唐太宗李世民喜爱书法，尤爱王羲之的字。他听说王羲之的书法珍品《兰亭集序》在辨才和尚那里，便多次派人去索取，可辨才和尚始终推说不知真迹下落。李世民看硬要不成，便改为智取。他派监察御史萧翼装扮成书生模样，去与辨才接近，寻机取得 《兰亭集序》。萧翼对书法也很有研究，和辨才和尚谈得很投机。待两人关系密切之后，萧翼故意拿出几件王羲之的书法作品给辨才和尚欣赏。辨才看后，不以为然地说:"真倒是真的，但不是好的，我有一本真迹倒不差。"萧翼追问是什么帖子，辨才神秘地告诉他是 《兰亭集序》真迹。萧翼故作不信，说此帖已失踪。辨才从屋梁上取下真迹给萧翼观看，萧翼一看，果真是 《兰亭集序》真迹，随即将其纳入袖中，同时向辨才出示了唐太宗的有关 "诏书"。辨才此时方知上当。
《兰亭序》是东晋右军将军王羲之51岁时的得意之笔，记述了他与当朝众多达官显贵、文人墨客雅集兰亭、修稧事也的壮观景象，抒发了他对人之生死、修短随化的感叹。崇山峻岭之下，茂林修竹之边，乘带酒意，挥毫泼墨，为众人诗赋草成序文，文章清新优美，书法遒健飘逸。被历代书界奉为极品。宋代书法大家米芾称其为“中国行书第一帖”。王羲之因此也被后世尊为“书圣”。后人在研究其书法艺术时赞誉颇多：“点画秀美，行气流畅”，“清风出袖，明月入怀”，“飘若浮云，矫若惊龙”，“遒媚劲健，绝代所无”，“贵越群品，古今莫二”。确实如此，传说王羲之以后也曾再书《兰亭序》，但均逊色于原作，所以《兰亭序》原稿一直为王羲之视为传家之宝，为王氏后代收藏，传至王羲之第七代时被唐太宗李世民“骗”入朝廷，唐太宗得《兰亭序》后，曾诏名手赵模、冯承素、虞世南、褚遂良等人钩摹数个乱真副本，分赐亲贵近臣，之后民间也广为临摹，但无一胜过王的原作，所以《兰亭序》真迹被唐太宗视为稀世珍品而最终殉葬，这更让后世对《兰亭序》原作崇敬不已，冠以中国书法第一帖的美名实在无可争议。
三、《兰亭集序》英译
The Orchid Pavilion
In the ninth year of the reign Yungho[A.D. 353] in the beginning of late spring we met at the Orchid Pavilion in Shanyin of Kweich'i for the Water Festival, to wash away the evil spirits.
Here are gathered all the illustrious persons and assembled both the old and the young. Here are tall mountains and majestic peaks, trees with thick foliage and tall bamboos. Here are also clear streams and gurgling rapids, catching one's eye from the right and left. We group ourselves in order, sitting by the waterside, and drinking in succession from a cup floating down the curving stream; and although there is no music from string and wood-wind instruments, yet with alternate singing and drinking, we are well disposed to thoroughly enjoy a quiet intimate conversation.
Today the sky is clear, the air is fresh and the kind breeze is mild. Truly enjoyable it is sit to watch the immense universe above and the myriad things below, traveling over the entire landscape with our eyes and allowing our sentiments to roam about at will, thus exhausting the pleasures of the eye and the ear.
Now when people gather together to surmise life itself, some sit and talk and unburden their thoughts in the intimacy of a room, and some, overcome by a sentiment, soar forth into a world beyond bodily realities. Although we select our pleasures according to our inclinations—some noisy and rowdy, and others quiet and sedate—yet when we have found that which pleases us, we are all happy and contented, to the extent of forgetting that we are growing old. And then, when satiety follows satisfaction, and with the change of circumstances, change also our whims and desires, there then arises a feeling of poignant regret. In the twinkling of an eye, the objects of our former pleasures have become things of the past, still compelling in us moods of regretful memory. Furthermore, although our lives may be long or short, eventually we all end in nothingness. "Great indeed are life and death", said the ancients. Ah! What sadness!
