Abstract: The relationship between body and mind constitutes a shared core concern for Confucius and Plato, encompassing three interrelated dimensions: conceptions of life and death, the ontology of beauty, and the cultivation function of poetry and music. Proceeding from an ethics grounded in worldly existence, Confucius advocates transcending the finitude of life through the moral praxis of “sacrificing the body to fulfill benevolence” (sha shen cheng ren); his value orientation of “honoring life while valuing the body” (zhi sheng zhong shen) emphasizes breaking through the limits of individual existence by means of this-worldly self-cultivation. Plato, by contrast, proceeds from metaphysical speculation, advancing the thesis of the soul’s immortality; his theoretical presupposition that elevates the soul while denigrating the body locates the meaning of life in the disembodied soul’s contemplation of the Forms after death. Grounded in these divergent understandings of life and death, Confucius situates aesthetic activity within the domain of ethical practice, upholding the aesthetic ideal of “perfect goodness and perfect beauty” (jin shan jin mei) and holding that beauty is the natural manifestation of the gentleman’s (jun zi) character through bodily practice. Plato, within the framework of his Theory of Forms, establishes the ontological standing of beauty, and through philosophical deduction from the concept of “beauty itself”, defines beauty as the soul’s accurate apprehension of truth once it has transcended the constraints of the body. As for the path toward the realization of beauty, Confucius constructs a system of cultivation harmonizing body and mind through a theory of poetic education that “regulates emotion by means of ritual propriety” (yi li jie qing), emphasizing the distinctive value of poetry in emotional refinement and social edification. Plato, while affirming the purifying effect of musical education upon the soul, simultaneously identifies the mimetic character of poetry as an obstruction to the apprehension of truth. This comparative inquiry not only deepens our understanding of the similarities and differences between Chinese and Western conceptions of body and mind, but also systematically illuminates the divergence between the paradigms of “the unity of Heaven and humanity” (tian ren he yi) and the “subject-object dichotomy” (zhu ke er fen), thereby opening new theoretical horizons for contemporary cross-cultural dialogue.