Research on Choe Chiwon is significant in that it enables an integrated examination of history, thought, art, and literature. In particular, the Jingamseonsabi at Ssanggyesa, written and inscribed by Choe Chiwon, is regarded, respectively, as an imp...
Research on Choe Chiwon is significant in that it enables an integrated examination of history, thought, art, and literature. In particular, the Jingamseonsabi at Ssanggyesa, written and inscribed by Choe Chiwon, is regarded, respectively, as an important object of study in the fields of calligraphy, literature, and philosophy, and thus holds substantial value for investigating his calligraphic aesthetic thought.
In this study, I will review existing research on Choe Chiwon’s calligraphy and thought in order to elucidate his calligraphic aesthetic thought. Accordingly, I attempt to examine the background of Choe Chiwon as a scholar and calligrapher of the Jingamseonsabi, his philosophical thought, the origins and characteristics of his calligraphic style, and the relationship between his thought and his calligraphy.
Choe Chiwon’s philosophical thought is a syncretic “Three religions” (Confucianism, Buddhism, and Daoism) that seeks integration and harmony. To clarify the intellectual background of his thought, I separately consider the core elements of his Confucian, Buddhist, and Daoist ideas.In examining the calligraphic style of the Jingamseonsabi , I divided it into the stele title and the main inscription and investigated their origins and features. First, the title inscription of the Jingamseonsabi reveals vitality through an unusual structure that, while following Li Yangbing’s Small Seal Script—the official script style of the Tang period—adopts an unrestrained, indeterminate configuration. It shows similarities to the seal scripts of the Han or Wei–Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, and Sui, as well as to Tang vernacular seal script; yet its strokes are written with rhythmic and harmonious coordination, forming an original style of its own.
Next, I examined the origins and characteristics of the clerical-regular script style of the main inscription of the Jingamseonsabi . In tracing its origins, I clarified a genealogical relationship by noting similarities between this stele’s calligraphy and those of Ouyang Xun, Ouyang Tong, Yan Zhenqing, Liu Gongquan, and Pei Xiu. However, Choe Chiwon also embodies his own ideas in calligraphy. Compared with the works of the famed masters mentioned above, the Jingamseonsabi displays a restrained use of same-form repetition, presenting instead variations such as changes in the character “活,” and it incorporates the brush momentum of running script into regular script, thereby generating the dynamic spirit of “活.” Finally, I examined the relationship between Choe Chiwon’s thought and his calligraphic style. Through this research, I present the Confucian aesthetic characteristic of “Daya,” the Daoist aesthetic characteristic of “Damei,” and the beauty of “transcending the vulgar” in which Zen thought is manifested in Choe Chiwon’s calligraphy. Furthermore, the study shows the process by which his pungnyu thought of “transforming and teaching all beings” (jeophwa gunsaeng), structured as an inclusive synthesis of the Three Teachings, is concretized into a rounded, integrated, and vivid calligraphic aesthetics.