Notes on the Nine Trends of Calligraphy

[1] This article was published in the ninth volume of Bookstore, entitled "Cai Yong's Nine Trends and Eight Tactics". Most of Yan Zhenqing's "Zhang Changshi's Twelve Meanings" were written after the "Nine Trends". Later, it was reprinted in Volume III of Pei Wenzhai's Calligraphy and Painting Spectrum, and the "Eight Methods" was deleted, entitled "Nine Potential". Some people think that it is not certain that it was written by Cai Yong, but more people think that the views in this article are undoubtedly from Cai Yong, and there may be some textual changes in future generations. Shen, a close friend, pointed out in "Essays on Books": "What the essays say is consistent with the brushwork used by seal and official, even if entrusted by future generations, it will be well founded."

[2] Zhao: the beginning, the beginning, the early "Historical Records of the Five Emperors": "Zhao Erzhou, Sichuan definitely." Nature: refers to nature and natural events. Cang Xie's writing system originated from natural things.

[3] Yin and Yang: the concept of ancient philosophy, the original meaning refers to the back of the sun, and later used to refer to two opposing qi. Ancient thinkers summarized everything as "yin" and "yang" (such as sky fire, summer heat as yang, soil as water and cold as yin). Liu Zongyuan's "Tian Shuo": "Those who are cold and hot are called yin and yang." The philosophy of the unity of opposites of Yin and Yang prevailed in the Eastern Han Dynasty to explain the emergence and changes of everything in the world. For example, Wang Chong's "On Nature" said: "Heaven and earth are in harmony, everything is born, Jewish couples are in harmony, and children are born." Harmony between heaven and earth means harmony between yin and yang. Since calligraphy is pictographic in nature, we should learn from the unity of opposites of Yin and Yang in nature, such as reality, rigidity and flexibility, movement and so on, which will lead to the emergence of calligraphy forms.

[4] Situation: refers to the form and posture of calligraphy. Here, the emphasis is on posture, that is, pen posture.

[5] Hiding the head and protecting the tail: it means that when writing, there are two hidden front paintings, and no traces are exposed. An important method of writing and stippling. Hide your head, the pen tip falls on the paper, and hide in front. Protect the tail, fully collect the hair, recycle the front tip, and make the force into the word, so the cloud "hides the head and protects the tail, and the force lies in the word." This will produce "the beauty of the skin".

[6] Beauty of skin: refers to the aesthetic feeling of calligraphy like human skin. Only people who are alive and full of vitality will have smooth and beautiful skin. Strength is the soul and life of a book, so it is said that "write hard and your skin will be beautiful."

[7] momentum: this refers to the trend and situation of momentum and strength. This refers to the situation and posture of calligraphy. Momentum is driven by strength. To achieve this momentum, we must adopt certain skills, such as "If you want to go down first, you must go right first." Once the trend of "vertical painting and horizontal painting" is formed, it cannot be suppressed, so the cloud "comes to the deep valley and is unstoppable." Stop: stop, stop. "The History of the Three Kingdoms, Shu Wei, Emperor Wudi": "Stop the water from entering the white ditch to get through the route of providing foodstuff." Liezi Tang Wen: "It is very sonorous to mourn and shake the tree."

[8] Odd: Odd refers to the diversity and richness of calligraphy forms and forms.

[9] Putting pen to paper: also known as starting pen, issuing pen, starting pen and drawing pen. Is one of the brushwork, which refers to writing with pen and paper. Suffix: the arrangement of pointing pictures and situations, that is, the arrangement of strokes and structural fonts.

[10] video tape: that is, taking care of association and association.

<11> back: deviation conflict can also be described as "good".

[12] Turn pen: one of the brushstrokes. Compared with folding, generally speaking, the round pen of seal script is commonly used, that is, when writing a book, the pen rotates, and when stippling, it is a continuous line, which makes the broken line look inseparable and inseparable to show the beauty of nature.

[13] Left and right backtracking: refers to the continuity of pen pause. Because the pause is the pause of the pen turning around, the use of "left and right review" is to pay attention to continuity and not make the program appear lonely. Program: This refers to the hard and tangled part of the branch connection of the tree, which means that the strokes seem to be broken. Solitary exposure: isolated exposure.

[14] Tibetan front: it does not refer to the center, but can be explained by hiding the head and protecting the tail. The expression "traces of discrepancy" refers to the hidden front when starting and closing a pen. If the pen starts to turn left, it will turn right first; Retract the pen to the left, and then retreat to the right, which can be said to be a reversal.

[15] Zangtou: This should refer to Zangfeng, that is, the center. Because the explanation is that "the round pen belongs to paper, so the pen is always moving in electric painting", if it refers to the "hidden head" of "hiding the head and protecting the tail", it is a beginning, so it cannot be explained. The round pen belongs to paper, which means that the pen falls behind the Tibetan front, goes down with the trend and is laid flat on the paper.

Pen core: The long front end wrapped by secondary hairs from the root to the top is called the pen core. Auxiliary hair, short hair or side hair at the periphery of the pen center. Electric drawing: a general term for character strokes. In order to make the pen center often do stippling, the writing brush is required to be centered.

[17] Tail protection: the back and front are reversed, and the front paint is hidden. Exhausted: The pen is exhausted.

[18] Speed potential: Speed potential, speed potential also. But here, fast is not simply fast, so the cloud is "out of the middle, but also in the vertical pen." "Peck" is like the first short stroke to the right of the word "use". First, the Tibetan front starts writing, then the front turns to the lower right, then the front turns to the lower left, and then the front turns to a sharp point. "Painting" is also a wave painting, so-called twists and turns. The first fold is slightly shorter, the stroke is slightly faster, the second fold is slightly longer, and the stroke is slower; The third folding quick pen, near the front, can be closed by pressing it. The word "forever" is marked vertically. Before getting out of the hook, the pen is squatting, and then it suddenly rises, just like kicking.

[19] Grab the pen: that is, the long line is left-handed, such as the word "wide" and the word "clear" is left-handed, and the long line is written vertically at first, with the middle to the left; This is a slight stroke. Make the strokes bold, then put them away and loosen the tight strokes a little. So "slow down" means to walk away. Then there is a nervous pen collection, and this gesture is the law; It is also a tight pen, so it is called "steep". In both steep and steep strokes, the long lines of the brush are completed.

[20] Stagnation: refers to overcoming resistance and going forward bravely. Nervous fighting: that is, fighting nervously. Rudder: It means non-stop. Sese means that the road is blocked, so it is explained by fighting nervously.

< 21> Horizontal ruler and vertical pen: refers to the strokes of horizontal pen and vertical pen. Horizontal painting can't be flush blindly, but like fish scales, it looks flat and uneven. Vertical painting can't go straight down, it must be fast and slow, and there is astringency in the disease, such as pulling the reins, which is tightened from time to time in constant relaxation, so it is called horizontal ruler vertical pulling.

[22] In the following paragraph, Pei Wenzhai's calligraphy and painting spectrum is slightly lower than the above, indicating that it is not the text of the Nine Potentials, or it was added by later editors.