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Paper short abstract

This paper analyses conceptions of Chinese dwarf trees to suggest how dominant aesthetic interests in gardens were not visual resemblance of nature, but the suggestion of the spirit peculiar to the manifold creation of the world. Twisted trees (bonsai) are considered especially spiritual entities.

Paper long abstract

In The World in Miniature (originally published as Le monde en petit, 1987), Rolf Stein

compares the process of dwarfing trees to the Daoist traditions of twisting one’s body to achieve certain animal-like figures. The first miniature trees were discovered on high mountains where conditions were insufficient for healthy growth, leading to a twisted appearance. These twisted trees were considered especially spiritual (ling靈 ) and even more so when they were old. A gu shu 古樹 (old tree) was associated with cults and shrines dedicated to healing, health, longevity and posterity; it was also the name given to dwarf trees which were understood to increase the health and longevity of their cultivators. The appearance of weathered old age developing spontaneously under the controlled conditions of the miniature garden leads to spiritual enlightenment; the artificial (miniature garden) is not less than the real (old forest). Following Stein, I explore Daoist takes on useless, ugly trees (the interaction between the giant oak and Carpenter Shi in the Zhuangzi) and their importance for a philosophy of life which valorizes effortlessness, leisure, and ease. Looking at early conceptions of the Chinese garden in which the beauty of landscape was embodied in miniaturized forms, I suggest that the dominant aesthetic interest in gardens was not visual resemblance of nature, but rather the suggestion of spirit peculiar to the manifold creation of the world. The pen jing (bonsai) ultimately connotes an inactive receptive posture which facilitates an intuitive identification with the dao.