被人尊稱為「現代藝術之父」，馬塞爾杜象的觀念激發了一九六〇年代以後許多新的藝術形式。然而儘管他對於和他同時代和後來的藝術家有如此深刻的影響力，杜象本人的作品至今仍然令人無法捉摸，從而衍生了各式各樣的詮釋。其理由可能是杜象本人一向拒絕更直接地說明他作品的意義和其靈感的來源。
注意到達達主義者和古老遠東的神秘主義之間，的確存在著某種關聯性，還有部分美術史家也感覺到杜象作品裡面的東方味道，本研究者特地展開一個全面性的、嚴肅的檢驗，目的在於查看杜象與東方文化的可能關聯。此研究包括對於現存所有杜象的寫作、筆記、書信來往、演說和接受別人的訪問的徹底研讀。本研究同時也包括重新檢視杜象的視覺作品，包括油畫、現成物、裝置、設計、機器結構、照相和姿態等各類作品。本文也包括杜象親近的朋友之藝術觀念的考察。這些研究將明白顯示有關東方思想的訊息，在杜象製作他的作品時是隨手可得的。
目前流行有關杜象的理論，基本上是認為他的作品本身是片斷的、任意的、不聯貫的，目的只是在嘲弄傳統有關藝術和意義之關係；本研究者則將證明不僅杜象的作品是他一生追求自我發現的精神歷程，而且它們的內涵意義也是前後一致的。在發現杜象的作品本身強烈地暗示某種東方的圖象學和隱匿的象徵之後，本研究者將竭盡所能去解開這些謎底。本篇論文為整個研究的緒論。
Revered as "the father of modern art," Marcel Duchamp's idea inspired many new art forms after the 1960s. Given his profund influence on contemporary and subsequent artists, Duchamp's own work remains extremely elusive and germinates all kinds of readings. The reason perhaps is that Duchamp consistently refused to explain more directly and clearly the meanings and sources of his works and ideas.
Noticing that there did exist certain affinity between Dada and Far Eastern mysticism and that some art historians have sensed certain Oriental flavor in Duchamp's work, this researcher has set out for a comprehensive and serious investigation of Duchamp’s possible connection with the Far Eastern culture. The inquiiy includes a thourough study of Duchamp's writings, notes, correspondences, speeches, interviews with him by others and a careful re-examination of Duchamp's visual works including oil paintings, ready-mades, installations, graphic designs, machine-structures, photographs, and gestures. This research also includes a general survey of the ideas of those of Duchamp's close associates. It also makes clear that the Oriental sources were available to Duchamp when he made his works.
While the currently more popular theory about Duchamp looks at his work as mainly a cynical repudiation of traditional claims of art to significance and is in itself fragmented, gratuitous and inconsistent; this researcher will prove that not only is Duchamp's life work a spiritual process of the artist's self-discovery but also significantly coherent. Finding Duchamp's work strongly suggests a hidden involvement with certain types of Oriental iconography and symbolism, this researcher also makes every effort to decode them, The present essay is the introduction of that endeavor.
