計jì白bái當dāng黑hēi

What does 計白當黑 (jì bái dāng hēi) mean?

計白當黑 (jì bái dāng hēi) is a line of classical verse (shīcí 詩詞). Word for word it reads "Count the white as black." In use it means: In calligraphy and painting, the empty space must be composed with the same deliberate attention as the ink strokes. Negative space is an active compositional element, not mere absence. You reach for it when you want that idea in one breath, and the Metal note it carries is why we hand it to those born in the Year of the Rabbit.

Literally: "Count the white as black."

The reading

The untrained eye sees only what the brush has touched, while the trained eye sees what the brush has left untouched and understands that this emptiness was chosen with equal care. A character whose strokes are correct but whose spaces are random will never achieve balance on the page. The space between the horizontal stroke and the dot below it, the breathing room between one radical and another, these gaps carry as much information as the ink. This principle, attributed to the seal carver Deng Shiru and elaborated by calligraphy critic Bao Shichen, applies wherever creation involves both presence and absence.

What kind of proverb it is

• Typeshīcí 詩詞
• FocusPresent-minded
• Element金 Metal
• Zodiac tie兔 Year of the Rabbit

Source Attributed to Deng Shiru (鄧石如), recorded by Bao Shichen (包世臣) in Yizhou Shuangji (藝舟雙楫), Qing dynasty

Sits beside

Keep reading

Return to the Proverb Pond to draw another of the eighty-seven, or hear one read aloud. Read the rest of its chapter in Humility & Self-Mastery, or follow the years these lines belong to: Year of the Rabbit, Year of the Rat, and Year of the Ox.