（点击本页标题下方的“来源：《中国文化报》”，查看报纸文章，链接为：http://epaper.ccdy.cn/zh-CN/?date=2021-04-11&page=3&detailId=%E5%8F%A4%E4%BB%A3%E4%B9%A6%E8%AE%BA%E5%AF%B9%E5%BD%93%E4%BB%A3%E5%88%9B%E4%BD%9C%E7%9A%84%E5%AE%9E%E8%B7%B5%E6%80%A7%E4%BB%B7%E5%80%BC）
对广大书法人来说，古代书论既是蕴涵极其博大的专业宝库，足以丰富学习者的基本认知和深层学养，又对当代书法创作极具实践指导价值，绝非仅具抽象理论意义。要实现古代书论的现实指导价值，一个基本前提是能够真切地把握书论的本义，尽可能地远离误解、误读。本文摭取四段古代书论，结合当代书法创作与研究语境，对照当代书法人的短板和困惑，试作阐述。
以笔力促成书法“形势”
夫书肇于自然，自然既立，阴阳生矣，阴阳既生，形势出矣。藏头护尾，力在字中；下笔用力，肌肤之丽。故曰：势来不可止，势去不可遏。惟笔软则奇怪生焉。 （东汉）蔡邕《九势》
蔡邕的《九势》以“形势”为中心，认为书法本于“自然”，提出书写须讲求笔力。
当代书家，却往往疏于对“形势”的自觉追求，而将较大心力用于“形式”的刻意。自上世纪80年代初“书法热”兴起，至今已40年，书家在以“展厅效果”为显在创作目标的促动下，纷纷在“形式”层面挖空心思出新，而对翰墨内在层面的“形势”则极少关注，目前已形成对内在笔力的整体性忽视，堪称积重难返。当下中青年名家大多流于两种倾向，一是走帖派一路，笔致上讲究小格局，面貌秀妍，而笔力不足；一是大肆追求霸悍，极善铺张，但内里实乏劲力。这两路书家在对笔力缺乏这一点上，可谓殊途同归。
前人书论中与上述蔡邕观点相同或类似者颇伙，如清代包世臣《艺舟双楫》中“自跋草书答十二问”和“答熙载九问”以及康有为《广艺舟双楫》中“行草第二十五”，都特别拈出古人论书的“杀字甚安”一语予以重视。“杀字甚安”四字的涵义，一是指结字要安稳，一是指用笔要用力。由此可见，对笔力的重视，在历代书家的实践意识中作为一条红线隐约而持久地发生作用。
值得一说的是，自上世纪90年代以来，蔡邕这短短几十字曾引起多次争鸣，虽然彼此观点相异，貌似穷尽了所有可能，实际却尚未读到原文的真意。学者们争鸣的焦点，是“惟笔软则奇怪生焉”当作何解。大家的观点针锋相对：一说蔡邕主张写字要用硬毫——因为“笔软”写出的字会奇形怪状；一说蔡邕主张写字要用软毫——因为“笔软”写出的字会姿态丰富、生动。但是，这两种观点均未切中蔡邕的本意。正确的理解方式，是将这句话放在原文的整体语境去分析。
这段书论整体上是在谈“笔力”的问题，如“力在字中”，如“下笔用力”，这样才能达到“势来不可止，势去不可遏”的境界。如果“下笔无力”呢？写出的字就达不到书家心里的要求了。所以，这里所说的“笔软”不是指物理性的笔毫软，根本就不是说毛笔软和硬的问题，而是沿着前面几句一路说下来，是指笔力软，即：如果书家“下笔无力”，就难写出正常形态的笔画，即“奇怪生焉”。
还可以换一个角度来看。“惟笔软则奇怪生焉”之前的几句，并没有说“笔硬”，而是说抽象的运笔之力，或者说笔画所含之力。上面说完正面，现在接下来说反面，于是说如果笔力软将会如何如何。这样来看问题，有些像做数学的证明题一样，有正面运算和证明，还需要再换个角度进行一番“验算”，也就是“查错”“证伪”的步骤。
以“古不乖时，今不同弊”引导创作美学方向
夫质以代兴，妍因俗易。虽书契之作，适以记言；而淳醨一迁，质文三变，驰骛沿革，物理常然。贵能古不乖时，今不同弊，所谓“文质彬彬，然后君子”。 （唐）孙过庭《书谱》
孙过庭《书谱》局部
质朴之风随时代的变更而发展，妍美之风也随社会习俗、风尚的改变而改变，中国人的文化审美一向是在质朴与妍美两极之间发生演变。书法面貌随时代、社会的变迁而发生继承与改变、发展，如能合于“古质”传统而又不背离时下的审美习惯，追求合于当下审美而又避免“今妍”的弊病，方为可贵。“淳醨一迁，质文三变”，寥寥八字，表达出社会审美和文艺风格、形态对于反映社会、人心变化的敏感性。
孙氏着重揭出“古质”与“今妍”这看似矛盾的两个概念，接下来通常做法有二：以从众心理表达“今不逮古”，或标新立异地“厚今薄古”，但孙过庭并不预备来一个简单的二选一，而是有创建性地提出自己的书法美学主张或曰评价标准：“古不乖时，今不同弊。”易言之，即“取其精华，去其糟粕”——古时的优异传统与当下的合理审美通统都要，弊端则不论今古通统舍弃。虽然看似中庸态度，但孙氏“古不乖时，今不同弊”八字可谓空前之语，气息清新而掷地有声，其立足点远高于单纯的复古派与单纯的革新派。由此也可联想到传统社会对王羲之书法“中和之美”的崇敬，这种追求容易被误读为“复古”，殊不知“中和”实为中国书法风格发展的主脉。虽然艺术发展需要丰富多彩，但毕竟是有一种主流的审美在主导各个时代的总体意趣，那便是“中和之美”。
当下一些看似成功的书法创作，多数难免于两个弊端，一是在求古的同时却失去艺术的时代特色，比如作品的刻意作旧之类；一是在表达当代精神的同时，置传统书法审美精神于不顾，这正走向了孙过庭所主张的相反一面，恰恰陷入“古则乖时，今则同弊”的怪圈。
作品以书家学养为内在底色
书，如也。如其学，如其才，如其志。总之曰，如其人而已。 （清）刘熙载《书概》
寥寥数句，为书法人耳熟能详，但大都流于笼统理解，少有人看到刘氏论述的根本所在。“书，如也”，此语较早见于东汉许慎《说文解字叙》：“文者，物象之本。字者，言孳乳而浸也。着于竹帛，谓之书；书者，如也。”唐代孔颖达《尚书序正义》引《书纬·璿玑钤》：“书者，如也。则书者，写其言，如其意，情得展舒也。”“如”，此有表达、呈现之义。“总之曰，如其人而已”，此语辄被简言为“书如其人”。当代书家也大多学会了把“书如其人”挂在口头，甚至有名家的个人书展就以“如也”二字作展览名称，弄得不伦不类。
用“书如其人”四字来简单概括“如其学，如其才，如其志”三方面具体所指，当代书家便自动忽略了对个人学养与才情的关注，逐渐弄得随心所欲挥洒几笔就可以拿“书如其人”来作幌子，岂不是离古人用意相去十万八千里？“书如其人”之“如”，今人每理解为“像”的意思。虽差别不远，终嫌隔靴搔痒，太过笼统。
刘氏原文的意思不过是说：书法要表达书家的学问，表达书家的才情，表达书家的志趣。总的来说，书法表达书家的整体修养。“书如其人”，便是书法为书家整体修养的表现，类乎当代所说的“全息摄影”，如此而已。
其实这也是传统文化由来已久的弊端，早在孔子时代已经出现“古之学者为已，今之学者为人”的状况，将“学者”二字换成“书家”，将论述背景置于当下，可谓确实切中当代创作之弊。
从不同书体寻求“质古”与“姿生”之趣
楷之生动，多取于行。篆之生动，多取于隶。隶者，篆之行也。篆参隶势而姿生，隶参楷势而姿生，此通乎今以为变也。篆参籀势而质古，隶参篆势而质古，此通乎古以为变也。故夫物相杂而文生，物相兼而数颐。 （清）沈曾植《海日楼札丛》
沈曾植诗文稿
这是沈寐叟《研图注篆之居随笔》中的一段，《海日楼札丛》编者钱仲联先生所加题目是“论行楷隶篆通变”。“通变”犹言“变通”，指不拘常规，而适时变动。语出《易·系辞上》：“极数知来之谓占，通变之谓事。”
这段是说：楷书的生动元素，多取自行书；篆书的生动元素，多取自隶书。隶书，可视为篆书的行书写法。写小篆参悟隶书字势，小篆更增加生动姿态；写隶书参悟楷书字势，隶书更增加生动姿态，这是书体融通“今”势而生出的变化。写小篆参入大篆字势，小篆便增添古雅气质；写隶书参入小篆字势，隶书便增添古雅气质，这是书体融通“古”势而生出的变化。不同事物相杂而生出文采，不同事物相兼容而增生数量。
在古代书论中，自孙过庭《书谱》拈出“古质而今妍”后，“古质”“今妍”便成为对书法发展书风、形态的一个笼统的指称。沈曾植则以书体之间的异同画出两条发展的线条，以“质（古）”“姿（生）”取代“古质”“今妍”之说，倘以“质古”画线，是：由籀，至篆、至隶、至楷，“质古”成分呈现渐减趋向；以“姿生”画线，则是：由籀，至篆、至隶、至楷，“姿生”成分呈现渐增趋向。合而论之，是随着书体发生时代的由先及后，所含有的“质古”渐减而“姿生”渐增。这是沈曾植对书体认识的逻辑大前提，他从书法创作的角度，提出楷书可向行书撷取生动之势，隶书可向楷书撷取生动之势，篆书可向隶书撷取生动之势，这里体现的是“通乎今以为变”，即写某一书体，有意参取后出的书体的相对生动，求其“姿生”；另一方面，楷书可向隶书撷取古雅之势，隶书可向篆书撷取古雅之势，篆书可向籀书撷取古雅之势，这里体现的是“通乎古以为变”，即写某一书体，有意参取前出的书体的相对古雅，求其“质古”。
当代书家如能将寐叟这段书论观点与孙过庭“古不乖时，今不同弊”的思想结合体会，自可为自己的创作实践寻得一个较为安妥而合理的立足之点。
在对古代书论的学习和借鉴中，当代书家所采取的合理方式，应是与时代审美要求和传统精华思想相契合，通过真实而到位的解读，实现古代书论对当代创作的最佳指导价值。
需要指出的是，古代书论也有一些貌似正确、甚至影响极大但实则已失实践意义的内容。略举一例，如唐人所谓“心正则笔正”的主张，在古代占据主流地位，但在后世接受者来说，已经退居到见仁见智的层面。忠义之士而兼书法家的作品与人物品格被主流思想蔑视的书法家的作品相比，很难保证他们的书法一定能够反映出书家本人品格之高下优劣，比如对比黄道周与王铎的书法或倪元璐与张瑞图的书法，要对之作出非黑即白的评判并不容易，除非欣赏者先入为主而预设了倾向和立场。
（作者：王谦，山东艺术学院书法学院教授、书法理论研究所所长）
延伸阅读：
古代书论中“取象喻书”的思维方式
回归心性，笃守晋法：论明中期书论之意象观（田婧媛）
传统书法“韵”的晋、宋之别（嵇绍玉）
(click "source: China Culture Daily" under the title of this page to view the newspaper article, and the link is: http://epaper.ccdy.cn/zh-CN/?date=2021 -04-11 & page = 3 & detailid =% E5% 8F% A4% E4% BB% A3% E4% B9% A6% E8% AE% Ba% E5% AF% B9% E5% BD% 93% E4% BB% A3% E5% 88% 9b% E4% BD% 9C% E7% 9A% 84% E5% AE% 9E% E8% B7% B5% E6% 80% A7% E4% BB% B7% E5% 80% BC) for the majority of calligraphers, ancient calligraphy theory is not only an extremely broad professional treasure house, enough to enrich learners' basic cognition and deep learning, but also has great practical guiding value for contemporary calligraphy creation, which is not only of abstract theoretical significance. To realize the practical guiding value of ancient book theory, a basic premise is to truly grasp the original meaning of Book Theory and stay away from misunderstanding and Misreading as far as possible. This paper takes four ancient calligraphy theories, combined with the context of contemporary calligraphy creation and research, and compares the shortcomings and puzzles of contemporary calligraphers. Promote the "situation" of calligraphy with pen power. Husband's calligraphy originates from nature. Nature is established, yin and yang are born, yin and yang are born, and the situation is born. Hide the head and protect the tail, and the force is in the word; Use your pen hard to make your skin beautiful. Therefore, it is said that the potential cannot be stopped and the potential cannot be stopped. But a soft pen is strange. (Eastern Han Dynasty) Cai Yong's "nine potentials" Cai Yong's "nine potentials" centered on "situation", believed that calligraphy was based on "nature", and proposed that writing should focus on pen power. Contemporary calligraphers, however, tend to neglect the conscious pursuit of "situation" and devote great efforts to the deliberate pursuit of "form". It has been 40 years since the rise of "calligraphy fever" in the early 1980s. Driven by the creative goal of "Exhibition Hall effect", calligraphers have made new ideas at the "form" level, while pay little attention to the "situation" at the internal level of calligraphy. At present, they have formed an overall neglect of the internal pen power, which can be called a heavy accumulation. At present, most famous middle-aged and young scholars have two tendencies: one is to follow the style of calligraphy, pay attention to the small pattern in style, have a beautiful appearance, and lack of pen power; First, he wantonly pursues hegemony and is very good at extravagance, but he lacks strength inside. These two calligraphers have the same goal in the lack of pen power. There are quite a lot of people who share the same or similar views with the above Cai Yong in the previous book theories, such as "Ziba cursive script to answer twelve questions" and "answer Xizai nine questions" in Bao Shichen's "Yizhou Shuangji" in the Qing Dynasty, and "the 25th cursive script" in Kang Youwei's "guangyizhou Shuangji", all of which pay special attention to the phrase "killing words is very safe" in the ancient book theories. The meaning of the four words "killing words is very safe" refers to the stability of the knot and the force of pen. It can be seen that the importance of pen power has played a vague and lasting role as a red line in the practical consciousness of calligraphers of all dynasties. It is worth mentioning that since the 1990s, Cai Yong's just a few crosses have caused many controversies. Although they have different views, they seem to have exhausted all possibilities, but they have not yet read the true meaning of the original text. The focus of scholars' contention is the solution of "only a soft pen is strange". Everyone's views are tit for tat: first, Cai Yong advocates writing with hard hair - because the words written by "soft pen" will be strange; First, Cai Yong advocated writing with soft hair - because the words written with "soft pen" will be rich and vivid. However, these two views did not hit Cai Yong's original intention. The correct way to understand this sentence is to analyze it in the overall context of the original text. On the whole, this book theory is talking about the problem of "pen power", such as "force in words", such as "force in writing", so as to achieve the realm of "unstoppable potential and unstoppable potential". What if "writing is weak"? The words written will not meet the requirements of the calligrapher's heart. Therefore, the "soft pen" mentioned here does not mean that the pen of physical rationality is not soft at all, nor does it mean that the brush is soft or hard at all, but along the previous sentences, it means that the brush force is soft, that is, if the calligrapher is "unable to write", it is difficult to write normal strokes, that is, "strange life". You can also look at it from another angle. "If the pen is soft, it is strange to be born". The previous sentences did not say "the pen is hard", but said the abstract force of using the pen, or the force contained in the stroke. The front side is finished above, and now the back side is followed, so what will happen if the pen is soft. In this way, some problems, like mathematical proof problems, have positive operation and proof, and need to be "checked" from another angle, that is, the steps of "error checking" and "falsification". Guided the direction of Creative Aesthetics with "bad times in the past, different disadvantages in the present" and replaced the prosperity with the quality of husband, and the beauty is easy due to the vulgarity. Although the deed is made, it is suitable to record words; As soon as Chunzhu moves, there are three changes in quality and literature, focusing on the evolution, and physics is common. When noble energy was not good in ancient times, it has different disadvantages today. The so-called "gentle, then gentleman". (Tang Dynasty) sun Guoting's Book Manual part of sun Guoting's Book Manual develops with the changes of the times, and the style of beauty also changes with the changes of social customs and customs. The cultural aesthetics of the Chinese people has always evolved between the two poles of simplicity and beauty. Calligraphy is inherited, changed and developed with the changes of the times and society. It is valuable if it can be in line with the "ancient" tradition without departing from the current aesthetic habits, pursue the current aesthetics and avoid the disadvantages of "today's beauty". "Three changes in quality and literature" is a few words, which expresses the sensitivity of social aesthetics and literary style and form to reflect the changes of society and people's hearts. Sun focused on exposing the seemingly contradictory concepts of "ancient quality" and "today Yan". Next, there are two common practices: expressing "not catching the ancient today" with a herd mentality, or marking a new place as "valuing the present and neglecting the ancient". However, sun Guoting is not prepared to choose one from the other, but creatively put forward his own calligraphy aesthetic proposition or evaluation standard: "when the ancient is not good, the present has different disadvantages." In other words, we should "take the essence and discard the dross" -- both the excellent tradition in ancient times and the reasonable aesthetic appreciation at present, and the disadvantages should be discarded regardless of the present and ancient. Although it seems to have a golden mean attitude, the eight characters of sun's "bad old times, different disadvantages today" can be described as an unprecedented language. It has a fresh and resounding breath, and its foothold is much higher than the simple retro school and the simple reformist school. It can also be associated with the traditional society's respect for the "beauty of neutralization" of Wang Xizhi's calligraphy. This pursuit is easy to be misinterpreted as "retro", but we do not know that "Neutralization" is actually the main vein of the development of Chinese calligraphy style. Although the development of art needs to be rich and colorful, after all, there is a mainstream aesthetic that dominates the overall interest of each era, that is the "beauty of neutralization". At present, most of the seemingly successful calligraphy creations are difficult to avoid two disadvantages. One is that while seeking antiquity, they lose the characteristics of the times of art, such as the deliberate antiquity of works; First, while expressing the contemporary spirit, it ignores the aesthetic spirit of traditional calligraphy, which is moving towards the opposite side advocated by sun Guoting, and just falls into the strange circle of "good times in the past and the same disadvantages in the present". The work takes the cultivation of calligraphers as the internal background, such as the book. Like learning, like talent, like ambition. In short, just like a person. (Qing Dynasty) Liu Xizai's "Book Overview" has only a few sentences, which are familiar to calligraphers, but most of them are in general understanding, and few people see the root of Liu's discussion. "The book is also like", which was earlier seen in Xu Shen's Shuo Wen Jie Zi Xu of the Eastern Han Dynasty: "the text is the foundation of the object image. The word is also soaked in the milk of words. Written on bamboo and silk, it is called the book; the book is also like." Kong Yingda of Tang Dynasty quoted "Shuwei · Jiqian" in the preface to the book of justice of the Shang Dynasty: "if the book is written, it will be as well. If the book is written, it will be as comfortable as its meaning." "Ru" has the meaning of expression and presentation. "In short, it is just like a person", which is often abbreviated as "a book is like a person". Most contemporary calligraphers have also learned to put "books are like people" in oral, and even some famous personal book exhibitions use the word "ruye" as the exhibition name, which makes them nondescript. Using the four words "books are like people" to simply summarize the specific meaning of the three aspects of "such as learning, talent and ambition", contemporary calligraphers automatically ignore the attention to personal learning and talent, and gradually make it easy to use "books are like people" as a pretext. Isn't it thousands of miles away from the intention of the ancients? The "ru" of "book is like man" is understood by modern people as "image". Although the difference is not far, it is too general. The meaning of Liu's original text is just that calligraphy should express the knowledge, talent and interest of calligraphers. Generally speaking, calligraphy expresses the calligrapher's overall cultivation. "Calligraphy is like a person" is the expression of calligraphy as a calligrapher's overall cultivation, which is similar to the contemporary "holographic photography", that's all. In fact, this is also a long-standing disadvantage of traditional culture. As early as the era of Confucius, there has been a situation of "scholars in ancient times are themselves, and scholars in today are people". Replacing the word "Scholar" with "calligrapher" and placing the discussion background at the present time can be said to really hit the disadvantage of contemporary creation. Seek the interest of "quality ancient" and "posture life" from different calligraphy styles, and the vivid regular script is mostly taken from the line. The vivid seal characters are mostly taken from Li. Scribes, the line of seal characters. The seal character and the regular script have the potential and the posture, which is thought to have changed today. The seal character refers to the potential and the quality of the ancient, and the official seal character refers to the potential and the quality of the ancient. This is through the ancient thought that it has changed. Therefore, the husband's material phase is mixed and literate, and the material phase is combined and counted. (Qing Dynasty) Shen Zengzhi's "hairi Lou Zha cong" Shen Zengzhi's poetry manuscript this is a paragraph from Shen Mei's "essays on the residence of studying drawings and annotation of seal characters". The title added by Mr. Qian Zhonglian, the editor of "hairi Lou Zha cong" is "on the change of official seal characters in regular script". "Flexible" still means "flexible", which means to change at the right time without adhering to the Convention. The language comes out of the book of changes, which says, "when you know the extreme number, it means occupation, and when you change, it means things." This paragraph says: the vivid elements of regular script are mostly taken from running script; The vivid elements of seal script are mostly taken from official script. Official script can be regarded as running script of seal script. Write small seal characters to understand the character potential of official script. Small seal characters add more vivid posture; Write official script and understand the regular script character potential. The official script increases the vivid posture, which is the change of the calligraphy integrating the "today" potential. The small seal script can be incorporated into the character potential of the large seal script, and the small seal script will add an ancient and elegant temperament; Writing official script involves the small seal character potential, and the official script adds an ancient and elegant temperament, which is a change of the calligraphy style by integrating the "ancient" potential. Different things are mixed to produce literary grace, and different things are compatible to increase the number. The quality of the ancient calligraphy and the general calligraphy form of "Nian Yan" have become a reference in the ancient calligraphy. Shen Zengzhi drew two lines of development based on the similarities and differences between calligraphy styles, and replaced the words "ancient quality" and "today Yan" with "quality (ancient)" and "posture (life)". If the line is drawn with "quality ancient", it is that the composition of "quality ancient" shows a decreasing trend from "Zhen" to Zhuan, Li and Kai; Drawing lines with "Zi Sheng" means that the composition of "Zi Sheng" shows an increasing trend from Zhen to Zhuan, Li and Kai. In a word, with the time of the occurrence of the calligraphy, the "quality and ancient" contained in the calligraphy gradually decreases and the "posture and health" gradually increases. This is the logical premise of Shen Zengzhi's understanding of calligraphy. From the perspective of calligraphy creation, he proposed that regular script can capture the vivid potential from running script, official script can capture the vivid potential from regular script, and seal script can capture the vivid potential from official script