The story of Yan Zhenqing's diligent study and hard practice of calligraphy
Zhang Xu was a famous calligrapher in Tang Dynasty.
One year, Yan Zhenqing, who loved practicing calligraphy, abandoned his official position and joined the army to study calligraphy in Zhang Xu. He thought that he would soon become famous by learning from a famous teacher and mastering the tricks of writing. However, after learning from the teacher, Zhang Xu did not tell him the secret of practicing calligraphy. He simply pointed out the characteristics of copybooks to Yan Zhenqing and introduced some famous copybooks for Yan Zhenqing to copy. Sometimes, after drinking a little wine, Zhang Xu took Yan Zhenqing to climb mountains, swim, visit markets and go to the theatre. At home, he asked Yan Zhenqing to practice calligraphy, or Yan Zhenqing watched him write a good book.
In a flash, a few months later. Yan Zhenqing couldn't get the secret of his teacher's calligraphy, and he was very anxious. He decided to ask the teacher for advice himself.
On one occasion, Zhang Xu excitedly picked up the pen again, and Yan Zhenqing took the opportunity to step forward, giving a deep ceremony and respectfully calling out, "Teacher!"
Zhang Xu looked up at Yan Zhenqing and asked with concern, "What can I do for you?"
Yan Zhenqing was brave and blushed and said, "I want my teacher to teach me the secret of calligraphy."
Zhang Xu was angry and funny at his words, but thinking that Yan Zhenqing was a honest and frank person, he said to him earnestly: "To learn calligraphy, you should study hard and practice hard, and at the same time be inspired by nature. Didn't these teachers tell you many times? "
Hearing this, Yan Zhenqing thought that the teacher still had some reservations. He stepped forward and pleaded, "I already know all these things the teacher said. What I need most now is a secret recipe that can write well. It is for this reason that students abandon their posts and follow their teachers. I hope the teacher will give me more advice. "
Zhang Xu frowned, but patiently enlightened Yan Zhenqing: "Only through hard practice can you write a good hand, and there is no other way."
For the teacher's enlightenment, Yan Zhenqing still thought it was easy to avoid the important, so he knelt down and continued to beg.
Zhang Xu was very unhappy when he saw that the student didn't listen to himself at all and only wanted the secret. In order to wake him up, he finally lowered his face and said sharply, "you want this secret, don't you?" Well, I'll tell you now: those who are bent on finding some tricks and refuse to work hard will not achieve anything. "
Zhang Xu say that finish, then write down your own words, no longer ignore him.
Yan Zhenqing finally came to his senses, and he understood the way of learning. After that, he studied hard, tried to figure out the brushwork of his predecessors, and realized the charm of calligraphy from social life and natural scenery, making rapid progress. Later, his handwriting was dignified and dignified.
After continuous efforts, he finally became a famous calligrapher.
The story of Yan Zhenqing's Huangni calligraphy.
When Yan Zhenqing was three years old, his father died of illness. Mother had to take him back to grandpa's house.
Yan Zhenqing's grandfather is a painter and his mother is a sensible person. Seeing that Yan Zhenqing was clever, they taught him to read and write. Yan Zhenqing practiced calligraphy with great care, never careless with strokes, and spent most of his time writing.
The mother was both happy and sad to see her son practicing calligraphy so attentively. The good news is that my son will succeed in the future; What worries him is that his family is not well off, and where can he get spare money to buy him paper to practice calligraphy? Yan Zhenqing is very sensible. Seeing that her mother was worried about having no money to buy paper, she quietly figured it out for herself.
One day, Yan Zhenqing said happily to his mother, "I have a pen and paper, which costs nothing. Don't worry! "
"Silly boy, how can pens and paper not cost money?"
"Look, isn't it?" Holding a bowl and a brush in his hand, Yan Zhenqing said happily, "This bowl is an inkstone, this brush is a pen, and the yellow mud in the bowl is ink!"
"So ... where is the paper?" Mom asked again.
Yan Zhenqing pointed to the wall with his finger and said seriously, "This is paper. Do not believe me to write for you! "
After that, he picked up the brush, dipped the bowl in mud, walked to the wall and wrote. When the wall is full of words, he washes them off with clear water before writing.
Seeing that her son had a good way to practice calligraphy without spending money, the mother smiled happily.
Because Yan Zhenqing is diligent and studious, he not only developed a good hand when he grew up, but also became a well-read young man.
Other stories about Yan Zhenqing.
Resign from office
At the age of 26, Yan Zhenqing took part in the imperial examination and was admitted to the Jinshi. Two years later, he became an official of the imperial court, responsible for writing inscriptions and eulogies. Later, the court asked him to be a county captain in Liquan County, Shaanxi Province, to manage local public security.
There is a lot of business in the county government, but Yan Zhenqing still does not forget to practice calligraphy. Although everyone praised him for his great handwriting skills, he thought that as the saying goes, "There are mountains outside the mountains, and there are days behind them", and his kung fu skills were not at home, so he had to worship a brilliant teacher. Soon, he resigned from his official position, and with some words he wrote, he rushed to Luoyang to learn from the great calligrapher Zhang Xu.
Zhang Xu listened to Yan Zhenqing's purpose and carefully said to him after Yan Zhenqing finished writing:
"Your calligraphy is already very good. Now, the country is the time to employ people. You are the pillar of the country's future. How can you spend so much energy on writing? As long as you practice hard, your handwriting will definitely improve, and you don't have to worship me as a teacher. "
Hearing Zhang Xu's remarks, Yan Zhenqing felt reasonable. Seeing that Zhang Xu was determined not to accept himself as a disciple, he set off for Chang 'an.
Yan Zhenqing went home to be an official, but he was always uneasy about learning calligraphy from Zhang. Soon after, he resigned again and went to Luoyang to find Zhang Xu.
When Zhang Xu saw Yan Zhenqing quit his job for the second time to study calligraphy, he was moved by his sincerity, so he gladly accepted the apprentice.
The secret of writing
After Yan Zhenqing took Zhang Xu as his teacher, his calligraphy improved greatly, and Zhang Xu was satisfied with such a good student.
One day, Zhang Xu and Yan Zhenqing were talking about calligraphy together. Zhang Xu asked, "During the Three Kingdoms period, Zhong You summed up the writing of twelve characters. Do you know which twelve words it is? "
"It is flat, straight, uniform, dense, forward, strong, light, decisive, complementary, and loss, cleverness and symmetry. Do you think I'm right, sir? "
Yan Zhenqing replied. "yes! But do you know what this means? "
"I don't know, please advise!"
"good! These twelve characters are the essence of calligraphy. Now, I will pass on my years of experience to you. The word "flat" means that the horizontal strokes should be written flat, but not peaceful, imposing and rigid; "Straight" means that the vertical pen should be straight, the writing should be indulgent, and it should not be crooked; "Jun" refers to the interval between strokes of a word, which should be even and natural, not too far or too close; Secret "means that there should be no trace at the joint of strokes;" "Feng" means that every stroke should be well written to make it powerful; The word' strength' is easy to understand, which means that words should be written with backbone; "Light" means that the strokes should be light at the corner; "Resolutely" means that you must be bold and resolute when writing, and you can't be timid and hesitant; Make up' means that the first few strokes have not been arranged well, so we should try our best to make up for them with the latter ones; The word' damage' is very important, which means that in the writing of point-by-point painting, people should feel that there is still a aftertaste that can arouse people's imagination; Finally there are' Joe' and' Wei'. "Qiao" is to use changes to arrange the shape and structure of words; "Weight" means not only that the stroke structure of a word should be symmetrical, but also that the size and density of a word should be appropriate in the layout. So the words look symmetrical. When writing, as long as you pay attention to writing according to the requirements of these twelve words, the words will be written well. "
"Sir, you speak so well, I understand the nature of the door and writing." Yan Zhenqing said happily.
It turns out that Zhang Xu has never told anyone about the explanation of these twelve words. Today, he passed it on to Yan Zhenqing. From then on, Yan Zhenqing's handwriting became better. Later, he combined the strengths of the previous generation of calligraphers and created a new font by himself. This font is full of energy, thick and simple, vigorous and magnificent, and is very popular with everyone. People call it "Yan Ti". Because learning to write Yan-ti characters can make people feel less guilty about lack of backbone, beginners love to write Yan-ti characters.
Jade fish
Yan Zhenqing bid farewell to Zhang Xu and returned to Chang 'an. Before long, the court made him an official in charge of supervising officials at all levels.
On one occasion, Yan Zhenqing visited Gansu, Ningxia and Qinghai in Longyou, and found that Wuyuan now had a case involving many people in Yanchi County, Ningxia, which was an unjust case. Although the parties and their relatives complained to the government many times, the case-handling officials did not seriously visit the trial. As a result, the case dragged on for a long time and could not be * * *.
Strangely, since this unjust case happened in Wuyuan, it has been a drought and a little rain. The well dried up, the stream stopped flowing and the crops in the field withered. Man-made and natural disasters have made Wuyuan people live a miserable life.
Yan Zhenqing is determined to fight this injustice to the end. After a thorough investigation, he finally found out the truth of the case, re-filed the case, and finally rescued the aggrieved person and punished the dereliction of duty officials. The people of Wuyuan were so happy that they all said, "Yan is really a good official who makes decisions for the people!" "
It is said that on the day when Yan Zhenqing was wronged, Wuyuan, which had not rained for several months, was suddenly drenched, and the yellow crops turned green in a few days. Wuyuan people linked this rain with Yan Zhenqing's unjust imprisonment and spread it around, saying, "The unjust imprisonment must have angered God and brought this drought to Wuyuan. Now Yan wronged the suffering people and touched God, so there was this heavy rain! This rain is called' Yu Yu'! "