The “Rational Perspective” Integral to Wang Wei’s Personhood and Poetic Expression

This project endeavors to analyze the poems of Wang Wei in terms of a “rational perspective,” a manifest element of Wang’s personality that is characteristically expressed in his poetic works. Traditionally, studies of Wang’s poems have emphasized his (Buddhist and Daoist) religious influences and his aesthetic sensibilities. In contrast, by focusing on Wang’s spiritual/psychological agency as the fundamental driving force, I argue that Wang’s personality can be seen as the core on which the development of his cognitive faculties and values are based. His religious thought is thus an auxiliary, external, passive element that relies on the engagement of the core personality; that is, a discerning subjective entity initiates and guides the internalization and outward manifestation of his religious influences. This analysis explains the way in which ideological influences including Zhuangzian Daoism and Buddhism converge in Wang’s thought, and also links back to the poet’s own fundamental self-construction. In the process, it becomes clear that the mind-matter connection discussed in detail in prior scholarship is actually an elaboration of the subject-self connection—a deep and multifaceted look at the personality. Furthermore, “non-self,” the highest realm of attainment in this framework, is in fact not the elimination of subjective consciousness, but rather the evolution of a rational cognitive state. In the process of going from “self” to “non-self,” there is also a transcendence from “emotion” to “reason” and from “poet” to “philosopher”; this is precisely what is meant by ru er neng chu zhi [internalizing so as to make manifest] model of personhood. The evolved “rational perspective” is analyzed in detail, and relevant themes will be explored in the context of Wang’s poems by examining content, wording, and manner of expression.