In the early Ming Dynasty, the standard answers for selecting scholars in imperial examinations were Annotations to Confucian Classics in Song Dynasty and Zhu Xi. The ideological circle is dull and rigid, and there is no conscious and free thought. The more extreme autocratic rule is, the more independent thinkers can be prompted to reflect on the unreasonable status quo. They tried to get rid of the shackles of tradition and seek ideological emancipation.
These representative calligraphy, which had the embryonic form of calligraphy modernity in the late Ming Dynasty, were inseparable from that turbulent era and reflected the ambivalence of intellectuals at that time. Influenced by the ideological trend of personality liberation, they have long had whimsy against the trend and have unique innovative ideas.
Enlightenment of Yangming's Mind Theory on Calligraphers' Calligraphy Thought in the Late Ming Dynasty
Yangming's theory of mind was founded by Wang Yangming, a famous philosopher and educator in the middle of Ming Dynasty. It inherited and developed Lu Jiuyuan's thought and formed a new philosophical trend of thought, aiming at breaking through the feudal tradition and advocating the liberation of nature and the idea that the heart is the master of all things in the world.
In the middle and late Ming Dynasty, with the continuous consolidation of the ruling class, the stability of social order and economic prosperity promoted the development of a large number of cultural industries such as architectural decoration, cultural relics collection, Four Treasures of the Study and seal cutting. On this basis, literary thoughts emerged in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, and hundred schools of thought followed. They were all inspired by Yangming's theory of mind, especially Taizhou school, which led the ideological emancipation school in the late Ming Dynasty.
Li Zhi is the most representative figure of Taizhou School. In his view, at that time, the official school and intellectual class only regarded Cheng and Zhu Neo-Confucianism as the highest guiding ideology. He opposed Cheng and Zhu Neo-Confucianism and thought that Cheng and Zhu Neo-Confucianism were pseudo-Taoists.
Li Zhi's masterpiece "Childlike Heart" advocates "removing the false and preserving the true" in the expression of literary and artistic creation, encourages the expression of individual independent opinions and puts forward "sincerity". He believes that "sincerity" and "childlike innocence" are fundamental and the source of everything. Li Zhi emphasized that people should keep a pure heart and express the author's inner feelings truly and frankly in literature and art.
Subsequently, the "Public Security School" represented by Yuan Zongdao, Yuan Hongdao and Yuan Zhongdao was deeply influenced by Taizhou School, which strengthened the expression of personal honesty. They advocate "expressing one's own spirit, not sticking to one pattern, and opposing antique and essays". It is worth noting that there is an essential difference between "antique" here and "retro" in a broad sense, and its content is mainly aimed at refuting the "first seven sons" in the middle of Ming Dynasty.
Yuan Hongdao believes that plagiarism should never be regarded as retro, and we should imitate our predecessors deliberately, advocate anti-imitation and subjectivity, and pay more attention to inheriting the creative spirit and personality expression of the ancients.