In his most famous calligraphic masterpiece, Autobiographical Essay (777 AD), the monk Huaisu (737 – 799 AD) noted others’ remarks about him.
These reference his habit of drinking before writing:
Imperial Censor Xu Yao wrote: “[….] [Huaisu] scribes two or three characters offhandedly when he is drunk. When he sobers up, he can’t reproduce them. [….]
– Huaisu, Autobiographical Essay
And the trance he fell into when worked:
Imperial Censor Dou ji wrote: “A plain white wall stood in a corner and spanned several rooms in length. Suddenly, Huaisu exhaled and shouted several times before covering the entire wall in a hundred thousand characters.”
– Ibid.
He was one of Chinese calligraphy’s great eccentrics.
And one of the greatest Tang dynasty calligraphers and practitioners of cursive script.
Contents
Biography
Early life and background
Huáisù (怀素), courtesy name Zangzhen (藏真), was born in Lingling County (today a district of Yongzhou, Hunan Province).
(Later on, some records listed him as ‘the monk of Lingling’. And in today’s Lingling district of Yongzhou, there is a Huaisu Public Park.)
His family was surnamed Qian. He is said to have been an intelligent child with delicate facial features.
His appearance hid a determined personality. He began practicing calligraphy early, focusing on the great early tang calligrapher Ouyang Xun (557 – 641 AD).
Aged 10, he decided to become a Buddhist monk, much to his family’s surprise.
Interestingly, this places his decision during the Emperor Wuzong’s (r. 840 – 846) anti-Buddhist persecutions.
However, they died down after Wuzong’s death at the age of 31 (possibly from drinking ‘a Daoist potion for immortality’).
Buddhist monks were traditionally supposed to abstain from meat and alcohol. Huaisu did not abstain from either.
Huaisu’s eras: From High Tang to Middle Tang
Huaisu lived during the Tang dynasty (618 – 907 AD).
This was recognised at the time as a period when China’s political, economic, and cultural power prestige was at its greatest.
Today, it is still regarded as a highpoint in Chinese history for the same reasons.
It covers nearly three centuries, during which its territory and fortunes changed a lot.
So, it often gets subdivided up into smaller periods.
The High Tang (713 – 755)
Huaisu was born during what has retrospectively been labelled High Tang period.
Many of China’s greatest poets lived during this time. This includes Du Fu (712 – 770 AD) and Li Bai (701 – 762 AD), both of whom Huaisu knew.
But painting, calligraphy, and other literature also thrived, too.
In fact, it is also the period when Chinese calligraphy is said to have reached its greatest heights, too.
The High Tang came to an end at the outbreak of the destructive civil war: An Lushan Rebellion (755 – 763 AD).
Even as a monk, this era would no doubt have impacted Huaisu’s life just as it did millions of others.
The Middle Tang (766 – 835)
Whilst not as intensely productive as the High Tang, the middle Tang was still a period of great artistic and cultural flourishing.
After all, many figures from the High Tang lived on. And Tang culture continued to produce great figures.
For example, the great writer and official Han Yu (768 – 824 AD), also lived during this period.
Later life
From 762, Huaisu travelled across much of the parts of China that today make up Hunan, Guangzhou and Shaanxi provinces.
Many of Huaisu’s contemporaries were officials. This meant that their lives and careers are relatively easy to trace.
Huaisu appears to have been associated with these and other figures of the cultural elite.
For example, he knew the great calligrapher Yan Zhenqing (709 – 785 AD), a high official and commander in the Tang dynasty. He is said to have told Yan:
吾观夏云多奇峰，辄常师之，其痛快处如飞鸟出林、惊蛇入草。又遇坼壁之路，一一自然。When viewing brilliant mountains amidst summer clouds, I often try to re-create them [with my calligraphy]. Fine calligraphy resembles a flock of birds rushing out from trees and startled snakes in grass. It’s also like cracks across broken walls and roads. [It’s] nature.
He is also mentioned in the poems of China’s two greatest poets, Li Bai and Du Fu. The former mentioned Huaisu in a poem:
少年上人号怀素，草书天下称独步 […]
– Li Bai, extract from ‘Grass Script Song’
八月九月天气凉，酒徒词客满高堂。
笺麻素绢排数箱，宣州石砚墨色光。
A young monk named Huaisu, [with] grass script calligraphy unique under heaven […]
In the cool late summer, a tavern full of people watch him work.
Boxes of silk [to write on] stacked up, ink shining in a Xuanzhou inkstone.
Huaisu’s drinking
Tradition has it that he as a poor monk, he used to write calligraphy for people in exchange for food and alcohol.
He would often consume these just first before he did his work.
In fact, like Zhang Xu, Huaisu’s drunkenness seems to have been a part of his calligraphy process.
Though it was against traditional Buddhist practitioners, drinking was popular in Chinese culture during the Tang.
It was widely celebrated by other Chinese poets, calligraphers, and artists.
Even Confucius, whose influence was very important during Tang society, saw a role for drinking in society.
Take this well-known poem by Huaisu’s friend Li Bai as an example:
花间一壶酒，
– Li Bai, extract from ‘Pouring Wine Alone Under the Moon No. 4 (One)’
独酌无相亲；
举杯邀明月，
对影成三人。
Alone midst the flowers grasping a pot of wine,
I pour myself a drink.
I raise my cup to cheers the bright moon
then nod to my shadow. We are now three.
He is said to have written on people’s cloths and walls when paper wasn’t available.
Paper was expensive, so he would write on the leaves of Musa basjoo (also known as Hardy Banana) plants, a large palm tree-like leaf, with tung oil.
He would store these leaves in the roof of his hut, which he called the ‘green-domed hut’.
Huaisu’s calligraphy
Huaisu is primarily famous for his grass script (草书) calligraphy. This is the fully cursive style of writing that is not legible to most people.
In fact, his style crosses the boundary into what is classed as crazy cursive (狂草 [kuángcǎo]).
This is essentially cursive style taken to its absolute limits of ‘cursive-ness’, i.e., an even faster, more illegible and ‘crazy’ category of grass script.
Like the Sui dynasty monk Zhiyong, Huaisu was very hardworking. He even imitated Zhiyong’s practice of burying his used brushes.
His style is often described in terms such as ‘exuberant’, ‘vigorous’ and ‘powerful’. And it’s easy to see why.
The great Yuan dynasty calligrapher Zhao Mengfu (1254 – 1322 AD), wrote of Huaisu:
怀素书所以妙者，虽率意颠逸，千变万化，终不离魏晋法度故也。后人作草，皆随俗缴绕，不合古法，不识者以为奇，识者一笑
– Zhao Mengfu, from ‘Letter to Zhang Yan’ (1318)
All of Huaisu’s calligraphy is brilliant because although he is wilfully untrammelled, has a thousand changes and ten thousand transformations, until the end he never leaves [behind] the methods and standards of the Wei and Jin.
Later men have invariably followed [trends] of doing vulgar scribbles which don’t conform to ancient methods. Those who understand this laugh.
The Wei and Jin methods Zhao refers to are primarily those of Wang Xizhi (303–361 AD) — ‘the sage of calligraphy’.
Wang’s running and cursive script set the classical standard that every subsequent calligrapher, including Huaisu, measured themselves against.
Huaisu and Zhang Xu
Huaisu is often linked with another famous Tang dynasty grass script specialist, Zhang Xu (675 – ca. 750 AD). They are often linked with the phrase:
颠张醉素 – ‘Crazy Zhang and Drunk [Huai]Su’.
Zhang preceded Huaisu and the two never met. But Huaisu learned directly from Yan Zhenqing, who in turn is said to have directly learned from Zhang Xu.
In his Autobiography, Huaisu writes out comments by Yan commenting on the two calligraphers:
忽见师作，纵横不群，迅疾骇人。若还旧观，向使师得亲承善诱，函挹规模，则入室之宾，舍子奚适。
– Yan Zhenqing, quoted in Huaisu’s Autobiography
When I met [Huasu’s] works, they really stood out, they are fast and extraordinary. It is as if I was seeing [Zhang’s] works again.
If only [Huaisu] had been mentored by [Zhang] directly, he could have assimilated and taken on his style and structure.
Other than [Huai], who could have been better suited to becoming close to Zhang?
Huaisu and Zhang Xu’s styles are similar.
However, it is clear that Zhang’s strokes are generally thicker slightly more powerful-looking.
Example work: Autobiographical Essay
Huaisu’s Autobiographical Essay (自叙帖) was written in 777 AD.
It’s not known for sure if the version in existence is the original or a Song dynasty (960 – 1279 AD) copy.
In fact, the authenticity of text itself – which details praise of Huaisu – has been questioned by some critics.
Either way, it is seen as a calligraphy masterpiece. 696 elegant and rapidly written characters are arranged in 126 columns.
Their thin, light forms are occasionally interrupted by thicker, heavier characters or individual strokes.
But overall, the piece gives an impression of frantic, controlled creativity.
