Wang Wenzhi, a calligrapher of the Qing Dynasty, once said: "My poems and words are full of Zen principles." It can be described as a breakthrough. He particularly emphasized the role of the mind in the study of calligraphy, emphasizing the agile comprehension, and emphasizing the role of the mind, so he commented on Su Dongpo's conclusion that "reading ten thousand volumes begins to pass through the gods": "If the book is broken by the book, the ten thousand volumes should be separated from the dust." That is, the subtle truth in calligraphy is sometimes difficult to obtain from book knowledge, and it is necessary to use the power of enlightenment to reach a higher realm. Wang Wenzhi thinks that Sun Guoting's "Book Spectrum" calligraphy is superb, the book is thorough, and he is a person who "understands the book Zen" and understands the mystery of calligraphy. This kind of realm is by no means something that can be obtained by the painstaking study of the ink pond pen mound.
Wang Wenzhi also has a poem commenting on Dong Qichang in "Kuaiyutang on the Quatrain of Books", which is widely circulated, and the poem clouds: "The calligrapher's divine product Dong Huating, the ink is empty and impermeable." In addition to the plains, why bother talking about Zhang and Xing. The reason why Wang Wenzhi attaches so much importance to Dong Qichang is not only their common pursuit of light ink color, but also because they are both deeply influenced by Zen Buddhism. Wang Wenzhi is famous in the history of calligraphy with the reputation of "light ink exploring flowers", and the biggest feature of Dong Qichang's calligraphy is also "light". He takes the light as the sect, advocating the elegant and ancient posture, and believes that the calligraphy is passed on or not, probably in the light and not the light. And the light flavor is not the power of drilling, and the skill of clear practice can be forced, and it must be understood by the heavenly bones, and the quality can be natural.
Dong Qichang's pen is light, and the ink is lighter. He writes with a pen without edges and corners, does not make a stereotyped appearance, and always uses light and soft brushstrokes to caress life and get close to nature. He doesn't like to use square and hard folding, but uses more soft turns. He uses ink to avoid thick and dry, advocating beauty and lightness, and bringing the poetry of ink to the extreme. Dong Qichang's brushwork reveals a kind of ethereal clarity, which is a kind of light attitude towards life and artistic spirit. Whether it is light or not, not only lies in the skill and technique, but also in the indifference of the mind. Light can be said to be a kind of life experience, it is gorgeous to the extreme, it is the precipitation after the hustle and bustle, and it is the ascension after the precipitation. The realm of life is getting old and mature, gradually ripening and leaving, and gradually departing from the plain and natural, and the flashy publication is settled.
The formation of Dong Qichang's calligraphy style undoubtedly comes from the life nourishment he received from the Zhuang Zen philosophy. He also wrote Yan Zhenqing's "Duobao Pagoda" in his early years, and later studied Zhong and Wang, but he only had to go to the skin. In his 30s, he began to learn the Song people, and gradually got a glimpse of calligraphy. He thought that the Tang book was not as good as the Jin book, so he entered the Jin Dynasty from the Song Dynasty. Later, when I traveled to Jiaxing, I was able to see the authentic works of Xiang Zijing's family, and I saw Wang Xizhi's "Official Slave Post" in Jinling. The realm that Dong Qichang prayed for is natural and naïve, indifferent, which is in line with the spirit of the Jin people.
Dong Qichang believes that in order to achieve lightness, in addition to nature (the so-called "is brought by the bones of heaven, it is not accessible by learning", and "must be known in life"), there is also an important way to "enlighten" such as the Buddha learning Zen. He said:
Zen Master Dahui commented on Zen Yun: 'For example, if someone has thousands of assets, I have no money, and I have no debts. This is a special kind of calligrapher. Mi Yuan Zhangyun: 'Like a boat on the beach, use all your strength and never leave your hometown. 'The book is wonderful in being able to meet, God is in being able to leave, and those who want to leave are not the tricks of Ou, Yu, Chu, and Xue, and they want to get rid of the habits of Lao Tzu of the right army, so it is difficult to hear. Nezha dismantled his bones to return to his father, and dismantled his flesh to return to his mother, if there is no other flesh and bones, it is said that the void is shattered, and the whole body is exposed. After the Jin and Tang dynasties, Yang Ning explained this trick. Zhao Wuxing did not dream of being there. The rest of this language and understanding of the "Lengyan" eight return righteousness, the sun and the moon are bright, and the darkness is still empty, it is better to return it, who is not you? However, the rest of the meaning is understood, and the pen does not follow the intention. ”
It is after a deep understanding of Zen Buddhism that Dong Qichang believes in the wonderful way of understanding in art. The purpose of learning calligraphy is not to acquire a kind of knowledge that lies outside me, but to gain an experience of life that lies within me. This experience is sometimes acquired with the help of ineffable self-experience, that is, the method of intuition. It's hard to put into words, but it's not a mysticism. Buddhism is based on the realization of the first truth (i.e., the true truth), which emphasizes the immediacy and immediacy, and is characterized by a single knife and truncation of the crowd, which is an aesthetic way of understanding that allows the world to be presented freely. Dong Qichang borrowed the North and South Sects of Zen Buddhism to discuss painting, and he appreciated the Southern Sect's "no words" and "heart to heart", all relying on nature to perceive the way of understanding, clear mind, sudden enlightenment, and Buddhahood. This is very much in line with the actual situation of artistic creation.