Return to the Sound of Music Itself——On JI Kang's Critique of the Tradition of Sound Worship

Faced with the early Chinese tradition of sound worship, JI Kang delves into the interior of the sound of music to reconstruct its understanding. In works like Sound, no Sorrow or Joy, JI Kang expresses his ideological orientation by exploring what is and what is not present in the sound of music itself. He argues that while music contains qualities such as calmness and urgency, agitation and stillness, good and evil, it does not inherently carry emotions like sorrow or joy, nor concepts such as merit, morality, intention, physical appearance, auspiciousness or inauspiciousness or prosperity and decline. According to JI Kang, a listener cannot understand or access the person producing the sound through the sound they hear. Furthermore, JI Kang critiques the concept within the tradition of sound worship that sound originates from the human mind and represents the mind. He argues that sound arises from heaven and earth and evokes the mind, allowing the listener to present their true self in the space opened up by the sound. On this basis, JI Kang introduces the concept of the "supremely harmonious sound" as the ideal form of sound. This sound, coming from nature, can release emotional tension, dissolve the institutionalized constraints of secular society, and ultimately lead to authentic existence. From the perspective of the history of philosophy, JI Kang's effort to return to the essence of sound is a significant part of the Wei(魏) and Jin(晋) philosophers' critique of the tradition of sound worship. Through JI Kang's meticulous analysis and reasoning, a new experience of sound and a new life based on it gradually became possible.