YIG-TSAL, FLOWING LINES OF AMAZING GRACE: POETIC TRIBUTE TO THE WORK OF A MASTER TIBETAN CALLIGRAPHER, JAMYANG DORJEE. Review of the master Tibetan calligraphy artist, Jamyang Dorje Chakirar and his exhibition in Bhutan (2022), with a new poem spontaneously created as tribute to his work and effort

“After retirement I engaged into serious Buddhist practices and realized how vast Buddhist philosophy is. I began looking inward within myself, there is a beauty; my story would inspire many retirees. When they (people) retire they feel that they have nothing to do. But now is the time when you can express yourselves.”

“Art is a visual or vocal expression of the innate feeling of an artist from his heart, unstructured, boundless and spontaneous. At the same time, craft refers to an activity, which involves creating tangible objects with the use of hands and the brain.  Tibetan calligraphy, or beautiful writing, is a skill that can be practiced, perfected, and reproduced. Yig tsal, or the art of writing, cannot be reproduced. It is an art. I wanted to emphasise the importance of a Yig tsal platform, which is equivalent to ‘Shodo‘ of Japan and ‘Shufan‘ of China.”

–Jamyang Dorjee, master Tibetan calligrapher (April 2022)

Experience is also marked by lines
creased wrinkles on a
vintage canvas
skin.

—excerpt from Zangmo: Flowing Lines of Amazing Grace poem by Adele Tomlin, 2022.

INTRODUCTION

Today on Dakini Day, I wanted to write something about another of the key highlights (for me personally) of the Bhutan Vajrayana conference, the Tibetan master calligraphy artist, Jamyang Dorjee Chakrishar, whose stunning calligraphy art was exhibited during the whole conference. 

In this short post, I first provide an overview of the artist and his background. Second, the art exhibit itself, which was visited by the Bhutanese Queen Mother and the King.

Third, as a poet, I have spontaneously and swiftly created a poem, Yig-Tsal: Flowing Lines of Amazing Grace (published in full below, but also downloadable as a pdf here) dedicated to Dorjee the artist, not only as a tribute to his stunning artistry but as thanks and appreciation for his amazing effort and live performance, drawing the names of anyone who asked him (including me) free of cost as works of art in their own right. His energy and dedication outshone many of the twenty-somethings watching!

Doing the research for this short article, I was even more inspired to learn how Dorjee had taken up the art after retirement, when many people think they have nothing to offer others creatively or artistically. Yet, as the lines of my own tribute poem Flowing Lines of Amazing Grace attest:

“Experience is also marked by priceless lines
creases and wrinkles on a
matured, vintage canvas skin.”

As Dorjee states in a 2022 interview:

“Watching art is also an art. The process of creating beautiful art, from conceiving an idea to the final expression on paper, is a profound meditative process. Art is a visual expression of the sound of the heart of an artist, and if the ‘tsa lung’, perhaps called the ‘Chi‘ energy of an artist, is balanced and steady, the resultant visual art becomes a masterpiece.”

As I watched Chakrishar create his art of my own name Zangmo, after hours of effortlessly and swiftly writing the names of people in Tibetan, I was filled with a sense of awe at the beautiful, flowing nature of the human mind, its creations, flowing sounds and lines to communicate the depths within. His personal artwork for me was priceless in a way and one I will always treasure, not so much for the lines but for the mind, effort and motivation underlying it all. As the ‘Amazing Grace’ song goes, and ‘grace will lead us home……’

After publishing online, I sent this article and poem to Dorjee who immediately and kindly responded saying: “you have captured the essence of my thought as an artist.” High praise indeed! 

Music? Amazing Grace by Celtic Woman and Seven-Line prayer: Performance Art by Jamyang Dorjee Chakrishar and Phub Zam, and Grandma’s Hands by Bill Withers.

Written and compiled by Adele Tomlin, Dakini Day, 20th October 2022. Copyright.

1) THE ARTIST – JAMYANG DORJEE CHAKRISHAR

PERSONAL BACKGROUND

In Prava Rai’s article and interview with Dorjee, Tibetan Calligraphy: A Spiritual Journey (April 2022) it explains Dorjee’s background:

“Jamyang Dorjee is a senior ideologue-practitioner of Tibetan calligraphy.   He was born in Lhasa and fled with his family after the Chinese takeover of Tibet in 1959.  His family settled down in Ravangla, Sikkim along with other Tibetan exiles on a plot allotted to them by the Chogyal of Sikkim.  Initially he attended the Central School for Tibetans (CST) Shimla in Himachal Pradesh before moving to another school and then attending college in Delhi. After completing his Bachelor in Arts, he returned to Sikkim and worked as a teacher in Kewzing tea garden school established by the Chogyal of Sikkim. Subsequently, he joined the Department of Tourism and Culture, Government of Sikkim as a senior research officer. During his tenure as the Joint Secretary of Culture he was a core member of the organising committee for the Kala Chakra Puja in 1993, which was presided over by His Holiness the   Dalai Lama. 

His Holiness requested the then Chief Minister, Nar Bahadur Bhandari to send Jamyang Dorjee on deputation to work in his Government in Exile in Dharamsala. The deputation, which was intended for a few years, eventually extended to twelve long years of engagement with the Tibetan administration and promotion of Tibetan cultural activities.  As the director of the prestigious Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts Jamyang supervised troupes to different parts of the world, creating awareness about Tibetan culture. He also worked as an administrator, promoting the teachings of His Holiness.

Upon his return to Sikkim in 1986, he took voluntary retirement and it was then that his exploration of Tibetan calligraphy and his inner spiritual journey began.

WORLD-RECORD HOLDER FOR LONGEST CALLIGRAPHY SCROLL IN THE WORLD

In 2010, Jamyang Dorjee hit the headlines, when he completed a 165 meter long Tibetan calligraphy, in an attempt to break what he mistakenly thought was the Shanghai announcement of the world’s longest Tibetan calligraphy of 150 meters length. When he decided to break this record, he was unsure about what to write. He discovered that the current Dalai Lama is the only spiritual leader for whom all the different schools of Buddhism said long life prayer for. The prayers were collected into two volumes.  He decided to write this.  He thought, “I will take my own time, nobody is chasing me. I went to Kathmandu and began working there on Nepali handmade paper”. Within six months, he had completed the 165 meters long calligraphy.  “My friend, Tendharla Kunchok, appliqué master who later created Zamling Yuthang Chenmo, world’s biggest turquoise thanka at Pemayangtse monastery, came and made a big box roll to store the scroll”.

JAMYANG DORJEE’S REFLECTIONS ON THE ART OF CALLIGRAPHY

For Jamyang Dorjee’s thoughts and reflections on the art of calligraphy, I would recommend reading the whole article as cited above.

Here are some selected quotes I have pulled out from Dorjee on the art and process:

“Watching art is also an art. The process of creating beautiful art, from conceiving an idea to the final expression on paper, is a profound meditative process. Art is a visual expression of the sound of the heart of an artist, and if the ‘tsa lung’, perhaps called the ‘Chi‘ energy of an artist, is balanced and steady, the resultant visual art becomes a masterpiece.”

“Some say ‘calligraphy speaks’. I have created more than 200 styles of calligraphy art, and often, friends ask me: “How did you get so many ideas?” I say lightly that Guru Rinpoche has opened his treasure trove to me!”

“Let us look at how this journey from ‘nature of mind’ to the visual form on the paper takes place. 

The artist sits down in a state of calmness and tries to look within the mind’s nature. He picks up a droplet from the ocean of wisdom. He then brings it to his own physical body and evokes the letter energy on his ‘tsa’ (རྩ) or the wind energy or the ‘lung’ ( རླུང་), whose nature is always moving, takes the letter on ‘tsa‘ and converts it into a letter of sound.”

2) THE 2022 BHUTANESE CONFERENCE EXHIBITION

The first day of the 4th Vajrayana conference in Thimpu, Bhutan, saw the opening of an exhibition on Buddhist Calligraphy: An Emerging Art by Jamyang Dorjee Chakishar. The Bhutanese Queen Mother, Dorji Wangmo Wangchuck also graced the conference with a visit. Dorjee presented the Queen Mother with a calligraphic portrait of His Majesty The King during the opening of the exhibition.

Here is a video taken by the Centre of Bhutan Studies, with Dorjee talking about his art:

It is testament to the conference organisers that they chose to exhibit and honour the extraordinary art of this elderly man, whose creative energy out-lasted many of the twenty somethings watching!

Prior to the October conference, as a part of the Chogyal Palden Thondup Namgyal Centennial Celebration, the Master Calligrapher Jamyang Dorjee Chakrishar held a Talk, Live Demonstration and Exhibition of Tibetan Calligraphy at Conference Hall, Namgyal Institute of Tibetology, a video of this can be seen here.

Here I share some photos I took of the art exhibits, black ink on white paper artworks, which were all immediately sold out on the final day (at an absolute bargain price of 4000 INR each). Sadly, I could not purchase one (none of my bank cards worked in Bhutan and had no spare cash!). However, I was able to get a personal artwork created by Dorjee (more on that below).

 

3) PERSONAL ARTWORK ‘ZANGMO’ BY JAMYANG DORJEE AND NEW POEM ‘FLOWING LINES OF AMAZING GRACE’ AS TRIBUTE AND THANKS

During the conference, Dorjee gave a live performance of calligraphy for participants and speakers:  On his Facebook page, Jamyang Dorjee reported that:

“I enjoy creating beautiful calligraphy art with my brush. When this art happens to be the name of the person standing in front of you and when you see happiness in his or her eyes, your happiness multiples. This creation of happiness then becomes a spell and when spell works, time disappears.  I wrote 1500 plus names in Thimpu in four days (oct 1-4, 2022). Grateful CBS Bhutan for the opportunity.”

I was fortunate to be able to have a personal artwork created by Jamyang Dorjee on the final day of the conference of one of my Tibetan names, Zangmo – which means ‘excellent, beautiful, good’ in Tibetan.  It is my first Tibetan name and was given to me by the 17th Karmapa when I took refuge vows with him at Gyuto Monastery in India in 2005 (see image):

Here is a photo I took of Dorjee’s live performance creating works of people’s names every day continually during the Bhutanese Vajrayana conference:

Here is a video of him creating my personal name artwork, Zangmo. Incredible skill and mastery:

As a tribute and thanks to Jamyang Dorjee for his talent, dedication, energy and skill, I composed this spontaneous poem today as a tribute. I sent this article and the poem to Dorjee who said of the poem: “you have captured the essence of my thought as an artist.” High praise indeed!

Zangmo: Flowing Lines of Amazing Grace

“The pen is mightier than the sword”
The artist and writer know this well
A black, wet inky stroke on
snow parchment
white.

A blank stony slate
carved and coming
alive.

The human mind hidden
yet lines and forms reveal its
depths.

Experience is also marked by lines
creased wrinkles on a
vintage canvas
skin.

Some profound, some shallow
Some pretty, some ugly
some good, some bad
Some……

Beyond the mental waves and tides
Rests the vast ocean of mind,
unfathomable.

So, here’s a toast to the artists,
poets, writers, and free-thinkers
who share the inner heritage
of our beautiful minds,
through sacred,
enduring
lines.

To the calligraphers of the inner sounds
who reveal to us the inherent beauty of
our lines and
strokes.

The loving, joyful, wise,
flowing lines of amazing grace;
of the silent sounds
without and
within.

Created spontaneously and swiftly today as tribute to the work of Jamyang Dorjee Chakrishar.  With love and gratitude, Adele Tomlin, on Dakini Day, 20th October 2022. Copyright.

DAKINI DAY MEETING AND DEBATE

And to top the Dakini day blessings off, I had the good fortune to have a one-hour private meeting with the renowned scholar of Tibetan Buddhism, Prof. Robert Thurman, where we discussed translation, Kalacakra, Jonang, Je Tsongkhapa and debated the Zhentong-rantong distinction – agreeing to disagree by the end of it 🙂

Adele Tomlin. 20th October 2022. 

 

Further Sources/Reading and Video

Calligraphy Art, a form of Buddhist Practice