Wang Xizhi’s Holy Order is characterized by a large number of words, a large number of fonts, and many changes.
1. The number of words is large
There are more than 1900 words in the whole stele. The words are elegant and elegant, and the styles complement each other. There is a lot of room for learning and visiting the tomb.
2. There are many fonts
The whole stele is a mixture of Wang Xizhi’s regular script, running script and cursive script, boldly matching, combining and integrating, combining dynamic and static, and expressing freely, which has a great influence on later calligraphy, especially Contemporary calligraphy plays an important role in enlightenment.
3. There are many changes
Firstly, the writing techniques are very rich, including regular script, running script, cursive script, official script and seal script. Seeing surprises, opening and closing in a measured way, Xin and Zhengzheng interdependent, flexible and versatile; thirdly, repeated characters and radicals all reflect changes and innovations. It is reported that Huairen's calligraphy appreciation was to collect the inscriptions on the "Preface to the Holy Religion", which took him 18 years, which shows his good intentions.
The source of "The Preface to the Holy Religion":
The full name of "The Preface to the Holy Religion" is "The Preface to the Holy Religion of the Tripitaka of the Tang Dynasty", written by Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty. Later, Shamen Huairen collected the characters from Wang Xizhi's calligraphy and carved them into a stele, which was called "Tang Ji Youjun's Preface to the Holy Religion", or "Huairen's Collection of Wang Xizhi's Preface to the Holy Religion", because there are seven figures engraved across the top of the stele. Buddha statue, also known as "The Preface to the Sacred Teachings of the Seven Buddhas".
In February of the 19th year of Zhenguan in the Tang Dynasty (AD 645), the master brought the Sanskrit Buddhist scriptures to Chang'an after seventeen years of seeking Dharma in India. Taizong was very happy to see him. In March of that year, Xuanzang was ordered to live in Hongfu Temple and work on translating scriptures. In the 22nd year of Zhenguan (AD 648), Taizong personally wrote the preface to it, and the crown prince wrote the notes. This preface and notes are included.
The Heart Sutra was translated by Taizong Yu, Crown Prince Jianda, and Xuanzang, and was collected by Shamen Huairen of Hongfu Temple from Wang Xizhi’s calligraphy and folk ink calligraphy collected by the Imperial Household in the Tang Dynasty. It took more than 20 years to compile the Heart Sutra. This stele was engraved in the third year of Xianheng (AD 672). The stele is nine feet four inches high and four feet two inches wide. It has thirty lines of running script, with each line ranging from eighty-three to eighty-eight characters. Unfortunately, it is now broken.
The biggest benefit of learning this post is to solve the glyphs, but the biggest obstacle lies in the coherence between characters and the smooth flow of Qi.