The spirit of rites is a spirit of order. This existed before Confucius. "Rites, fulfillment, so God blesses things. "Rites were originally utensils and rituals for worshipping the gods. The Yin people held the ritual to serve the gods, and the Zhou people gained and lost in the Yin ceremony, and established a more complete ritual system, so Confucius said that "Yin is due to the summer ceremony, and Zhou is due to the Yin ceremony". In three generations, there has always been an order of rituals. In order to maintain the Zhou rites, Confucius also reformed the Zhou rites, put forward the ethical model of the integration of "benevolence" and "propriety", and used benevolence as the moral and psychological basis of the rites to ensure the implementation of the rites. Etiquette is the temperance of benevolence, so that etiquette is externally constrained by people's behavior and becomes an internal requirement of people's hearts.
The order of rites is an old order. At the end of the Spring and Autumn Period, a new order began to brew in the collapse of the old order, and this was the spirit of the Fa. The spirit of ritual is separation, and the spirit of law is the same, but as an orderly and regulatory force in society, they have common characteristics. In the pre-Qin period, there was a "controversy between etiquette and law", which pointed out the difference between the rule of etiquette and the rule of law. However, there is not an insurmountable gap between them, and there is a certain common temperament and transitional characteristics between ritual and law. For example, Xunzi is not only a representative figure of Confucianism, but also the teacher of Han Fei, the master of Legalism. Xunzi actually adheres to the rule of Confucian etiquette and attaches importance to the rule of law, believing that "the etiquette is the great division of the law, and the discipline of the class", which actually gives the meaning of etiquette and law.
I think that this cultural characteristic of the continuity between ritual and law has also been expressed to a certain extent in the expression of calligraphy style, and we can take Liu Gongquan's calligraphy as an example to illustrate.
Many commentators have pointed out that Liu Gongquan's calligraphy originated from Yan Zhenqing, and later generations often called "Yan Liu" and called it, that is, "Yan muscles and willow bones". In other words, in Liu Gongquan's calligraphy temperament, he actually adheres to the basic Confucian spirit. It's just that Yan Shu is more graceful, broader, and stronger, and has a kind of "prime minister's atmosphere". The so-called "prime minister's belly can support the boat", Yan Ti Kaishu always uses an outward expansion structure to support an orderly space, inclusive and all-inclusive. However, Liu Gongquan is different, his regular script is tighter, more vigorous, and more rigid, and there is a sense of majesty that Geng Jie is unique and inviolable, so there is a kind of "general spirit".
In Liu Gongquan's thoughts, there is a deep sense of Confucianism in the world. At the beginning of his career, there was a "pen admonition" saying, the so-called "pen in the heart, the heart is right". Later, when he was in charge of the Zhongshu Sheren, Tang Wenzong wore many washed clothes to the court, and all the ministers praised the emperor's frugality, and Duliu Gongquan criticized Wenzong for "the master should be virtuous, retreat, admonish, and reward and punish." The garment of the cloth is the ear of the small section". The ministers trembled, and Liu Gongquan was speechless, and Wenzong praised him for "having the demeanor of a minister". Liu Gongquan was in the late Tang Dynasty when the style was declining, and his calligraphy was even more outstanding.
Liu Gongquan's regular script has a sense of majesty that is unique and inviolable, just like his "words and deeds have the demeanor of a minister".
The predecessors tried to summarize the calligraphy of the entire Tang Dynasty with the "Tang Shang Law", which is biased. However, the regular script that uses the word "law" to summarize Liu Gongquan can be said to be in one sentence. Liu Gongquan's regular script has both Yan Zhenqing's dignified and upright, and Ouyang Xun's indomitable strength, which is sharp and dangerous, like a knife splitting an axe, and has "a righteous person who enforces the law and faces the style of ruling the court" (Zhu Changwen commented on Ouyang Xun's words). It is precisely because his calligraphy is too severe and strong, sharp, and the muscles and bones are exposed, and it is criticized by later generations of calligraphers for its lack of richness and roundness, throwing muscles and revealing bones, and ridiculed as "the ancestor of the ugly and evil 札" (Mi Fu language). But the problem is that the general is saber and cannot look back; How can a strong man hesitate when he draws his sword? The advantages of Liushu are strong, and the disadvantages are tight; A good scholar will have an iron backbone, and a bad scholar will suffer from the disease of rigidity.
Liu Gongquan's regular script is decisive, ruthless, and direct, and the structure is square, neat, and rigorous. It can be said that it is the polar track of the testimonies. In its structural law, there is the order of rites; And in its attitude towards the use of the pen, it contains the spirit of the unity of the law. I think that if learners can get their "Mysterious Tower Tablet", "Shence Military Tablet", "Diamond Sutra" and other hand-me-down works, taste them deeply, play them carefully, and for a long time, then this reason can be understood.