“Feifei Stone” stands out easily from other scenic stones in the garden, though it is not big in size. It is more than 50 centimeters high and is on display on the study table for appreciation. Mi Wanzhong owned three well-known gardens, including the Zhanyuan Garden (the garden of Limpidity), the Manyuan Garden (the garden of Profusion) and the Shaoyuan Garden (the garden of Ladle). Mi placed his collection of stones in Guyun Mansion in the Garden of Zhan, but later he took them out to a special building for display. Mi had a large pool of wonderstones, of which “Feifei Stone” was the best.
米万钟叙述与非非石恍然际遇：“若惊，若喜，若休，若䁥，若梦，若迷，又轻若醉而忽醒，寐而忽觉，不知身系何在也者。”
Mi Wanzhong described his first encounter with "Feifei Stone" in this way:“I was as if surprised, excited and addicted at the same time; it was like a mysterious dream; I was as intoxicated as I felt light after awakening. But I did not find myself anywhere at that moment.”
中国文化史中，对奇石的狂热在从未停止，奇石是主人找到占有丘壑的一种方式，如果说昆仑之丘遥不可及，桃花源深不可测，那就好的方法就是在现实中找到替代之物，奇石是这些巨大之物的缩影和藏身之所。《维摩诘经所说经·不思议品第六》云：“若菩萨住是解脱者，以须弥之高广，内芥子中，无所增减”，在解脱者的空间中，“大”可以被包容在“小”中， 而“大”的特质没有减少，一卷代山，一勺代水，奇石可以摆放到庭院中，可以安置到案头上，在和奇石的相处中，奇石给予主人顿悟解脱的狂喜和幸福感。
The history of Chinese culture shows that people have always been obsessed with the collection of wonderstones. In fact, the collection of wonderstones is a way for collectors to find hills or valleys. The Mount Kunlun is out of reach and the Garden of Peach Blossoms is not easy to fathom, the best way is to seek for substitutes in the real life. And wonderstone represents exactly a microcosm and shelter for these gigantic objects. According to the Six Chapter of the Classics of Wei Mojie·Mysterious Liberation, “For liberators, towering Mount Xumi can be fitly imbedded in a seed, and the mountain’s specialty does not change”. In the liberators’ mind, the “large” can be included in the “small”, but the special nature of “large” will not change at all. Mountains and rivers can be represented by a scroll of painting or a scoop of water. Wonderstones can not only be exquisitely laid out in the garden but can also be placed on the desk in the study. By staying with these wonderstones, their collectors will give way to a sense of ecstasy and euphoria resulting from sudden enlightenment.
奇石陈设于幽斋案头旁，与主人同居，体量虽小，却又无限广阔，它是主人苦苦追寻的丘壑世界的缩影。宇宙的迷雾，围绕其实体和虚空，有无数个巨大之物的在场，五色之水，白水、赤水、洋水、黑水、青水，汇聚在世界的巅峰上，其发出巨大的声音，洪水震滔，世界的黑暗被闪电劈开，这声响从上古隆隆传来，又终将消失，凝聚成一道道山体的凹痕。这复杂多变的痕迹把时间压缩在物体的表面上，比较于平滑的表面，这种表面的多样性在丘壑中永远位于统一之前。在这个意义上也可以说丘壑的状态从未曾处于统一状态中，而林立的群峰也总是处于“多面”的变化，这样的“多面性”状态中包含的正是自然生成的差异。
Set beside the table of a secluded studio, wonderstones live with their collectors. Though small in size, they can present an infinite space. Therefore, they epitomize a world with deep valley, for which the collector spares little efforts to seek. The real and virtue lands in the universe are surrounded by mist, and countless colossal objects. The Rivers of Five Colors, including White River, Red River, Azure River, Black River and Blue River, are gathered at the peak, followed by deafening roar, which give rise to tumultuous waves and rising floods. Suddenly, the darkness is split by streaks of lightening, causing fits of blares. The tremendous sound coming from remote times is rumbling and fades away, thus leaving many concave traces in mountain areas. Time is condensed by these complex and changing traces on the surface of all objects. The diversity of such surface is always given greater priority before the unity in the valley. In this sense, never has the state of valley been found in the form of unity. But peaks upon peaks invariably unfold “multidimensional” changes. Hence such state of “multidimensionality” is exactly the difference generated by the Nature.
奇石呈现之“多面性”被视为“道”的化身，接近无限自然之真，其中形态的多变，来自一种反复和印迹，把“大”与“小”的转化视为世界的实相，这是对一种事件而非对一个物体的观看，奇石在时间与空间中“挤压”着凝视。奇石是混乱和混沌形象的“传播”者， 既被世界观看，又提供观看世界的路径。世界的差异与重复、简单与复杂、低级与高级、分裂与缝合，都不断地体现着奇石之“真”的性质和功能。奇石之“真”，意味着自然所揭示的是一种复杂的秩序，而这种秩序在阴阳缠绕、进退往复的观念的下面，把空间追回一种混沌原初的时间中。
The “multidimensionality” of wonderstone is regarded as the embodiment of “Taoism”, which is close to the trueness of infinite nature. In particular, the multiple change of form comes from a kind of repeated print. The transformation of the senses of big and small is considered the truth of the world, which is actually the way to watch an event rather than an object. The wonderstone is squeezed in between time and space. It serves as a “communicator” of confusing and chaotic images, who can be seen by the world and can provide the way of how the world can be seen. The nature and function of wonderstone that reflect the “trueness” are well demonstrated by difference and repetition, simplicity and complexity, low levels and high levels and split and seaming. The “trueness” of wonderstone means that what the Nature reveals is an alternative complicated order, which will bring us back into a primitive and chaotic state with the entanglement of both Yin and Yang, progress and retreat.
所谓真人，就是“体洞虚无，与道合真，同于自然，无所不能，无所不知，无所不通”。“虚”本义为大山丘，即“墟”的本字，在语源学上，“虚”和山丘、奇石是有紧密联系的。“虚”并非“无”，它指向极大，不可见、不可知，《说文》解释，“虚，大丘也，昆仑丘谓之昆仑虚”，大到昆仑，则极空旷，故引伸之为空虚。《尔雅》又说，“虚，空也”，所谓“寥寥空宇中，所讲在玄虚”。左思《咏史》讲：“空，窍也”，窍，孔也，天地之间也是通过窍和孔连接的。从外部说，“大”之山丘转化成“小”之奇石，实体被转印的是“虚”之像，而非固化的顽石；从内部说，奇石暗示了对天地的承载和容纳，《紫阳真人内传》又云：“天无谓之空，山无谓之洞，人无谓之房也。山腹中空虚，是谓洞庭；人头中空虚，是谓洞房。是以真人处天处山处人，入无间，以黍米容蓬莱山，包括六合，天地不能载焉。”“洞天”可以视为“虚”的古代语用，广义的洞天包括天空（天无)）、山洞（山无）及洞房（头空），此 解释来源于道家的宇宙观:宇宙由多层空间组成，宇宙中的时间、空间都是相对的，有中存无、无中生有、大中有小、小亦含大。
The so called Zhenren is an immortal who “has an ethereal body, merged with Taoism and belonging to Nature and the one who is omnipotent and omniscient. The original meaning of Xu (nothingness and unreal) refers to a vast hill, equivalent to “Xu” (a hill). Etymologically, “Xu”, hill and wonderstone are connected with one another. “Xu” does not necessarily mean “nothingness”, because it has a very extensive meaning and possesses invisible and unknowable features. According to the Analytical Dictionary of Characters, “Xu is a vast hill, so Kunlunqiu is called Kulunxu (both have the same meaning, referring to the Kunlun Mountain).” The vast Kunlun creates an extremely open space, so big that it seems like “void”. Er Ya, one of Confucian classics and the earliest dictionary in China, explains, “Xu means emptiness”; so Xuanxu (mystery and nothingness) is means the vast universe.” In his poem Yongshi (Nostalgia), Zuo Si wrote, “Kong (emptiness or hollowness) means caves, and pores”. Heaven and earth are connected by these caves and pores. From external point of view, when the “vast” hill is transformed into the “small” wonderstones, what is transformed is the “unreal” image rather than solid stone. But internally, the wonderstone implies the meaning the containment of the heaven and earth. Explanations in the Story of Immortal Ziyang were shown like this: “In heaven, there is nothingness; in hill, there are caves; and in human, there is a hollow brain. The void in the hill forms a lake; the void in human can contain the space. So, the immortal lives in heaven and earth in harmony with mortals in the earthly world. He enters into a world of nothingness, where nothingness means everything. A handful of rice can contain the Penglai Mountain, the heaven and the space. “Dongtian” (a vast cave) can be viewed as the meaning of “Xu” in antient times. Broadly speaking, “Dongtian” contains Tiankong (sky), Shandong (cave) and Dongfang (human’s hollow brain). This kind of explanation derives from the Concept of the Universe proposed by the Taoism: The universe is made up of many dimensions of space, where time and space are relative, and there are no clear boundaries between the concept of big and small. They are inter-generated and interdependent.
“虚”的词源学研究有助于探究“非非石”其名之来源，“非非石”也将暗示出很多隐含着的象征性的或者神话学的主题。“非非石”提示我们：
The etymological study of the term “Xu” can help us find out the origin of “Feifei Stone”. In addition to this, “Feifei Stone” will also implicitly present to us a variety of hidden themes related to symbolism and mythology. “Feifei Stone” suggests that:
进入世界的方式正来自物的自反性，物通过和主体的对立而认知，同时主体—客体之间，物既和主体对立，又是主体进入自身的形式，对于世界的敞开是奇石展开整体性的起点，为进入敞开。米氏和奇石的相处，激发了对于身心冒险的意志行为，而这冒险要在世界之本原、物之初始中去追问，去先行思考， 这样一来奇石就不只是一个物体对象，更像是穿透主体进入世界中心的路径。博尔赫斯认为：“空间并不重要。你可以想象一个没有空间的宇宙，比如，一个音乐的宇宙......”，时间才是一个根本之谜，浸透了时间的其他东西是神秘的”，他接下去说：“时间问题把自我问题包含在其中，因为说到底，何谓自我？自我即过去、现在，因为说到底，何谓自我?自我即过去、现在，还有对于即将来临的时间，对于未来的预期。”
The paradoxical nature of the thing creates the way we approach the world, which means that the object is known through its opposition to the subject but the object and the subject are interdependent with one another. The stone opens the door for the us to enter a new space. Mi Wan-zhong’s company with wonderstones enables him to make mental adventures. But if we want to understand this adventure, we need to conduct a careful study of the origins of the world. With such notion, the wonderstone is not merely an object but also a path that leads through the subject to the center of the world. Mr. Jorge Luis Borges said, “Space is not important. So, you can conjure up a world without space, for example, a world of music…” “Time, however, is the fundamental mystery. The thing that saturates the time is mysterious.” He added, “The question of time includes that of atman. Ultimately, what is the atman? It is the past and the present, as well as the future expectation.”
对奇石的凝视，超越了二元对立的迷思，产生纯粹朴素、清明寂静无际无量的生命空间体验。奇石既是一种知觉经验，作为本体的源泉，回溯了生命的记忆之痕，同时开放了对时间的想象，其中人是“一个献身于世界的主体”，身体不是精神的载体，而是存在的一部分，身心的统一来源强调意识的意向性转变为具身化(embodiment)感知的意向性，在身体知觉的深处，存在着所谓思考理性所不能到达的世界统一性，借助身体经验和生活世界，“非非石”和主人形成的“伙伴关系”，是身体和世界的一种感性关系，而非知性关系。
The pondering over the wonderstone has transcended a myth of the idea of dualistic opposition and produces an experience of infinite life and space that are absolutely simple, clear and serene. Viewing wonderstone is a cognitive experience, which recollects the memories of life while enlarging the imagination for time. In a sense, human is “a subject dedicated to the world”, its body is not the carrier of spirit but part of the being. The unity between body and mind originates from the shift from emphasis on conscious intentionality to emphasis on the intentionality of embodiment perception. In the depth of body and perception, there is a kind of universal unity, which is unreachable through purely reasoning. With the help of physical experience and living world, the partnership between “Feifei Stone” and its “collector” shows to us a perceptual relationship be-tween the body and the world, instead of an intellectual relationship.
对于园林世界而言，世界是他者的影子，奇石是园林文化的象征物，也是园林主人自身主体意识的投射。奇石通过梦境、想象弥漫着，我们仿佛在奇石的空隙和空洞中，被引入一个身在其中又不确定于其中的世界，这个世界既非物质的亦非思维的，某种关系制造了这种不可见性。空间在这里透视变形了，把观者引入持续的凝视和中断的交替，空间通过一定的规定性表现了它自身。奇石，幽深，如梦似幻，一直被某种灵晕笼罩着，它是自然的限定者，但同时也提示着在这些限定的空间之外还存在着超越的其他的形式，某种不确定的形式，又提供了进入世界中心的路径，其外在的不仅是体量和视象的元素，并且建构了心理和精神动力结构。格哈德·里希特(Gerhard Richter)认为：“捕捉事物的图像，形成观点，就使得我们人之为人；艺术创造感知并赋予感知以形状”。在文化与自然、自我与他人、生者与死者之间，奇石的叙事给予顽石成为灵之居所的可能性，“忽然而有我，忽然而呼我，于亿万千字之中执认一二，梦寐不讹”，“非非石”由于主体意识的出现而被唤醒，否则石仍为顽石，世界的整体性在生命的感知和内视中得以存在。
In the garden, the world is a catchall of shadows of other things. The wonderstone represents a symbol of garden culture and a reflection of subjective consciousness of the garden’s owner. It, in turn, generates a vision of the misty world through dream and imagination, as if we were placed in the crevices and pores of wonderstones and attracted to a world in which we stay but do not recognize our being. This world does not materially and ideologically exist, and it is a certain relationship which gives rise to unpredictability. When people see through this world, the space is deformed, which is taking the viewers through repeated observation and interruption. The space finds its expression through specific laws. The wonderstone looked secluded and lonely, and the sight of it leads one to a dreamland. A spiritual halo surrounds the stone without letups. It is the definition of the Nature. Meanwhile, it reminds us that there exist other forms of uncertainty that goes beyond any other things in the world, which could also provide the pathway to the world, with factors more than just the external sizes or vision elements. Mr. Gehard Richter maintained that “What makes us human is the fact that we can capture the images of things and form corresponding opinions; the perception of artistic creation gives it the form”. In the relationship between culture and nature, ego and others and the living and the dead, the existence of wonderstone justifies the possibility that the house with stone can be shelter of soul in the eyes of the collector. Mi used to write: “It feels like sometimes the stone is calling upon me, sometimes I feel myself inside the stone. No matter how many words I may write about it, I would still rather be caught in the status where dream and wake are not clearly cut.” “Feifei Stone” is awakened by the presence of subjective consciousness. Otherwise it would still be a hard stone. The existence of the whole world is visible in the perception and inward vision of life.
未完待续...
To be continued.
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