Su Shi's Concept of "Form and Spirit" in Painting and the Relationship with Buddhism

Su Shi's concept of and in painting is quite striking. However, due to different understandings, people after him have different opinions about that. Some scholars think that his saying Alikeness in spirit should be highly emphasized in painting, this is so obvious that even children know it shows that he just emphasizes alikeness in while negates the similarity in form. Actually, this is not his ideas in the concept. According to certain research, Su Shi highly emphasizes the important role of the latter in the former. He maintains that and are the two parts of a work, that the latter will not be got if discarding the former and the latter can be got in the former. Therefore, only by paying attention to both, can the real image of a work be created - a perfect state of having both form and spirit. His concept embodies the spirit of half-Taoism of Buddhism.