Ouyang Jie’s thirty-six methods.
"Thirty-Six Methods" is a treatise on calligraphy form, consisting of only one volume. This book is a monograph in which the author teaches calligraphy techniques based on the physical characteristics of Chinese characters and his experience in writing calligraphy. The thirty-six items listed are: overlap, avoid, top, cross, back, side, support, give way, fill the gap, cover, zero, bond, speed, full but not empty, meaning connection, overturn, hang down, borrow and change, increase or decrease, respond to, support, bow to, save, attach to, hug back, wrap up, but good, small becomes big, small big takes shape, small big, big or small, left small, right big , high on the left and low on the right, short on the left and long on the right, each formed in its own way, connected to each other and connected. Now let’s talk about the techniques, analyze the pros and cons, point out the key points, give examples and so on.
The rows of stacked characters should be dense and even, and should not be wide or narrow, such as "Shou, Gao, Hua, Dou, Bi, Li, Ying, Cuan", next to "Feng" , next to "Yan" and the like, "Eight Jue" calls "distribution of white in intervals", and also calls "mixing evenly for stippling". This is what Gaozong calls "stacking" in his "Calligraphy". If you want to avoid danger, make it easy; if you want to avoid danger, make it easy; if you want to avoid distance, make it close, so that they can complement each other properly. Another example is the character "庐". The upper stroke is sharp and the next stroke should not be the same. The character "Fu" has one stroke downward and one stroke to the left. When the stroke of "Feng" is pulled out, the upper stroke must be dotted, and so on. Avoid overlapping and keep it simple. There are many characters in the word "Dingdai", but if the top is heavy and the bottom is light, "Dingdai" wants it to gain power, such as "Die, Lei, Yao, Luan, Jing, Lu, Bun, Sheng, Yi" and so on, as the so-called "Eight Jue" "Slant is like a person, the top is called the download", and it is also said that "the head should not be light and the tail should be heavy". There are many characters that are straight on one side, and if there are any characters that are on one side or slanted, they should be formed according to the potential of the characters. Those that lean to the right are like "心, Ge, Yi, Ji"; those that lean to the left are like "Xi, Peng, Nai, Wu, Shao, Hong" and the like; just as those that lean to the left are like "Hai, Nu, Zhang, Arrow, mutual, not" and so on. The so-called bias in calligraphy is correct, and the correct is biased. This is also wonderful. "Eight Secrets" also says "Don't turn to one side". This is also true. Paste zero, such as "Ling, today, winter, cold" and the like.