Priceless
Introduction to Huai Su
1725 - 7851
Changsha (now a Hunanese) . He has been a monk since he was a child. His Buddhist name is Zangzhen and his secular surname is Qian. He is a carefree and carefree person who does not follow the strict rules. In his spare time, he is quite good at penmanship. He planted bananas extensively in his hometown of Lingling, and named his residence "Green Sky Temple"; he used banana leaves to study calligraphy, and confidently obtained the samadhi of grass sage. He also learned Zhang Xu's secrets of Kuangcao from Yan Zhenqing's oral instructions, copied them by heart, and finally became unique and famous in the world. Every time I drink wine, I will be in high spirits. When I encounter the whitewashed walls of the temple, I will not write anything, and everything will change with my hands, like a whirlwind. Li Zhou, the imperial censor, said, "Zhang Xu's work was called Zhang Dian at that time; now Huai Su's work is called Mad Monk by Yu Shi. Which one is not allowed to follow Dian with madness?"
In the art of cursive calligraphy Historically, Huaisu and his "Autobiography" have been discussed by calligraphy enthusiasts for more than 1,200 years since the middle of the Tang Dynasty. Huaisu, who became a monk at the age of ten, had the courtesy name Zangzhen and his common surname Fan. He was a native of Lingling, Yongzhou (now Lingling, Hunan). When he was young, he was fond of calligraphy during his free time during meditation. Being poor and without paper and ink, he planted more than 10,000 banana trees for calligraphy practice and used banana leaves instead of paper. Since the residence is surrounded by banana trees, the residence is humorously called "Green Sky Temple". He also used lacquer trays and lacquer boards to replace paper, and studied diligently and diligently. After writing on all the trays and boards, there were also many broken pen tips, which were buried together, which was called the "Bi Zhong".
He had a relaxed temperament, was keen on cursive writing, and made friends with celebrities, including Li Bai and Yan Zhenqing. Famous for "crazy grass". There are many records about Cinsu in the literature of the Tang Dynasty. "The pen is moved quickly, like a sudden rain and whirlwind, flying and turning, changing at will, and the law is there." The predecessors commented that Kuang Cao succeeded Zhang Xu and made new developments, saying that he "succeeded Ding with Kuang Cao" and also called "Dian Zhang Zui Su". It has a great influence on future generations.
Huai Sushan uses the center stroke to create large strokes with pure force, such as "a sudden rain and whirlwind, the whole hall is full of momentum", to the state of "suddenly three or five screams, filling the wall with thousands of words". Despite his speed, Huai Su was able to fly through the entire story with very few mistakes. Compared with the messy and imperfect calligraphy methods of many calligraphers, it is actually much better. This is a Kuangcao who knows Huaisu. Although his thoughts are wandering and ever-changing, he never leaves the laws of the Wei and Jin Dynasties. This is indeed due to his extreme penance. There are many handwritings handed down by Huaisu: Thousand-Character Essay, Qingjing Sutra, Notre Dame Post, Zangzhen Post, Lü Gong Post, Beriberi Post, Self-narrative Post, Ku Bamboo Post, Fish Eating Post, Forty-Two Chapter Sutra, etc.
Studying the above works of Huaisu, the styles are not all the same, and can be divided into three types: First, those that have not completely got rid of the style of their predecessors: such as Our Lady, Eat Fish, Ku Xun, Zang Zhen , many of the postcards retain the Jin style, and many of the Notre Dame posts are in the style of Yan Zhenqing. Second, he has his own unique style of writing, such as the Purity Sutra, the Forty-Two Chapter Sutra, and the Self-Explanation Notes (which can be called the standard Huai Su book). The third is to follow the peaceful and indifferent style of writing, which is like a thousand-character essay on grass. It is very different from his wild and wild style. It has completely changed his appearance, which can be said to be his outstanding feature.