「意境」一詞最早見於唐代王昌齡的《詩格》,和「情境」、「物境」合為三境。由於原始文獻的解說文字簡約,中國學術界從八○年代以來對三境的理解眾說紛紜,大致可分為「類型取向」和「層次取向」兩大詮釋取向,至今尚無定論。高友工建構中國文化中的抒情傳統時,所提出的美感經驗理論和三境的創作歷程不謀而合,因此本文借用高友工的理論框架對中國學界的兩大詮釋取向提出檢討與修正。本文確立了三境實為不可分割之整體,處於同一範圍之內,因此「類型取向」的各種說法皆無法成立,而情境和意境的運作是為了在物境中達到境象的和諧統一,因此「層次取向」應該修正為相反的次序,「物境」才是最高的品第,「形似」則是創作的最高要求。
A word of "Conception" (I Jing 意境) stem from Wang Chang-Ling's (王昌齡) "poetic rules" (Shi Ge 詩格), which with "Situation" (情境) and "Thing-situation" (物境) are combined into "three situational spheres" (San Jing 三境) in Tang Dynasty. Due to original words too shortly and hard to explain from the ancient literatures, the 1980s Chinese academic have different views to demonstrate "three situational spheres". It is unclear conclusion but "Three situational spheres" split into "Category-oriented" (類型取向) and "Phase-oriented" (層次取向) in general. Gao Yu-Gong (高友工) build lyric tradition in Chinese culture and propose aesthetic experience and "Three situational spheres" have the same creative histories. This article takes Gao's theory framework to review and examine into "Category-oriented" and "Phase-oriented" steps. Our conclusion confirm that "Three situational spheres" is hard to split, they are all in the same field, therefore, "Category-oriented" theory hard to establish at all. The operation with "Situation" and "Conception" purpose to obtain "Image phase" (境象) in "Thing-situation" (物境) environment. "Phase-oriented" should be modified into contrary order. Only "Thing-situation" has the highest order, "similarity " (形似) is the highest demand for creative work.