Void of Mind”. His landscape poetry often depicted “empty mountain”, “empty forest” and so on, his landscape painting also sought for the artistic conception of void and silent. Su Shi (1037-1101) was the most talented literati in the Song Dynasty (960-1279). He had traced an analogy between Zen and poetry. His poem used such a metaphor: “The superior has studied the concepts of Duhkha and Sunya, his desires of all kinds were reduced to ashes. …… Don’t be sick of the Void (Sunya) and Peace (Shanti) if you want to compose an excellent poem. Because Peace can be clear about a group of movements, because the Void can contain myriads of boundaries.” The boundary of poetry by Su Shi is open and spacious. He heaved also a deep sigh of “the human life is like a dream” in his magnificent poetry.
Under the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), Buddhism once again achieved royal approval. Some adherents of the former Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) were resentful of the new dynasty and felt that they should retire to Buddhist retreats, where they could practice their art and literature against the dynasty. The “Four Monks” in the early Qing Dynasty mean four monk-painters as adherents of the Ming Dynasty, including Hong Ren (1610-1664), Kun Can (1612-1673), Zhu Da (1626-1705) and Shi Tao (1642-1707). Their paintings mainly expressed the sufferings of national subjugation and human life. Kun Can, on a well-known painting representing a monk meditating in a tree, a traditional subject with which the artist identified himself, has an inscription reading: “The question is how to find peace in a world of suffering. You ask why I came hither, I cannot tell the reason. I am living high up in a tree and looking down. Here I can rest free all trouble like a bird in its nest. People call me a dangerous man, but I answer: ‘You are like devils.’ I have gained an insight into everything is Void.” Zhu Da was a member of the Ming princely line. In his a hand-scroll, “Fish and Rock”, there are the fantastic rock and the lotus with two small carp fishes. The fishes with their almost whimsical vitality, their eyes looking up to the sky above, seem that they are escaping from the world. A poem by Zhu Da, alludes to the lotus as a Buddhist symbol and a haven. Thus it can be seen that the concepts of Suffering and Void embodied in the paintings of “Four Monks” reflected an antipathy and escapism to the real world.
“The Story of the Stone” or “A Dream of Red Mansions”, a famous Chinese classical novel by Cao Xueqin (1715?-1763) in the Qing Dynasty, in a sense, told about a tragedy love’s suffering and life’s illusion, it illustrated a philosophical viewpoint of “Sunya (Void) is Rupa (Form), Rupa (Form) is Sunya (Void)”. The title of this novel was also called “The Passionate Monk’s Tale”. In chapter 1, the author used a certain Taoist called Vanitas to express a theme which affirms the Buddhist belief in a supernatural scheme of things. As a consequence of all this, Vanitas, starting off in the Void (which is Truth) came to the contemplation of Form (which is Illusion); and from Form engendered Passion; and by communicating Passion, entered again into Form; and from Form awoke the Void. He therefore changed his name from Vanitas to the Passionate Monk (because he had approached Truth by way of Passion), and changed the title of the book from “The Story of the Stone” to “The Passionate Monk’s Tale”. In chapter 5, the main character, Jia Bao-yu followed the Disenchantment and visited “the Land of Illusion” in his dream. A couplet was inscribed on either side on the arch of the Land of Illusion: “The Truth becomes fiction when the fiction’s true; the Real becomes not-real when the unreal’s real.” According to the Sunya-vada of Indian Mahayana Buddhist philosophy, the Void (Sunya) is Truth or real, and Form (Rupa) is Illusion (Maya) or fiction. The Land of Illusion or Maya, in fact, is a Form of the Void, or a Fiction of the Truth. In the Land of Illusion, the following words were inscribed above the gateway of a palace: “Seas of Pain and Skies of Passion” and “Ancient earth and sky Marvel that love’s passion should outlast all time. Star-crossed men and maids Groan that love’s debts should be so hard to pay.” We know the passion is painful. Separation from what one does love is the deepest suffering in human life. Though one can approach the Void by way of Passion, the suffering of being disappointed in love is unable to extricate oneself from it. So, the love tragedy of “A Dream of Red Mansions” could still win the deep sympathy of innumerable readers to this day.
