The Calligrapher — Chǔ Suíliáng 褚遂良

Tang chancellor and regular-script master of elegant, balanced strokes.

Tang calligrapher (596–658), master of regular script — Tang master of graceful, tensile regular script favored by the imperial court. Tang dynasty

Cultural Story

伺 is 人 with 司, a man on duty, watching and waiting to serve or to strike. The 說文 reads 司 as to oversee. 伺候 is the attendance given a superior; 伺機 the bided moment. 窺伺 is the covert watch. The character is the alert attendant, the eye that waits for the opening, the service that is also surveillance.

Common words & phrases

• 伺候 serve
• 伺机 wait for a chance
• 窥伺 watch secretly

Read the story behind the character

伺候 is the care of the elderly and the sarcasm of the overworked, 伺候你. 伺机 is the waiting for the chance of the opportunist; 窥伺 the watching rival. The character names the watchful wait, the service and the spying. It still means the man on duty, the eye that bides, the attendance that can tip into the lurk, the serving hand that also notes the moment to act.

Why this character belongs on skin

There is a patience that wears no armor. To cì is to stand ready—not the restless waiting of the anxious, but the poised attendance of one who has made peace with the hour not yet arrived. The classical tongue used it for the servant who reads a master's mood before a word is spoken, and for the hunter who watches the single opening in the bamboo. Confucius taught that the gentleman times his action as the cook times the fire. To carry this on your skin is to confess a discipline: you will not rush the fates, you will wait at the threshold with clean hands and clear eyes, and when the moment comes you will already be standing in it. Let it be the part of you that knows stillness is not surrender. The ink stays; the readiness becomes you.