"It is the stage where the ch'i of the painter is effortlessly
transmitted through the painting. In one respect, it might
be described as the stage at which his whole personality is
revealed in a painting, since the co-ordination of brushstrokes
and of the composition is a direct expression of his character.
Such an interpretation, however, misses the vital point: that
all the steps of the painter's arduous training, all his accumulation
of all the means available, all his efforts in the long process
of the development of the self, should be directed by the concept
of Tao and so be ritual acts sanctifying the painting that
he produces.
Then the tactility of the brushwork is evidence
less of the personal touch than of the power of Tao. The anonymity
of the ritual act is, in effect, oneness with Tao. And painting
is not self-expression but an expression of the harmony of
Tao."
The Way of Chinese Painting
, by Mai-mai Sze.
