During the Northern Dynasties, Buddhism experienced three extinction events. Buddhist monks and laymen are deeply worried about this. "I think that if there are bad things, simple strategies are not long, gold is hard to find and leather paper is easy to destroy." The stone ode carved on the Jianshan Mountain in Zoucheng also has the words "Bamboo is easy to sell, stone is hard to destroy, and worship the mountain will last forever". I hope that Buddhist scriptures will be engraved on the cliffs and boulders, so that Buddhist teachings will be immortal. It is in this historical background that the cliff stone carvings in the Northern Dynasties came into being. It pursues the integration of the scriptures on the mountains and rivers with the whole environment, and also with the human mind to create a living natural whole. The incident of destroying Buddha made calligraphy art rush out of the elegant hall and go to nature. The combination of calligraphy art and other arts has promoted the development and perfection of Moya calligraphy art more widely.
Most of Zoucheng's classics are carved in Chinese characters, and the Buddha's name is carved with great momentum. Shudan's words are big, his artistic level is high, and his rocks are slightly soft. Sculptors don't use knives to hide pens, which creates conditions for cliff calligraphy to convey the meaning of strokes. Calligraphy and knife cutting are a clever combination of cliff calligraphy art. An excellent stone carving expert can not only reproduce the style of calligraphy itself, but also creatively change and sublimate the art of calligraphy itself. Its stippling, structure and style have all undergone new changes. Round pens can be carved into Fang Bi, round pens can be carved into square folds, Lian Bi can be carved into broken pens, and light pens can be carved into heavy pens. After the processing and modification of the knife method, it is not interesting to appreciate the effect of cliff calligraphy. This is the so-called "golden stone flavor". Many cliff stone carvings in Zoucheng were made by the famous monk and calligrapher An. The comments in Tieshan's "Stone Story" and Er Hongding's "Word of Mouth on the Air Door" have traces of Tao 'an. "Stone Story" records that "in the first year of Emperor Xiang of Zhou Dynasty, there was a defective hill in the south of Dagang Mountain ... There was a great shaman An, who was a calligrapher of Xiandao. In particular, he knows best that God is so noble that he wrote 930 words "Great Ji Jing Wearing Bodhi". ..... Opposite is Xi's birthday celebration, which is more beautiful than the cave, like dragons and fog, like a phoenix soaring in the clouds. The hidden traces of saints, the secret method of God, will always be robbed from the Buddha and the tree. " It is not difficult to see that Zou Yiren Ann Yi Dao is knowledgeable and has a wide range of friends. It is difficult to comment on the Excellence of calligraphy. Therefore, he can write a book with mountains and days, a masterpiece of a hundred schools of thought, surpassing innovation, looking deep for a long time, and the realm is beautiful. Kang Youwei called his book "Li Kai, Fiona Fang, profound and simple, which broke the extreme trajectory of coffins ... and really opened the Sui Monument Cave." Yang Shoujing said, "The Zheng tablet on Yunfeng Mountain is worse than that. Since it is not Goodall, it is destined to be a talent in the world. An Neng can have this unique idea. " Since the Jin Dynasty, the prosperity and development of Buddhism has influenced various cultures and arts in China, among which calligraphy is the most remarkable. The influence of Buddhism on calligraphy art mainly includes: the book originated from nature, the book is fascinating, and the book is a heart painting; All laws are uncertain, they can be combined or separated. Beginners set precepts, metaphysics can't; Generous and generous, regardless of details. It is arrogant to split the mountain and cliff, face the sky, and enter nobody's land, so you don't care about your own work and your future generations.
Cliff stone carvings, whether from Buddhism, history, calligraphy, art or society, are worthy of our efforts to study, reveal, understand, explore and appreciate this precious heritage.