很少有哪个国家会以山和水作为自己的文化精神象征，以山和水自然景物作为绘画和诗歌的主题；实际上，“山水”已成了中国文人士大夫群体的集体避难所。在我们的历史上，诗词总是在“山水”风景里徘徊踯躅，往往我们读一首诗或词，字面充斥着山山水水，而诗人的实际内心，我们只能随着字词的音韵节奏来体悟。而且，古时许多名士的骇人故事，多是发生在山水之间。那么，中国的哲学冥想无疑地产生于山水之间，因为不管是老庄还是朱程的语言永远围绕着自然山水比喻进行着。寺庙也总是建筑在深山流泉边。而且，所有建筑的营造必须依照“风水”的规则。就是吃茶的水，《茶经》说；“用山水上，江水中，井水下。”甚至在文学里描写男女性爱交媾，也是以“云雨”这一自然名词作为形容词或代名词。
那么，山水究竟意味着什么呢？我手头有《红楼梦》、《牡丹亭》和《金瓶梅》，这些发生在庭院里的故事，无一不在叙述空和寂寥。那么，“山水”作为一种方式，是一种标准，左右着古人精神生活和日常生活的全部。
首先引起我兴趣的是冠《史记》列传之首的《伯夷列传》。伯夷、叔齐是孤竹君的两个儿子，父亲想要立叔齐为国君。孤竹君死后，叔齐欲禅让伯夷，伯夷说：“这是父命啊。”于是逃走了。叔齐也不肯继位，也逃脱了。人们只好拥立孤竹君的次子即位。伯夷和叔齐听说西伯昌乐于赡养老人，于是便投奔他而去。不想，西伯昌已经死了，伯夷和叔齐到了那里，正是西伯昌的儿子武王将东伐殷纣，伯夷和叔齐拉住了武王的马缰阻止，说：“父死不葬，爰及干戈，可谓孝乎？以臣弑君，可谓仁乎？”武王的随从上前要杀他们，太公吕尚立即上前阻止说：“此义人也。”并搀扶他们离去。武王平定了商纣，天下归顺了周朝。但是，伯夷和叔齐认为这是耻辱，仍坚持操守，不吃周朝的粮食，隐居在首阳山，靠采集野菜充饥，临死前作了一首歌，曰：“登彼西山兮，采其薇矣。以暴易暴兮，不知其非矣。神农，虞，夏忽焉没兮，我安适归矣？与嗟徂兮，命之哀矣。”宋画院待诏李唐，曾用诗一般的画面描绘伯夷和叔齐在首阳山的情景，名曰《采薇图》。这是中国文人归隐山水最先的故事。为什么中国文人的退隐唯独选择山水呢？
我有意选了一个最古老而又极端的神乎其神的例子。我的论点，“山水”是我们这个民族长期以来经过深思熟虑的精心塑造的人格精神或者理想的标尺，它的全部内容像宇宙一般深邃，不可避免，全方位，并且可以作出无穷无尽的解释。出世者对入世的关怀，入世者对出世的向望。所以，以山水作为主题的中国山水画，便是这种精神的物化载体，或者可以说是精神的全部。对于中国人来说，董源的《潇湘图》卷，是世代文人追求的完美境地；还有倪瓒所画的那些秋天或冬日太湖萧瑟的山水，正是中国文人心灵深处不可避免的苍凉景象。
如果说李成、关仝、范宽、郭熙等北宋的画家们展示的是博大崇高浑厚精神的话，这种对自然石质茂林大山的外在精妙刻画，是标尺自然，对造物的无限崇拜。由此，还有另外的一种现象，比如马远、夏圭、米芾父子、倪瓒、八大山人和渐江，他们以虚无的姿态观看自然，往往更少地描摹景物，留出大片开阔的云雾，于是，道的静穆冥思，禅的空灵，才真正的显现。明人董其昌著书《画禅室随笔》，论山水画分南北两宗，因此明确了中国文人审美的倾向。
总之，山水的梦想取决于世世代代的不知名的人在他们清冷的书房里阅读和体悟诗词和画卷时所发出的激动和惆怅。
山水激起我们的幻梦也许是永恒的，但是自然山水于现今的破坏变化，哪怕只有一些极小的变化，它的魅力也将丧失殆尽。随着现代化日益发展，那种传统审视山水的方法也将逐渐失效。因此断言山水幻梦永远存在是危险的。
我无可奈何地怀疑花岗岩石质的黄山的无限期的永久耸立，今天晚上认为渐江弘仁和尚和大涤子石涛的山水画是经久不衰的。
我重说一遍，山水幻梦是中国文人精神审美的标尺和形容词；是世世代代的人出于不同理由，以先期的热情和神秘的忠诚的膜拜。

2003年8月16日
On Shanshui

By Hong Lei

In no other countries are mountains and rivers regarded as the cultural and spiritual symbol of a nation and employed as the main theme for paintings and poetry. In fact, "shanshui" (mountains and rivers) is the retreat for Chinese intellectuals and officials in the past. All through Chinese history, poetry lingers on the scenery of shanshui. Each poem bears the mark of shan (mountain) and shui (water) that we can interpret but we can only experience the emotions of the poet through the rhythms of the words. Many heroic events took place in the middle of the mountains and rivers. Chinese philosophy was created in amongst the mountains and water. Chinese philosophers Lao Zhuang and Zhu Cheng both centered their metaphors on shanshui. Temples are built in the depth of mountains and alongside moving brooks. Buildings are constructed in accordance to the principles of fengshi. Such concern for mountains and water is carried into such small detail as choosing water for making tea. Lu Yu writes in Ch' a Ching (a book on tea-making), "Water from mountains is superior, water from rivers is medium and water from wells is inferior. And in Chinese literature, cloud and rain are used as a metaphor for lovemaking.
What does shanshui mean for Chinese? I am reading Chinese classics, the likes of Red Mansion, the Peony Pavilion and Plum in a Golden Vase (Jin Ping Mei). All of these stories that took place in courtyard houses, tell of the emptiness, mystery and loneliness. Should we regard shanshui as a life style or a standard by which people used to live their spiritual and daily life?
I was very interested in the story of Boyi, the first chapter in Historical Records (Shi Ji). Bo Yi and Shu Qi were both sons of King Guzhu. King Guzhu planned to make Shu Qi his successor. After King Guzhu passed away, Shu Qi offered the position to Bo Yi. Bo Yi remarked, "It was our father' s will that you be the King," and he fled away. Shu Qi didn' t agree to take over either so he left too. As a result, the third son of King Guzhu became the King. Bo Yi and Shu Qi heard that Xi Bochang were kind to the elders so they went to see him. By the time they arrived, Xi Bochang had already died and his son, King Wu was plotting to march to the East to overthrow King Zhou of Ying Kingdom. Bo Yi and Shu Qi held back King Wu' s horse, trying to stop him. They told him, "Instead of burying your dead father, you resorted to war. Could this be filial piety? King Zhou is superior to you but you want to kill him. Could this be integrity?" (After hearing this), one of King Wu' s followers stepped forward, about to kill Bo Yi and Shu Qi. A consultant for King Wu, Lu Shang immediately put a stop to it and said, "These are honest people." King Wu went ahead with his plan, took over Ying Kingdom, propelling Chinese society into Zhou Dynasty. Bo Yi and Shu Qi despised his victory and refused to live on the supply offered by Zhou Dynasty. They took shelter in the depth of Shouyang Mountain and survived on grasses and insects. They wrote this poem prior to their death, "To climb up that Mountain in the west, to pick the plants. To stop a war with a war, you don' t know its harm. Shen Nong, Yu, Xia all suddenly perished, where could I settle down? To live like them, with constantly threats of being slaughtered, it' s the sadness of life."
Li Tang, an official in Song Painting Academy depicted the hermit lives of Bo Yi and Shu Qi in Shouyang Mountain in his poetic "Cai Wei Painting". It was the first incident that Chinese intellectuals chose to go into hiding in the Nature. Why would Chinese intellectuals prefer the Nature as a hideaway?
I quote this ancient and mysterious story to demonstrate that shanshui is the time-honored and carefully-cultivated yardstick for the integrity and ideals of Chinese people. Its full content is as in-depth as the universe, inevitable and comprehensive. It can solicit infinite interpretations. Those that have escaped the society care for those in the society while those who have entered the society have longings for escaping the society. Chinese shanshui paintings are the manifesto for this spirit or you could say are everything this kind of spirit represents. The roll of "Xiao and xiang Rivers" by Dong Yuan is the perfect hideaway for generations of Chinese intellectuals. Or otherwise Ni Zan' s depictions of the desolate scenery of Taihu in fall or wintertime embodies the sense of isolation hidden in the heart of Chinese intellectuals.
If what Northern Song painters, the likes of Li Cheng, Guan Tong，Fan Kuan and Guo Xi demonstrated in their works was the sense of magnificence and dignity, this meticulous description of the Nature was a sign of their full admiration for the Nature. The other school of painters including Ma Yuan, Xia Gui, Mi Fu and his son, Ni Zan, Bada Shanren and Jian Jiang viewed the Nature in the context of Daoism. They usually painted very little scenery and set aside large margin for open cloud and fog. The meditative spirit of Daoism and transcendence of Chan are fully revealed. Ming Dynasty scholar Dong Qichang wrote Essays from the Studio of Painting Chan, discussing that shanshui paintings had Southern and Northern schools. As a result, he established the aesthetic preference of Chinese intellectuals.
In conclusion, the vision for shanshui was born out of the excitement and sorrow felt by generations of intellectuals from their reading and contemplating poems and paintings in their solitude.
The fantasy shanshui plants in us is probably everlasting but the natural scenery, due to modern day destruction, can easily lose its charm completely despite tiny changes. Modernization will eventually changes our way of appreciating traditional shanshui paintings. It' s not safe to say that the dream of shanshui will always exist.
I had no choice but to doubt the infinite eternity of the Yellow Mountain. But today I think the shanshui paintings by Monk Jianjiang Hongren and Dadizi Shitao are timeless.
Let me repeat it, the longing for shanshui is the model of Chinese intellectuals'  spiritual appreciation. It' s what generations of people fantasize over and marvel at.

August 16, 2003
Translated by Carol Lu