有德高行止随心自去来

——访著名书法教育家欧阳中石先生

Integrity Allows the Greatest Freedom

–An Interview with Calligraphy Educator Ouyang Zhongshi

   “能够体现中华文化的方面很多，都很珍贵，而中国的文字显得更加重要。中国文化的推广，应当从汉字开始。”

“Of the numerous and valuable epitomes of Chinese culture, Chinese characters are most significant. The promotion of Chinese culture is to begin with Chinese characters.”

欧阳中石简介

1954年  毕业于北京大学哲学系

1985年  在首都师范大学创办书法专业

1993年   担任我国第一位书法方向博士生导师

1998年   担任我国第一位书法方向博士后研究人员合作导师

2002年   获“首届中国书法兰亭奖·教育特别贡献奖”

2006年   获“第二届中国书法兰亭奖·终身成就奖”

2007年   获教育部“全国师范教师奖”

Ouyang Zhongshi: A Profile

1954    graduated from the philosophy department of Peking University

1985    Created the discipline of calligraphy at Capital Normal University

1993    Became the first Ph D tutor in calligraphy

1998    Co-tutor of the first post-doctor in calligraphy

2002    Winner of the First Lanting Calligraphy Award for Special Contribution

2006    Winner of the Second Lanting Calligraphy Award for Lifetime Achievement

2007    Winner of Teacher Trainer Award from the Education Ministry

 2009年年初，欧阳中石先生应邀至孔子学院总部的“名师讲堂”讲座，所有人都为此兴奋不已。中石先生为中国一代书法大家，其墨宝重金难觅。但对孔子学院的发展却鼎力支持，孔子学院总部大楼上的六个大字就是先生挥毫泼墨，亲笔著就的。原本以为先生要畅谈书法，而先生却以《汉字文化》为题生动讲述了汉字的演变及其所隐含的意义。他对汉字的巧妙拆解，让人觉得每一个汉字都是那么鲜活、灵动。这似乎揭示了先生能写得一手好字的奥妙。

In early 2009, many were excited about Mr Ouyang Zhongshi’s lecture at the invitation of the Master Lecture division of the Confucius Institute Headquarters. A great master in calligraphy whose work is hardly available, Mr Ouyang has never stinted on his support for the Confucius Institute. Generously, he laid his brush to paper, offering his personal inscription for the Confucius Institute Headquarters. I had thought that Mr Ouyang would talk about calligraphy during the interview, he, however, began with The Culture of Chinese Characters, expounding vividly on the evolution and implication of Chinese characters. His ingenious interpretation adds to the dynamics of each character, while somewhat unraveling the secret of his fabulous handwriting.

 讲座之后，所有人都意犹未尽，萌生了要采访先生的念头，但又恐怕先生已过八旬，且向来深居简出，定是很难约上。不料先生竟然爽快答应，并邀请我们至家中做客。

The end of the lecture didn’t terminate our interest in Mr Ouyang. I, like everyone present, developed a sudden impulse to interview Mr Ouyang. In his eighties, Mr Ouyang lived a secluded life. So I had been afraid that it would be difficult to make an appointment with him. To my surprise, he granted his ready consent to our request, even inviting us to his home for the interview.

 中石先生的家，让我们颇感意外。２０平米不到的客厅也是他的书房，四壁挤满了书籍，可谓汗牛充栋。既看不到华丽的摆设，也没有装裱考究的字画。在与先生的交谈中，更是愈发感受到先生的朴素、谦逊、随和，且兴趣广泛，机敏好学。想起先生曾写过的一幅字“有德高行止，随心自去来”，这应该正是欧阳中石先生为人、为师的真实写照。

His house was another surprise to us. The living-room, less than 20 square meters, served also as his study, whose walls were jammed with books. Absent here were gorgeous ornaments, exquisitely-framed calligraphy or paintings. The talk with him further gave evidence to his simplicity, modesty, amiability, ingenuity, and wide interests. It reminded me of his calligraphic work: Integrity allows the greatest freedom, both mental and physical. This might shed some light on his personal life and teaching career.

先生自我打趣道：我这个人是“少无大志”、“不务正业”、“无家可归”。他说：“我不是个书法家，我也从来没想把自己培养成书法家。我只想做一个合格的教师。”而正是“少无大志”的他，取法高古，熔铸历代名家精华，无日不临池，师古不囿于古，自成一家独特书风，成为书法界的泰山北斗。“我没干原来的本行，我是学逻辑的，改行教书了，除了教逻辑教什么都是不务正业。”而正是“不务正业”的他，却倾其毕生热忱与精力，教书育人，成为“教过学生种类最多的教师”。他治学博涉，在逻辑、国学、音韵、绘画、戏曲、文学、书法等学科都有精深造诣，却感叹自己“无家可归”，而他的所有这些学问和才华却都归向瑰丽的中华传统文化之门。

Mr Ouyang joked about himself: “I lacked ambition in my childhood, strayed way from my profession, and belonged nowhere in the world. I’m no master calligrapher and I have never expected so. I only want to be a competent teacher.” However, it was the child without ambition who became a veteran calligrapher by modeling himself after artists of successive dynasties and developed his distinctive style by drawing on the past diligently and critically. It was the guy straying away from his profession who became the teacher with the greatest kinds of students by contributing his lifelong enthusiasm and energy to education. His academic pursuit ranged widely and achieved profoundly: logic, traditional Chinese studies, phonetics, painting, theater, literature, and calligraphy. Yet he said he belonged nowhere. Obviously his erudition and accomplishment would guide him to the marvelous gate of traditional Chinese culture.

惟德者馨Aroma arises from integrity

先生特意向我们拆解了“德“字：原来上面是个“十”字，下面一个“而且”的“且”，可里面是三横，最后再堵上一长横，这是“直”，直上直下的“直”。它是指人、事物、草木等，都要向上长，向茂盛的长，要从思想上这样；下面写个心，指要发自内心从行动上体现，旁边再写了个双立人。这样的话，中间的“直”横太多了，写起来很困难，就把它扁过来吧，所以上面一个十字，下面一个四字，底下还得加一横，就是“直”的最后一横。先生有一幅著名的字便是“惟德者馨”，　可见他对“德”的崇尚。（图：古字“德”）

Mr Ouyang intentionally tore the character德 (integrity) apart. On the top is the character十 (ten). Then comes the character且 (additional)，which lies horizontally. Together the two form the character直 (vertical), indicating that people, things, and flora are to thrive by growing upward, and mentally so in particular. The character 心 (heart) below implies that the idea should erupt from the bottom of the heart and externalize in one’s behavior. Hence the radical in token of two people on the left. To avoid too many horizontal strokes, the vertical character 直 is set horizontally. These adjustments make the final character 德. Mr Ouyang created a famous calligraphic work: Aroma arises from integrity alone. Evidently he holds integrity in great admiration.

1985年，中石先生创办的首届书法大专班在首都师范大学开班授课，学生来自全国的四面八方。条件异常艰苦，有时能够借到教室，有时只能在工棚里上课，很多学生打趣说这是一所“流浪的大专”。但大专班在社会上获得了良好的社会反映，首批培养的一百多名学生，吸引了社会的广泛关注。经过几十年的建设，在中石先生的主持下，书法艺术专业形成了由专科、本科、到硕士、博士、博士后的完整教育体系。

In 1985, Mr Ouyang founded the first college calligraphy class in the Capital Normal University, recruiting students from across China. The class ran in poor conditions. Now there was a classroom available, now there wasn’t. In the latter case, they had to borrow a work shed. Many students joked that theirs was a roaming college. However the class was a success. The first graduates, over 100 in number, attracted wide attention in the society. Over the past decades, the discipline of calligraphy has evolved into an entire education system covering junior college students, university students, postgraduates, doctors, and post doctors.

 中石先生说：“建立书法教育体系，这个想法不是由我最早提出来的，很多前辈，象方水墨先生早在20世纪30年代就提出过这个问题，只是当时各方面都还不成熟。而现在是时间到了，世界潮流涌向这个学科，可见任何事情都是水到渠成。”书法学科的建设得到了社会、政府以及文化界老前辈们的大力支持。在他们看来，中国书法吸纳了中华文化的各种元素，是中华传统文化的一个切入点。

Mr Ouyang said, “The concept of founding calligraphy educational system was not initiated by me. Instead, Mr Fang Shuimo, for example, devised it as early as the 1930s, though the time was not ripe then. But the time is now. There has been an international trend for this discipline. Obviously nature has taken its own course.” Under the auspices of social groups, governments at all levels, and veterans in the cultural circles, the discipline has been established. In their opinion, calligraphy draws upon various elements of Chinese culture, thereby showcasing traditional Chinese culture.

欧阳先生一生教书育人，他将自己评价为一个地地道道的教书匠。1948年中学毕业后，曾在小学任教。1954年北京大学毕业后，在中学教授过语文、数学、历史、体育、化学等课程。从事基础教育期间，欧阳先生凭借敏锐地目光和明辨的思维，提出一套科学的语文教育改革方案，取得了令人瞩目的成果。

Dedicating his life to education, Mr Ouyang professed to be an out-and-out teacher. Upon his graduation from middle school in 1948, he taught in a primary school. When he graduated from Peking University in 1954, he taught Chinese, math, history, physical education, and chemistry in a middle school. While getting involved in elementary education, Mr Ouyang’s discerning insight and clear logic helped him to devise a scheme for reforming Chinese teaching, an attractive achievement then.

欧阳中石先生信奉“有教无类”，2007年，他曾经到山东的运河监狱为服刑犯人讲授书法知识，普及中华文化，通过诗句、背诵帮助他们感受中华传统美德。

Believing that education despises nobody, Mr Ouyang delivered a lecture on calligraphy to convicts in Yunhe Prison of Shandong province in 2007. He popularized Chinese culture and preached traditional virtues by helping the prisoners recite poems.

从小学一年级到中学生再到博士后，甚至包括服刑的犯人，欧阳中石一生桃李满天下。可以说，他是中国教过学生种类最多的教师。

Mr Ouyang boasted students across China. They included grade-one pupils, middle school students, and post-doctors. Most probably, his students varied the greatest in types.