is a stunning copy of the entire Heart Sutra brushed in seal script, an enigmatic style of ancient Chinese calligraphy.
The Heart Sutra in ancient Chinese calligraphy
Most of you might be familiar with a copy of the Heart Sutra written in the regular script of Japanese or Chinese calligraphy. Less known are copies in other calligraphic styles, which add to the literal meaning of the Heart Sutra a visual beauty and impact unequalled in other writing systems.
As a calligrapher-artist I had the wish to render the Heart Sutra in a very ancient style of Japanese and Chinese calligraphy, called seal script.
You might associate seal script with the artistic seals seen on Japanese and Chinese paintings, and might be surprised to hear that it is a calligraphic style which is also written with the brush.
My book The Heart Sutra in Calligraphy: A Visual Appreciation of The Perfection of Wisdom offers you a very unique copy of the entire Heart Sutra, with all 276 characters brushed in this fascinating seal script.
The Perfection of Wisdom
For many years I have been studying and copying the Heart Sutra, the Buddhist sutra, which gives the key to the perfection of wisdom. It is a rather hermetic sutra, which requires study and contemplation, but the most significant revelation of the Heart Sutra is that it confirms our awakened nature, our true self which is ever pure and awakened.
That’s why it is so important to me and why the copying of the Heart Sutra has become such an integral part of my spiritual practice.
A Visual Appreciation of the Heart Sutra
The reading and study of the Heart Sutra can open our mind to the ultimate truth and heighten our receptivity of it.
My book, The Heart Sutra in Calligraphy: A Visual Appreciation of The Perfection of Wisdom, aims at giving you a visual support for your contemplation and meditation on the Heart Sutra. I hope that the art and beauty of the seal script will channel your spiritual energy and trigger moments of inner understanding.
What you will find in The Heart Sutra In Calligraphy
An introduction to
- the history and spiritual importance of the Heart Sutra
- the evolution of the seal script in Chinese and Japanese calligraphy
- the practice of sutra copying
56 unique artistic calligraphies of the Heart Sutra in ancient seal script brushed specially for this art book by artist Nadja Van Ghelue
The Heart Sutra in Japanese
New English translation of the Heart Sutra
Romanization of the original Zen chant
128 pages of inspiring wisdom and calligraphic art
Read the testimonial from an enthusiastic reader:
Just a note to let you know that your Heart Sutra arrived today and I am SO happy! Only yesterday at our Session, Gesha-la emphasized how copying Sutras is one of those activities that generates good Karma and Blessings for the artist – and those appreciating her art. If I have two regrets it is that the book is not hard-cover and not printed on acid-free paper… But then, it occurred to me, impermanence is in the Karma of this as well! I really enjoyed the introductory material – It is obvious that you put as much effort into it as you did the calligraphy!
Phil, Manalapan, NJ
Click here to order my book The Heart Sutra in Calligraphy: A Visual Appreciation of The Perfection of Wisdom – Second Edition
More pages on the Heart Sutra and seal script
| How to write seal script |
| Sutra copying | Sutra kanji course | Heart sutra for shakyo |
| Share your heart sutra copying |
| Japanese calligraphy home | Shodo Art Gallery | Buddhist Art Scrolls |
| Japanese painting gallery| Japanese calligraphy supplies |
| Kanji t-shirts | About the artist |
