“Use your pen to your heart, and if your heart is right, your pen will be right.”
Born in sorrow, died in happiness
The heart is just like the thought, and the pen is like a dense mountain.
"The heart is upright and the pen is upright" is Liu Gongquan's euphemistic advice to Emperor Mu Zong of the Tang Dynasty. The meaning of this famous saying can be understood from the following two aspects.
Firstly, from the perspective of ethics To analyze the relationship between personality and calligraphy.
Confucianism attaches great importance to ethics. In the cultural coordinates of Confucianism, calligraphy is regarded as a "mind study". Also, it is the study of mind. "This origin comes from the Han Dynasty. Yang Xiong's "Fayan: Asking the Gods" says: "Words are the voice of the heart; writing is the painting of the heart. The sounds, pictures and shapes can be seen by gentlemen and villains. Those who sound and paint, gentlemen and villains are so emotional! "Yang Xiong saw that "book" communicates with the inner world. A gentleman can appreciate beauty from the "inner painting" of "book", and a villain can also show his true face in the "inner painting". Zhong Yao in the Three Kingdoms period in " "Bi Fu" also says: "The one who writes the handwriting is the world; the one who flows the beauty is the person." Liu Gongquan enriched and developed this idea. His theory of "the heart is correct and the pen is correct" uses a new proposition to connect the relationship between personality, ethics and calligraphy. It is not only a reflection of the giant calligrapher of the Tang Dynasty himself, but also successfully A "pen admonishment" was carried out, which achieved certain results, which greatly interested and praised the later generations of scholars. "("Liu's Second Nephew Asks for Handwriting") A poem by Zhao Yan of the Yuan Dynasty said: "You Jun once wrote "The Book of Changing Goose", and the book written by Zhumixian has a clear character. Seeing that Liu Gong's heart was in the right place, he became famous for his thousand-year-old pen and advice. "("The Authentic Works of the Tang Dynasty Liu Chengxuan Regular Script "The Book of Saviors") and so on.
Not only that, but later generations further elaborated on this theory. In the Ming Dynasty, Xiang Mu had "The heart is right, the writing is right", and the order of calligraphy is composed of "right heart", "right writing" and "right calligraphy", and it is believed that "right heart" should be "sincerity", "knowledge" and "investigation of things", and then through "practical practice", one can achieve "further study". ", calligraphy can also produce new, wonderful and strange ideas (see "Elegant Words on Calligraphy·Physics of the Heart"). There is "mind science" in the history of philosophy. Lu Jiuyuan of the Song Dynasty and Wang Shouren of the Ming Dynasty both regarded "heart" as the source of all things in the universe. The origin states that “the learning of saints is also the learning of the mind, which was taught and received by Yao, Shun, and Yu. Xiang Mu believes that calligraphy is also a process of "mind learning", and its logical starting point should be "correct mind", and will eventually reach the "kingdom of freedom." Liu Xizai of the Qing Dynasty also said: "Books are like words." Like his learning, his talent, his ambition, in short, just like the person he is." "The writing style, ink style, and emotion are all based on the person's temperament. This is the first task of the book, which is rational and emotional. "("Art Summary") These are all closely related to "the heart is upright and the pen is upright".
"The heart is upright and the pen is upright" emphasizes the calligrapher's character cultivation, and later generations often judge calligraphy based on their character. One of the standards. Su Shi once said: "Master Liu's words are correct in heart and pen. He is not only sarcastic and admonished, but also true." Although the villains of this world are good at calligraphy, their expressions still have a sideways and flattering attitude. They don't know human feelings and see things as they please. Are they like what Han Zi called someone who steals an axe? It's true. However, if people see his writing and still hate it, then they will know it. " ("Dongpo's Inscriptions and Postscripts") Therefore, in the history of calligraphy, Cai Jing, a powerful traitor in the Song Dynasty, was excluded from calligraphers because of his despicable character. From a creative perspective, this proposition profoundly reveals the relationship between calligraphy and the inner world of calligraphers. The complex and subtle relationship is also the externalization and expression of the calligrapher's personality in calligraphy. From this, we can also understand the calligrapher's mentality and make an appropriate evaluation of his works.
The second is the calligraphy technique. Analyze it yourself.
The Qing Liang Tongshu "Pinluo'an Lun Shu·Fu Kongguyuan Lun Shu" said: "The heart is correct and the writing is correct. Most of the predecessors used Taoism as an explanation, but I think otherwise. As long as you use a very soft sheep's hair to peel off the paper, you are not afraid of being incorrect, not afraid of carelessness, superficiality and trance, and you will naturally be calm. "In fact, not only Liang Tongshu, but as early as the Song Dynasty, Jiang Kui said in the "Use of Pen" section of "Sequel Book of Books": "A straight heart means a straight pen" and "The intention is in front of the pen, and the words are in the back of the heart", both of which are famous sayings. Zhou Xinglian of the Qing Dynasty In "Linchi Guanjian", it is said that Liu Gongquan said, "If the heart is correct, the pen will be correct." The center is the correct point. He also said: "The ancients said that if the heart is correct, the Qi will be calm, and the wrist will be flexible. The end of the pen is filled with ink, the ink is filled with concentration, the concentration is like nourishment, there is no intention but all intention, no law but all law.
This is just a congenital effort that saves a lot of words, thoughts and suggestions. It is said that everything is done in one go. "These are all derived from techniques and commented on, which is not unreasonable. But their importance is not as important as that of "character".