八仙中有张果老倒骑驴的故事，他认为往前走是在向后退，他就倒过来骑。人类觉的科学在发展，社会在進步，其实还不完全是这样。本文从书法角度谈一下这个问题。
书法历史久远，是中国的三大国粹之一。它是以书写汉字为表现手段的一门抽象视觉艺术。在书法界有“晋人尚韵，唐人尚法”的说法，“书法”这个词就出现在唐代的“尚法”时期。在唐之前，称书法为书、书艺或书道。现在日本仍称书道，韩国称书艺。在魏、晋、南北朝时期，社会盛行老庄学说，人们张口谈玄，闭口论道，书法被称为书道。东晋的“书圣”王羲之，就崇尚道。
称“书道”涵义是很深的。书道是将书法作品视为一个完整的有机体，从整体上、意境上、意韵上把握和体味书法艺术。那时人们认为书法艺术蕴含的意义是符合道家的“道”的。书法家所追求的艺术境界，也就是道的境界。王羲之说：“书之气，必达乎道，同混元之理。”到了唐代，楷书的发展成熟，点画形式日益丰富，结体方法日益复杂，讲究笔画、结构、章法等，如“永”字八法、欧阳询的结字三十六法等，并且出现了书法教学，认为“书道”概念模糊，难以言传，只有书写技法才能实实在在的讲出来，于是“书道”日衰，“书法”日盛，名称上也正式称“书法”。
书道嬗变为书法，表现上是艺术形式的变化，反映的是人们思想认识上的倒退。由注重整体变为注重局部，注重理想变为注重现实，注重内涵变为注重形式，由精神追求变为学术追求，结果“为学日盛，为道日损”，走上了一条“七窍开混沌死”的道路。
Calligraphy and the Tao of Calligraphy
There is a story in history about Zhang Guolao, one of the eight deities in the Tao school. He thought that going forward was moving backward, so he rode a donkey backward. Mankind feels that science is developing, and that society is moving forward. In fact, this is not necessarily so. Let's discuss this issue from the perspective of the evolution of calligraphy.
Calligraphy has a long history in China. It is one of the three treasured national traditions. It is an abstract visual art through the presentation of writing Chinese characters. Regarding writing, calligraphers have a saying, "People in the Jin Dynasty emphasized the rhythm; people in the Tang Dynasty emphasized the methods." (The Jin Dynasty, 265-420 A.D., is about 350 years earlier than the Tang Dynasty, 617-907 A.D.) The term "calligraphy" first appeared in the Tang Dynasty, an era in which the "methods" of writing were valued. Prior to the Tang Dynasty, calligraphy was just called writing, the art of writing, or the Tao of writing. In Japan it is still called the Tao of writing, and in Korea it is called the art of writing. In the Wei (220-265 A.D.), Jin, and South and North Dynasties (420-589 A.D.), the theories of the Tao from Laozi (1) and Zhuangzi (2) were quite popular. People talked about the Tao often. At that time, calligraphy was called the Tao of writing. The Sage of Calligraphy of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, Wang Xizhi (303-361 A.D.), cherished the Tao as well.
The phrase "the Tao of writing" ("calligraphy") has profound meaning. The Tao of writing is to view a work as an integrated whole. It is to be appreciated from the perspectives of its entirety, realm, and implied taste. Back then, people understood that the art of writing implied conformity to the Tao. Practitioners of the art of writing pursued the realm of the Tao. As Wang Xizhi said, "The qi of writing has to reach the Tao, just as the integration of Yin and Yang." By the Tang Dynasty, writing reached its maturity. Its strokes were rich, its structure became complicated, and emphasis was placed on strokes, structure, and layout. Curriculum for teaching calligraphy began to appear as well. Since the Tao of writing was considered too vague to teach, only the concrete methods of writing could be spelled out. Hence, the "Tao of writing" declined day by day, and the "methods of writing" gained day by day. Later, these writing methods became the formal term "calligraphy."
The Tao of writing has turned into writing methods. On the surface, it is a change in art form. But deeper down it represents a setback in people's understanding. Emphasis has changed from the work's entirety to specifics, from the ideal to "reality," from the inner meaning to form, and from a spiritual pursuit to an academic pursuit. As a result, "Day by day, while the academy advances, the Tao retreats."
Notes:
(1) Laozi (570-470 B.C.): The founder of Taoism; he wrote Tao De Jing.
(2) Zhuangzi - Literally means "Master Zhuang." A famous philosopher in China who lived around the 4th century B.C. during the Zhan'guo Period, around the time of the Hundred School of Thought, the philosophical summit of Chinese thinking.
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