Huaisu

Huaisu

Huaisu (737-799) was born in Lingling, Yongzhou (now Lingling, Hunan). Calligraphers in Tang Dynasty are famous for their "wild grass" and "sage of grass" in history.

He became a monk when he was a child. In his spare time of Zen, he was fond of calligraphy. He was as famous as Zhang Xu and was known as "Dian Zhang Kuang Su", which formed a situation of two peaks of calligraphy in Tang Dynasty and two peaks in the history of Chinese cursive calligraphy. Huaisu cursive script is thin and vigorous. It moves naturally, like a storm and whirlwind. Calligraphy is easy to understand, changeable and has its own laws. Li Zhimin, a professor of Peking University and the founder of introducing steles into the grass, commented: "huaisu's cursive writing has the spirit of elegance in its running, and the spirit of purity in its wildness.".

Calligraphy works handed down from generation to generation include "self narration", "small grass thousand character essay" on paper, "bitter bamboo shoots", "Virgin Mary" and "on calligraphy".

Life of the characters

When huaisu was ten years old, his parents couldn't stop him. After entering Buddhism, he changed his name to Cangzhen, which was called "Lingling monk" or "shichangsha" in history. Poor families could not afford paper, so they had to practice calligraphy on the walls, clothes, utensils and banana leaves of the temple. In order to practice calligraphy, they also made a lacquer plate.

When huaisu was young, his calligraphy was "not learning from the ancients". According to the inheritance of Chinese calligraphy, he is still "not in the right way" and is still outside the door of orthodox calligraphy.

In the second year of Qianyuan (759), huaisu was at the age of weak crown. He went to Li Bai to seek poetry. They were similar in temperament. Li Bai loved his talent and wrote a song of cursive script for him.

In the first year of Tang BAOYING (762), huaisu set out from Lingling for a ten thousand mile trip, seeking teachers and visiting friends, passing through Hengyang and Ketan.

In the first year of Tang BAOYING (763), huaisu began to go north to Yuezhou (now Yueyang, Hunan).

In the first year of Dali in Tang Dynasty (766), huaisu wrote eight songs of autumn prosperity. The calligraphy style of huaisu's post was not mature by this time, and his heart was in the stage of hesitation. Whether it's starting, starting or ending, it's far from the threshold of Jin people.

In 767, huaisu went south to Guangzhou to learn from Xu Hao. When Xu Hao went to Guangzhou as a governor, the purpose of his trip was not achieved. In the winter of the same year or in the spring of three years, Zhang Wei returned to Beijing as Prince Zuo Shuzi, so huaisu went to Beijing with Zhang Wei. I was lucky to see the works of Wang Xizhi and Wang Xianzhi, and also appreciate the stele of cao'e. In Chang'an, huaisu stayed around for about five years.

In the spring of the third year of Dali in Tang Dynasty (768), huaisu traveled with Wang Yong and others in Hengyang to the north. At that time, it happened that Zhang Wei, who was demoted to Tanzhou (Changsha) as a governor, returned to office in the Hui Dynasty, and huaisu joined the Qin Dynasty with his companions. After entering the capital, he called on Wu Tong, Zhang Xu's disciple, and took him as his teacher. Wu Tong explained Zhang Zhi's linchi, Zhang Xu's cursive calligraphy, and Wang Xianzhi's calligraphy to huaisu one by one. When he left, Wu Tong taught huaisu how to write a character, a word of "Wu".

In the sixth year of the Dali Period of the Tang Dynasty, huaisu's mother was seriously ill, so she went back to visit her hometown at the beginning of the twelfth lunar month to serve the decoction. Huaisu returned to the capital after his pilgrimage.

Around September 772, huaisu returned to his hometown and went south by way of Luoyang, the eastern capital, to meet Yan Zhenqing. Yan Zhenqing taught huaisu the meaning of twelve strokes, that is, "flat means horizontal, straight means vertical, average means intermediate, and dense means inter". He told huaisu that when he was in his twenties, he had traveled to Chang'an and studied with Zhang Xu for two years. He got a little bit of the technique and thought he was not stable. Yan Zhenqing also wrote a preface to master huaisu's cursive songs for huaisu.

On August 6, 776, the 11th year of Dali in the Tang Dynasty, he created "self narration calligraphy". The post summarizes the main deeds of his life. In the self narration post, huaisu left a space for several important figures who have taught him art.

In the 13th year of Dali (778), 42 year old huaisu was inspired by the wonderful description of Yandang Mountain in Buddhist scriptures. He was absorbed in Yandang Mountain, so he began his journey to the south by carrying a simple bag with "qiuhao cocoon paper" on his back. In the autumn of this year, he traveled to Yandang Mountain and stayed in Yandang jingshe, where he was well received. He enjoyed the fantastic peaks, rocks and waterfalls of Yandang and felt very comfortable. When the abbot of jingshe, who admired huaisu's fame, asked him for calligraphy as a memento, he happily copied the Hinayana classic forty two chapters with his fine grass calligraphy.

Tang Zhenyuan three years (787), and Lu Yu met and intersected. Lu Yu wrote the biography of monk huaisu, which is the first-hand material to study huaisu.

In the 15th year of Zhengyuan (799), huaisu returned to Lingling and wrote a thousand character essay on Xiaocao.

In his later years, he lived in Baoyuan temple in Chengdu, Sichuan Province. In the 15th year of the Tang Dynasty (799), he suffered from rheumatism and passed away.

Main works

His cursive works include "autobiography", "bitter bamboo shoots", "fish eating", "Virgin Mary", "Treatise on calligraphy", "Da Cao Qian Wen", "Xiao Cao Qian Zi Wen" in paper version, "42 chapters classic", "Zang Zhen tie", "Lu Gong tie", "Qi tie", "Bei Ting Cao Bi" and so on.

"Autobiography"

"Self narration" is a paper version, 28.3cm in length and 755cm in width, 126 lines, 698 words in total. Before the post, Li Dongyang's seal script begins with the four characters of "zangzhen self narration". The original site is now in the Palace Museum of Taiwan. Self narration is a representative work of huaisu's cursive script. The first six lines are said to have been supplemented by Su Shunqin (song), a collector of this post. Compared with those below the seventh line, they are quite different. When you open the whole volume and look down, you can see at a glance. The whole story is about the wild grass, the pen center, the vertical and horizontal slanting straight, all the way back; up and down echo, one breath through it.

A thousand words of grass

Huaisu's original paper version of xiaocaqianziwen is also called qianjintie. It's old mounted. Each page is 26.8 cm in length and 13.5 cm in width; it has 9 pages and 42 lines (the first paragraph of the original text of Zhou Xingsi). There are 530 characters in it, and several of them are printed in it. It is a very precious copy of xiaocaosha calligraphy in Tang Dynasty. It is known as "the best grass in the world". It is now collected by Huang Jinxiang, a famous scholar. The calligraphy of this post is independent and rarely continuous. The strokes are full of elasticity and texture. The strokes are changeable and the method is rigorous. The whole piece is compact and echoes with each other. It is the most precious and representative work of huaisu in his later years. It is also the only authentic work of Xiaocao handed down by huaisu.

After Zhang Xu, huaisu is an outstanding person in the history of Chinese cursive calligraphy and a leader in the history of Chinese calligraphy. Huang Tingjian, a great scholar of the Northern Song Dynasty, said: "huaisu cursive script has a long history in old age. It's better to cover a piece of cursive script than to be fat, and it's better to hide a piece of cursive script than to be thin Mi Fu praised: "huaisu grass is thin." Both of them clearly point out that huaisu's calligraphy is "thin and vigorous", which is true of the true work of qianjintie collected by Huang Jinxiang. Xue Shaopeng, a famous calligrapher of the Song Dynasty, also pointed out that "huaisu was a sage of grass in the Tang Dynasty. The so-called exquisite and elegant handwriting is not the best one to learn." Cao Xun, a famous official in the Southern Song Dynasty, said: "huaisu ' "Zhulu tie" praises: "the calligraphy of zangzhen is not based on Gongqing, but on Cao Sheng's coming. He takes wine as his weapon and pursues deer. He is a great master. Xu diansu is crazy, nonghan Zhiying. "

The silk version of Xiaocao QIANZI Wen was written in the 15th year of Zhenyuan (799 AD). There are many kinds of huaisu's thousand character writings, and the best one is the small character Zhenyuan edition, also known as the silk edition of qianjintie, with 84 lines and 1045 characters. This book was written by huaisu in his later years. In his later years, the cursive script changed from sudden rain and whirlwind to elegant and plain. The characters were not connected with each other, and the writing style was more vigorous and simple. It should be the most gorgeous and return to the plain, so it has always been valued by the scholars.

"Bitter bamboo shoots calligraphy"

"Bitter bamboo shoots" is written by huaisu, the "sage of grass" in the Tang Dynasty. It is 25.1 cm in length and 12 cm in width, with 14 characters in two lines, which means that "bitter bamboo shoots and tea are extremely good, but they can come by the way. On huaisu. Wu Qizhen of the Qing Dynasty commented: "the calligraphy is beautiful and healthy, and the structure is comfortable. It is a wonderful book for Su Shi." Kuzhutie is the earliest Buddhist calligraphy related to tea. It's in Shanghai Museum.

On Calligraphy

"Lun Shu tie", cursive ink, paper, vertical 38.5cm, horizontal 40.5cm, 9 lines, a total of 85 words. Generally speaking, it inherits and develops Zhang Xu's cursive script, so there is a saying of "following Britain with madness". Dong Zhui's "Guangchuan Shuba" says: "huaisu is good at calligraphy. He says that he has got Samadhi. Watching the storytelling of the Tang Dynasty, it is said that there will be no reduction

Although Zhang Xu galloped beyond the ink rope, he had no choice but to move forward and backward in the middle of the festival But in any case, huaisu's cursive script is based on unrestrained and unrestrained. On the other hand, "Lun Shu tie" is quite different from huaisu's cursive script in that it is "even, steady and familiar" and "in and out of the rules, absolutely crazy and strange". It is a masterpiece with the meaning of Zhang Cao in cursive script.

Character evaluation

Li Bai praised huaisu as a "young master" in his cursive script“

Cursive script is unique in the world

”He said that his cursive script is the best in the world.

Han Luo (Title huaisu cursive screen): where a screen, clearly huaisu lying. Although many dust color dye, especially see ink mark thick. Strange stones run to autumn streams, and old pines hang on cold vines. If you teach me how to face the water, I'm afraid of Jackie Chan.

Guan Xiu (song of cursive script of Guan huaisu): Zhang Diandian was the first to dianfei until huaisu. If you don't master the Sutra, you don't talk about Zen. Your strength is only in cursive script. Crazy but afraid to be an immortal, help God, God can't, iron and stone painting ink must enter. Jinzun bamboo leaves more than a few Dou, half drink half tilt mountain wet. Drunk to the pen as fierce as a tiger, Fenbi plain screen does not ask the master.

Lu Zong's "continued book review" said: huaisu cursive script, help a hair to switch electricity, change with the times.

An Qi of Ming Dynasty (review of "self narration post"): the color of ink and gas paper is wonderful and moving, in which the vertical and horizontal changes are made in HaoDuan, which is extremely mysterious and has an indescribable potential.

Huang Tingjian: huaisu cursive script, old age is not reduced long history, Zhang

Chinese PinYin : Huai Su