One thing surprised me very much. Most online calligraphy lovers don't care about how to learn and improve calligraphy. In contrast, they are more concerned about: what is calligraphy?
Especially in the contemporary era when calligraphy education is not popular enough and the calligraphy world is strange. When the streets and alleys are full of ugly books, Jianghu style, veteran cadre style, acrobatic style, performance style and many other calligraphy schools, it seems particularly important to find out what the true meaning of calligraphy is.
What is the true meaning of calligraphy? Why is this problem more concerned than how to improve calligraphy? I really thought about it. In the process of thinking, I went back to the time when I first learned to practice calligraphy. It seems that the exploration of the essence of calligraphy also occupies most of my energy. On the contrary, I have less time to practice calligraphy and theory.
Perhaps the same is true of calligraphy lovers nowadays, who are more concerned about the nature and direction of calligraphy. If there is no accurate essence and valuable direction, then methods and efforts are not so important. After all, the roots are unstable and the branches and leaves will grow.
In those years, I thought hard for a long time, almost rummaged through the works of famous calligraphers in past dynasties and read thousands of calligraphy posts in the past two thousand years. Although my efforts are not Dai Yue, at least I can watch and think day by day. My direction is: to find the law in the ancient people's book learning process, and to find their pursuit in the ancient people's law posts.
This process took about three or four years from the beginning to achieving some results and solving your own doubts. I realized what calligraphy is and what it is for.
This idea can also be roughly divided into three stages, as Wang Guowei said:
Last night, the west wind withered the green trees, and I went upstairs alone to see the horizon.
I don't regret that my belt is getting wider and wider, which makes people haggard for Iraq.
Looking back suddenly, the man was in the dim light.
Or as the painter often said in the three-stage theory:
Look at the mountains, look at the water.
Seeing mountains is not mountains, and seeing water is not water.
See mountains or mountains, see water or water.
Although these three stages have different forms of expression, they are all in the same realm.
There is another explanation about calligraphy:
The first stage, advance.
The so-called "introduction" means that when learning calligraphy, you must first find a school to study. After the foundation of brushwork is stable, you can learn the characteristics of this school's "law" and create the results of memorizing posts. This is called "entering".
The so-called "fine before learning" is the basic requirement of calligraphy. Most people who have read books can't stand the loneliness of pursuing "essence". They want to step into the sky, thinking about the stage of "melting into the new" that will happen after 20 or 30 years.
At this stage, in the process of pursuing the "true meaning" of calligraphy, it is inevitable that I read the famous calligraphy theory. Although I may not understand them, I can see the contradiction. For a beginner, it is really suicidal to look at high-level contradictions at a low level, because beginners are often "narrow-minded" and not "transparent", so they can't correctly understand those contradictions, which will disrupt their understanding of calligraphy.
This process is very painful, because I can't figure out from the bottom of my heart what is right and what is wrong. In other words, Wang Xizhi told you to take your left foot first, and Yan Zhenqing told you to take your right foot first. In fact, to a certain extent, this is not contradictory, but under the horizontal constraints, contradictory ideas will arise. Apart from contradictions, you have "learned to walk" and forgotten how to walk. This is very common for most beginners I meet. I am a serious patient myself.
But this "miscellaneous" stage has brought me some benefits. I learned about the calligraphy works of first-class and second-class masters in almost every dynasty in history, which had an important influence on my later summary of "statutes" Of course, all this is based on forgetting Handan to learn to walk and knowing how to walk. The process of seeking "essence" alone is inevitable.
The second stage wave.
This stage needs to be carried out on the basis of "refinement" to understand the brushwork of one school, so as to see through the changes, similarities and differences and laws of each school.
The so-called mountain is not a mountain, and water is not water. What we see in the famous calligraphy is no longer the first stage, but the regular change of statutes under the pen and ink, which is a metaphysical thing above the landscape image. Learn a person's calligraphy, and you don't have to copy fonts anymore. As long as you know the brushwork, you can learn a shape.
This ability is to find "metaphysical" laws among numerous "forms", which is the second stage.
The third stage, melting.
Needless to say, it is to melt a hundred schools of thought into one furnace and start a new one. It seems simple, but in fact it is very difficult. How to integrate hundreds of schools? How to choose? In fact, this is not something that people can teach, but depends on themselves to "experience", which is based on people's knowledge and personality.
The so-called words are like people, but they are like talents, like learning, like ambition, and in short, like people.
People who can integrate a hundred schools of thought into a new one, no matter they are some Jianghu experts or real calligraphers, can't avoid one problem, that is, they have their own set of rules to deal with the knot. It's just that the rules of Jianghu experts are all self-created free bodies, which are just sloppy. Master is an ancient family, inheriting the essence of traditional culture.
It is inevitable not to argue about its level. People of insight can observe that history will be eliminated by itself.
Art is not a war, but a communication that goes deep into the soul, so we need a communicator who can touch the soul level, not a person who says, "I learned Chinese characters from an early age. Who can't read and write?" Can explain.
So much has been summed up above, is it the true meaning of calligraphy? Honestly, it really doesn't count. Even if the thought reached the third stage and became a "calligrapher", it failed to touch the true meaning of calligraphy. But what is more interesting is that most people will realize what "the true meaning of calligraphy" is after the second stage is mature.
By the third stage, you can only be a calligrapher. Of course, in ancient times, this was not a calligrapher, but a "good calligrapher". It's just different this time. There are fewer people learning Chinese characters, and the standards are low, which naturally leads to rising prices.
The last stage of calligraphy is "harmony between man and nature".
If the third stage is "words are like people", then the fourth stage, that is, the stage of first-class masters, has reached the "harmony between man and nature", which is the highest stage by combining the word "people" with nature and finally presenting it. As the saying goes, "when you are in contact, people and books are old."
Many people don't understand why you can write a good hand after studying for a few years, and you have to die of old age to be "friends".
Words can't be explained, because standards are different from people's pursuit. I often say that people are not divided into three or six classes, but also into three or six classes.
Matter and thought are really two concepts.
The unity of man and nature is the highest realm of philosophy in China's traditional culture. In calligraphy, it can be expressed as "accepting all kinds of differences and cutting into one phase", which expresses Zhang Tang's book theory.
The so-called "diversity" refers to everything in the world, and there are many contradictions. Cutting into "one phase" (removing sound) refers to using an object, namely pen and ink, in other words, it is a high generalization of "point", "line" and "surface"
The meaning of this sentence is to create an imaginary vast and free world by calligraphy.
This is more professional, not to mention it is difficult for calligraphy lovers to understand. Even some people who have good contact with calligraphy find it difficult to understand this level, because if they understand this level, calligraphy will not go astray, nor will it be the level of enthusiasts, but will be "professional". The so-called specialty is not a hard and fast rule, but there is indeed a watershed in the field of calligraphy. When thoughts and horizons cross, words have to be professional. If you can't reach your mind and vision, don't say that you are a layman after studying for 30 to 50 years.
This is a rather cruel fact, and it is also the reason why many people are unwilling to accept others' evaluation of "no". Everyone thinks he knows a lot, but it's far from it; In fact, when you really understand, it is the time to start thinking that you can't do anything.
"Complaining about others and complaining about others is a sign of self-distrust."
Heaven and man are one, and eventually they will see nature, so we should learn from nature from the beginning. For example, Huai Su's "cursive writing is beneficial when he hears about the river at night", or "Seeing the Qifeng in Xia Yun, he often learns from it". Another example is Huang Tingjian's "Sitting and watching the mountains and rivers, cursive writing seems to be helped by mountains and rivers". Therefore, as Weng Fanggang said in the Qing Dynasty, "there is nothing but cursive script in the world", and there is nothing that cursive script cannot be used for reference.
Of course, all this is thanks to one person-Wang Xizhi.
Wang Xizhi is the man who can best achieve the unity of heaven and man. Wang Xizhi studied books with Mrs. Wei, and Mrs. Wei took Wang Xizhi to visit famous mountains and rivers and see the world. Finally, Wang Xizhi and the harmony between man and nature.
The earliest use of images to describe calligraphy can even be traced back to Li Si's Xiao Zhuan, The Death of Ying Wangpeng. Wang Xizhi is by no means the first person to learn calligraphy. Many people have reached this stage before him.
Later generations called Wang Xizhi a book saint because he was the first person to integrate heaven and man, not the first person to take this road. Wang Xizhi's contribution to calligraphy is to expand the territory of calligraphy and enhance the realm of harmony between man and nature, which calligraphers are still pursuing.
In modern terms, Wang Xizhi improved the overall level of this industry by his own efforts.
Wang Xizhi can understand the true meaning of calligraphy and has experienced the same experience as most people.
What is the true meaning of calligraphy? The first is to learn from nature, and the last is to show nature.
Wang Qian became a book saint because he changed like a dragon, with no beginning and no end, no regularity, but extremely natural. It's definitely not the level that people can experience with a set of works thousands of times now.
At this level, first of all, we must have a skillful statute, and secondly, we must have a broad mind. If you are not open-minded, then the changes in your writing will naturally be "timid".
This kind of open-mindedness happens to be what Wang Xizhi has.
Wang Xizhi's story is "the east bed opens the belly". Jian 'an chose a son-in-law for his daughter, so he came to the Dan family of the Wang family. I heard that the Wangs' children are both talented and beautiful, so I came to the Wangs with the housekeeper. When Wang's children heard that Qiu Lai had chosen relatives, they all dressed up to meet them. Finally, they counted and counted, but there was still one person missing.
This man is Wang Xizhi, and now he is lying on the east wall bed with his belly button exposed, and he doesn't care about Qiu's choice of relatives at all. This incident reached Qiu's ears. Qiu was surprised and wanted to meet this unusual young man.
Afterwards, I learned that Qiu admired Wang Xizhi, who was natural, open-minded and unpretentious, and married his beautiful little daughter.
Then came the preface to Lanting's collection, and resigned in his later years, all of which followed his inner choice. Only those who are not afraid of the secular can experience the unrestrained natural state.
This natural state is the ever-changing mentality in his hands, that is to say, he has no rules and does not break them. This is "the heart is unbounded, and the line is unbounded."
This natural mentality needs to be understood by people who pursue freedom. Only by pursuing freedom in your heart can you live naturally and naturally.
When people are natural, writing is natural, and natural writing can be integrated with the natural state of everything, and the shape of everything is born.
This is the "true meaning" of calligraphy
After a lap, the true meaning of calligraphy returned to people. But this "person" is no longer a person in the third stage, but a person who is integrated with nature.
The operation of heaven is free, because people restrain themselves and tire themselves, so they are not free.
However, in a good period of Wei and Jin Dynasties, there were many sages who all yearned for freedom, so the poetry and calligraphy of Wei and Jin Dynasties reached a certain height. Even the painting and calligraphy level of ordinary people in the clan class is romantic, which is the reason of the times.
Later generations' pursuit of the true meaning of calligraphy can be a number, as long as they are first-class people. They have rules, but when the rules can reach the realm of nature, they are all pursuing the realm of freedom.
As long as people in the past are the first in history, there are no exceptions. Some people's handwriting seems stiff, but his writing is flexible and free. Therefore, it is very simple to judge whether a person is free, not by the form, but by the words.
Wang Xizhi's creativity is so high that there are few differences in each calligraphy style, all because of his unrestrained mentality and deep breath of free times.
Freedom is the premise of freedom. How to write freely? Liberate your heart first.
In fact, in the final analysis, the true meaning of calligraphy still comes down to people's "sex". Being able to integrate a hundred schools of thought can only show character, not temperament. True temperament is the foundation of calligraphy. Whether it is sadness, anger, happiness or gloom, as long as it is truly expressed in the heart without scruple and can be expressed freely in the heart, it is freedom.
The so-called freedom is not running around like a pig. But it is freedom to reach an explosive state of "explosion" in mind, not to converge, not to suppress, not to be moved by the secular.
It's like "go your own way and let others talk."
This seems to be similar to the mentality of many calligraphy lovers who write Weeds as soon as they get started. Many people want to write wild grass as soon as they come up. Even if they can't write regular script properly, they have to play cursive script, which is called true temperament.
Do they make sense? I think it makes perfect sense. That is definitely the true meaning of calligraphy, true temperament and freedom. But what's the use? Even if you have temperament and a free mind, what you write is not "calligraphy". There is no "law", it is "sloppy" rather than "freedom".
These two points are different. Rambling seems to be free, but it is also very restrained. He doesn't mean freedom.
Only in the rules can we transcend the rules and be truly free.
To give an inappropriate simple example, ernesto guevara stole an electric car, but there is a law to control it, so if he is caught, he will go to jail. But if one day his position allows him to steal without legal control, he will be really free. He tried to steal some battery cars, and no one managed to open the chain store.
This is called freedom.
What is sloppy? It was Che Guevara who stole a battery car, and someone happened to steal a screw on it and began to say that he was not under legal control.
This is a very "stupid" behavior, not that there is no legal control, but that no one wants to argue with a screw.
Therefore, there is an essential difference between laxity and freedom.
True temperament in calligraphy is really free, and it also needs to go through the stages of 1, 2, 3 and 4. Only in this way can we go beyond the rules.
If you think that calligraphy can go beyond the rules without learning from the beginning, it must be someone who wants to steal screws.
Talking about "freedom" with a little girl, I said I was free and I could go wherever I wanted. This young man is wrong. True freedom comes from self-discipline.
In fact, I especially want to refute her, but I really can't find a reason, because what she said is right, just like my understanding of calligraphy. If I refute her, I will refute myself.
Although I don't want to admit that I'm not free, I can really go anywhere and play as long as I want. But then I found out that if I didn't have self-discipline, I only cared about playing and didn't care about making money, I would starve to death on the road sooner or later.
Having said that, I think everyone understands the true meaning of calligraphy.
The article is long, but it is actually a philosophical topic, not a calligraphy topic. Philosophy is a subject that guides people to become smart and can help people improve their ideological level.
When I understand the highest realm of calligraphy and the true meaning of calligraphy. Naturally, I won't judge other industries as first and second, even if I think their works are the same as Baba. I prefer to believe it, because I don't know that industry.
As the saying goes, "one general rule covers everything", when the thinking in one field reaches a certain height, the understanding in other fields will naturally be faster and more accurate.
Is the "true meaning" of calligraphy different from the development of people and society? Everyone is pursuing freedom, and there are rules to restrain them. In fact, any field should be the same at the highest level.
The ideological realm of a book saint must not be much higher than that of a painting saint. Similarly, the ideological realm of poets and saints will not be much higher than that of book saints. The gap between them is only one area.
The article is a bit long, but I just want to explain in detail how the true meaning of calligraphy came from and how the process of this thought changed. I don't want to make such articles particularly obscure, but I am willing to write from my own understanding. After all, what many people lack is not the result, but the thinking process.
If you can learn from the thinking process, it is also very helpful for your own learning and improvement. The so-called theory of ancient masterpieces is just their thinking process.
And I don't accept any refutation.
It's not that I'm not open-minded, not that I have a high level, but that's how this realm was established. If you want to refute the ancients, don't refute me.
I am not a master. I don't have to pretend to be so broad-minded.
Also, maybe my ability to hurt others is better than writing, and I am afraid of hurting others when I fight back.
If you really want to refute it, you can come up with your own set of philosophical views to refute it. I very much welcome this level and insightful opposition. After all, I can improve myself.