Chapter 57 Using "Life Seal Script" to Concentrate Thoughts on Life

Xie Sizhong once placed high hopes on the society to improve the quality of the people; later found that for those who have received basic education, they mainly rely on themselves—as long as everyone can consciously "look out for themselves", the overall quality of the people will inevitably be greatly improved.He said that the World Health Organization pointed out in the "Alma-Ata Declaration" in the last century: "Health is not a basic human right, but self-responsibility. The health concept in the 1990s should be to learn self-medication and self-care." That is to say, health It's your own business, don't expect the society to take any responsibility for you; the same is true for improving the quality of the people-improving the quality is not a basic human right, but a self-responsibility.

So, how can we enhance the consciousness of improving our own quality?Xie Sizhong believes that we should not only emphasize this issue from the perspective of collective interests and national interests, the most fundamental thing is to stimulate people's desire to achieve a fulfilled life and enlighten people's wisdom to achieve a fulfilled life.Therefore, in recent years, he has extended his national quality research to the field of life science.Regarding life science, he interpreted it popularly as "knowledge about how people should live"; according to reports, the Chinese Society of Life Sciences was established in 1994.

In the process of exploring the science of life, Xie Sizhong deeply felt that the ancient Chinese philosophy of life is a treasure house of life wisdom, which involves almost all aspects of life science; and the life maxim that condenses the essence of life philosophy is especially loved by the world and is often used as a motto , or put it on the desk, or hang it on the wall, with morning bells and evening drums, to warn yourself.In order to spread the essence of these life philosophies, at the request of others, he often writes life maxims in Xiaozhuan script and presents them as gifts;The signatures of these calligraphy works are all "Da Yin".According to his explanation, it is not taken from the ancients' "Small hermit hides in the wild, the middle hides in the city, and the big hermit in the court", but from Mr. Qian Zhongshu's "dare to hide in the sea of ​​people, and read me in silence." "Books"—a scholar who endures silence can be called a "big hermit".In view of the fact that Taiwanese cartoonist Mr. Cai Zhizhong's comics explaining the life wisdom of ancient sages such as Laozi, Zhuangzi and Confucius are called "Life Cartoons", he called his calligraphy works "Life Seal Script".

In fact, as early as in college, Xie Sizhong systematically dabbled in the aphorisms about life in ancient and modern China and abroad.It was the mid-term of the "Cultural Revolution". In order to "fight against criticism and reform", some "dross" was mimeographed for criticism.Once, he happened to see mimeographed copies of "A Collection of Aphorisms", "Records of Chinese Aphorisms" and "Records of Western Aphorisms" published before 1949. The contents were taken from ancient Chinese classics, modern Chinese aphorisms and foreign aphorisms; When I got the treasure, I specially bought a beautiful notebook, and secretly copied these three books; whenever I saw or heard my favorite life motto, I also copied it on it.This notebook is still there.

During the conversation, Xie Sizhong inadvertently revealed his creative plan - starting from 2003, he planned to complete a "Life Seal Script" with the theme of life motto in three years, as a "gift" to himself on his 60th birthday .The book intends to include 100 life mottos, which are classified according to "philosophy", "self-cultivation", "treating people", "study", "handling affairs" and "management". The content strives to cover ancient Chinese philosophy of life and all aspects of life science; , Zhongtang, Doufang, banners or horizontal drape, and about 600 words of sentiments are attached to each motto, a total of about 60,000 words.The "National Quality Trilogy" that he completed in three years has a total of 600,000 words, but now the "Life Seal Script" that will take another three years to complete is only 60,000 words-the time and energy spent on content and words, In a sense, it is 10 times that of the former, and one can imagine the painstaking efforts it has put into it!Since this book is not only a collection of works showing the calligrapher's achievements in calligraphy, but more importantly, a book of wisdom that condenses the author's life insights, so most of the time and energy are not spent on "how to write", but on On "what to write".At present, he is systematically reading the ancient Chinese philosophy of life from the "Laozi" in the pre-Qin period to the "Moaning Words" and "Words Handed down from the World" in the Ming and Qing dynasties; Read it repeatedly; at the same time, select and write aphorisms and insights, and use Xiaozhuan to write the aphorisms into calligraphy works.

When asked why the ancient calligraphy form of Xiaozhuan was adopted, Xie Sizhong said that the ancient Chinese philosophy of life originated brilliantly in the pre-Qin era when a hundred schools of thought contended, and seal script was also born in this period; therefore, writing ancient Chinese aphorisms in Xiaozhuan not only has The charm of timeless elegance can make the content and form more harmonious and perfect; moreover, I have been interested in Xiaozhuan for a long time-this kind of font contains profound historical and cultural information, the shape of the font is beautiful, and it is easier to recognize in ancient characters.As early as the 1980s, he began to collect materials about Xiaozhuan; every time he went to a bookstore, he would browse and buy copybooks and books about Xiaozhuan; Make copies; when you go out and encounter a stele inscribed in Xiaozhuan, you will take pictures with a camera; in the past 20 years, a large amount of information about Xiaozhuan has been accumulated.

With the spread of "Life Seal Script", more and more people ask Xie Sizhong for words, and they are not limited to life aphorisms.He said that it is not difficult to write a few words, and it can be done after a moment of concentration. days, or even longer.In 1998, when Shaanxi Province rebuilt Xianyou Temple, a forest of steles was to be built. The four characters "Forever" in "Hate Endless Period" not only describe the long history of this temple, but also imply that Bai Juyi once created here.After the completion of the Museum of Modern Chinese Literature, the writer's calligraphy and paintings were collected, and his books were included in the three characters "Wen Hun Cun" written by himself - the museum is a place for collecting writers' works, manuscripts and other creative materials, and it can also be regarded as a place for storing the writer's soul place.The Chinese Writers Association published the book "Selected Poems, Calligraphy and Paintings of Contemporary Chinese Writers" in 2002, and his book included the four characters "Wengui Herald" written by himself - the rare article is the harbinger of the times.

When it comes to calligraphy, Xie Sizhong said: There is a crisis lurking in the calligraphy craze that has emerged in recent years, that is, more attention is paid to the artistic form of calligraphy, while ignoring its cultural connotation.Mr. Shen Peng, chairman of the Chinese Calligraphers Association, once pointed out: "If Chinese calligraphy loses its profound philosophical and aesthetic heritage, it will lose its soul." Called "the core of the core of Chinese culture", it very typically represents a kind of cultural personality, and it is the expression of the caller's heart and emotion; They reduce to the final cultural activities and spiritual sustenance, which is also a philosophical practice of "writing my heart with my pen" after mastering a subset of classics and history.Xie Sizhong said that he not only agrees with the above point of view, but also regards calligraphy as the "imprint" of the caller - an authentic work that not only records the traces of the caller's mind, but also condenses other information about the caller himself.

Excited, Xie Sizhong showed several of his calligraphy works that have been selected for publication - graceful and round, quiet and elegant, with a strong bookish atmosphere.He said: In recent years, although his books have been collected, engraved, published, and exhibited, I have no intention of joining the calligraphy world, nor have I intended to make them a collection of things to play with. I only hope that "Life Seal Script" can Like the works I published before, go to the people; if my books have enlightenment in content, aesthetic effect in form, and are loved by the public, then I am very satisfied!

Just when the interview with Xie Sizhong was about to end, the topic returned to reality.I pointed to the photo on the wall opposite his desk shaking hands with Prime Minister Zhuji and wanted to know about the situation at that time. Xie Sizhong recalled that it was left by Premier Zhu when he visited everyone in this office building on February 28, 2002; The chairman of the board of supervisors of the enterprise is managed by the Enterprise Work Committee of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China; after the symposium, everyone was about to get up and take a group photo in the lobby on the first floor of the office building, but Premier Zhu waved for everyone to sit down and said emotionally: "Don't move, I will Come in front of you and shake hands with each of you." After speaking, he walked off the rostrum and shook hands with everyone one by one.

Xie Sizhong looked at the photo in front of him affectionately, and continued: Premier Zhu is very concerned about the state-owned enterprises; After the enterprise working committee was abolished, our team was managed by the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council; although the organization is constantly changing, I will continue to work hard to fulfill my mission.According to reports, the first company he was responsible for inspecting was in trouble when it entered in March 1999, and it had been unable to pay wages for more than half a year; In 2000, Vice Premier Wu Bangguo named three enterprises as inspectors in his speech at the working meeting of the Central Enterprise Working Committee and later at the meeting of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee. It is a typical example of the obvious results of the inspection, including the company he was responsible for inspecting. During the conversation, Xie Sizhong also revealed his special feelings for the two places.One is Zhongnanhai—he has been here for 13 years, and it is the place he has stayed the longest so far, so his feelings are naturally extraordinary; after he was appointed as the inspector special commissioner of the State Council, since the state’s supervision of state-owned enterprises is still in the exploratory stage , so the institution he works in has not been included in the official system, and his administrative relationship remains with the State Council according to the regulations; in the morning when he goes to work, he goes in for breakfast when passing through Zhongnanhai, and chats with his old colleagues by the way.The second place is Peking University. As early as in middle school, he yearned to study in the Chinese Department of this famous institution of higher learning in the future; After 40 years, he was hired by the school as a part-time researcher, and also served as the director of the National Quality Research Center of Peking University (the center is also an academic research institution of the "Key Research Base of Humanities and Social Sciences of the Ministry of Education"). He worked in an old chemistry building on the campus. room. "Dare to hide in the sea of ​​people, and read my book in peace and silence" - after the interview with Xie Sizhong, I chewed it over and over again, and then I understood why he used Qian Zhong as the theme of his calligraphy work "Life Seal Script" with the motto of life as the theme. The word "Dayin" in Mr. Shu's poem is used as the signature - although Xie Sizhong is a famous "high-ranking official in the court" on the surface, he is a scholar who can endure the silence in his heart.