Calligraphy recording ancient wisdom, beauty
Print Edition
Chinese calligraphy, with a history dating back thousands of years, transcends mere art and has come to be regarded as an expression of the soul and character of a people.
In a Buddhist culture, calligraphy inevitably became associated with the sutras, or texts, of ancient religious beliefs.
Transcribing Buddhist sutras into Chinese characters began about 1,600 ago. The art form as since has gone beyond mere religion.
Lu Ximing is one of the practitioners of the art. After working in universities, cultural institutes and the media for 20 years, he quit work to devote himself to copying sutra. He turned one of his apartments into a studio and called it Han Tian Tang. That is where he works now.
Lu drives his wife to work early every morning before adjourning to his studio. There he reads Buddhist sutras, copies them, plays traditional musical instruments and engraves seals.
“I am still busy, and I feel happier and more peaceful than ever before,” Lu said. “I admire the ancient calligraphers of Buddhist sutras. They are admirable men.”
There are more than 60,000 Buddhist sutras preserved in the ancient western city of Dunhuang, and 85 percent are handwritten copies. Only 203 of them identify the calligraphers’ names.
When Lu first withdrew to work on the sutras at home, he worried that his decision would leave him isolated from family and friends. That didn’t happen. Instead, he soon gathered around him people who shared his passion.
Lu now conducts classes in calligraphy and sutra copying. He attends lectures and seminars to promote this traditional art. Although Lu has copied sutras for many years, he has few works in his possession. He frequently gives his works as gifts to people he knows will appreciate them.
Two of Lu’s works are displayed in his studio. They are the “Heart Sutra.” One is 133 centimeters long, with characters of about 2 centimeters. The other is only 25 square centimeters, with characters as small as 80 millimeters.
The process of recording a Buddhist sutra is not easy. It takes several hours to complete, and the whole page has to be scrapped if any mistake is made during the writing.
“Besides the content and calligraphy style, the atmosphere and process of copying a sutra are also important,” said Lu. “Keeping the mood and the mind peaceful is important to this process.”
Recording Buddhist sutra is regarded as placing trust in Buddha. The soul of the calligrapher must be pure, he said.
“The calligraphers not need to be masters of the art,” he added. “They are not seeking fame and glory but rather they are pursuing peace and purity.”
Lu has mastered many calligraphy styles. In his work, he usually uses what he calls “regular script,” a formalist style.
“In Chinese calligraphy, regular script is commonly used,” he explained. “We regard the Buddhist sutra style of 700 years as the evolutionary history of Chinese regular script.”
One of the purposes of recording Buddhist sutra is practical,” he said. “It is to pass it on to the public and to future generations.”
Pan Shaohong, a kindergarten teacher, is learning Buddhist sutra copying from Lu. In the first Shanghai Citizens Cultural Festival, Pan was designated a “citizen calligrapher.”
Since she started studying with Lu, Pan has a new daily routine. She gets up at five every morning, medicates cross-legged for a while, copies two pages of Buddhist sutra and then goes to work.
“To me, recording Buddhist sutra is not merely practicing calligraphy,” she said. “It is also a way of cultivating myself mentally.”
Many new aficionados look for a good copybook to start training, but Lu said it doesn’t matter what copybook you use.
“There are so many good copybooks,” he said.
“Our predecessors left too many classic works for us. Find the one you like most, study the characters one by one, experience the process step-by-step and finally get into your own calligraphy. That is the best copybook.”
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