Huai Su's Autobiography or Autobiography of Huai Su 懷素自叙帖 翻譯 英譯 Translation - Vincent's Calligraphy

 

    

Other descriptions of Huai Su can mostly be found in Tang Dynasty Lu Yu’s (陸羽, 733-804AD) essay The Biography of Monk Huai Su of the Tang (《唐僧懷素傳》)(3) and poems by other renowned poets(4).  From these writings, Huai Su was known for his elegant and wild cursive script in his times; his calligraphic accomplishments were considered to be on par with another venerable cursive script master Zhang Xu (張旭, 675-750 AD), who is often mistakenly identified by many today to be the “草聖 (Sage of the Cursive Script)”(5).  Furthermore, his discourse with the venerable Yan Zhenqing (顏真卿, 709-785 AD) contributed significantly to the evolution of the art of the cursive script and later inspired Song Dynasty’s uniquely wild cursive scripts.(6)  

The original Autobiography was long lost, but there once existed three different modelling copies (臨摹本) of the original Autobiography.  According to literature written by Zeng Yu (曾紆) in 1132AD during the Southern Song Dynasty (南宋紹興二年), these were the Shu version (藏在蜀中石陽休家), the Fung version (藏在馮當世家), and the Su version (藏在蘇子美家).(7)  The Su version currently resides at the National Palace Museum, Taipei, Taiwan, and is recently determined to be a trace-modelling copy (映寫) of the original made during the Northern Song Dynasty (北宋, 960–1126 AD)(8).  Note further this Su version at the National Palace Museum is not the perfect original modelling replica as, at the minimum, its first six rows from the right have been confirmed to be “repairs” (六行後補) written by another calligrapher at a later era.(9)

The model presented at the end of this chapter was scribed according to the Shu version (蜀本) of the Autobiography.  Compared to the Su version, the Shu version is more aesthetically pleasing as it presents more variabilities and dynamics within and among different characters.  Further, the Shu version is more consistent with Huai Su’s unique artistic approach to the cursive script.(10) Hence, it can be said that the Shu version is of a higher caliber than the Su version in terms of artistic accomplishment.

Huai Su’s distinct and exquisite cursive script can be traced back to Han Dynasty’s renowned calligraphers Du Du (杜度, ?-? AD) and Cui Yuan(崔瑗, 77-142 AD).  The conveyance of the traditional art of the cursive script was chronicled in Yan Zhenqing’s Preamble of A Collection of Poems Dedicated to Master Huai Su’s Cursive Script (懷素上人草書歌序), which was incorporated into Huai Su’s Autobiography (see V below). In this Preamble, Yan Zhenqing narrated that the wonders of the cursive script were first showcased by the renowned Han Dynasty calligraphers Du Du (杜度) and Cui Yuan (崔瑗), who were succeeded by Zhang Zhi (張芝, ?-192 AD), followed by Wang Xizhi (王羲之, 303-361 AD) and Wang Xianzhi (王獻之, 344-386 AD) of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, subsequently passed on to Yu Shinan (虞世南, 558-638 AD) as well as Lu Jianzhi (陸柬之, 585-638 AD) and Lu Yanyuan (陸彥遠, ?-?AD), and finally reached Zhang Xu (張旭, 675-750 AD) who taught Yan Zhenqing as well as Wu Tong (鄔彤, ?-? AD), Huai Su’s calligraphy teacher.

The magnificent Autobiography can be divided into four main parts:

Lines 1 to 11:  A very short self-introduction by Huai Su outlining the whereabouts of his own hometown, his becoming of a Buddhist monk at an early age, and his passion for Chinese calligraphy.

Lines 12 to 35:  A description of Huai Su’s calligraphic accomplishments as documented in Yan Zhenqing’s “Preamble of A Collection of Poems Dedicated to Master Huai Su’s Cursive Script” (懷素上人草書歌序)(11), which included a brief description on the origin and conveyance of the wonders of the cursive script in the eyes of Yan Zhenqing.

Lines 36 to 50:  Selected praises of Huai Su from various notaries, including those written by Dai Shulun (戴叔倫, 732-789 AD), Wang Yong (王邕, ?-? AD) and Xu Yao (許瑤, ?-? AD).  These praises commented mainly on the physical forms (形似), formats and structures (機格) of Huai Su’s calligraphy as well as the pace (疾速) in which it was scribed.

Lines 51-53:  A concluding paragraph wherein Huai Su humbly asserted that he was not qualified for such praises along with the date and Huai Su’s signature at the very end.