Remembering a Famed Chinese Calligrapher

Wify has been looking for a Tampa-based teacher for Chinese calligraphy for some time now. It's actually not an active search, but rather one based on word of mouth or chance encounter. We met Mr. Godwin Kou two weeks ago at a local Arts Festival who seems to fit the bill except that he is domiciled in Atlanta.

Then last Saturday, we were at Brother Yang's house to participate in the Tzu Chi Tampa training camp. We have been to his house before and have seen the various posters of Chinese calligraphy adorning the walls of his house but it has never entered our minds to ask him whose works these were.

This is "Buddha" written by Brother Yang's uncle, Master Yap. Wify's own version is here.

"Mesmerized by the Waves", another of Master Yap's work, here shown with his pseudonym, Amazing Cloud.

This is a popular poem penned during the Tang Dynasty by Jiǎ Dǎo entitled Looking for the Hermit And Not finding.

This time though, he volunteered that the Chinese calligraphy was by his late uncle when he saw me looking admiringly at one of the wall posters. Wify got excited and immediately asked Brother Yang for any published calligraphy anthology by his uncle. He answered in the negative but did hand over an old invitation card announcing the calligraphy exhibition held in commemoration of his uncle. When pressed further, he acknowledged that he was under his uncle's tutelage when young but added modestly he was not good.

We could not make out the Chinese calligraphy. Anybody?

The next day, and reminded by the popular Chinese saying that Famed Teachers Produce Excellent Students, we started speculating that perhaps Mr. Yang could perhaps be the one that Wify has been looking for. I made a mental note that we would bring up the matter with him the next time we meet again.

Around noon, we decided to do our weekly grocery shopping, starting at Publix and double-backing to Oriental after that. While in the car, Wify decided to reverse the order, and to drop by Oriental first. When we were getting out of the car at the Oriental's parking lot, out stepped a familiar face from a car nearby. It was none other than Brother Yang.

Wasting no time, we tendered our request that we had just discussed in the morning. After some hesitation, Brother Yang agreed to our proposal, but only as a fellow companion in learning, saying that being a teacher is too onerous a duty.

After a quick round at Oriental, Brother Yang followed us to our house so as to give him an idea of Wify's present level of attainment in Chinese calligraphy and preparedness in terms of the four treasures of Arts room in Chinese parlance: brushes, ink, paper, and ink stone.

At home, Wify took out all her collections of the four treasures and the various calligraphy anthologies sourced through all her friends from China, Taiwan, and Malaysia, including her works in Chinese calligraphy, and laid them all on the table for Brother Yang to view. Visibly impressed by Wify's talent, especially since she has been learning on her own all this while (save learning some of the calligraphy basics from her late father when young), mimicking the anthologies without the benefit of instructions from a learned teacher, Brother Yang gave his critiques on the spot, while offering some fundamentals of Chinese calligraphy. The stage was then set for the first Chinese Calligraphy class to be held in Brother Yang's house on the coming Saturday. And best of all, he welcomed Wify to bring along her friends who would like to “dabble” in Chinese calligraphy as well.

This is the best illustration of what the mind desires, manifests. In turn, we would always be grateful for the opportunity to embark on an artistic journey with a dear friend.

A Crimson River Flowing Full

It's not often that I have to depend on wify's works to blog, not to say that I don't enjoy doing that, since she already has her own virtual space. But her work here, specifically her Chinese calligraphy, bears special significance to me and my late father-in-law.

Let me start from the beginning, if I may. Wify visited her friend, Linda, at her home not too long ago. There she learned that Linda's father is an accomplished Chinese artist and calligrapher. One of Linda's collections is a calligraphy book on the famous poem by Ye Fei, a general who lived during the Sung Dynasty and is well-known for his unstinting loyalty to the then Emperor, loosely translated as The Crimson River Flowing Full, in six traditional Chinese fonts, or calligraphy styles to be precise.

Linda was kind enough to lend her the calligraphy book, and wify wrote up the entire poem by mimicking the brush strokes of a particular style, the Li Shu (Clerical Style) with its distinctive bird tail ending for horizontal strokes.

Now before I present you with her calligraphy, perhaps I should touch a bit on my and my late father-in-law's connection with this historical Chinese icon and his poem.

As a student in a Chinese primary school back home, I had studied the courageous feats of Ye Fei in the history book. I remember that when young, Ye Fei's mother had the four Chinese characters that forms an idiom, meaning displaying unwavering patriotism to sacrifice for the country, inscribed on his back. And my parents had the good sense to use one of the four characters, patriotism/loyalty, in my given name. And that is my modest claim to the patriotic hero, Ye Fei, no matter how tenuous it may seem.

My late father-in-law's connection is more personl. He loved the poem very much. And that was the song that accompanied his funeral procession on the last leg of his journey on this earth.

In a nutshell, the poem articulates Ye Fei's patriotism in safeguarding the land of the country from external threats, vowing to defeat them in the most decisive way, and his admonishment to others not to waste their prime years and regret in futility in their old age.

Here then is The Crimson River Flowing Full, in Lishu, by wify (the verses are to be read from top to bottom from right to left in descending order of the 4-character-high panels):

Something to Consider and Something Uplifting

This past week has been an eventful one, but we will deal with the matters arising one at a time, rationally, and with thoughtful kindness for all concerned. While one should exercise control over one's life, or destiny, one should also recognize that one does not live in a vacuum, and hence, there are consequences to what one does. As a result, it becomes one's responsibility, or shall we say, one's stamp of maturity, to ensure that the ramifications are contained the best way one could. In this regard, family support becomes especially vital, as a safe refuge, as a feedback on sanity/reality check, and as a seaworthy vessel as one navigates the sometimes turbulent sea of life.

If I sounded like talking in riddles, perhaps I have intended that way. Suffice to say that it is an observation that could apply anywhere, to anybody, regardless of personal circumstances. Perhaps also the best statement, in terms of pithiness, can be summed up in the following words taken from the screen adaptation of W. Somerset Maugham's novel, The Painted Veil, starring Edward Norton and Noami Watts which we watched last weekend:

“When love and duty are one, then grace is within you.”

Now on to something uplifting: wify's progress in painting and chinese calligraphy, as exemplified by her latest efforts.

She did this on her own as her teacher has not moved on to this phase of the Arts lesson yet, looking at a picture from a Chinese Buddhism book on Guan Yin (Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara).
She painted this Chrysanthemum flower yesterday, based on the handiwork of, now get this, the teacher's teacher. She reluctantly let me put this up as she was not satisfied. I told her to treat it as a work in progress.

And these are the two Chinese words for the Heart Sutra.

Calligraphic Representation of the Ten Great Vows of Bodhisattva Samantabhadra (Puxian Pusa)

Wify has a change of heart in regard to her foray into Chainese calligraphy, or more specifically, her readiness to post her works in the Net. For her maiden effort, she has written the Ten Great Vows of Bodhisattva Samantabhadra (Puxian Pusa in Chinese).

Described in Wikipedia as "the Lord of the Truth in Buddhism", Bodhisattva Samantabhadra "represents the practice and meditation of all Buddhas", and "made the ten great vows which are the basis of a bodhisattva". "Literally “He whose bounty is omnipresent”, he represents the Buddhist ideals of Law and Compassion".

I have suitably adorned her calligraphic work with images taken from here. Instead of attempting to translate the ten great vows, couched in crisp 4-word stanzas, into English, I decided to search the Net for the equivalent English text and found one here.

Here then, are the Ten Great Vows of Bodhisattva Samantabhadra, in wify’s Chinese calligraphy adorned by my layout design, followed by the English translation, the correspondence being from left to right (Chinese) and top to bottom (English).


First, Pay homage and respect to all Buddha’s.

Second, Praise all the Buddha’s.

Third, Make abundant offerings.

Fourth, Repent misdeeds and evil karma’s (actions).

Fifth, Rejoice in others’ merits and virtues.

Sixth, Request the Buddha’s to teach.

Seventh, Request the Buddha’s to remain in the world.

Eighth, Follow the teachings of the Buddha’s at all times.

Ninth, Accommodate and benefit all living beings.

Tenth, Transfer all merits and virtues universally.

As admonished by Bodhisattva Samantabhadra, “Good men, even if all the Buddha’s of all the ten directions were to speak continuously, for as many eons as there are fine motes of dust in an incalculable number of Buddha lands (worlds), the merits and virtues of the Buddha could never be fully described.

Those wishing to achieve these merits and virtues should cultivate ten vast and great practices and vows.”

An Artist is born, or surfaces rather

I’ve long known that wify has a talent for drawing and painting, which seems to come naturally to her. I’ve tried to cultivate the same artistic expression, but realized early on that this is one arena of human creativity where nurture takes a distant back seat to natural endowments.

For one reason or another, basically laboring over the needs of our home and its inhabitants, she has not given time to developing further her innate drawing/painting ability, save for some brief stints (actually I can only recall once) of taking up some arts classes here and there.

When I first started this and the other blogs, her drawing began to find an outlet, a conduit, through which we could share her creations, earning her some accolades in the process.

These past weeks I noticed that she has been stocking up on arts supply: paint brushes, color tubes, sketch books, books on painting, etc. And I waited patiently for that sudden burst of effusive brilliance, that ripe moment when she decides to commit her mind to paper. I could have egged her on but decided that she would be the best judge of when she is ready. And today turns out to be the day.

Here they are: in color, but drawn with a twist, a Chinese brush pen used in calligraphy. She has also several Chinese calligraphy pieces done a few days earlier (so I kind of know where the momentum was leading to), but she said to give her more time to make them presentable. Nobody can be a tougher judge than oneself indeed.

Drum roll please ...