"Flowers Bloom at the Pen Tip" and "Jiang's Talent Has Run Out"
 
The talent of writing well is a heavenly gift. Only those with good moral character will have it, and only those who respect Heaven can make good use of it.
 
The Chronicles of the Kaiyuan and Tienbao Ages has a story about the famous poet Li Bai. When Li Bai was young he dreamed that a flower bloomed at the tip of his brush pen. Later, he became one of the most talented poets in Chinese history, and the whole country knew of him. The expression "Flowers grow from the pen tip" was later used to describe someone with outstanding writing talent.
 
The expression, "Jiang's talent has run out," is often used to describe the deterioration of a person's writing skills. Jiang refers to Jiang Yan, a famous writer in the Northern and Southern Dynasties (420 – 589 AD). His famous article, "Biefu" has been recited by people for centuries and reflects his extreme talent. However, when he grew older he curried favor with nobles such as Xiao Daocheng and Xiao Yan. He became a high official and started living a life of luxury. Jiang no longer produced any good writings. Thus people came to say, "Jiang's talent has run out," to describe a person who has lost his skill and morality.
 
There are two stories in Southern Dynasty History - Biography of Jiang Yan about "Jiang's talent has run out." Jiang Yan's boat once stopped at the Chanling Temple on his way home after quitting his job as the prefect of Xuancheng City. That night while sleeping, he met a person named Zhang Jingyang in a dream, who told him, "I gave you one pi (about 44 feet) of satin once. Now is the time for you to return it." Jiang took out a piece of satin that was only a few feet long. Zhang was upset and complained that Jiang had cut it and almost used it up ("Cutting it and using it up" is called "caijin" in Chinese, which is pronounced the same as "Talent has run out"). Right then, they saw Qiu Chi (the author of "To Cheng Bozhi," a famous article) standing by and Zhang said to him, "Only a few feet is left. It is hard to make anything with it. Why don't you take it?"
 
Another time, Jiang Yan stayed at Yeting and dreamed of a person who identified himself as Guo Pu, a famous writer in the West Jin Dynasty (265 – 316 AD), who said to Jiang, "You took my pen for so many years. Now it's time for you to return it." Jiang reached in his pocket and sure enough found a colorful pen ("color" has the same pronunciation as "talent" in Chinese). He gave it back to Guo Pu. With both the cloth and pen returned, Jiang Yan naturally had no talent left.
 
In traditional Chinese culture, there are many ways to describe a person's outstanding writing talent, such as "Chuanbi," "Quixing," and "Jinxiu article." In every dynasty, there are many stories about revelations in dreams such those of Li Bai and Jiang Yan. This illustrates the important point that famous writers since ancient times have been produced in a cultural environment that was deeply reverent of gods. Many writers were religious themselves. This is true both in Eastern and Western societies.
 
In traditional culture, one often describes the artistic realm of a piece of literary work in the same way as describing a piece of art or painting. "This song should only be heard in Heaven. How often could one hear it in the human world?" In traditional paintings, people describe a state as "learning it with one's heart and understanding it with one's spirit," and, "The article was created in heaven, I just happened to write it down." Both phrases describe the simple fact that great works are created with divine help.
 
「妙笔生花」与「江郎才尽」
 
天降生花妙笔，唯有德者得之，唯敬天知命者善用之。
 
《开元天宝遗事》中记载了一段诗仙李白的逸闻，说李白小的时候梦见自己用的笔头上面开出了花，后来果然因此而诗文雄奇豪放，名闻天下。妙笔生花，一般用来形容一个人有杰出的文学才能。
 
江郎才尽，则一般用来形容一个人创作才能的减退或消失。江郎，即南北朝时期南朝著名的文学家江淹。「黯然销魂者，唯别而已矣」，「春草碧色，春水绿波。送君南浦，伤如之何」在其脍炙人口的传世名篇《别赋》中，千古传唱，足见其杰出的才华。但是江淹到了晚年，却先后依附萧道成、萧衍等权贵，做起了大官，过上了安富尊荣的生活，就再没写出好的文章，时人皆称「江郎才尽」。
 
关于江郎才尽的故事，在《南史﹒江淹传》中还有两则记载。江淹曾任宣城太守，当他罢职回家的时候，停船在禅灵寺，夜里梦见一个自称张景阳的人，对江淹说：「以前我送给你一匹锦缎，现在该到还我的时候了。」江淹遂从怀中抽出几尺锦缎，那人很生气，说他把锦缎剪裁得快完了。正在埋怨，见丘迟（《与陈伯之书》一文的作者，其文中「暮春三月，江南草长，杂花生树，群莺乱飞」也是千古传诵的名句）站在旁边，张景阳便对丘迟说，「剩下这几尺，也做不成甚么了，就送给你吧。」
 
还有一次，江淹住在冶亭，又梦见一人，自称郭璞（西晋时著名的文学家，《晋书》称他「词赋为中兴之冠」），对江淹说：「我的笔在你那里多年，现在可以还给我吧？」江淹随即向怀中一摸，竟真的有一支五彩笔，也只好归还郭璞。锦缎也没了，五彩笔归还，江淹自然就无才可用了。
 
在中国传统文化中，比喻文才出众的还有诸如「椽笔」、「魁星」、「锦绣文章」等等，而像李白、江淹这样梦中神迹的故事历朝历代都层出不穷，这也说明了一个极其重要问题，自古及今的很多文学大家，都是在一个普遍对神有着虔诚信仰的文化环境中产生的，而且很多创作者本身就是宗教徒，在这一点上，中西方概莫例外。
 
传统文化中对文学创作境界的描述，还往往和音乐、绘画、艺术的创作有着相似的表现。「此曲只应天上有，人间哪得几回闻」的神韵，画圣吴道子「吴带当风，天衣飞动」的画境，传统绘画中「心领神会」的意境，「文章本天成，妙手偶得之」的赞叹，都无不表明了「如有神助」这一简单的事实。