There are two kinds of grottoes. The grottoes where religious ceremonies are held are called Zhiti Grottoes. They are rectangular in plan, semi-circular at the longitudinal ends and wavy in the middle. Besides the entrance, there is a row of columns along the inner wall. Another kind of grottoes, named Jingshe, has a square hall as the center of the column, and several small rooms are carved on three sides for monks to retreat. The entrance is on the fourth side, and there is no porch. Jingshe and Zhiti caves often coexist side by side, such as Ajanta caves.
Prajaya has a temple and a tower, which is said to be the place where Sakyamuni Buddha's ancestors realized Taoism. Stupa, stupa, was built in the 2nd century A.D. and rebuilt in the14th century A.D.. This tower is in the form of a diamond room. There is a tall square cone in the center of the tall square abutment, and there are four small towers with the same style at the four corners, which set off the main carved Buddha statue. The outline of the tower is string-shaped, gradually narrowing from bottom to top, and the surface is covered with carvings.
Indian Buddhist architecture was introduced into China with Buddhism, which had a certain influence on the grotto art in China.
From an artistic point of view, many existing pagodas are the essence of ancient architectural art in China, and some magnificent Buddhist buildings have become symbols of landscape contours in various places. In the lush green shade, there are red walls and blue tiles, and there are halls, which add infinite scenery to the splendid Wan Li. Dunhuang, Yungang and Longmen Grottoes are treasures of human art, and Buddhist painting occupies an important position in the history of China fine arts, and many rare treasures have been preserved to this day. Buddhist music has four characteristics of "distance, emptiness, lightness and quietness", which has reached a high artistic conception. A large number of precious materials in astronomy and medicine are preserved in Buddhist classics. The spread of Buddhism promoted the development of block printing in China. Tibetan Buddhism and Southern Buddhism are the subjects of Tibetan, Mongolian and Dai brothers' history and culture.
First, Buddhism has made great contributions to the inheritance of calligraphy art.
For a long time before and after printing, a great job for Buddhists was to write and copy scriptures. In order to spread Buddhism, some monks have been copying scriptures almost all their lives; Buddhists at home also vowed to copy scriptures to show their piety to the Buddha. Some of them write by themselves, and some ask others to write for them. Calligraphy left in the form of classics for a long time is like a sea of smoke. As far as his calligraphy art is concerned, there are representative examples: the suicide note copied by Wang Xizhi, the King Kong Prajna Sutra copied by Liu Gongquan, the Pure Land Sutra, the Endless Sutra copied by Shi Daoxiu, the Heart Sutra copied by Li Yu, the Huayan Sutra copied by Su Dongpo and the Wen Yi copied by Huang Tingjian. Among these calligraphy classics, right, line, grass, eight points and seal script are all available, which has become a treasure in today's calligraphy art.
Buddhism's preservation and dissemination of calligraphy is also manifested in the engraving of Confucian classics. Because paper and silk are easy to be damaged, it is not easy to preserve. After Buddhism was introduced to China, some Buddhists carved scriptures on cliffs or stone tablets, especially after the two disasters of destroying Buddhism in the Northern Wei Dynasty and the Northern Zhou Dynasty, Buddhists increased their concept of "the last method" and hoped that the number of monks who wished to carve scriptures would soar. After the Tang, Liao, Jin, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties, Buddhist scriptures were engraved all over the country. The Diamond Sutra of Taishan Mountain Valley and the Cliff Carving Sutra of the Six Dynasties are bold in brushwork, combining seal, division, truth and official. His calligraphy is simple and elegant in Gu Zhuo, and is called "the first book list" by Kang Youwei. The stone carvings of Manjusri Prajna Sutra in Buffalo Mountain are rich, wonderful and naturally satisfactory, and have been photocopied by many publishing houses.
In a word, with the spread of Buddhist culture in China, Buddhists have made immortal contributions to the preservation of China's calligraphy art by copying scriptures and carving stones.
Second, Buddhism plays a leading role in calligraphers' outlook on life.
Calligraphy is an art, but in China it is not only an art, but also a philosophy. Art is inseparable from theory, and calligraphy art is also guided and restricted by calligraphy theory. Therefore, great calligraphers of all ages have their own calligraphy theory. Their theory not only discusses the techniques of writing, writing, painting and luck, but also involves calligraphers' own philosophical thoughts such as world outlook, outlook on life and art. Buddhism, as the most influential sect in China, has had a far-reaching impact on all fields of China's ideology for more than two thousand years. As a special group, calligraphers are also inseparable. Their outlook on life and art was deeply influenced by Buddhist thought, and the theory of Zen guiding calligraphy appeared. Next, I would like to illustrate this issue through the outlook on life of the three most influential calligraphers in the history of calligraphy in China.
Wang Xizhi, a great calligrapher in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, wrote "Floating like a cloud, agile as a dragon". The reason why he can reach such a high level in calligraphy art has a lot to do with his time. During the Wei and Jin Dynasties, metaphysics and Buddhism influenced each other, infiltrated each other and finally merged. Metaphysics advocates "forgetting words with images and forgetting images with pride." Buddhism advocates that "vacuum is wonderful and useful." With dharma body, everything is silent, and with wisdom, everything is born together. "In the Eastern Jin Dynasty, when metaphysics and Buddhism were increasingly integrated, these views were easily accepted by ordinary intellectuals. Wang Xizhi got the message and empathized with calligraphy, which made his brushwork vigorous and charming, thus making his calligraphy reach the peak in the history of calligraphy.
Huai Su, a great calligrapher, became a monk in the Tang Dynasty. His calligraphy is "changeable, peculiar and unpredictable", which has been highly praised by calligraphers of all ages. His profound calligraphy attainments obviously benefited from Buddhism. At the beginning of the Tang Dynasty, Zen thought began to flourish, and the scholar-officials talked about Zen, which made the reading atmosphere of "I am proud of learning from the law and forget my heart" popular among literati. Calligraphers are deeply influenced, and compete to "learn from the dharma" as the highest calligraphy method. As a monk, Huai Su went one step further, "jumping out of the law as soon as he entered the law", and escaped from the stippling he had just written, from the shackles of rules and regulations, and from the shackles of words at a frightening speed. While writing, he denied writing; It was immediately formed, abandoned, denied, surpassed and overthrown. His cursive script gained an undisputed position in the history of calligraphy in China, which can be said to be almost entirely due to his thorough understanding of Zen.
Master Hongyi, a generation of eminent monks, has a calligraphy style of "the pen is not specialized but pretentious, the true self stands outside the words and is naturally subtle", and there is a state of great prosperity, great sadness and great joy. In particular, the detachment of calligraphy in the later period contains the most profound and extraordinary feelings, which is a profound combination of childlike interest and high cultivation. His last ink painting, A Mix of Sorrow and Joy, is clean and vivid, reaching the highest level of China's calligraphy without boundary and aesthetic feeling, all of which can't be said to be attributed to the profundity of his Buddhist roots.
Master Hongyi became a monk in Hupao Temple in Hangzhou in 19 18. He is a talented man and belongs to Huang Juan. He devoted himself to studying Buddhism and carrying forward the thoughts of Legalists, and was honored by Buddhists as "the founder of reviving Nanshan Legalists 1 1". He integrated Zen into calligraphy and reached the highest level of "overcoming loneliness with loneliness" in calligraphy art.
Buddhism has influenced the calligraphers' outlook on life, thus affecting their calligraphy art, which is very prominent in these three calligraphers. Judging from the history of its calligraphy development, this influence is also very obvious.
China's calligraphy art developed from Shang and Zhou Dynasties to Sui and Tang Dynasties in Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, and reached its peak. At the same time, it also experienced the transition of Song, Yuan and Ming Dynasties and the revival of Qing Dynasty. Throughout its development, we can find that the art of calligraphy is closely related to Buddhism. For example, Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, Sui and Tang Dynasties were the heyday, and this period was precisely the era when Buddhism flourished. Buddhism was introduced into China in the Eastern Han Dynasty, and since the Wei and Jin Dynasties, Buddhism and metaphysics have formed an indissoluble bond. Metaphysics and monks are not only similar in knowledge, but also similar in artistic taste, so calligraphers at that time mostly talked about celebrities and monks. Song Yuanming attached importance to Neo-Confucianism, which led to the decline of calligraphy. Only a few Buddhist monks and laymen inherited calligraphy, such as Su Shi, a Buddhist in Dongpo, Ouyang Xiu, Zhao Meng in Yuan Dynasty and Wang Shizhen in Ming Dynasty. In the Qing Dynasty, Buddhism began to flourish again. From the royal family to the common people, everyone worships Buddhism, and scholars participate in Buddhism, and the art of calligraphy begins to recover. Calligraphers such as Yu Youren and Shi appeared.
Thirdly, Buddhism has also had an immeasurable influence on calligraphy.
Where there is calligraphy, there must be calligraphy theory, which is the principle of calligraphy and writing. Buddhism also had a profound influence on China's calligraphy and Taoism.
Since the birth of characters, writing methods have appeared. For more than two thousand years, there have been many calligraphy theory in China, but as far as their techniques are concerned, the following three are the most basic: writing (including wrist and fingering). Wrist method is to hang wrist, lift wrist and pillow wrist. Fingering is tiger's mouth, goose's head and five fingers. Brush strokes (including: pause, frustration, squatting, staying, returning, lifting, overlapping, hiding, revealing, square, circle, etc.). ) white cloth method, that is, the technique of leaving white space.
These calligraphy theory have long guided the trend of China's calligraphy, but after the emergence of Zen Buddhism, the art of calligraphy has been influenced by Zen Buddhism, and there have been four different tastes: one is to discuss calligraphy with Zen; Second, take calligraphy as a thought; Thirdly, it is impossible to change calligraphy from law; Fourth, there are Zen words.
On calligraphy with Zen. That is, Zen is integrated into calligraphy skills. This kind of calligrapher thinks that calligraphy art is full of Zen. They regard calligraphy and Buddhism as a principle, and think that calligraphy is not writing in the general sense, but meditation. There is no Zen without understanding, and there is no calligraphy without understanding. As the ancient calligrapher said, "Calligraphers are mysterious geisha, not experts."
Take calligraphy as a thought. That is to raise calligraphy to the height of the soul. They think that calligraphy is a portrayal of the soul. Irregular hearts and irregular books. As Tang said when discussing the art of calligraphy: "Take God as God. If God is not harmonious, the word has no attitude. If the heart is strong, if the heart is not strong, the words are not strong. "
Turn calligraphy from law into impossibility. This calligrapher thinks that the real art of calligraphy is unconventional, and the real art of calligraphy is extra-legal. You don't have to pay attention to using a pen, a pen, a pen, a pen and a gesture, but you should use hair and sleeves to write words with artistic charm. Yu Youren, a great calligrapher in the Republic of China, said: "I have no taboos in writing. I write, show my papers, and sit in a natural way ... when I start writing, I will never go against nature by accommodating beauty, because nature itself is a kind of beauty. If you can't do it, you can't stop, because natural waves are waves, for writing. " The purpose of this passage is to say that calligraphy can't actually do this.
Zen words. Zen meaning character is a kind of font similar to seal script but not like seal script, similar to non-seal script and not bound by calligraphy. This character is creative on the basis of the eight-point book. Some people also call this kind of book a nine-point book, and the extra points are Zen. Its representatives are Su Dongpo, Huang Tingjian and Mi Fei.
To sum up, although the Buddhist culture from India has not brought Indian calligraphy, and it is impossible to endow China with new techniques in form, the influence of Buddhist thought as a outlook on life on China's calligraphy art is infinite.
Buddhist culture has a great influence on China's art, and one of the most far-reaching contributions is that wherever Buddhism goes, it has left a large number of grotto dance images, which is a valuable heritage of China's art.
During the Southern and Northern Dynasties, grotto art rose with the spread of Buddhism to the east. It first appeared at the western end of the Silk Road, from west to east, from the western regions to the Central Plains, leaving many cave temples along the way. In the murals and sculptures of these grottoes, the images of music and dance can be seen almost everywhere.
There can be no singing and dancing in the world, and of course, music and dance are also indispensable in "Elysium". Buddha said: "Tianle" is always heard in Elysium. Both Buddha and Bodhisattva need the support of fragrant flowers and geisha music, so there will inevitably be scenes of music and dance in the cave murals and sculptures that try their best to express the bliss beauty of the Buddha country. In this cave, there are music of flying, celestial officials and geisha, which are based on the full-time "music gods" in Buddhist legends-"Kinnara" and "Manna Shiva". There are also many scenes of singing and dancing performances in the cave, which are exactly the same as those on earth.
I organized it myself. Please forgive me if it is not in place.