YouTube

Just found a new cache of Siddhaṃ calligraphy on YouTube (thanks to Riccardo's Facebook page Bonji 梵字 - Riccardo is a bit naughty and has been taking images from here without asking, but I'm sure we can sort something out). These are quite interesting examples which from the accompanying text and commentary are from Japan.

The Fudō Bīja hāmmāṃ



The Mahāvairocana Seed Syllable vāṃḥ



Note here that the calligrapher makes an error. He writes ba instead of va. The two are very similar. In ba the curve curls back to meet the stem on the up-stroke, whereas on the va it continues down to the stem on the down-stroke. These letters are similar in most Indic scripts: cf Devanāgarī ब व. Indeed they are often confused in pronunciation as well.

Karanīya Mettā Sutta

Karanīya Mettā Sutta
Originally uploaded by jayarava

This is the well known Karanīya Mettā Sutta from the Suttanipāta (Sn 143-152). More info on my Flickr Site - click the image to find it.

I offer this version to offset the unskilful things I've done, said and thought in the last couple of weeks. Please feel free to copy this and spread it around.

My website has the Roman text and my translation. I've done another more colloquial translation. Also I've done a partial commentary. There are many translations online, each with its own merits.

My Calligraphy...

A Myofascial Approach to Thai Massage: East meets West

This book on Thai massage by Howard Evans has just been published by Churchill Livingstone featuring some of my calligraphy in the cover design.

The Siddhaṃ text is from the Mettā Sutta.

Gothic Siddham?

This chart for a Gothic Siddham character set popped onto the Visible Mantra radar recently. It's messy and doesn't entirely work, but it does raise an interesting possibility in terms of where Siddham calligraphy might go in the west.

Original at: naeddyr.deviantart.com

Naeddyr is a young Finnish "wannabe novelist".

Article One of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Inspired by the use of the text on Omniglot I have done some Siddham calligraphy of Article One of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. I'm hoping that Simon at Omniglot will like it enough to use on his site.

I've filed this one under calligraphy since it's not Buddhist or a mantra in any form. Yesterday I added a Dhāraṇī from the Buddha Sutras Mantras website which has a few examples.

If anyone has the complete Sanskrit text of the Sutra on the Perfection of Wisdom in One Letter I'd like to have a copy for a calligraphy project.

Kukai Calligraphy

I was passing through London this week to give a talk on Kukai at the Southampton Buddhist Centre, and took the opportunity to call into the British Library. I have been keen for sometime to read: R.H. Van Gulik's Siddham : An Essay on the History of Sanskrit Studies in China and Japan and unable to obtain a copy via the interlibrary loan system. I did not have much time to read the text but was delighted at the examples of Siddham calligraphy, and especially to find some reproductions of Kukai's pen.

On the right is the Amitabha mantra: namo amitabaḥ (an idiosyncratic spelling). Alongside it on the left is Kukai's signature and his seal (larger version on the Kukai page).

I've also added an alphabet brushed by Kukai; and a Mantra of Light, on the Vairocana page.

Outstanding Tibetan Calligraphy

compassion 2
Originally uploaded by Nathanael.Archer

I stumbled on this amazing collection of Tibetan calligraphy some time back. What I'm trying to do is present the basics, but Nathanael gives you some idea of what where you can take this art if you want to. Innovative and creative, combining calligraphy and stamps or seals.