The Calligrapher — Wáng Xīzhī 王羲之

The 'Sage of Calligraphy'; his running script has set the standard for 1,700 years.

Eastern Jin calligrapher (303–361), master of running script/cursive script/regular script — the Sage of Calligraphy; his Orchid Pavilion Preface is the most celebrated work in the tradition, and nearly every later master traces lineage to his hand. Eastern Jin dynasty

Cultural Story

禄 joined blessing to bread: an official’s stipend of grain was also heaven’s favor, and the Shuowen glosses it as 福. The god of 禄 still stands in doorway triptychs between 福 and longevity, a salary deified — rank, rice and blessing in one.

Common words & phrases

• 俸禄 salary · stipend · pay · emolument
• 福禄 blessing · prosperity · good fortune · luck
• 爵禄 rank and pay · nobility and salary · office · emolument
• 薄禄 meager salary · small pay · low stipend · scanty
• 禄位 official post · rank and salary · office · position

Read the story behind the character

The word stayed at the payslip’s edge: period dramas count a minister’s 俸禄, salary; wedding blessings summon 福禄, fortune and prosperity; biographies weigh a scholar’s love of 爵禄, rank and pay, against conscience; a humble letter mentions its writer’s 薄禄, meager stipend.

Why this character belongs on skin

One of the great three blessings—福 fortune, 寿 longevity, and 禄, the emolument of office, the grain a dynasty paid a man for his service. Show 示, the altar radical, kneeling before 录, a record: heaven watching your works, paying in kind. Ancient officials measured virtue by the load they could carry, and 禄 was the weight made visible—salary as sacrament. We would call it a calling that pays. There is dignity in provision, in being fed by what you do well. The Daoists smile at chasing it; the practical bow to needing it. Ink this and hold both truths: prosperity is not shameful, and the best wealth arrives as recognition. Press the seal of steady fortune into your skin.