Bamboo pen from Tibet
The writer behind all scriptures
With the emergence of the beautiful Tibetan script, the long-established plateau civilization finally ushered in its "history of writing" on this land. Since then, the fame of Songtsen Gampo has been spread through the ages, and the compassionate teachings of Siddhartha have found a new direction. In these vast volumes of scriptures, we see the brilliant rainbow left in the sky by King Gesar galloping by, we see a group of nobles hesitating on the walls of the Potala Palace in the face of a heavy snowfall, and we also see the bustling scenes of Lhasa welcoming envoys from all over and the imposing presence of "sitting three-fourths of the world" (in the words of Gendun Qunpei). We also see the boundless grasslands and the busy daily life of a nomadic shepherdess. However, when we close our eyes and withdraw our thoughts, we also see some things that we have never seen before.
Writing with a bamboo pen
Image source: Internet
In the 1970s, two bamboo pens were unearthed from the Western Xia site of Zhang Yibao in Wuwei, Gansu. One pen was 13.6 cm long and 0.7 cm in diameter, made of thin bamboo with one end shaved into a pen tip shape and a groove in the middle, showing no signs of use. The other pen was 9.5 cm long and 0.8 cm in diameter, shorter in size and likely the result of multiple sharpenings. Along with these two pens, some Tibetan and Western Xia manuscripts, as well as other artifacts, were also excavated. From Tubo to Tibet, from Tibetan script to Western Xia script, and the multiple sharpening marks, these two bamboo pens transitioning from behind the scenes of history to the forefront remind us to not only focus on the history they record, but also the history within them.
The making of bamboo pens is highly characteristic of Tibetan areas: when shaping bamboo pens, a layer of butter or marrow from cattle bones must be applied to the bamboo and soaked for some time, then hung in the sun to dry until the bamboo surface turns yellow with a hint of red before it can be shaped. Additionally, in the "Knowledge Compilation", it is also mentioned that bamboo is hung in a chimney to absorb smoke before being shaped into a pen, then coated with butter and placed in roasted barley, and finally polished to create a bamboo pen as hard as bone.
Skilled in sharpening, skilled in writing.
There is a Tibetan proverb that says, "Skilled in carving, skilled in writing," referring to the importance of the art of carving bamboo pens. Two pens unearthed in Wuwei both have a groove cut in the middle of the pen tip, which, according to the traditional Tibetan bamboo pen making and usage method, is for storing ink. The groove is cut thinner from the base to the tip to make the pen sharper. The narrower the cut at the tip, the slower the ink flows, while a wider cut allows for faster ink flow, ideal for quick writing. Depending on the size of the characters being written, the width of the groove and the size of the cut can also be adjusted. Additionally, depending on the writing medium, such as the traditional Tibetan writing board known as wooden slates, which are used for calligraphy practice, a zigzag pattern may be carved near the pen tip to help draw straight lines on the board.
The gesture of holding a pen
Unlike the hand gestures of Chinese calligraphy, when writing Tibetan script with a bamboo pen, it mainly relies on the coordination of the index finger and thumb. By gripping the bamboo pen with the thumb and index finger, the thickness of the writing is controlled by the rotation of the thumb. Additionally, the middle finger is placed under the pen, while the remaining two fingers are curved. According to traditional calligraphy theory, the space within the palm formed by these three fingers should be able to hold a crow's egg. With proper body posture adjustments and the coordination of joints throughout the body, one can achieve clear handwriting and avoid fatigue from prolonged sitting.
The integrity of being a writer.
Generally speaking, the length of a Tibetan bamboo pen should be based on the span of an adult's hand, with the shortest length not shorter than the fingers. People avoid using pens that are too short, believing that they can shorten the lifespan of the writer. Similarly, people also avoid sharpening both ends of the bamboo into pen tips, believing that this "economical" practice will bring poverty to the writer. These taboos may have some reasoning, as both a too short pen body and too light pen tips severely affect the writing effect. Furthermore, by linking the pen to the fate of the writer, we can see that the pen transcends its role as a tool and is given a personality closely related to the writer, thus elevating its spiritual value in the process.
Many years ago, some scholars also believed that "unlike the brush calligraphy of Chinese characters, which has been the essential writing tool for thousands of years, the brush has gradually moved away from being a necessary tool and has become a unique tool for pure artistic creation since the early 20th century. The unique writing tool of Tibetan, the bamboo pen, has never lost its important position in writing, always being used constantly. Even today, it is valued and plays an irreplaceable role due to its convenience, easy representation of Tibetan letters, and ease of production. However, just like the impact of hard writing tools such as pens and pencils on the brush, Tibetan writers are also facing the pressure from new writing instruments. Despite the increasing invention of modern Tibetan pens, the bamboo pen is still at risk of becoming just a unique tool for artistic creation, given the habits of users."
The pen does not till, history does not cease.
References:
དཔའ་རིས་སངས་རྒྱས། 《སྨྱུ་གུ་བཟོ་ཐབས་དང་འཛིན་སྟངས་མ་ཕྱི་དཔེར་ལེན་ཚུལ་བཅས་ཀྱི་སྐོར་བཤད་པ།》
Pu Chongju. "The 'Four Treasures of the Study' of the Tibetan Ethnic Group in China."
Zong Ruibin. "The Development of Tibetan Calligraphy Forms."
"The Complete Collection of Snowland Calligraphy Thangkas."