[ryuurui]

Thanks! I could not imagine a better teacher.

Here, I will share a small fragment from the first chapter, where I write a bit about him:

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Marvellous Ink


Chapter I
Cocooned in Nothingness


(...)


Oriental calligraphy is everything but learning how to draw a perfect character. How many times I have presented a sakuhin (作品, “ready work”) written in any of main styles of calligraphy (later on in regards to those), creating nearly identical copies of thousands of years old koten (古典, manuscripts, classic literature), commonly used by calligraphers to advance their skill, only to be told by my teacher that mane mono (真似物, here: imitation of someone else’s style) is boring, and conveys no energy.
古典から

- “Ehhh…imitation…it is dull and dead to the soul….no energy flow either…” – he used to mutter shaking his head in disapproval.

“Whenever you repeat someone else’s style, you lose a part of yourself. You cheat your heart by pretending other people’s emotions. To become a true master, you need to forget and deny that you ever want to become one, negate an existence of any aim and will to achieve it. Calligraphy has no beginning or end. First step towards greatness is to embrace a rich world of humble nothingness, through opening wide your soul’s gate. Write with the ink of your feelings, and not other’s.”

After years of studying I have finally understood that rinsho (臨書 – lit. “writing from a copy”, copying masterpieces) is comparable to a journey. It enriches our general knowledge of the world, various cultures and phenomena, but also widens our spectrum of view, altering approach to life. The way we comprehend this knowledge depends on our spiritual readiness and experience, which states cannot be copied in any way. One has to reach them throughout diligent studies.


(...)


Once I asked him what criteria he applied while purchasing a hanging scroll or a framed work of another calligrapher. He put his brush on the fudeoki (筆おき, “brush rest”), looked at me and smiled:

“If I buy a work it is only to hang them in toconoma (床の間, an alcove in a Japanese style room) for my students to watch and broaden their vision. Sho is an art that allows you to roam wide seas of imagination. Those seas are boundless, made of many isles and straits, and one does not need to be afraid to follow into foggy and untravelled areas. I cannot tell you what goes along with your personality, i.e. what style of writing you should follow during your journey. I can only help you to build a boat, but you need to learn how to sail it and sense what direction to head off to.”


(...)


We calligraphers are a rare breed cherishing everlasting beauty and magic of this fascinating art in art. We live by scent of ink, sound of brush chasing secret dreams on paper, sharing our pure thoughts richer than anything on Earth with forces of the Cosmos itself.

We are hovering somewhere between dimensions of physical and mental states of being, completely lost in timeless joy of revealing deepest emotions along the path we chose. We surf on irrelevance of time and reality, able to feel what is unexplainable, far beyond the usual, daydreaming with our minds cocooned in a translucent scarf of nothingness.


(...)


© 2010 - 2011 by Piotr Ponte-Sypniewski


Please note that the above fragment (as well as the whole text) is copyrighted, thus any redistribution or reproduction of part or all of the contents in any form without my (author's) written permission is prohibited.


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