The synthetic mode of thinking is closely associated with intuition and thinking in terms of images, and it is synonymous with implicitness and fuzziness. As Rudolf Fleisch puts it, the Chinese “formed the habit of expressing ideas by metaphors, similes and allegories, in short, by every known device for making a thing plain by comparing it with something else.” An apprentice learns cooking not by following recipes with precise quantitative descriptions, but by intuitively acquiring his master’s technique after repeated imitations. A Chinese painter seeks close resemblance in spirit instead of accurate likeness in appearance. A Buddhist monk rarely makes or attends religious speeches with clear-cut viewpoints about virtues and vices, but he practices transcendental meditation and seeks intuitive insight. In fact, intuitive feeling and fuzzy beauty are held in great esteem in almost all forms of Chinese art, such as poetry, drama, and painting. As Shen Xiaolong says, “This is a circular dialectic mode of thinking with a strong plastic, flexible, and stochastic nature.”

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