When Mi Fei introduced calligraphy, he showed Qu Yuan's spirit of seeking knowledge. At first, he followed Chu Suiliang, Ou Yangxun and other celebrities in the Tang Dynasty. At Su Dongpo's instigation, he began to take the "two kings" as the basis, and finally had his own style after a long period of "collecting ancient Chinese characters".
Hard work is of course important, but some ideas are often hard to get in artistic creation. When Mi Fei was forty-five years old, Mi Fei got the guidance of the gods in a sleepwalking and wrote a sentence in his dream. After he woke up, he could no longer write. This painting is Mi Fei's Tian Yihuai's Monument to Zen Master, also known as "God tells dreams first".
Mi Fei's inscription for Zen Buddhism is the only inscription left by Mi Fei in his life. There must be a reason why Mifei can get the guidance of the gods. Mi Fei once said that his calligraphy level can only write one or two good words occasionally, but the brushwork and composition of Yi Tian Huaishi Zen Monument are very natural for the change of Yin and Yang.
Mi Fei's calligraphy works are an important model for literati to pursue calligraphy reform and finally enter Wei and Jin Dynasties. Tian Yihuai's Monument to Zen Master is a very natural and ingenious work. It is a masterpiece of "no coincidence" and is known as "the first book of rice".