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Although the arts that Confucius referred to in this passage were not the same art forms cultivated by Confucian gendemen of later ages, Confucius' injunction is significant in that it has been understood to confirm that, already in the earliest Confucian teachings, an intimate association was posited between moral cultivation and the enjoyment of artistic pursuits. In his masterly study of the rock in Chinese art, I believe John Hay provides us with an important clue as to how this relationship worked:
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John Makeham (1998) studied this question.
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