About Seals

Engraving stone seals, calligraphy, and painting are indivisible parts of one whole. If an artist does not know the art of calligraphy, his paintings will lack a scholarly air. If he does not know the art of poetry, his paintings will not reflect literary skills. If he does not know the art of engraving stone seals, his paintings will not exhibit the charming jagged look of inscriptions on ancient stone seals.

That is why H.H. Dorje Chang Buddha III stated, “Poetry, calligraphy, painting, and stone seals can be traced to the same origin and are in the same strain. The truth of this good lesson from the ancients should be practiced. A general review of famous artists from ancient times to the present points to a fact. If one does not have other-worldly methods and only concentrates on a single artistic subject, regardless of how he practices or how he researches the essence of his artistic subject, his attainment after several decades may still be nothing but superficial and insignificant. I occasionally looked at the methods and accomplishments of the famous painters Baishi, Changshuo, and Bada Shanren. Such an experience made me realize that wondrous artistic appeal originates from excellence in all those fields. How can any one of those fields be isolated from the others?…”

The overall meaning of the above inscription on this work “Stone Seals” is as follows. Literature, calligraphy, and engraving stone seals are one indivisible entity. This is the conclusion the ancients reached long ago based on experience. A sweeping view of famous Chinese painters from antiquity to the present reveals that not even one of them became a painting master without great skills in all three fields. Of course, this refers to true masters of art, not painters who have an undeserved good reputation.

This work called “Stone Seals” manifests the brimming talent of H.H. Dorje Chang Buddha III in His early years. However, people may not know that the engraving of stone seals is only a very small part of the infinite wisdom of today’s H.H. Dorje Chang Buddha III. After reading the book H.H. Dorje Chang Buddha III, one will understand that engraving stone seals is merely one of the thirty categories of accomplishments exhibited in that book. Moreover, the entirety of those thirty categories of accomplishments still constitutes only a very small portion of the wisdom and accomplishments of H.H. Dorje Chang Buddha III. He possesses great wisdom that is difficult for common people to imagine. His accomplishments are all real, and His good reputation is definitely deserved.

Selected Works in Collection