Tibetan calligraphy

Tibetan calligraphy refers to the calligraphic traditions used to write the Tibetan language. As in other parts of East Asia, nobles, high lamas, and persons of high rank were expected to have high abilities in calligraphy. However, unlike calligraphy in China, Japan, and Korea, calligraphy was done using a reed pen as opposed to a brush. Nevertheless, East Asian influence is apparent visually, as Tibetan calligraphy is at times more free-flowing than calligraphy involving the descendants of other Brahmi scripts.

A variety of different styles of calligraphy existed in Tibet:

* The u-chan (bo|t=དབུ་ཅན་|w=dbu-can, "headed") style of the Tibetan script is marked by heavy horizontal lines and tapering vertical lines, and is the most common script for writing in the Tibetan language, and also appears in printed form because of its exceptional clarity. When handwritten, it is the most basic form of calligraphy, and must be mastered before moving onto other styles.
* The "u-me" ( _bo. དབུ་མེད་ "dbu-med", "headless") style is a more cursive script which can be seen in daily correspondence and in other day-to-day life. The feature which distinguishes it the most from "u-chan" is the lack of the horizontal lines on the top of letters.
* The "drugtsa" ( _bo. འབྲུ་ཚ་ " 'bru-tsha") style is a version halfway between "u-chan" and "u-me".
* The "tsugtung" ( _bo. ཚུགས་ཐུང་ "tshugs-thung") style is shortened, abbreviated variant of "u-me", traditionally used for commentaries.
* The "chuyig" ( _bo. འཁྱུག་ཡིག་ " 'khyug-yig", "fast letters") is a highly abbreviated, fluid, cursive version of "u-me". It is a common form of handwriting for notes and personal letters.
* The "petsug" ( _bo. དཔེ་ཚུགས་ "dpe-tshugs") style is a narrow, cursive variant of "u-me" in squarish shape.
* The vertical Phags-pa script is known as "horyig" ( _bo. ཧོར་ཡིག་ "hor-yig", "Mongolian letters"). A more ornamental version of the "horyig" style was used in the past to make personal seals. It is often found written vertically as opposed to horizontally.These styles are not fixed, and are not limited to those listed above. By mixing features of various styles, and adding various ornaments to the text, the number of styles becomes quite large. While "u-chan" may be used to write entire sutras or Buddhist texts, the rest of the styles are more frequently used to write a single phrase or saying.

External links

* [http://www.tibetinfonet.net/content/update/22 Interview with Tsering Phuntsok] , a Tibetan calligrapher living in Germany.
* [http://babelstone.blogspot.com/2006/12/phags-pa-fonts-2-babelstone-phags-pa.html Phags-pa script]
* [http://www.tibetholytour.com/showinfo.asp?id=27&pid=10&parent=1 Tibetan writing styles]
* [http://www.nalandabodhi.ca/HHcalligs.html Exquisite Example of Tibetan Calligraphy by His Holiness The XVII Karmapa]
* [http://www.asianart.com/exhibitions/calligraphy/index.html An exhibition of Tibetan Calligraphy by P. N. Dhumkhang]