People who understand the original text create things, and people who can describe them are not made by one person. The three generations from the Han Dynasty to the Tang Dynasty were all preparing for the gentleman's learning and skill. Therefore, as for 2 in the poem, 3 in the text, 4 in the book, and Wu Daozi in the painting, the changes of ancient and modern times have enabled the world to complete. Daozi paints people with lights, such as taking pictures, drifting with the flow, seeing the side out, crossing evil, dividing each by five, you can get natural numbers, not bad, making new ideas, sending strange ideas out of the wild. The so-called room for manoeuvre, luck changes, and only one person is built in ancient and modern times. Send him a painting, or you may not be able to use his main name. As for Daozi, we can know its authenticity. However, there are few real people in the world, such as Uncle Shi Quan, who has only seen one or two things in his life.
Note 1 Three dynasties: Xia, Shang and Zhou. Du Zimei: Du Fu, a poet in the Tang Dynasty, chose his words carefully. 3 Han Tuizhi: Han Yu, the word Tuizhi, was an outstanding writer in the Tang Dynasty. 4. Yan: Yan Zhenqing, a famous calligrapher in Tang Dynasty, was named Duke of Lu. Wu Daozi painted five multiplication and division methods: increase and decrease. 6 luck changes the wind: the language "Zhuangzi Wu Xu returns" says: "If a man's chalk slows his nose, if a fly flaps its wings, it will make the craftsman stone it." The craftsman's stone has become a common practice, and it will be heard without hurting the nose and standing without damaging the capacity. "Metaphor Wu Daozi skilled here.
Smart people create things, and capable people tell them that this cannot be done by one person alone. Scholars learn poetry and books, and craftsmen learn skills. From Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties to Han and Tang Dynasties, a set of systems was very complete. Therefore, there are many aesthetic differences with Du Fu in poetry, Han Yu in writing, Yan Zhenqing in calligraphy and Wu Daozi in painting, but few can surpass them. Wu Daozi painted figures, as if looking at lights and candles, he could draw shadows. His brushstrokes were free and eclectic, and his strokes increased and decreased each other, which was a natural method. His paintings are vivid and lifelike, and there is no lack of originality in traditional painting. The style is bold, the technique is skillful, and there is no lack of exquisiteness, which is effortless. Only he can win this honor in ancient and modern times. I don't know the names of other people's paintings, but I can tell the authenticity of Wu Daozi's paintings at a glance. It's a pity that there are too many fakes left in the world, such as the genuine ones collected by Uncle Shi Quan, which I have only seen once or twice in my life.
This article comments on Su Shi's inscription and postscript for Wu Daozi's paintings collected by Shi Quanshu in the eighth year of Song Shenzong Yuanfeng (1085). Wu Daozi, a famous Taoist metaphysician, was born in Yangzhai (now Yuxian County, Henan Province). He was an outstanding painter in the Tang Dynasty and was known as the "sage of painting".