After hundreds of years of war, division and civil war, the land of China returned to unity and entered the Sui Dynasty. The Sui Dynasty only lasted for two emperors, and it collapsed under the impact of the peasant uprising in thirty-eight years. However, the Sui Dynasty can be regarded as the prelude to the prosperity of the Tang Dynasty in many aspects. The Tang Dynasty wrote the most glorious page in ancient Chinese history, and the prosperous Tang Dynasty reached the pinnacle of China's feudal era. From Li Shimin, Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty, to Li Longji, Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, for about 130 years, the society was relatively stable and unified, the national power was the strongest in the world at that time, and economic and cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries were also very frequent. It was in this social background and atmosphere of the times that Buddhist calligraphy and painting in the Sui and Tang Dynasties, especially in the Tang Dynasty, reached its heyday in the history of Chinese Buddhist calligraphy and painting, even surpassing the Northern and Southern Dynasties in many aspects.
When Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty Yang Jian seized power and proclaimed himself emperor (581), he issued an edict to repair the Buddhist temples abandoned by Emperor Wu of the Northern Zhou Dynasty. He built 106,580 new Buddha statues and restored 150 original Buddha statues. There are more than one hundred and eighty-eight thousand, nine hundred and forty statues. The two emperors of the Sui Dynasty both worshiped Buddhism devoutly. In addition to Buddhist temples, they also opened Buddhist caves and built Buddhist statues. At the same time, Buddhist calligraphy texts such as temples, grotto murals and list books, Buddhist temple inscriptions and pagoda inscriptions, and grotto statue inscriptions are also widely popular. There are dozens of famous painters who painted Buddhist murals in the Sui Dynasty, including Zhan Ziqian, Zheng Fashi, Dong Boren, Yang Qidan, etc. Buddhism after its revival in the Sui Dynasty remained as powerful as before Emperor Wu of the Northern Zhou Dynasty destroyed Buddhism. The paintings of the Sui Dynasty still focused on Buddhist and Taoist paintings. The Buddhist paintings of the Sui Dynasty were inherited from the Southern and Northern Dynasties, and then extended from the early Tang Dynasty to the prosperous Tang Dynasty. They were inherited in one continuous line, pushing Chinese Buddhist painting to a new peak. Almost all the scholars and painters of the Sui Dynasty were good at Buddhist paintings. As soon as the turmoil subsided, thousands of folk painters painted a large number of rich and solemn craftsman-style temple and cave Buddhist paintings with religious piety to ward off disasters and pray for blessings. In addition, foreign painting monks such as Yuchi Bazina from Khotan and Tan Mo Zhuosha from Tianzhu joined in and spread the foreign painting style, making Buddhist paintings in the Sui Dynasty colorful and spectacular. From the Sui and Tang Dynasties to the Five Dynasties, calligraphy art was dominated by regular script. The calligraphy from the Sui Dynasty to the early Tang Dynasty was dominated by the calligraphy style of the "Two Kings" of the Eastern Jin Dynasty. This can be seen in the Buddhist calligraphy of this period. The Dharma calligraphy of Wang Xizhi's seventh grandson Shi Zhiyong is an obvious example. Buddhist temple inscriptions in the Sui Dynasty were exquisite and beautiful, with the "Longzang Temple Stele" as a typical example. As a result of accepting the teachings of destroying the Buddha, sutra engraving also developed. The large-scale stone carvings of Buddhist scriptures in Fangshan, Beijing, began in the Sui Dynasty.
The Sui, Tang and Five Dynasties were a period when Buddhist sects were most numerous and widely popular. Calligraphers and painters began to implement Zen concepts into the creation of landscape paintings. The first person to try it was Wang Wei (701-761), who was revered by later generations as the originator of "literati painting". Wang Wei was good at poetry and painting, and was particularly devoted to Buddhism. He was the first to use the Sudden Enlightenment Zen method of Hui Neng (638-713). One of the enlightened scholars. This created favorable conditions for him to combine poetry with painting and Zen. The objects he describes in his poems are just like landscape paintings, and the landscape images described in his poems have a kind of Zen state. He fully embodied the transcendent realm of Zen Buddhism in his landscape paintings.
The snow scenes, plank roads, fishing, village ruins and other scenes he painted are full of lofty and subtle Zen. In addition, the ink painting experiments he conducted when he lived in seclusion in Wangchuan in his later years all show that Wang Wei has consciously incorporated the "Zen" into his paintings. , "Zen interest" is integrated into the creation of landscape paintings. As a result, a group of painters appeared who pursued lofty and indifferent ideas and mainly expressed the subject's taste. Wang Wei introduced "Zen meditation" and "Zen interest" into the art of painting for the first time, which played a positive role in the development of Chinese painting, and played an extremely important role in the development of the relationship between Chinese painting and Buddhism after the Tang Dynasty.
Li Yuan, the emperor of the Tang Dynasty, accepted the Zen throne of Emperor Gong of the Sui Dynasty, unified the world and prospered the Tang Dynasty. Both Taizong and Gaozong worshiped Buddhism. At that time, Xuanzang traveled to the West and returned to China. He brought back a large number of Buddhist classics, opened a translation field to translate scriptures, and led his disciples to translate seventy-five volumes of the Mahayana Sutras, one thousand and three One hundred and thirty-five volumes. In addition, Yijing Sanzang went to India by sea to seek Dharma. Together with the Indian monk Rizhao and others, they returned to Luoyang with about 400 volumes of Sanskrit scriptures, laws and treatises. Empress Wu personally welcomed him. During the reign of Emperor Xuanzong, Indian monks Shanwuwei Tripitaka, Vajra Wisdom Tripitaka and Fu Kong Tripitaka came to China one after another and were known as the "Three Great Masters of Kaiyuan". Huiri Sanzang traveled to India and returned home, where he was respected and convinced by scholars at that time such as Wang Wei, Yan Zhenqing and others. By the Tang Dynasty, Buddhism had been theoretically sinicized and divided into different sects. The Tang government even had Buddhist administrative agencies. Therefore, temples were built to educate monks and preach sermons, which became a common practice. The murals in Buddhist temples and caves are countless. In "Records of Famous Paintings of the Past Dynasties", there are more than 140 painted walls in temples in Shangdu (now Xi'an, Shaanxi) and 20 painted walls in Dongdu (now Luoyang, Henan) temples. Famous handwriting. Wu Daozi alone painted more than 300 murals in temples and temples in Chang'an (today's Xi'an, Shaanxi Province) and Luoyang. This shows the prosperity of Buddhist paintings. Although there was a disaster when Wuzong destroyed the Buddha in Huichang in the late Tang Dynasty, when Xuanzong Li Chen came to the throne, he made great efforts to restore it and Buddhism flourished again. Grotto murals still show images of Buddhas, Bodhisattvas and sutra transformations, especially the Pure Land transformations. This was because the Pure Land sect, which preached that people will be reborn in the Western Pure Land of Amitabha after death (the World of Ultimate Bliss), was popular in the Tang Dynasty. Only the Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang had the Tang Dynasty. There are more than a hundred shops of murals in disguise of the Pure Land. Not only did Buddhist murals flourish in the Tang Dynasty, even more so than in the Southern and Northern Dynasties, but Buddhist paintings on paper and silk were also numerous and their techniques more mature. The lay monks and Buddhist painters whose names are recorded in historical records, such as Yan Liben, Yuchi Yiseng, Wu Daozi, Lu Lengjia, etc., are as bright as stars. By the time of the flourishing Tang Dynasty, Chinese Buddhist painting had completed the evolution process of removing traces of imitation and forming a Chinese national style. Buddhist paintings of the Tang Dynasty were richer in content than those of previous generations, with most colors more brilliant, grander realms and more majestic momentum, which corresponded to the social climate of the Tang Dynasty. At the same time, many monks in the Tang Dynasty were not only actively engaged in Buddhist paintings, but also painted landscapes and figures. They loved calligraphy and had high attainments. One of them, Shi Yanjing, wrote a wonderful "Records of Later Paintings" for posterity.
The calligraphy and painting of the Sui, Tang and Five Dynasties was the highest period of "advocating law". A large number of famous calligraphers have deep relationships with Buddhist monks. For example, Yan Zhenqing (709-785) and Huai Su (725-785) are representative figures. Yan Zhenqing has a close relationship with Buddhism. His interactions with Buddhist monks, seeking Buddhist teachings, writing scriptures to worship Buddha, and meditating on Zen enlightenment have deeply influenced his calligraphy creation and theory. This can be confirmed by the calligraphy style shown in his calligraphy work "Magu Xiantan Lun", which does not care about workmanship and follows the situation, as well as the calligraphy style in "Manuscripts for Memorials to My Nephew", which does not care about rules and focuses on expressing one's own feelings. Similarly, we can also experience the transcendent spiritual pursuit of Zen Buddhism from Huai Su's famous "Autobiography". In addition, Yu Shinan's "Bi Mui Lun", Zhang Huaiguan's "Shuguan" and the theory of "foreign masters create good fortune and get the heart from the heart" proposed by Zhang Hong in the Tang Dynasty. Judging from their contents, the influence of Buddhism exists.
In addition, a large number of Zen calligraphers and painters appeared during this period, especially Ruhuaizha, Qiji, Daya, Gaoxian, Yaqi, Guanxiu, Jingyun, Benguang, Chugui, Wenchu ??and so on. Gao Xian, Yaqi, Guanxiu and Benguang are the most representative ones. In terms of theory and creative practice, they can organically combine the art of calligraphy and painting with Zen enlightenment and create a deep integration of calligraphy and painting art with Buddhism in the Northern Song Dynasty. A good opportunity. In the early Tang Dynasty, Shi Huineng proposed the Buddhist idea of ??sudden enlightenment, which not only made him the sixth ancestor of Zen Buddhism and the founder of Southern Buddhism, but also made Zen Buddhism prosperous.
The painting of Buddha statues and Bodhisattvas and the writing and engraving of sutras, which had begun to decline in the Song Dynasty, had a certain revival in the Yuan Dynasty because the rulers of the Yuan Dynasty formulated policies to protect all religions, especially Tantra. It was worshiped and advocated by emperors and dignitaries, and Esoteric Buddhism was a sect with complex rituals that emphasized initiation, offerings, chanting, and propagation of Dharma. In addition, the emperors of the Yuan Dynasty who were influenced by Han culture gradually fell in love with calligraphy, and the Han culture was ruled by foreigners. People are particularly fond of national culture. All these contributed to the certain development of Buddhist calligraphy and painting in the Yuan Dynasty. The Yuan Dynasty was a political power established by the Mongolian nobles. In the eighth year of the Yuan Dynasty (1271), Kublai Khan named the country Yuan. In the sixteenth year of the Yuan Dynasty (1279), he destroyed the Southern Song Dynasty and unified the country. Around the 80th year of the Yuan Dynasty, social and ethnic conflicts intensified, and they collapsed in the storm of peasant uprisings at the end of the Yuan Dynasty. Zhu Yuanzhang replaced him, established the Ming Dynasty and restored the Han government. In the 276th year of the Ming Dynasty, it was overthrown by Li Zicheng's peasant uprising army in the 17th year of Chongzhen, Sizong of the Ming Dynasty (1644). Nurhachi from the northeast led the Jurchen army to seize the opportunity to enter the customs, established Beijing as the capital, gradually unified the country, and established the Qing Dynasty that lasted for more than two and a half centuries. During the more than 600 years before and after this social change, Buddhism and Buddhist art also underwent a series of important changes, but the overall scale, momentum and artistic achievements entered a period of decline.
Most of the Buddhist paintings in the Yuan Dynasty are Tantric paintings. Although there are literati who specialize in figures or landscapes, etc., they also create Buddha statues, Guanyin, Arhats, and disguised figures, and there are also fine works. However, most of them mainly use changes in subject matter to create the interest of the pen and ink. They are strong in emotional expression and weak in religious symbolism. After all, Zhao Mengfu and several others, whose masterpieces of Buddhist paintings were astonishing, were unable to recover. In the Yuan Dynasty, Buddhist paintings on the whole no longer have the majesty and splendor of previous generations. In fact, they show the declining trend of Buddhist paintings that originated in the Song Dynasty. Buddhist books in the Yuan Dynasty are in a retro style (traditional to the Jin and Tang Dynasties) and have a regular style. Zhao Mengfu, a master in the history of Chinese calligraphy, was a calligrapher and painter of the Yuan Dynasty and the first Buddhist calligrapher and painter. In addition, Buddhist calligraphy and painting in the Yuan Dynasty also embodies the characteristics of interpenetration and integration of calligraphy and painting, and painting and calligraphy. The pursuit of a clear, spiritual, elegant and dust-free style and realm is actually connected with the Zen state. The Yuan Dynasty was the final stage of Zen painting.
By the Ming and Qing dynasties, the magnificent and magnificent Buddhist art of the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties and the Sui and Tang Dynasties, as well as the simple and distant Zen paintings of the Five Dynasties and Song Dynasty, were all in the past. The splendid, mysterious and terrifying tantric art that has been revived for a while has never been more prosperous. Buddhist calligraphy and painting tended to decline with the decline of Buddhism.
But Buddhism has been integrated into Chinese culture after all. During the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang, the first emperor of the Ming Dynasty, tried to become a monk in Huangjue Temple when he was young. After taking power, he selected eminent monks to serve as envoys to the kings and recruited foreign monks, granting them titles and official positions. In the middle of the Ming Dynasty, Wuzong Zhu Houzhao also worshiped Buddhism and taught scriptures. He called himself "Daqing Dharma King" and advocated Buddhism. In this way, Buddhism in the Ming Dynasty still had a certain momentum. However, Buddhist calligraphy and painting still have not developed significantly, and they only play a minor role in the art of calligraphy and painting. The paintings of the Ming Dynasty were dominated by landscapes, flowers and birds. "As for the images of gods and transformations in hell, there is no such thing as a single one" ("Wuzazu" by Xie Zhaozhe, Ming Dynasty). Literati in the Ming and Qing Dynasties paid equal attention to calligraphy and painting. In the works of calligraphers and painters, as well as in the calligraphy of painters and the paintings of calligraphers, there are some Buddhist-themed works. However, it is not so much that they are mainly for the purpose of spreading sutras and propagating the Dharma, but rather that they are more focused on expression. Spirituality and the pursuit of interest in writing and ink, thus making it more individual and style-featured. Although a few of these paintings also pay attention to the implication of Zen enlightenment, many of them only inherit the simple and light form of the previous generations of Zen paintings without pursuing the Zen state. However, the religious feelings of the authors are more or less present. Some literati Buddhist paintings were also incorporated into the religious worship system.
Most of the Buddhist books of the Ming Dynasty embody the calligraphy style of Tie Xue, which is also based on the Jin Zong and Tang Dynasties. new developments. In the middle of the Ming Dynasty, Wen Zhengming and others revived the style of calligraphy and passed down exquisite Buddhist calligraphy such as sutra writing. At the end of the Ming Dynasty, Dong Qichang used Zen to discuss calligraphy, and used the division of Zen schools as a metaphor to divide the landscape painters of the past dynasties into northern and southern schools. These theories had a great influence on the Qing Dynasty.
Buddhist paintings in the Qing Dynasty continued the decline of Buddhism in the Ming Dynasty and became even more sluggish.
Daoist paintings had almost no independent status in the painting circles of the Qing Dynasty. Although there were painters of landscapes, flowers and birds, and figures, they occasionally painted Buddha statues, Guanyin, Arhats, ghosts and gods, with some religious piety, and they were mainly used as tools to express emotions. Not all may be incorporated into the religious worship system. The only people famous for their Buddhist paintings are Ding Guanpeng and a few others. There are various forms of folk Buddhist paintings. Since the time has passed, many of them still remain, which seems to be quite lively. There are many Arhats in Buddhist images of the Ming and Qing Dynasties, and the "Five Hundred Arhats Picture" based on the Chinese human form is popular. Buddhist paintings are not prosperous, but it needs to be pointed out that landscapes, flowers and birds were the most developed paintings in the Qing Dynasty, which are inseparable from the contributions of many Zen monks and painters. The "Four Monks of the Early Qing Dynasty" Hongren, Kuncan, Bada Shanren and Yuanji created Zen-like landscapes, flowers and birds, emphasizing "the pottery chants to me" and "borrowing the past to create the present". They were unique and ingenious, and influenced the painting circles of the Qing Dynasty. .
There was a slight revival of calligraphy in the Qing Dynasty, which was due to the emperors of the early and middle Qing Dynasties (Shizu Fulin, Shengzu Xuanye, Gaozong Hongli) who were fond of Chinese calligraphy for political and artistic reasons, and used calligraphy on calligraphy. , advocate calligraphy art. After the Ming Dynasty and before Daoguang, Emperor Xuanzong of the Qing Dynasty (1821-1850), calligraphy styles advocating Zhong (Yao), Wang (Xizhi), Yan (Zhenqing) and other calligraphy styles from the Wei and Jin Dynasties were very popular. Before and after Daoguang, the book world began to undergo changes. The development of epigraphic textual research and the large number of unearthed epigraphic inscriptions from the Northern Dynasties and Sui Dynasties during the Qianlong and Jiaqing reigns (1736-1821) led to the decline of calligraphy, which had been established for too long. Creative calligraphers were encouraged to write "On the Northern and Southern Calligraphy Schools", The influence of Ruan Yuan and his colleagues in "Bei Bei Nan Tie Lun" made the calligraphy style change from delicate to strong, and began to find its own way. Buddhist books in the Qing Dynasty also reflected this change in the calligraphy world. Representatives such as Deng Shiru, Yi Bingshou and others reflected the "steleology" calligraphy style in their Buddhist books, and used seal script and official script that integrated other calligraphy techniques. Write Buddhist texts. In addition, among the eminent monks and masters of the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties, there are still some who are good at calligraphy and calligraphy, and they have left calligraphy treasures. Most of them are exquisite and elegant, but there are only a few outstanding ones. Only the calligraphy of the "Four Monks in the Early Qing Dynasty" has its own style. The eminent Zen monk Dade Hongichi in modern times wrote calligraphy based on the principles of Western painting patterns. His calligraphy was simple, natural and unique, and he became an independent school in the history of calligraphy. The key to the important contribution and influence of Buddhism in the history of Chinese calligraphy and painting lies in the belief and spread of Buddhism. In the Buddhist classics, in addition to encouraging believers to write, read and recite the classics, Sakyamuni Buddha also advised the world to demonstrate the existence of Buddhism through painting, sculpture, casting and other methods. Therefore, believers wrote Buddhist scriptures devoutly and even stabbed blood into ink with sincerity and meticulousness, thus giving calligraphy more spiritual connotation. Copying Buddhist scriptures has become a major mainstream and important driving force in the history of Chinese calligraphy. By the Wei and Jin Dynasties Chinese calligraphy got rid of the rigidity of seal script and became free and easy. For example, the scriptures written in Dunhuang (Jin to Tang Dynasty) and Yunju Temple (Sui to Ming Dynasty) can show the style of that time.
As for the influence of Buddhism on the history of Chinese painting, Dunhuang is also the best witness from a large perspective. To be specific, we can first recommend the landscape paintings created by Xie Lingyun who were influenced by Buddhism. Later, Buddhist painters who had great historical influence such as Cao Buxing, Gu Kaizhi, Wu Daozi, and up to modern times such as Zhang Daqian, Qi Baishi, Yuan Lin, etc. There are too many to mention.
The relationship between Buddhism and Chinese calligraphy and painting can be said to be in harmony. Buddhism's contribution and influence on the art of calligraphy and painting are not as glorious as they were in the past. After a moment of interruption, it has ushered in an era of great glory. Based on the inheritance of national culture and art, the majority of people in the field of calligraphy and painting will inevitably understand and come into contact with Buddhism. Therefore, the number of people who are associated with and believe in Buddhism is increasing day by day.