Ziran 自然 as a Term in Chinese Literary Theory and Its Conceptual Reductions

Abstract The term ziran 自然 (nature, being natural) first appeared in the Daodejing and was originally a philosophical concept reflecting a pre-Qin Daoist cosmology and outlook on life. From the third century CE ziran gradually changed from a philosophical concept governing myriad things between Heavens and Earth to a specific aesthetic concept concerning concrete phenomena. As a result of this conceptual transformation ziran became a term in the system of Confucian literary thought. During the Wei-Jin (220–589) period it referred to the highest aesthetic achievement; by around the tenth century CE it had abdicated its supreme position and became one of a set of terms reflecting various aesthetic styles. Poets even began referring to it using more concrete terms, such as chongdan 沖淡 (calm and bland), thereby turning it into a casual, convenient expression in literary appreciation. In the Ming and Qing dynasties (1368–1911) ziran underwent yet another conceptual turn from huafa 活法 (living rule) to wufa er fa 無法而法 (the rule of no rule) through its friction and negotiation with fadu 法度 (rule). Once ziran became a term in literary creation and criticism shared by common practitioners of poetry, its secularization was unavoidable. With the introduction of the foreign term “being natural” into Chinese language in the 1800s, ziran picked up a new meaning. Due attention is needed in the study of the rationale behind the transformation of the meaning of ziran and its successive conceptual reduction as a term in literary theory.