Chinese Penjing (Ch. Bonsai)

Penjing and bonsai are closely related art forms. Penjing is the older form from which bonsai derived. While the similarities by far outweigh the differences, there is a significant variance in scope: "Bonsai" literally means a "tree in a pot" and therefore as an art form, bonsai is more narrowly defined than penjing, a "landscape in a pot". Many of the beautiful, elaborate tray sceneries created by Chinese artists clearly defy the parameters of bonsai.

While penjing can be found in many variations, the Chinese themselves recognize three distinct categories:

Tree Penjing (shumu penjing)
Landscape Penjing (shanshui penjing)
Water-and-Land Penjing (shuihan penjing)

2. HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT
Penjing as an art form spans over a thousand years. Our earliest historical records of a stone and a plant arranged in a container to form an artistic scenery date from the Tang Dynasty (618-907). By the Song Dynasty (960-1279 ), the Chinese already practiced the art at an advanced artistic level. Paintings from that period depict pieces that would be prized among seasoned collectors today.

Penjing artists have drawn much of their inspiration not only from nature, but from nature poetry and landscape painting. Similar aesthetic considerations have guided all three art forms. With landscape painting attaining unprecedented heights during the Song Dynasty (960-1279), penjing, too, was poised for vigorous artistic development. By the early years of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), the art had become very popular, and the first manuals appeared. With increasing popularity, however, more commercial, folkloristic, and regionally defined strands of penjing sprang up alongside the more sophisticated, artistic forms. In addition to aesthetically refined penjing, one could find trees styled by representatives of regional schools where trunks had been coiled to represent dragons or whose canopies were to depict cloud layers, or trees shaped to resemble the strokes of fortuitous characters. The variations were endless. However, this should not concern us too much. Any art has the potential for decline and degeneration. We should focus our interest on the way the art has been practiced at the highest level. In traditional China, penjing in its finest form was an art of the scholar, just like poetry, calligraphy, brush painting, and garden art.

In the later years of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), the 19th century, foreign aggression and domination led to a decline in penjing, and this development was exacerbated during the years of foreign occupation and humiliation, war, civil war, and revolutions that China experienced during much of the 20th century. Old collections were lost, artists struggled to survive and to pass on their wisdom and insights. Only in the last twenty-plus years have the conditions in China allowed for a renaissance of this ancient art form. Today, a quickly growing number of enthusiasts and collectors have discovered their own roots in penjing.

It is assumed that the art of creating miniature trees reached Japan by the 13th century. The exact time during which penjing reached Japanese shores is not known. In the 6th and 7th centuries, Japan sent envoys to China to study her arts and architecture, her language, literature and philosophy as well as her legal system. A second massive importation of Chinese culture and arts occurred during the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279 ). Chan, a form of Buddhism in which the original Indian teachings blended with Daoism (Taoism), a native Chinese philosophy, was introduced to Japan during that time and given the name "Zen" - the name by which it is known in the West today. The vast cultural transmission begun in the the 1200's would last for centuries as Japanese artists continued looking to China for guidance and inspiration and freely "borrowed" ideas, themes, motifs, as well as technical and horticultural knowledge.

3. AESTHETICS
The penjing artist's goal is not only to re-create a natural scenery in a container, but to capture its essence and spirit. To achieve this objective, a wide palette of artistic devices comes into play.

Like a Chinese landscape painting, a penjing is a study in contrasts. On a philosophical level, this presentation of opposites is evidence of the Chinese artist's conceptualization of the universe as being governed by two poles of cosmic energy, the yin and the yang. Artistically, the contrasts create rhythm and dramatic tension which then is resolved in a dynamic balance, a delicately tuned equilibrium.

The attainment of overall structural unity is critical, especially in a more complex composition like a water-and-land penjing where design elements such as trees, rocks, mosses, small grasses, and water all need to harmonize with each other and contribute to the design in a meaningful fashion. Careful selection is critical. In addition to deciding on a container and determining the tentative placement of the composition, the artist will consider the tree species, number of trees to be used, their sizes, trunk angles and the density of their foliage mass. He or she will choose rocks for their size, color, shape, surface details, and compatibility with the trees. In the end, each and every element in the design needs to relate to all the others so that the entire landscape appears as an all-embracing, encompassing entity.

Penjing artists do not seek to create perfection. As a matter of fact, trees trained into highly stylized forms where every angle and every root and branch placement has been meticulously calculated by a rigid formula do not suit their tastes. Apart from being beautiful, an outstanding penjing must look entirely natural. It should look as if Nature herself had spontaneously created it - like a marvellous accident of Nature.

4. SPIRITUAL BACKGROUND
Bonsai and penjing may be viewed as objects of meditation. The act of creating bonsai or penjing by itself is a contemplative, meditative exercise - a practice of Zen. The little trees and miniature landscapes can be seen as a celebration of Nature and the healing powers extended by an intact natural environment. Creating and taking care of bonsai and penjing will draw you closer to Nature, enabling you to experience her in a more direct, intimate way.

For a more in-depth understanding of bonsai and penjing, the practice of creating miniature trees and landscapes should be viewed against the backdrop of two of China's great philosophical traditions, Daoism (Taoism) and Zen Buddhism. Daoism has exerted a profound influence over Far Eastern arts for over two thousand years. It's a way of thinking and living that can liberate mind and body. Daoism proposes the return to a state of original spontaneity by discarding the rules of rigid conventional behavior and thinking. It suggests that by learning to go with the flow and allowing our minds to function naturally, tremendous creative power can be unleashed. Tuning into the rhythm of Nature and understanding the interrelatedness of all things around us are key components of Daoist teachings.

Zen Buddhism evolved as a new strand of Buddhism with unique Chinese features. After Indian monks had introduced the teachings of Buddha in China about two thousand years ago, the sutras were translated and interpreted by Chinese practitioners of the Dao (Tao). This resulted in a highly Sinicized form of Buddhism that retained many important elements of Daoism. Chinese-style sitting meditation ("zuo chan" in Chinese and "za zen" in Japanese) does not seek to bring the mind under rigid control as does traditional Indian Buddhism, but instead seeks to liberate, encouraging the mind to flow without impediment and to follow its own, intrinsically good, nature. Chan, popularized in the West under its Japanese name, Zen, teaches that the receptive mind can find enlightenment everywhere, at any time, in the form of "sudden awakening".

And so it is that a bonsai or penjing artist, working with natural materials and concentrating moment to moment, may come upon sudden insights, inspirations, and resolutions. Thi