The Tang Dynasty was a flourishing period of calligraphy, in which almost all literati and doctors were able to write a good stroke, and because Emperor Taizong opened a system of "using books to select officials", every reader focused a lot on calligraphy.
The Tang Dynasty was an era of extremely strong religious culture, and during this period a calligraphy profession emerged- "copying the scriptures". Due to the large number of religious believers, this kind of "copying of the scriptures" is extremely needed, and its sources include talented people who have landed on the ground, monks from monasteries, some cultural people from the scholar-doctor class, and even some royal nobles who are involved in the work of "writing scriptures".
Wu Zetian Xiaokai's Diamond Sutra is a long volume
The Lingfei Jing, known as the "First Xiaokai in the World", was written by Zhong Shaojingzhi, the princely minister at the time, and was a Taoist scripture written to Princess Yuzhen at that time.
In recent years, due to the development of the Internet, a copy of Wu Zetian's small letters has come out, this work is a pure gold powder written "Diamond Sutra", the whole text has a total of 5162 words, the characters are exquisite, the whole text is full of a rich atmosphere, talking about calligraphy skills and style, this work is better than the "Lingfei Sutra".
However, the materials used in writing are difficult for ordinary people to see, the paper is the blue background porcelain green paper court paper, and the ink is the ink mixed with pure gold powder, which is quite gorgeous.
Wu Zetian Xiaokai's Diamond Sutra is a long volume
The process by which Wu Zetian wrote this Diamond Sutra can be said to be a major calligraphy event in the history of calligraphy.
In the Tang Dynasty, there were two quite huge calligraphy projects that appeared in the royal dynasty, one was the "Huai Ren Sacred Teaching Order" that took more than 40 years to complete the "Huai Ren Sacred Teachings" in order to "Xuanzang" to take the scriptures, and the other project was that Wu Zetian commemorated and surpassed his father and mother who believed in Buddhism in the 3 years of the Long Live Heaven, and ordered hundreds of famous copyists in the world at that time to copy 3,000 volumes of the Diamond Sutra and the Miaofa Lotus Sutra respectively.
The project took three years to complete, and the paper used for each scripture copy was the most expensive yellow mounted paper at that time, and the ink used was extremely precious in order to preserve it for a longer time. The 6,000 copied scriptures are stored in major monasteries across the country, some of which are hidden in the Tibetan scripture caves in Dunhuang, Gansu.
Wu Zetian Xiaokai's Diamond Sutra is a long volume
After the change of history and the evolution of dynasties, the scriptures enshrined in the major monasteries across the country have gradually dispersed, and the scriptures hidden in Dunhuang were finally sealed in the Tibetan scripture caves during the Northern Song Dynasty and survived. In this cave, a seal is more than 700 years.
At the beginning of the last century, the Dunhuang Scripture Cave was opened, and a large number of precious classics were robbed by foreigners to their own countries, the French snatched the most refined, the British robbed the most, and the Russians robbed the most.
Wu Zetian Xiaokai's Diamond Sutra is a long volume
Some of the Diamond Sutra and the Lotus Sutra copied by Wu Zetian in that year were also sealed in the Tibetan Scripture Cave, and almost all of them were fragments, and a complete version could not be found.
Until the advent of this gold powder Xiaokai "Diamond Sutra", this work is hidden in the most precious No. 17 Tibetan Scripture Cave, the number of people behind its scriptures is extremely large, as well as the paper and ink color used, etc. can be judged, this work is wu Zetian's handwritten "Diamond Sutra", and it is also the only complete version of the "Diamond Sutra" that exists in the Dunhuang Tibetan Scripture Cave.
Wu Zetian Xiaokai's Diamond Sutra is a long volume
Wu Zetian Xiaokai's Diamond Sutra is a long volume
Unfortunately, this work is now hidden in the Bibliothèque Nationale de France