Books and personalities
Written on May 29, 2009.
I often see articles like this, saying that calligraphy should be good, first of all, character should be good. The character is not good, and the books are not high.
Are these words correct?
To figure out what this "product" refers to? Many people interpret it as "virtue," which is wrong. People of bad moral character, calligraphy may be good. Cai Jing, a great traitorous minister of the Northern Song Dynasty, wrote well, better than some loyal ministers. Twice in Chinese history, once by the Mongols and once by the Manchus, they broke into Guanlai and established their central government.
The Yuan Dynasty produced a big traitor Zhao Mengqian, but he was a great calligrapher; the Manchus established the Qing Dynasty, and another big Han traitor Wang Duo, who was also a great calligrapher. As for the traitors of the Song Dynasty, such as Cai Jing and Qin Juniper, the characters were also well written, even better than some loyal ministers.
In the Ming Dynasty, there was also a well-known Dong Qichang, who, although he held a high position, was mean to the township and caused the townspeople to burn down his house. Mao Zedong said that he was a bully landlord, and from the historical data, this is true.
If calligraphy can reflect a person's character, it is equivalent to looking at a person's calligraphy and knowing whether he is a good person or a bad person. In fact, this is not possible. Calligraphy can only reflect a person's character, taste, can not reflect character.
Character is style, and style is high or low, which varies from person to person. The same dish, in a restaurant of different styles gives you a different feeling. Decorating a house, the style can be very different, some customs and some elegance. We call those who use Mac machines "Wheat People", they like high-style things, and Apple machines are their favorite. Twenty-four histories, the most flavorful is the first four histories; the highest style of the first four histories is the "History".
Character comes from taste, some people dress up, buy a lot of high-end cosmetics, buy a lot of designer shirts, but unfortunately it is not good to look at, the taste is not right. Some people wear some ordinary clothes, but they look full of charm.
Character solves the problem of right behavior, and taste solves the problem of indecent. A man of morality is a good man; a man of taste is a man of good taste. A calligraphic work reflects a person's taste, it cannot reflect a person's character. For example, Zhao Mengqian, he is a gentleman, he understands piano, chess, calligraphy and painting, but when the Chinese nation reaches the most dangerous time, he recognizes the thief as a father, and from the moral point of view, the big festival has a loss.
Taste can be cultivated, this is the function of art, called aesthetic education. Art educates people to know Ya and cultivate people's temperament, there is an advertisement in Taiwan that says: "Children who can play the piano have no crimes", and the sound of the piano has changed the world view of children. In fact, all kinds of art have such a function, and people who are immersed in art can improve their taste.
At present, education only attaches importance to intellectual education and sports. It is a pity that there are no special moral education classes in Hong Kong schools, and there are no aesthetic education classes. Without moral education, it is easy to become a bad person, without aesthetic education it is easy to become a rough person, how can education be less of these two things.
The technique of calligraphy itself has no distinction between taste, but how to use it truly reflects the author's taste. Sun Guoting's "Book Genealogy" said: "Although the Xuezong family has become multi-body, it is necessary to follow it and think that it is a posture." The straight ones are not shy, the tough ones are strong and unsmooth, the reserved ones are bound, the easy ones are out of the rules, the gentle ones are hurt by softness, the impetuous and courageous are too plagiarized, the suspicious people are drowning in stagnation, the late and heavy people are finally dull, and the trivial ones are stained with vulgar officials. Si Ji is a loner, and he is good at playing."
What kind of words people write, what kind of works people appreciate, this is the relationship between books and character.