Listen to this articleshēngwú’āilè 声无哀乐
There Is No Such Thing as Joyful or Sad Music.
音乐本身没有哀乐之情，只是可以寄寓和激发情感。由三国时期的嵇康（223—262，或224—263）提出。嵇康将心情、意志与音乐区分开，认为情志由心灵主宰，可以表现为多种音乐形式，作者用音乐所表现的情志不等于听者由音乐所激发的情志，以乐观政的实质是执政者先了解社会状况和民众情志，然后借助音乐进行教化：乐师将正确的道理、健康的情志、美好的理想表现为和谐优美的音乐，使音乐与某种特定的意蕴结合，成为广大受众共同的认定，由此影响人心、改变社会风俗，并进而强化音乐的特定意蕴。“声无哀乐”说启示后世文艺批评家将历史变迁、社会风俗、作者的精神世界与受众的心理接受等多种要素结合起来进行考察，更为合理地认识文艺的本质与功能。
Music itself should not be divided into joyful music and sad music – it can only accommodate or inspire feelings. This idea was first raised by Ji Kang (223-262 or 224-263) of the Three Kingdoms period. Ji held that music should be separated from emotion and aspiration. Emotion and aspiration, he said, are controlled by the soul and show themselves in many musical forms. The feelings or aspirations expressed by a musician are different from those evoked in the listener’s heart. The relation of music to the governance of a country is that rulers should first know more about the livelihood and aspirations of ordinary people and then moralize them accordingly. Musicians can incorporate truths, wholesome aspirations, and noble ideals into harmonious and beautiful music, linking music to certain implications cementing among the audience a broad consensus so as to exert positive impact on the popular belief, improve social customs, and in the process further strengthen messages implied in the music. This theory of non-differentiation between joyful music and sad music urges literary critics of later generations to examine a combination of factors such as historical changes, social customs, the inner worlds of authors, and the psychological reception of audiences, and to understand the essence and functions of art and literature more rationally.
引例 Citations：
◎声音自当以善恶为主，则无关于哀乐；哀乐自当以情感，则无系于声音。（嵇康《声无哀乐论》）
（声音原本以好听与不好听为标准，跟人的悲哀与快乐没有关系；人的悲哀与快乐原本是感情受到激发以后产生的，与声音没有直接联系。）
Music should be judged on the basis of whether it sounds pleasant or not. It has nothing to do with men’s joy or sorrow. Men’s joy or sorrow is evoked by actual events; it should not be directly linked to sounds. (Ji Kang: On Non-differentiation Between Joyful Music and Sad Music)
◎夫哀心藏于苦心内，遇和声而后发；和声无象，而哀心有主。（嵇康《声无哀乐论》）
（悲哀的情感蕴藏在悲苦的心中，遇到音乐旋律便借助它表现出来；音乐的旋律没有固定的形象，但悲哀的情感则是由内心支配的。）
Sad feeling, buried in a grief-stricken heart, will burst forth through musical melodies. Musical melodies have no fixed form, whereas sad feeling is controlled by the heart. (Ji Kang: On Non-differentiation Between Joyful Music and Sad Music)
