Reminiscing during the Mid-Autumn Festival ...

via collages of the full moon as seen from our side of the world and Chinese calligraphy of popular phrases expressing the nostalgic sentiments.

Buddha's teachings

Do no evil;
Abide by all virtuous acts;
Purify the mind;
That's the essence of Buddha's teachings.

Words of Wisdom by Buddha

These are verses from the Diamond Sutra.

May all beings be well, calm, healthy, and peaceful

These are my transcriptions of the Great Compassion Mantra in four pages (the bottom panel), to dedicate to all beings while at the same time practicing my Chinese calligraphy.

Celebrating Buddha's Birthday

By way of Buddhist verses in Chinese calligraphy. The Buddha's painting is scanned from a Chinese Sutra publication front-paged next.

Happy Mother's Day

wishing via a water color painting of a flower and Chinese calligraphy of a famous poem extolling a mother's virtue that is difficult to fathom and repay.

Footprints

My Mom was looking for the complete version of this particular poem, remembering only bits and pieces. However, with the help of Internet, specifically, Google Search using some Chinese characters (actually they turned out to be the title of the poem), we found it, penned by the famous Chinese poet of the Sung Dynasty, Su DongPo. And this is for her, using my late father's calligraphy brush.

Turning Over a New Leaf

And the Chinese calligraphy session with the well-seasoned old brush continues ...

Learn from mistakes so as not to repeat them.

Diligence

Another piece taken from my late father's calligraphy collection and get this, this particular calligraphy guidebook was published in HongKong in 1974 and sold for HK$1.60 (and if my memory serves me right, it was M$0.80 after conversion). Things have changed a lot since that year when I was just out of high school and had just begun my life-long vocation of teaching as a wide-eyed trainee at a rural Chinese school accessible via an earth road, sometimes riding piggyback on my colleague's scooter. Those were the days when life was simple, with me molding the malleable minds of young students who were thrust into society at a tender age to help their parents in eking out a livelihood in the austere rubber estate setting.

The cover of the guidebook, truncated at the top portion for space from the splendidly elegant original look, appears to the right.

Old Brush, New Calligraphy

On a recent trip back to Malaysia, I picked up some of my late Father's Chinese calligraphy paraphernalia: Chinese brushes, calligraphy guidebooks and collections. I enjoy using his well-seasoned brush, and wrote the following small form Chinese calligraphy piece entitled "Setting Goals" taken from his collections.

Cruising

We had our combined chinese brush painting and calligraphy class today, and here are what I was able to accomplish within the 3-hour fun-filled morning.

The Three in One Session

The 3 in 1 are the chinese brush painting, chinese calligraphy, and chinese cooking, a triple set of activity that we engaged today at Teacher Yang's house. The culinary demonstration of interest: chinese buns and dumplings. Just see the focused look on Teacher Yang's face and the yummy appeal of the finished products, all cooked and ready to be served. Truly a morning plus an afternoon of uplifting experience in body/palate and soul, thanks to both Teacher Yang (Chinese calligraphy) and Teacher Celia Fan (Chinese brush painting).

A Smorgasbord of Chinese Calligraphy

It has been a hectic day today. First, I had my monthly Chinese calligraphy class in the morning. And while about to drive off at the end of the class, we were introduced by Brother Yang, our Chinese calligraphy teacher, to his neighbor, a fellow Malaysian from Salak, Selangor. What a small world.

Then the Lin family from Gainesville visited us in the afternoon. And to add to the mix, Hubby brought home another friend, X. Chen, who has some mutual friends with Lin. They were all grad students at UF in the early 1990s. Catching up on old times was inevitable.

Then we attended a Dharma discussion in a Buddhist friend's house in the evening that lasted into the night. What a day!.

With all these events converging in time and space, something good is bound to happen. And that took the form of two guest pieces in today's blog on Chinese calligraphy.

These two Buddhist verses are written by Brother Yang, our teacher, that translate into "Compassion knows no enemy; wisdom overcomes afflictions."

This Chinese character, meaning forbearance, is written by Lin. It combines the character, knife (top), over the character, heart (bottom). How symbolic! The following two pieces are by me.

Food for the Mind via Chinese Calligraphy Class

In today's Chinese Calligraphy class, we continued practicing writing individual characters, ending with a home-cooked lunch provided by the attendees: food for the mind followed by for the body.

Purity in Character, Part 7 (End)

This concludes the chapter on Purity in Character taken from the Flower Adornment Sutra written by me in memoriam of Master Sheng Yen, ending with a passage on merit dedication.

Purity in Character, Part 6