Spring Insects and Autumn Snakes published by Li/Shi/Min, Biography of Jin/Xizhi by Shu Wang. The article said: (Xiao) Ziyun was fond of naming Jiang Biao recently, and she only got one book, but she didn't get angry with her husband. If you walk with insects in spring, your writing is like a snake in autumn, lying on paper and sitting on Yan Xu's pen. Although thousands of rabbits are bald, they have no muscles; Skin in poor valleys can't collect bones. To spread beauty instead of abusing its name and evil?
Xiao Ziyun was a famous calligrapher/legalist in Xiao/Liang Dynasties (according to his cursive script, it is not seen today, but Ge Tie handed it down in small letters, see the attached figure). Li/Shi/Min thinks that his writing is tortuous and lacks bones and muscles, just like "spring insects and autumn snakes".
Li/Shi/Min's "On Books" pays attention to the strength of bones and tastes the cloud: "Today I am in the book of the ancients, and I don't learn its environment, but I seek its strength and the environment is born." (Selected Calligraphy Papers of Past Dynasties, p. 120), and most calligraphers take Wang Xian's beautiful calligraphy style as a model, "vigorous and beautiful calligraphers are the best" (Ouyang Xiu quoted Ma Zonghuo's "Lin Yutang Zhao Jian").
Xiao/Ziyun is no exception. He said in Liang Wudi's Book Revelation: "I couldn't appreciate it in the past, but it was as expensive as the world. Amethyst (Wang Xianzhi) has been in scale for many years. " Although he also said that he "changed his respect for his son at the beginning, specializing in law and (Zhong You)", in fact, "what changed in the late festival was the right army's (Wang Xizhi's) law when he was young" ("Liang Mi Ge" in Yan Zhitui's Yan Family Instructions Acrobatics 19) did not fundamentally change the aesthetic taste.
Because this passage of Li/Shi/Min already contains the explanation of "spring insects and autumn snakes", it has not brought difficulties to future generations' understanding and application. Song Jiangkui's "Continuation of the Book Spectrum": "Tang/Taiwan/Zongyun:' If you walk like a spring bug, your words are like an autumn snake. "Evil has no bones. You Su/Shi "Dongpo Inscription and Postscript" Volume 4 "Xiao Ziyun Inscription":' Taizong commented on Xiao Ziyun's book:' Walking like a spring bug, every word is like an autumn snake. Looking at its remains today, because it is faithful and empty, it is called the ear. "
Su Shi's Poems, Volume 15, Five Musts of Harmony in Confucius Mansion and Liu Beishi's cursive script: "A bee's waist and a crane's knees play freely, and spring insects and autumn snakes get sick." Su Shi's poetry anthology, Volume 29, Postscript to Two Kings of Ermi Mansion, Part I: "If autumn snakes and spring insects mix for a long time, the pheasant will decide who is beautiful." Tour Zhao Mingyi Guang's "Hanshan broom talks about academic ability III": "The word method is evil and boneless." The book of letters says,' If spring walks with insects, words will be like snakes in autumn.' This subject and object are the same. "
Also/Song Qingcao's "Calligraphy of Characters in Cursive Books": "If you walk in spring, the word autumn snake belongs to a dozen, and it is constantly entangled like a hairspring, which is also a big disadvantage of being a good talent." You Ching Yao Peizhong's Calligraphy Notes: "Planting grass is inexhaustible ... otherwise, it's just spring insects and autumn snakes." Speech speed is limited to the meaning of "lingering" and/or "boneless".
In addition, some commentators have literally translated "spring insects and autumn snakes" without losing their original intention. Qin's Collection of Tianyi Pavilion: "During your years, Chen, Fang, Yang and Ma Caoshu met great gentry, while Shen and Zhang were particularly grotesque, but they were arrogant and defiant. The speaker regarded sick beggars as thieves and stiff snakes as insects. What a surprise! " (Continued from Selected Calligraphy Papers of Past Dynasties, page 4 19)
You Feng Mingfang's "Learning Course of a Teenager: A Cursive Book": "Recently, Zhang Donghai's learning has been entangled in boneless, and he is ready to be in a state of dead snakes and worms." Also/Wang Qingshu's "On the Book, Pen Running": "If you are frustrated, you can fall. What's wrong with a finger like a hammer and a pen like a dead worm? "