Zhi Yong Cursive Thousand Characters Classic

Author: Ji Lin
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-01-01
Features:
Zhi Yong, whose birth and death years are unknown, was originally surnamed Wang and named Fa Ji. He served through the Liang, Chen, and Sui dynasties and lived to be over a hundred years old. He was the seventh-generation descendant of Wang Xizhi, the great calligrapher of the Jin Dynasty, and belonged to the Wang Hui family. In his youth, he became a monk and later traveled to Yongxin Temple in Wuxing County, Zhejiang Province, where he stayed for thirty years, earning the nickname "Eternal Zen Master." At the temple, Zhi Yong lived a secluded life, diligently copying Wang Xizhi's calligraphy every day without interruption. He kept several large baskets, each holding over one stone in capacity, to store worn-out brush tips. Over time, the broken brush tips filled ten baskets, so Zhi Yong built a mound in front of his house to bury them, which became known as the "Brush Tip Mound." Many people sought calligraphy from Zhi Yong, often breaking down the doorframe, so he covered it with iron sheets, calling it the "Iron Doorframe." This shows the extreme dedication Zhi Yong had to calligraphy, and his fame spread far and wide. He was a renowned calligrapher in Chinese history who inherited the style of the "Two Wangs" while also developing his own unique style.
The Zhencao Thousand Characters passed down today was created by the elderly Eternal Zen Master, seeing the gradual decline of ancient calligraphic methods, to revitalize the art. He used Wang Xizhi's calligraphy as a model and spent decades of time writing it in both regular and cursive scripts, using the contemporary reading text Thousand Characters as the content. He wrote over a thousand copies in total, selecting the eight hundred most satisfactory ones to distribute to temples throughout eastern Zhejiang.
The Zhencao Thousand Characters is renowned as "the supreme calligraphy under heaven." Only the first two lines of the ink rubbing are damaged, while the rest are still in good condition. The missing parts have been restored based on the "Guanzhong Version." The "Guanzhong Version" refers to the stone carving made by Xue Sigang in the third year of the Guangguan era (1119) based on the original manuscript, also known as the "Shaanxi Version." The original stone is now preserved in the Stele Forest in Xi'an.
In this collection, both regular and cursive scripts are written with each character standing alone. The brushwork is skillful and elegant, retaining the ancient essence while embodying the spirit of Wang Xizhi. Truly, it conveys the of the "Two Wangs" in both form and spirit. By studying this collection, we can gain a shortcut to understanding the calligraphy of the "Two Wangs."