The Calligrapher — Yáng Yīsūn 杨沂孙

Qing seal-script master famed for blending bronze and small seal scripts.

Qing calligrapher (), master of seal script — known for 《文字蒙求》. Qing dynasty

Cultural Story

盂 is a deep, round basin. Cast in bronze, the ancient 盂 held water for the ritual washing of hands. Buddhist monks carried the 钵盂 — the alms bowl — from door to door as the very mark of monastic life, while scholars kept a small 水盂 at the inkstone's side, to drip water for grinding ink.

Common words & phrases

• 痰盂 spittoon · cuspidor
• 水盂 water basin · water bowl
• 钵盂 alms bowl · monk's bowl

Read the story behind the character

盂 sounds antique in modern homes, yet it lingers. Older households recall the white enamel 痰盂 that once stood by every bed; calligraphers still buy a little 水盂 of celadon for the desk, and temple visitors watch monks set out on alms rounds, bowl in hand. The basin has simply traded the altar for the writing table.

Why this character belongs on skin

The monk's morning begins with an empty bowl. 盂 is that vessel—round-bellied, plain, older than plate—and in Buddhist hands it became a whole philosophy you can hold in one palm: the alms bowl, carried door to door, which accepts exactly what is given and asks for nothing more. Fill it, it is full; empty it, it is not diminished. The desert fathers had their crust; Diogenes had his cup, until he saw a boy drink from his hands and threw it away, awed by his own excess. 盂 is that radical sufficiency—not poverty, but the end of accumulation. In an age of second refrigerators, imagine wearing a word that means enough. A tattoo of it is a vow of lightness, inked small where the wrist bends, so that every time you reach for more you feel it press against the tendons like a pulse: you already have the bowl. What else, honestly, did you need? The rice is warm. Sit down.