Tang Kaiyuan Manuscript of Lingfei Jing

Author: Deng Ming
Publisher: Shanghai Fine Arts Publishing House
Publication Date: 2005-10-01
Features: The Lingfeijing (also known as the Lingfeijing Six Jia Jing) is a classic of Taoism. This manuscript, dating back to the Kaiyuan era of the Tang Dynasty, exhibits a style similar to the Wang Junshi Zhantai Ming, carved in 665 AD during the Xianqing era. It is elegant, refined, and dynamic, making it a masterpiece among calligraphic scripts. The most renowned extant engraved version is the Bohai Zangju collection by the Chen family of Haining in late Ming Dynasty. Later, the Cixun Tang Tie edition from the mid-Qing Dynasty, with its smooth strokes, falls far short of the "Bohai style" but was highly suitable for imperial examinations. The Yuan Dynasty scholar Yuan Jie attributed this script to Zhong Shaojing, a tradition upheld in the Ming and Qing dynasties, which made it a model for practicing small regular script. It is also known as the Zhong Shaojing Lingfeijing. The 43 lines of the Lingfeijing in this manuscript were collected by the Wang family of Changshu in late Qing Dynasty. Later, Mr. Weng Wange, a descendant of the Wang family, donated it to the Shanghai People's Fine Arts Publishing House for publication in the Yi Yuan Sheying magazine in its 34th issue, January 1987. The renowned scholar and calligrapher Qi Gong wrote a special article on this, noting: "From the perspective of 'tasting a small piece of a great tripod,' even these 43 lines are entirely authentic, without any trace of carving or stone erosion, far surpassing thousands of lines engraved or printed. The 12 missing lines in the Bohai edition are precisely the last 12 lines of this 43-line manuscript. To view it alongside the complete Bohai edition is a delight for connoisseurs." This serves as the golden key for us to study this script.