Ma Mengqing:Engraver, Printer and Guardian of Buddhist Sutras

THE Jinling Buddhist Press， established in 1866 by Anhui native Yang Renshan， was China’s first-ever private Buddhist sutra publishing and distribution agency. Its work is the engraving of printing blocks with Buddhist sutras， their publication， binding into books and distribution， as well as research into Buddhist texts. As a well-known Buddhist cultural institution， the press has contributed much to the revival of Buddhism in modern China. Years of war forced the Jinling Buddhist Press to move several times before coming to its present permanent location at No. 35 Huaihai Road in Nanjing.

Ma Mengqing started work at the Jinling Buddhist Press as an apprentice sutra engraver in 1981 after graduating from high school. Three decades later， only he remains at the press， his then fellow apprentices having long since left. In 2006， the Jinling sutra engraving and printing technique was listed as a national intangible cultural heritage， and in 2009， China’s engraved block printing technique appeared on the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage list. In January of 2013， Ma Mengqing was included among the fourth batch of representative “inheritors” of national intangible cultural heritage.

Treasurehouse of Buddhist Culture

The Jinling Buddhist Press is located on an obscure corner of bustling Huaihai Road in Nanjing. In contrast to its surrounding environment， it is secluded， low-key and has an air of mystery.

During its long history the press has experienced many highs and lows. Yang Renshan founded the press after discovering 300-odd ancient Buddhist books from the Sui （581-618） and Tang （618-907） dynasties that had been lost in Japan and Korea and bringing them back to China. After collating these materials he printed and distributed them as books. In 1907 Yang established a Buddhist school named Zhi Huan Jing She. Here he introduced modern concepts to Buddhist education， creating favorable conditions for a Buddhist revival in modern China.

After his death， Yang Renshan was buried in the courtyard of the Jinling Buddhist Press. The press carried on the business of sutra engraving and printing with the support of several senior Buddhists. Its publications are noted for their attention to detail， strict textual collation， clear page layout， delicate engraving techniques and high quality. The Jinling Buddhist Press perfectly combines traditional Chinese woodblock printing techniques with Buddhist culture and art.

In 1937， the invading Japanese army destroyed the woodblocks and buildings in the press compound. In 1952， the Shanghai Buddhist Association formed a committee to conserve the Jinling Buddhist Press， and in 1973 then Premier Zhou Enlai issued directives to restore it. By 1980 the press had resumed its printing and distribution operations. The Jinling Buddhist Press maintains its tradition of hand-made books， and strictly follows the process of manually engraving blocks， printing sutras and binding them into books. The press now houses more than 125，000 blocks engraved with sutras that have been collected from all over the country. They include 1，500 Buddhist classic works and a large number of precious ancient Buddhist books. Its collection has made Jinling Buddhist Press a veritable treasurehouse.

Thirty Years of Learning and Practice

This reporter met with Ma Mengqing and his apprentice， Miss Deng Qingzhi， at the press. Ma is tall， lean， and appears younger than his age. Owing to a penicillin allergy， Ma became deaf in his right ear when he was three years old. Consequently he can only hear speech at a volume of 80 dB in his left ear. Having refused to learn sign language， he relies on lip-reading to communicate. Although capable of speaking only simple sentences， when talking about sutra engraving he is eager to share his thoughts and aspirations， despite communication problems.

The Jinling Buddhist Press officially recommenced operation in 1981. Ma Mengqing is one of over a dozen apprentices the press took on that year.

Sutra engraving is no easy task. One of Ma’s first exercises after joining the press was to engrave squares on a woodblock until he could make them uniform in size. One year later， Ma started to engrave mirror images of characters inside these squares， which also entailed meeting the requirement that character typefaces replicate computer fonts. Perhaps because of Ma’s partial deafness he studied harder than his fellow apprentices. “He is intelligent and meticulous. Unable to hear his teacher clearly， Ma observed his every move， and turned out to be a star student，” Deng Qingzhi said. After three years of study and practice， Ma was qualified to commence sutra engraving.

Unable to knuckle down to the rigor and hardship entailed in learning this craft， all of Ma’s fellows gradually left the press. Ma believes that his hearing disability enabled him to become enraptured in Buddhist sutras and discover the joy of engraving them on woodblocks.

When asked about the hardship of engraving work， Ma just smiled and showed us his heavily calloused hands. Owing to an accident the fourth finger of his left hand is almost the same length as the pinkie.

“Mending” blocks involves repairing damaged sections of ancient woodblocks to make them printable. The Jinling Buddhist Press has 125，000 ancient woodblocks， all of which are precious cultural relics. “We treat them with utmost care and try to preserve them in their original state. We only mend those that have been seriously damaged and which are needed to be printed and distributed in large volumes，” Deng Qingzhi said.

Mending blocks demands meticulous effort. First， the damaged section of the original block must be evened out and a section of Euonymus bungeanum wood placed on it. Mended characters must match the typeface and size of the originals exactly. “Ma Mengqing is the only one capable of doing mending work，” Deng Qingzhi said. Ma’s mended woodblock characters look and feel the same as the original.

Eighty Characters a Day

A drawer in Ma’s office contains scores of different cutting tools – sharp， thin， long and short. When engraving， Ma holds the woodblock with one hand and engraves each line of characters with the other. It takes a long time to engrave one character. Owing to eyestrain， Ma wears presbyopic glasses even though he has just turned 50. The blocks he engraves are made of birchleaf pear wood. The wood must be boiled for a few days in a solution that kills woodworm and other pest eggs. Most difficult is controlling the level of strength exerted during the engraving process. One slip could spoil days of painstaking work.

Ma told this reporter that he can engrave 80 characters per day. As there are 400 characters on either side of a woodblock， it takes around two weeks to finish one piece. Ma has no exact idea of how many blocks he has engraved over the past 30 years. “Maybe enough to fill a small garage，” he said.

The furniture in Ma’s office， comprising two wooden tables， two chairs， two desklamps and a big wooden closet， has been there since the office was built in the 1980s.

“Block engraving is tedious， and the constant eye strain threatens engravers’ health. Also taking into account the low income， few young people have any interest in learning the technique，”Deng Qingzhi said. What to the layman is tedious， however， is an irreplaceable joy to Ma Mengqing. “I haven’t taken a vacation for years. I feel uncomfortable not coming to work even for one day，”Ma said. A good engraver not only masters the technique，but also has the ability to stand loneliness.

Irreplicable Treasure

Sutra-engraved woodblocks now stand on shelves in a modern two-story building within the Jinling Buddhist Press. According to Ma Mengqing， each block is unique. They are impossible to replicate because Ma and Deng are the only engravers at the press， and they can make at most four woodblocks a month. Under these conditions， replicating all the woodblocks would take 2，600 years.

Since the listing of the Jinling sutra engraving and printing technique as a national intangible cultural heritage， the press has tried to recruit engravers. But no one wants to learn. As the sole inheritor of the technique， Ma has tried to promote it among people who care about the craft， but he still has just one apprentice. “I am the only apprentice， but my teacher wants more， preferably male with a background in higher education，” Deng Qingzhi said. Miss Deng studied block printing at school. After passing her examinations she became apprenticed to Ma. “The salary here plus the government subsidy is OK， certainly enough to cover the costs of daily life，” Deng said.

Last year the Jinling Buddhist Press took on two people born in the 1990s. “They are well-educated and enthusiastic about sutra engraving. I hope they will persevere in mastering my technique and eventually become successors to the Jinling sutra engraving and printing technique，” Ma said.

Ma is optimistic. Years of engraving work have brought him tranquility. All he can do now is to protect the woodblocks and so preserve these classic Buddhist texts for the benefit of future generations.