Introduction: In the thousands of years of Chinese history since the beginning of writing, countless people have learned calligraphy like carps crossing the river. However, in the history of calligraphy, there has never been a figure who can compete with Wang Xizhi, which shows his respected status among them. Li Shimin, Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty, was so fond of Wang Xizhi's calligraphy that he even took the "Lanting Preface" written by him into his tomb to accompany him in the next life. I thought people who wrote calligraphy could be divided into several categories. Those who are idle and graffiti are derogated as rough people; those who follow the steps step by step are called craftsmen; those who are unruly and move freely are praised as wonderful people; those who know the heaven and the earth, and the heaven and man are one, kneel down and worship, are called saints. The reason why Wang Xi became a god is because he realized the Taoism and integrated the Taoist ideas of Lao and Zhuang into his creations. His calligraphy is like mountains, rivers, flowers, plants and trees, which naturally has its own unique beauty.
Forgetting Things and Me
Wang Xizhi was a man from the Eastern Jin Dynasty. He was born into a noble family. He had outstanding talents and did not seek career advancement. He resigned from office many times and did not seek career advancement. He only wanted to sublimate his thoughts and soul. Get transcendence. In a letter to a friend, he wrote, "I have no ambitions for temples, but I have ambitions to live in Ziping." I longed for the life of a hermit in the Eastern Han Dynasty. From then on, he traveled around famous mountains, rivers and lakes, enjoying extraordinary things and becoming a true hermit. Many people learn calligraphy, some in order to seek praise from others and gain spiritual pleasure; some use it as a means to obtain money. If you first pursue fame and fortune, then how can you create an otherworldly artistic conception when you start writing? Laozi's "Tao Te Ching" says, "Heaven and earth last forever. The reason why heaven and earth can last forever is because they do not generate themselves, so they can live forever." This means that the reason why heaven and earth can exist eternally is because she has no selfish motives. Wang Xizhi did not pursue fame and fortune in his calligraphy creation, but spent his whole life in pursuing the art of calligraphy. Only by expressing what he saw, thought, and thought about nature and the universe could he reach a state of miraculous skill, so he went on an outing. The "Lanting Preface", which is known as the best running script in the world, was produced.
?Tao follows nature
Taoism emphasizes tranquility and inaction, and follows the way of heaven naturally. Wang Xizhi's running script is the perfect embodiment of Taoist thought. In his calligraphy creation, he follows the rules but transcends them. He goes from traditional techniques to the Taoism of forgetting both things and myself as he pleases. Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty commented on Wang Xizhi's calligraphy as "floating like floating clouds, as powerful as a frightening dragon", while Emperor Wu of Liang said that "the dragon leaps over the Tianmen, and the tiger lies in the Phoenix Tower". The Tao Te Ching says, "Existence and non-being complement each other, difficulty and ease complement each other, long and short complement each other, high and low lean to each other, sounds harmonize each other, and front and rear follow each other." The Tao Te Ching was written by Laozi, who is regarded as the originator of Taoism, when he went west to Hanguguan. What is the Tao? It is the dialectical relationship of the colorful unity of opposites in nature. The characters written by Wang Xizhi after many years of travels, from the beginning and end of the strokes, to the mutual echo, and the comparison of sizes, are this specific display
The picture above is a page from Wang Xizhi’s Huairen Collection of Holy Teachings. The word "summer" can be seen that the writing methods of the short horizontal and long horizontal strokes below are different. The long horizontal stroke is the starting stroke of Zangfeng, and the short horizontal stroke is the continuous stroke of "day". The ending of the short horizontal stroke is to open the stroke, and the ending method of the long horizontal stroke is to close the stroke after the pause. The horizontal strokes in the middle of the two Japanese characters are also different. The top is a short horizontal and the bottom is a dotted horizontal. It is so varied and colorful. The colorful expressions in nature are reflected in the past and the future
The main calligraphy in the early Han, Wei and Jin Dynasties was represented by Zhong Yao. The regular script he wrote was derived from the official script. We can clearly see the flying strokes and the loose connection between the strokes. In Wang Xizhi's later works, we can see that the strokes are mostly exposed, and the overall shape of the square strokes is uniform and powerful, and the momentum is like an arrangement. The whole structure changed from the original horizontal to the vertical, which made the calligraphy take an important step from the original simplicity to the modern research of the Tang Dynasty. The principles of the calligraphy system are of extremely high value.
It is said in the book that to write well, you must first put your heart first and then your mind. This means that before writing yourself, you must fully understand the meaning and interest of the words in order to fully display your own beauty, instead of following the steps step by step, so that the written words will be No charm.