Monday, April 15, 2024

Picking up calligraphy brushes again

Freestyle handwriting after calligraphy practice. 塗鸦练字.

I always wanted to learn Chinese calligraphy so I signed up for a basic calligraphy course for seniors. It was not easy handling the Chinese brushes let alone writing Chinese words!

After practising the proper way storke by stroke, I got bored and continued to write in freestyle.

This passage is a poem by 释绍昙, a monk from Song dynasty.

俗姓梁, 本名-梁慧开,字-无门, 幼年入道,广习经论;年长,于南峰石室独居禅思,积年六载,忽有省悟,乃出礼谒诸山尊宿,得法于江苏万寿寺月林师观禅师座下。嘉定十一年(1218),开法于安吉报国寺,次迁隆兴天宁寺、黄龙翠岩寺、苏州开元寺、灵岩寺、镇江焦山寺、金陵保宁寺等刹。绍定二年(1229)为皇帝祝寿而编撰无门关一卷,该书系精选诸禅录之著名公案四十八则,另加评唱与颂而成。理宗淳祐六年(1246),奉旨入杭州护国仁王寺。晚年居于西湖边,理宗曾诏至选德殿说法,为宫中祈雨得感应,遂敕赐金襕衣,及‘佛眼禅师’之号。师形枯神朗,绀发蓬松,常着弊垢之衣,众人奉其为开此道之先锋。景定元年入寂,世寿七十八。其无门关一书,迄今仍盛行于世。[续传灯录卷三十五、增集续传灯录卷二、五灯严统卷二十二、五灯全书卷五十三]