stoned
metal
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This item considers several materials (other than
palm leaves) that have been used to record the Buddhist scriptures
over the years. The range of substances - singular and composite -
and variety of techniques employed is considerable but they all have
one purpose - to convey aspects of a teaching that lead to liberation.
One of the most significant considerations when choosing a material
is its durability. It is curiously
common to find that the more enduring elements are either quite expensive
or difficult to work. Even with the development of modern technology
this is still relatively true.
• Stone was probably the
original 'canvas' on which man
drew with cave paintings being the earliest (surviving). The material
is commonly available but it is quite difficult to work the surface
with any degree of detail. Weight is also a problem, seriously limiting
distribution. Although there are earlier examples of Buddhist scriptures
on stone - e.g. stupa ornamentation - King Asoka's rock edicts c.
250 BCE were probably the first 'scripture'
which was widely distributed. Although the text is not visible here
is a link to a picture of the pillar raised by Asoka at Lumbini [§]
• The use of stone
as a medium of expression was extensive during the Buddha's life with
a high degree of ornamentation becoming increasingly apparent as support
for the Sangha extended however the use of text was often only employed
for recording the names of various donors to the work. One form that
presents a kind of 'cosmology' is the footprint, with many arcane
symbols being presented for study. [§]
• A relatively common medium
was terra-cotta. It is both cheap
and easily worked and, if well fired, reasonably durable. Tiles were
often used as ornament on either buildings or stupas, with primarily
pictorial content - perhaps with a short passage of scripture as 'caption'.
Another use of terra-cotta. was as seals; a device employed by institutions
and administrative bodies to make a consistent mark. Perhaps the most
common votive object was the impressed terra-cotta. plaque, which
typically showed a variety of traditional symbols with a short teaching
inscribed. Small terra-cotta. stupas were commonly pressed from molds
and would often have a small area given to a brief inscription.
• The
use of metal was not uncommon
at the time of the Buddha but the most predominant form was iron and
the quality made it unsuitable for either casting or engraving texts.
The silver and gold smiths of the time were renowned and copper was
also in use but such material was expensive and generally reserved
for the the wealthy. Its use as a script medium was severely limited
and restricted to important documents and to 'master' plates - either
for ensuring the original text was stored or as a printing plate.
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cloth
paper
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• Examples
of ivory used purely for text are rare. Here is a Burmese leaf [§]
- (bottom right). The thumbnail - top left - is a detail of an ivory
palm leaf book cover.
• Cloth
was in use well before the Buddha but it seems it was the Chinese
who largely developed silk as an art medium. The only example of Indian
or SE Asian text on cloth I found was a pen-inked (not brushed), chalk-embedded
silk imitation of a palm leaf which had not weathered well. Most Chinese
examples are predominantly graphic with the text secondary. One cloth
form that has become particularly common through the Tibetan tradition
is the prayer flag. These are usually block printed in one colour
on cotton cloth of either white or a plain, single colour. Here is
a recent example made by children [§].
• Although not strictly a
'scripture' it is worth mentioning mandalas here. They are predominantly
symbolic but convey a wide variety of sometimes quite complex information
- acting as a kind of mnemonic. [see: COSMOLOGY]
• The material par excellence was and is paper.
According to tradition it was first made in 105 CE by Ts'ai Lun, a
eunuch attached to the Eastern Han court of the Chinese emperor Ho
Ti. The material used was probably the bark of the mulberry tree.
The earliest known paper still in existence was made from rags about
AD 150. For approximately 500 years the art of paper making was confined
to China, but in 610 it was introduced into Japan, and into Central
Asia about 750. Paper made its appearance in Egypt about 800 but was
not manufactured there until 900. [Papyrus is not strictly paper -
being made of moistened, sliced reeds laid lengthwise, with other
layers laid crosswise. This 'mat' was then pressed and the dried sap
held it together.]
•
Printing from carved wood blocks was invented in China in the 6th
CE. The first known book printed from wood blocks was a Chinese edition
of the Diamond Sutra c. 868. The Tipitaka, which ran to more than
130,000 pages, was block-printed in 972. Printing from reusable blocks
was a much more efficient method of reproducing a work than was copying
by hand, but each block took a long time to carve and was limited
to that one work. In the 11th century the Chinese invented movable
type but they made little use of it because the great number of Chinese
characters required made it impracticable.
•The
paper scroll was the most significant development beyond the palm
leaf as both the size - and gradually texture, quality, etc., - could
be controlled with some scrolls, undoubtedly joined, being over 10
metres long. The scroll gave way to the folded book [§]which
in turn produced more or less what we have now as the sewn and bound
book.
•And
last, but I am sure not least, we have what you are reading now -
the digital book. Are we more wise on account of more words? I wonder.
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