英文摘要 |
An American avant-garde composer, John Cage (1912-1992) created some anti-art works which not only deeply disturbed the musical world but also influenced other artistic fields, and helped birth postmodern pluralism. All of these phenomena were closely related to the “Zen Boom” in the 20th century. This article starts with the exploration of the era and personal backgrounds in which Cage practiced Zen, and states some of the inevitable deviations that arose as Eastern thought moved West. The author then offers critiques on Cage's music compositions which are more or less akin to the Zen spirit, according to authentic explanations of such Buddhist terms as “silence,” “emptiness,” “koan,” and “dependent origination and emptiness of nature.” On the whole, Cage, who had a strongly religious personality, tended to use music to simulate the concept of Zen he approved of in his middle-age. For various reasons, however, there were some contested interpretations that caused ill feeling towards Cage from those in musical and religious circles. Nonetheless, Cage’s late-period works, such as Ryoanji, the “Number Pieces” and so forth, in the tension between freedom and control, and with the quality of simplicity, directly echo the character of austere sublimity, profound subtlety and tranquility found in Oriental Zen aesthetics. This proves that after years of hard work, Cage finally approached a state of enlightenment, |