中國書法和文學的關係 (三)

       中國書法和中國文學的關係是密不可分的，科舉時代，人們從幼年到成長，讀書和練字二者並重，我們到博物館或有關的書刊中，常常會發現以前的文官武將，都能寫出一手好字，如有程度上的不同，只是資質、天份和所下的功夫深淺而已，一般來說，凡在文學上有素養者，書法必定經過正規的學習，並有相當程度的成就，是可以肯定的。

       我在這裡，特別舉出一個例子，晉代有一位王羲之 ( 王右軍 )( 西元三0三～ 三七九年 ) 他是中國自古到今被推崇為書聖 (Sage of Chinese Calligraphy) 者，他在三十三歲那年的三月三日的一個節日，與友好一共四十二人。一同在浙江會稽山陰的蘭亭地方集會，大家分坐在溪水兩旁，飲酒賦詩，王羲之除了作詩外，當場寫了一篇「蘭亭集序」，不但文章寫得好，尤其是這篇書法更是空前絕後的作品，全篇二十八行，三百二十四字，字勢縱橫變化，轉左側右，無一抵觸，其中重複字，姿態各異，特別是「之」字有二十多個，每個筆法不同，達到藝術的至高境界。在王羲之寫蘭亭敘大約二百多年後，到了唐代，唐太宗李世民 ( 西元五九八～六四九年 ) 因為非常著迷王的書法，把這篇蘭亭敘尊為「天下第一行書」，唐太宗並用不太光明的手法，把蘭亭敘的真蹟弄到手，命令唐代諸大書法家歐陽詢、褚遂良、虞世南等臨寫，當時著名的拓書專家馮承素等也奉命將原跡拓摹成副本，唐太宗把這些臨本、拓本分贈給皇子及近臣，而把原跡下令埋藏在昭陵作為陪葬。

因此在中國古代,文學和書法有關連,實是一體的兩面。

Chinese Calligraphy and Chinese literature have an extremely close relationship. We talked before about the 1300 years history of Civil Examination, during which time people practiced calligraphy from childhood onwards, and the literary scholars especially regarded calligraphy as a must; it was as important as their field of study.

We can see from the collections in the Chinese museums that, all the government officials and military officers of ancient times wrote good calligraphy. They differ only in their own talents and how much they devoted themselves into the subject.

I would now like to give you an example. In the 晉 dynasty there was a person called 王羲之 who lived from AC 303—379. He is regarded as the sage of Chinese Calligraphy. On March 3rd , He and his friends, a total o f 42 people altogether, met at the orchid pavilion in the 浙江 province. The sat alongside the stream and drank and wrote poems and had a lot of fun.

王羲之 wrote an impromptu poem called “ preface to orchid pavilion meeting” It not only was a literary masterpiece, but the calligraphy of it was extraordinarily remarkable and is said to be never equaled before or after.

The piece contained 28 lines and 324 characters, the character shapes vary in all kinds of ways, and the repeated characters each had their own form. Epecially the character 之, was used more than 20 times but each time it appeared with different strokes. The work achieved the ultimate in the art of calligraphy.

About 200 years after 王羲之 wrote his preface to orchid pavilion meeting, emperor 唐太宗 from the Tang dynasty, who lived from AC 598～649, admired 王羲之 calligraphy enormously and gave him the title of " the world' number one running script master."

Emperor 唐太宗 then obtained the autograph of the preface to orchid pavilion meeting via improper means from 王羲之's family, and ordered all the great calligraphers in the Tang dynasty, such as 歐陽詢、褚遂良、虞世南 and etc. to do imitations of it. He also ordered famous print makers such as 馮承素 to make print copies.

Emperor 唐太宗 gave the various copies to his sons senior officials

and ordered to have the autograph himself buried with him in his

tomb.

Therefore in ancient China, literature and calligraphy were linked  together, they were virtually two sides of the same thing.