Dance of love on paper
Published:Sunday | February 17, 2013 | 12:00 AM
Amitabh Sharma, Contributor
"It's my life," professes Chungliang Al Huang, tai chi master, calligrapher, author. "I was groomed with tai chi, but one of my early loves was calligraphy."
Exuding an aura of an ascetic, artist, dancer, martial-arts trainer, Master Huang is merging tai chi with calligraphy. The beautiful confluence of the subtle meditative body movements combines with brush strokes in perfect harmony.
"We are lucky enough to use calligraphy as an art form. We dance on paper," Master Huang adds. "We literally immerse ourselves as a dancer through our brush, to be expressive."
Master Huang recounted that he started practising calligraphy as a child growing up in China and then in Taiwan. "As far back as I can remember, I loved to hold the brush, I loved the way the ink touched the paper."
DANCING MEDITATION
The flow of the liquid ink, he says, is a form of tai chi flow, which is dancing meditation.
The calligraphy, Master Huang explains, is like stillness in motion. He describes calligraphy as the total immersion of the artist's spirit, personality. It's the artistic creative expression.
Illustrating the process as if drawing poetry in the air, he says: "Every Chinese brush would have flexible, resilient hair and you can create such a beautiful flow, and between every hair there is space, which creates this ying yang quality."
Calligraphy in China, he informs, existed even before paper was invented. "The characters were carved out on tortoise shells," he said. "Later, we invented the brush, which is a beautiful tool to give nuances.
"When brush and paper were invented, there were two media."
Even till this day in China, Master Huang informs, connoisseurs of art still value calligraphy
higher than a painting.
Over the years, he says, this
art form has gone through metamorphoses, keeping itself alive as
traditions change and modern paradigms seep into the fabric of the
Chinese society.
The Chinese language was simplified
for it to be spread wide, and also to get the masses to be
proficient.
But Master Huang emphasises that it is
important to return to the traditions, as practicality sometimes
overrides cultural and symbolic essence. "We need to return to the
symbolism, to the metaphors, which is the essence of the Chinese
language and the Chinese culture."
TAKING HEART OUT OF
LOVE
The Chinese script, which is symbolic, has each
character holding a deeper meaning to it. An example he cites is the
symbol of 'love' in the traditional and simplified
language.
"The Chinese symbol for love is a beautiful
symbol," he says. "In the middle of love is the most important motif:
the heart, xin. When the language was simplified and the strokes were
taken out, they took the heart out of love ... can you
imagine?
"How can there be no heart in
love?"
Master Huang says that it is one of his life's
goals to keep this art form alive, to help the people of the world
recognise the deep-rooted and meaningful traditions of China that he
grew up in.
The founder and president of Living Tao
Foundation recalls, "In my era - I am 76 years old - in every
traditional scholarly family, you let your offspring follow the
tradition of the arts. You studied the classics, you recited the poetry
and you did calligraphy. It is a part of your
upbringing.
"It's so simple to put four strokes in. It
is a beautiful symbol. Put the heart back into love, for you, your
family, your children.
"It's easy; let's retrieve it
and let's correct it," he says.
He says that he would
like to spread goodness through his teachings and calligraphy to the
world.
"I want the West to understand that it is an
older culture, (which has) taken many thousands of years to evolve," he
says. "You can have religious differences, you can have national
differences, but we are all human beings."
Art and its
nuances, according to Huang, who has been referred as 'a master in the
arts of living', has the ability to transcend barriers, wherever and
however they exist.
"We are world citizens. We believe
in good things, artistic things, beautiful things ... symbolism knows
no language barrier," he says.
Master Huang, on his
part, says he's striving to bring the citizens of this global village to
bond in a common thread of love and humanity.
"I see
myself as a philosopher, and as a person who builds bridges," he says,
"I will, though, never consider myself as a master, because life is full
of learning. If you stop learning, you stop
living."
Photos by Amitabh Sharma