Research On Inscription Style Of Seng’an Daoyi And Causes Of Spreading In The Northern Qi Dynasties

The purpose of this study is to research into the inscription of Seng’an Daoyi,as a kind of pattern,as well as its style and the causes of spreading.The inscription of Seng’an Daoyi and his team is widely known as the best calligraphy in the Northern Qi Dynasty,not only because they had extremely high art achievements,but also because their calligraphy reflects and portrays the history and development of the Northern Qi Dynasty.The introduction talks about the historical background of the Northern Qi Dynasty and how art and ideology was ruined and reserved due to the dynasty changes.Chapter 1 talks about how the cultural and ideological background and the imperial and aristocratic family accepted Buddhism and promoted its development.Historians believe that the culture and ideology of Northern Qi Dynasty was an all-round inheritance from the Northern Wei Dynasty.The aesthetic preference of the upper class,together with the historical background,led to the blooming of Buddhist calligraphy which aimed at preaching to the converted.In Chapter 2,Seng’an Daoyi’s motives for practising inscription were discussed.By comparing his style of calligraphy and epitaph,this chapter argues the inevitability of him having a calligraphy style of ‘having both regular script and official script,both square shape and long shape’.The chapter also analysed a key person,Empress Dowager Lou,who held the central power of Eastern Wei Dynasty and Northern Qi Dynasty,and her impacts on the creation of Seng’an Daoyi and his team.Chapter 3 analyses the features of the spreading of Seng’an Daoyi’s inscription from three aspects: the spreading of the text of his inscription,such as the Great Vacuity King Buddha;the spreading of patterns,from a visual perspective;and the spreading in the society,which refers to which among individuals and groups of people.Chapter 4 analyses the causes of spreading.Buddha worship was very common and could be noticed by observing people’s behaviour in the Northern Dynasties.The result of this was that Buddhist inscription was spread among groups of people instead of from mouth to mouth.Its development required both economic and political support from the imperial and aristocratic family.The best way for spreading from group to group was carving the Buddhist scripture with large word size in an open area.It was the fact that the aesthetic preference and opinions of Seng’an Daoyi are compatible with which of the government and the people that actually led to the spreading of the inscription.To conclude,Seng’an Daoyi as a typical example of achieving perfect virtues and merits and becoming a Buddhist calligrapher with unique style under the circumstance when Buddhism has been the national religion of the Northern Qi Dynasty because of the spreading of Buddhism promoted by both the government and the commoner.