謝赫在中國美學史上首創「氣韻生動」這一命題，這是源出《古畫品錄序》中「六法」的第一命題。這個理論原來只是適用於人物畫，但是後來陸續影響到各種繪畫題才，甚咿用來形容繪畫以外的其他藝術種類的最高境界，到了宋代郭若虛有「六法精論，萬古不移」的論斷。而五代時期山水畫的興起已經臻於原熟，畫家荊浩在其《筆法記》提出適用於山水畫的「六要」這六要謝赫六法大致相同，謝赫六法的第二命題以下墜是有關技法的要求，而荊浩六要的第三命題以下也都是有關技法的要求。荊浩前二命題把氣、韻分開來，實質上命起來就是謝赫的第一命題。此二家在美學之普遍原理上都是源自「氣」的思想，而山水畫的發展又與道家思想相契合，所以在本研究的對比工作上，可以上溯至莊子的「心齋」、「坐忘」。因為它們也是「氣」論思想的原創起源之一。因此，本文以莊子思想作為一個聯東謝赫與荊浩的觀念根源，來作為本研究的中介。

Xie He was the first one who brought up the proposition of “spirit-resonance life-movement” in the history of Chinese aesthetics. “Spirit-resonance life-movement” was the first one of Xie He’s six principles (liu fa) as found in the preface to Classification of Painters. This theory of six principles (liu fa) was applied only to figure paintings at first but then extended gradually to all kinds of subjects. The term was even employed to describe then supreme state of art forms other than paintings. In the Sung Dynasty, Guo Rou-xu said that the theory of six principles (liu fa) was eternal. In the Five Dynasties, landscape painting reached its maturity, and Jing Hao proposed his theory of six rules (liu yao) about landscape painting, which was not so different from Xie He’s. in Xie He’s six principles (liu fa), the second to the sixth propositions were about skills, while the third to sixth propositions in Jing Hao’s six rules (liu yao) were also about the demand of skills. Jing Hao separated “spirit” and “resonance” into two propositions in his six rules (liu yao), while they were combined as Xie He’s first proposition. These two aestheticians derived their general theories from the thought of “spirit”, and the devlepoment of landscape paintings was compatible with Taoism. Therefore the comparison we make in this paper can be traced back to Zhuang Zi’s “the fast of mind” and “sitting in forgetfulness,” since these two ideas were part of the source of the thought of “spirit.” Accordingly, we take Zhuang Zi’s thought here only as a conceptual source that connected Xie He and Jing Hao but also as the intermediary of our study.