Author: Hu Chuanhai
There is a passage in Shi Jing's "Records of The Art of Northern Mountains": "It is very strange that as soon as I arrived in Northern Qi, the calligraphy changed. The Northern Qi script is very different from the Northern Wei Dynasty, and it can be said that it is written in letters with Wei Li's square pen, but some Han Li methods are also preserved. I thought that the calligraphy of the Northern Wei Dynasty was solemn and simple, and the calligraphy of the Northern Qi was feminine and elegant. "The situation that Mr. Shi talked about does exist.
In my article "Toward Nature: The Cultural Significance of The Calligraphy of the Four Mountains and Cliffs", I said: "The mature fonts of northern Qi and Northern Zhou gradually replaced the Wei stele script, presenting a beautiful and elegant form of expression. It weakened the sharp and sharp factors in the Northern Wei calligraphy, became more subtle, turned with a pen, elegant and beautiful, and the wind and bone were introverted", "Northern Qi and Northern Zhou Due to the relationship between geography and customs, the book style is obviously different from the south." The existing North Monument has a thick pen and a jumping spirit, and its style is expressed as a change in integration, and the hidden wonders are within square inches. ”
Ma Ziyun and Shi Anchang said in the book "Identification of Inscriptions": "Statues, ancient people carved Buddha shrines or Buddhist scripture stories on stone, and generally engraved the names of the donors and the inscription of the statues. "The stone statues are mostly on square seats, or a Buddha, or counting Buddhas, or standing, or sitting, or niches, or backlit. Its inscription is engraved on the back, or on the side of the niche and on the seat. In addition, there are four squares like pillars, there are people as tall and wide as monuments, the upper cut of the niches to create statues, the lower cut of the inscription inscription. Some are not made of quarrying but only on the cliff wall to chisel the statue, called the grotto statue, or the stone chamber, Yungang, Longmen statues are the same. Like on the multi-colored to decorate. "From the perspective of art history, the art of iconography is the product of the perfect combination of image carving and text engraving, and the statue inscription in it is also the embodiment of calligraphy in Buddhist culture.
During the Southern and Northern Dynasties, Luoyang and Jiankang were two major Centers of Buddhism. From the Southern Dynasty to Liang, there are 700 Buddhist temples in Jiankang alone, and even more so in the Northern Dynasty. During the same period, there were more than 1,300 temples in Luoyang. The Luoyang Jialan Chronicle records that the temples of the Northern Dynasty were called "Zhao Ti Bi Bi, Pagoda Luo Luo." Strive to write the posture of the heavens, compete for the shadow of the mountain. The Golden Temple is taller than the Lingtai, and the Guangdian and Afang are strong. The wood is embroidered, and the soil is only purple. This also led to the popularity of statues, scriptures, and pillars. After Emperor Xiaowen moved the capital to Luoyang, he built a statue at Longmen to pray for blessings. From 495 to 522 AD, he used 80,000 migrant workers, created tens of thousands of statues, and created more than 2,000 statue inscriptions. Driven by this fanatical religious activity, it also invisibly contributed to the development of sculpture and calligraphy.
In May of the eighth year of The Eastern Wei Dynasty (550 AD), Gao Yang deposed Emperor Xiaojing and established Northern Qi (550-577 AD), which was only 27 years, but the calligraphy state of Northern Qi had a strong independent significance in the Northern Dynasty calligraphy system. This is mainly reflected in: the integrity of form, the diversified development of various calligraphy forms, the dominant calligraphy style style, but there is no lack of multi-dimensional interest, which provides the possibility for the establishment of various faces of calligraphy in the future. In addition, the close integration of calligraphy and Buddhism is even worse than that of the Northern Wei Dynasty, so religion has made some forms of calligraphy deformed, such as the existence of a large number of scripture scrolls, and the engraving of scriptures into mountains, caves, slopes, and rocks, and the development of statue calligraphy in the direction of generalization.
There is also the rise of retro thought, not only the Han Li branch book has been infiltrated into the writing of the letters, but also a large number of seal books, so the formation of the "horizontal painting bend knot" phenomenon (that is, the horizontal painting is an arc, the middle is prominent), if the "oblique painting tight knot" prompted the Ouyang inquiry opposite type of the letter pattern, then the "horizontal painting bend knot" is the basis of Yan Zhenqing's xiangxiang type letter. Northern Qi calligraphy not only presents a rich and colorful appearance in external forms, but also has great differences in the use of pens and knots, and it is precisely because of the richness of Northern Qi calligraphy resources that it is very meaningful to pay attention to it.
The development of the Northern Dynasty script can be roughly divided into three stages:
The first stage is bounded by Emperor Xuanwu (500 years), and the previous kaishu still has the legacy of the two Jin Dynasties, the pen tone is strong and simple, and the intention is vivid; the pen is square and round; the body is sideways but the center of gravity is stable, and the overall artistic effect is coarse but not wild, thick but not dirty, and it is quite interesting to providence.
The second stage was from Emperor Xuanwu, kaishu entered a period of rapid development, on the one hand, while weakening the influence of Lishu, on the other hand, its various ontological characteristics as an emerging book body are constantly improving, and the stroke characteristics of Lishu are integrated into the stroke transformation of Kaishu, and the posture is also developing in the direction of Pingzheng Kuanbo. Of course, this point is still different in the performance of the calligraphy style in the two major regions of the north and the south, and the northern works are more lively and natural, with the strong side as the keynote.
The third stage began around the time of Emperor Xiaoming (528), the tendency of calligraphy to return to peace and integrity became more obvious, the use of pens became more delicate and thoughtful, and the handsome and elegant wind replaced the form of majestic and natural expression, and the typical pen and knot law should be said to be quite clear and recognizable.
In 2003, the Shanghai Calligraphy and Painting Publishing House sorted out some of the rubbings of Northern Dynasty calligraphy from the Duoyunxuan warehouse for editing a set of "Folk Calligraphy Series", some of which were rubbings of Northern Qi statue calligraphy, and the editor asked me to write some short articles introducing the beginning of the volume, and it was because of this contact that (of course, when I participated in the "Four Mountains Moya International Book Study Seminar" in the early 1990s, I was already shocked by the strange performance of Northern Qi Moya calligraphy. This further deepened my perceptual understanding of Northern Qi calligraphy. Now I would like to talk about some views in conjunction with the calligraphy rubbings of the Northern Qi statue of Duoyunxuan.
Calligraphy during the Southern and Northern Dynasties was a generalized artistic activity with a mass character, and people from all walks of life, from top to bottom, almost all threw themselves into this kind of behavior with religious significance, and it was this national fanaticism that erased the difference between the elite and the common people. Under the influence of the customs of this piece of vertical monument statues, the term "folkness" with herd mentality almost obscures the ontological value judgment of art. Of course, there are some specific factors here, that is, the psychology of praying for the blessings of the heavens due to the frequent wars and the change of dynasties; under the influence of the disdain of the southern dynasty scholars, the writers and engravers almost do not drop the money, which increases the mysterious color of the anonymous inscriptions; the convergence of the style of the book makes the personality of the calligraphers can only be recognized in the subtleties or in the eyes of professionally trained people; in addition, there is also the huge number of inscriptions in this period that makes the good and the bad coexist, and the fines coexist.
So we can think of it this way, this is a special phenomenon of calligraphy culture in a special era. The phenomenon of book mixing, heterogeneous characters, regional calligraphy, and writers' engraving, etc., which it presents, requires future generations of theoretical researchers to pick up the comb and clarify the fog. But at least one thing, that is, the curiosity of the ancient carvings of the Six Dynasties has long been unanimously recognized. As it is said in the "Collection of Mr. Yimen": "The strengths of the Six Dynasties are in a state of self-sufficiency, not for the law, Ou and Yu are out, there is a certain rope ruler, and the ancient rhyme is slight." ”
The Sinicized Xianbei people in the Northern Qi era played a great role in promoting Chinese culture. As people say, there is a Jinyang calligraphy style in Yixia, and some of the works have beautiful stylistic characteristics, which are caused by the influx of southern scholars, smoked and dyed, resulting in the elegance of the calligraphy form, although in the portrayal of a few cursory strokes, it also reveals a natural charm. At the same time, Xingfo also became a focal point of Northern Qi political culture. The statue-making activities began when Buddhism was officially introduced to China at the end of the Han Dynasty, and the "Three Kingdoms Zhi Wu Zhi Liu Xuan Biography" records that at that time, "the great floating map, with copper as a person, gold painted, clothes with brocade." The hanging steel mallet is nine heavy, and the lower part is a heavy building and a pavilion road, which can accommodate more than 3,000 people. "This is the earliest record of a statue in China. After the Wei and Jin dynasties, statue-making activities developed day by day with the rise of Buddhism, and by the time of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, the scale was quite amazing.
For example, Dao Dao wanted to build a golden statue of Zhangliu Shakya at Tanxi Temple in Xiangyang, Zhu Daolin built a statue of Immeasurable Life at Shanyin Changyuan Temple, and the famous sculptor Dai Kui and his second son Dai Kui built a wooden statue of Midas and Ji Shu Er Bodhisattva at Shanyin Lingbao Temple. During the Southern Dynasty, with the peak of Buddhism, statue-making activities reached their peak. Emperor Wu of Song made a golden statue of immeasurable longevity, Emperor Ming of Song made a golden statue of Zhangliu, and Emperor Qiwu made a statue of Ruishi Shakya, which was very clever. Emperor Wu of Liang made a bronze statue of Zhangliu Mituo in the temples of Guangzhai, Aijing, and Tongtai. The northern dynasty statue-making style was even more popular, not only a large number of grotto art sculptures emerged, but also the calligraphy of the statue inscription around this has become a unique form of calligraphy.
At the same time, this custom spread to the people, and the so-called statue-making and blessing activities rose and fell, and Wang Chang's "Golden Stone Compilation" once said when discussing the reasons for the northern dynasty statue-making: "At the beginning of the noon and the beginning of the noon of the Gai Zidian Dynasty, the Central Plains were in swing. Following the division of the Sixteen Kingdoms, along with the Southern and Northern Dynasties Wei Qi Zhou Sui, to the early Tang Dynasty, a little pacify. Spiral through the chaos of Tianbao Anshi, and interfere with it. In the meantime of people's livelihood, they were separated from their homes and had no peace. There are almost sighs of 'still sleeping without blackmail' and 'it is better to have no life', and Shi Shi used to be born in the Southern Bliss Pure Land and ascend to the Heavenly Palace. Therefore, fools and fools, make statues in order to bless the Buddha. For more than 100 years, it has been immersed in customs. "This is the deep cultural psychology of the Northern Dynasty's prevalence of statue-making."
In May of the eighth year (550) of the Eastern Wei Dynasty, Gao Yang, who was entrusted by Emperor Xiaojing to Emperor Chan, proclaimed himself Emperor Wenxuan, changed his era name to Tianbao Yuan, and established Northern Qi. Emperor Wenxuan, who was passionate about Buddhism, also abstained from eating meat. "Continuation of the Biography of the High Monk" Volume Ten Jing Song Chuan Yun belongs to the grandeur of Gao Qi, Buddhism Zhongxing, the teaching of the world's great temples are a little 4,000, see the good monks and nuns will only be 80,000, the pulpit is more than 200, the audience is more than 10,000. It can be seen that Buddhism flourished in the Northern Qi capital of Ye (present-day Anyang, Henan). Because Emperor Wenxuan worshipped Buddha, during his reign, Buddhism flourished throughout the country; there were many statues unparalleled, and its ruins can still be seen today.