蘇軾の觀物

Abstract

Su Shi, who was a typical literary bureaucrat of the Northern Song 北宋 Dynasty, in his earlier times often contemplated water, plants, and ruins. And in his writings, he put great emphasis on their mutability, and tried to find an immutable principle which is common to all things in the universe. By finding the immutable principle, Su Shi wanted to overcome his own mutability. There is no doubt that this kind of thinking was common to other philosophers and literary bureaucrat at that time. In his later years, Su Shi was very interested in a certain character of water. He thought that water always transfigured itself in various ways, but did not change in its quality at all. Here he discovered a possibility of overcoming mutability of all things, including himself. There had existed a view, under the influence of the Southern sect of Chan Buddhism 南宗禪, unperturbed mind which could contemplate things was often compared to the grassy surface of water. Su Shi, however, added a more active image to this mirror-like water. An image like this clearly shows that Su Shi could not devote himself wholeheartedly to objective contemplation of things, and could not help pursuing a subjective mode of observation.