Research On Huang Tingjian’s "Zen Calligraphy"

This paper focuses on Huang Tingjian’s representative cursive script "Zhu Shang Zuo Tie",and analyses Huang Tingjian’s thought of "Zen Calligraphy".From the perspective of Zen buddhism in Tang Dynasty,the source of Huang Tingjian’s Zen calligraphy thought was found."Literary Zen" is a special form of Zen in the Northern Song Dynasty.It has realized the transformation of Zen from "no writing" to"must writing" and "no must writing"."Word" has become a means of expressing"Zen",and its direct result is "the principle of poetry,literature and painting",which opens up a way for Zen thought to enter the field of literature and art such as poetry,literature and painting.Huang Tingjian expressed his understanding of Zen by "playing calligraphy".He regarded calligraphy as the main means of doing Buddhist things.Like "Literary Zen",which expresses Zen in words,he finally showed the unspeakable rhyme by using Chinese brush and ink as the means of expressing Zen.Then he summarized the deep Zen cultural connotations of "good rhythm","Free from vulgarity" and " artistic conception centered",which are the core of Huang Tingjian’s "Zen Calligraphy",and constantly improveed his calligraphy creation under the guidance of this thought.This kind of calligraphy thought with Zen cultural connotation is vividly expressed in Huang Tingjian’s Zhu Shang Tie.Its main means of expression are "tortuosity","implicature" and "inversion".Through the study,the specific exposition of this paper is sublimated.Finally,it is concluded that Huang Tingjian possessed not only a complete theoretical system of Zen calligraphy,but also rich practice with Chinese brush and ink as well as life experience.He was a representative calligrapher in the history of Song Dynasty who combined Zen thought with calligraphy art,by means of ink language and Zen thought as the core.