The Calligrapher — Péi Xiū 裴休

Tang chancellor and calligrapher; author of the Guifeng Stele in regular script.

Tang calligrapher (), master of regular script — known for 《圭峰碑》. Tang dynasty

Cultural Story

泡 means a bubble or a long soak; early texts give to steep. Scholars 泡茶 to welcome guests, a rite of leisure. 泡沫 on the wine cup warned of haste. The word also means to linger idly in warm water, soaking the day's cares away.

Common words & phrases

• 泡沫 foam · bubble
• 泡茶 make tea · brew tea
• 泡汤 fall through · come to nothing
• 气泡 bubble · air bubble
• 浸泡 soak · immerse

Read the story behind the character

He 泡茶 (makes tea) for the guests each afternoon. The deal 泡汤 (fell through) at the last minute. Soda 气泡 (bubbles) tickle her nose. We 浸泡 (soak) the beans overnight. A child blows 泡沫 (foam, bubbles) with soap in the bathtub.

Why this character belongs on skin

Watch the kettle at the moment before the boil, the small bright spheres that rise, shiver, and vanish. 泡 is the bubble, the foam, the thing that is all surface and no weight. Buddhist sermons used bubble and shadow for the world's frailty; what we clutch is mostly froth. And yet a soak in warm water is also mercy, the body released, the mind gone soft at the edges. To mark yourself with 泡 is to laugh at the seriousness of holding on. You are the bubble and you know it, and the knowing is its own kind of freedom. Wear it light, where the skin is thinnest, a tattoo that admits it may not last. The foam breaks. You were here.