Wen | Yu Yongjun
There is a joke in the "History of Ancient and Modern Laughter", which has only 10 words: "Zhang Xu is drunk and writes with ink on his head." This means that after Zhang Xu was very drunk, he actually wrote with his hair dipped in ink.
Feng Menglong tells jokes, often accompanied by comments or questions with feelings, and always gives people the finishing touch and the inspiration in a word. But this story, the old man did not say anything, is it a lack of research on calligraphy and dare not comment, or is it unwilling to cause a calligraphy dispute? unknown. Apparently, he leaves the foreshadowing of the commentary to the reader.
Zhang Xu was a famous calligrapher in the Tang Dynasty, who served as the changshi of Jinwu, so he was also known as Zhang Changshi. He is good at wild grass, and his cursive writing, li bai's poetry, Pei Min's sword dance, and called sheng tang "three absolutes". Legend has it that Zhang Xu shouted and walked wildly after getting drunk, and then dropped his pen, so he was called "Zhang Qian". The New Book of Tang and the Biography of Yiwen says: "Xu, a Wu person from Suzhou. Drunkenness, every drunkenness, the call to go wild, is the next pen, or the head of the ink and the book, both awake to self-esteem, thinking that God, can not be recovered, the world called 'Zhang Qiang'. ”
"Upside down" people, crazy also. Writing with hair dipped in ink, not to say that in ancient times it would be regarded as a strange thing, even if it fell into the eyes of modern people, it would also be seen as a drunken madness and funny. The grotesque thing is that "both wake up and think that God cannot be recovered", when Zhang Xu woke up, he looked at the words he wrote, even he himself was surprised, he couldn't write it again, just like the old monk in ancient Xuzhou, after sleeping sounded like silk bamboo music, after waking up, he didn't know anything, like a god given by heaven, not strange!
"It is better to believe in books than to have no books." How much credibility is this record in the New Book of Tang? Feng Menglong didn't say, but there must have been a question mark in his head.
The poet Li Ji, who was a contemporary of Zhang Xu, once described Zhang Xu in "Gifting Zhang Xu": "Zhang Gong was an alcoholic, open-minded and had nothing to do. Haoshou was poor and grassy, and was called Taihu Jing at the time. The top of the exposed bed is based on the beard, and the long scream is three or five times. Sprinkle the walls and swipe like shooting stars. The lower house is depressed, and the cold grass fills the courtyard. Q. What's the house? Things are like duckweed. He holds the crab in his left hand and the Dan Sutra in his right hand. Staring at Xiao Han, I don't know whether to get drunk or awake..." The poet Saint Du Fu wrote in the "Eight Immortals Song of Drinking": "Zhang Xu's three cups of grass holy legend, before taking off his hat and revealing the crown of the prince, waving the paper like a cloud of smoke." According to the photos left by these two great poets of the same era, it can be inferred that Zhang Xu likes to write calligraphy after getting drunk. But here also reveals a fact: neither of the two poets said that Zhang Xu had the quirk of "writing with ink with his head" after getting drunk. If there is such a thing, the poet should not skimp on pen and ink. The new Book of Tang was compiled by Song Qi, Ouyang Xiu, Fan Zhen, and Lü Xiaqing of the Song Dynasty, and the passage of time has passed, but such bizarre legends have been given, and it is naturally difficult to avoid the suspicion of hearsay and false rumors.
It should be pointed out in particular that Zhang Xu was called "Grass Sage" at that time, and he could write after being drunk, and he could have it "before taking off his hat and revealing his head to the prince", but using his hair to dip ink into the walls, paper or silk to go wild grass, not only insulted the "holy" Swen, but also could not be trusted in terms of facts. This high difficult action, not to mention that a drunken person is difficult to control, even if the person who does not drink is difficult to complete the creation. If you don't believe it, you may as well practice and try it, don't spit out a mess, that's weird! Unless it is deliberately pretending to be drunk, in order to show a "do not know drunk and awake".
The legend of Zhang Xu", which "writes with ink on his head", naturally reminds people of today's weird calligraphy performances that sensationalize and pursue sensational effects. In the process, some seem to be fighting with wild beasts, with strange expressions; some sometimes close their eyes and think, sometimes shout loudly; some shoot ink with thick needles, spraying water on the white powder wall like a child's mischief; and some take off a light and slip, ink all over the body, rolling on the paper to leave a mark... As a result, a bunch of works are not known to anyone except for their own interpretation.
What's even funnier is that this kind of person is also admired by the so-called small circle, and if anyone questions such calligraphy, he will be scolded as a "earth turtle" and denounced as a "well frog" and a "summer worm". And "Zhang Qian" and "Cao Sheng" have become their signboards that highlight "Zushu Yao Shun, Charter Wen Wu".
In fact, if the eyes only stare at Zhang Xu's "wild grass" and regard his masterpiece as a drunken "gift from God" and "irretrievable", it is a misinterpretation of "Zhang Qian". Yan Zhenqing, a calligrapher of the same era as Zhang Xu, said: "Although Zhang Xu has a turbulent posture, and his calligraphy is extremely disciplined, he can be famous for his life. Huang Tingjian of the Song Dynasty studied and pointed out: "His book is extremely correct, and the characters are into the ancient law." People hear Zhang Qian's name, but they don't know what kind of language it is. Therefore, every time I see the book of rampantness, I will return to the long history (Zhang Xu) ear. The calligraphy and painting monograph "Small History of Books" compiled by Chen Si in the Song Dynasty said: "Zhang Xu is famous for his good grass, and he is also very capable of Xiao Kai. Xiang Mu of the Ming Dynasty had a more stark evaluation of Zhang Xu: "His true book (楷書) has absolutely rope ink (referring to the middle rule), the cursive characters are full of fantasy, not exceeding the rules, nai Boying (Zhang Zhi) is the sub, how can Huai Su be able to reach it?" Judged by these Fang family, it is evident that Zhang Xu's wild grass is at the bottom of the kung fu in the kaishu. His drunken wild grass, just like "reading ten thousand volumes, the next pen is like a god", is the flowing and waving of the inner condensed scroll qi, the foundation of his calligraphy and the volume qi can not be put out, but also those who only pay attention to performance, only the chart is wild or even wild, and do not pay attention to the most basic elements such as brushwork and body, but they cannot learn, and they want to pretend and pretend.
"Grass Sage" is a madman, but also a genius. Zhang Xu can write a dashing wild grass, the reason is that in addition to his uninhibited and outstanding personality, there are also superb skills as the background. There is no deep foundation in calligraphy, no natural and flexible book atmosphere, and no sincere disposition, which is the fundamental reason why later generations of imitators only imitate from the skin and ultimately find it difficult to learn their wild grass.
What is genius? Zhang Heng, an outstanding astronomer and writer of the Eastern Han Dynasty, said: "Life is diligent, and it is not easy to get anything." The famous mathematician Hua Luogeng said: "Wisdom lies in diligence, and genius lies in accumulation." "Feeling this, some people who fantasize about absurd and strange tricks today need to be sober: it is good to want to become famous and start a family, but the premise is to have some real effort and long real skills. Not good at writing, only by virtue of the kung fu of the three-legged cat, specifically imitating Zhang Xu's state of forgetfulness when writing, hoping to use information asymmetry to sensationalize the public, just like the water without roots, whether it is true "upside down" or false "crazy", can only "draw a tiger and not become an anti-dog", leaving a laughing stock in vain.