Tibetan Xylography and the Question of Movable Type

Abstract

TIBETAN XYLOGRAPHY AND THE QUESTION OF MOVABLE TYPE RICHARD P. PALMIERI Since its invention, printing has attracted the attention of innumer­ able specialists representing disparate disciplines and, seemingly, every imaginable point of view. But even a novice surveying the literature on the subject of printing quickly recognizes that three major themes, or lines of inquiry, emerge from the tangle of scholar­ ship on the subject. The first theme addresses the question of the origin and diffusion of printing. For some, the important issue is geographical; for others, biographical; and for still others, chrono­ logical. The second theme focuses on the craft and technology of printing. The most salient topics include block printing and printing with movable type, presses, inks, and paper. The third theme is that of the relationship between printing and certain aspects of history, most notably processes ofchange, the development ofcivilization, and the democratization of human knowledge. While it may be convenient to identify these three themes in the literature on printing, it is also necessary to recognize that relation­ ships exist among them. A study of the origin of printing will embrace questions of technology and technique, for example, and the conclu­ sions reached will contribute meaningfully to ideas about cultural history. Of particular interest here is the dichotomy commonly drawn between xylography—printing with woodcuts—and printing that employs movable type. This is the subject of a vast literature, and the distinction has challenged many to demarcate the boundaries of these two traditions in time and place. The central argument of this study is that, at least in some places, the distinction between block printing and printing with movable type Dr. Palmieri is professor of geography at Mary Washington College. His research interests focus on cultural and ecological adaptations of Tibetans in high-altitude central Asia. He expresses his gratitude to his colleagues James B. Gouger, who prepared the illustrations, and Timothy A. Crippen, who read and criticized the original draft; to those who commented on his paper presented at the 1988 SHOT meeting in Wilmington, Delaware; and to the Technology and Culture referees for constructive advice. The article was prepared with the assistance of a Faculty Develop­ ment Grant from Mary Washington College.© 1991 by the Society for the History of Technology. All rights reserved. 0040-165X/91/3201-0006^01.00 82 Tibetan Xylography and the Question of Movable Type 83 is blurred. More specifically, this study will describe a curious form of Tibetan printing that combines xylography with certain aspects of movable type.1 Tibet and Tibetan Printing Tibet is a region of central Asia constituting much of western China. Most of Tibet is dry plateau, but its margins include the Hindu Kush in the west, the Kunlun and Astin Tagh in the north, the mountains of Sikang in the east, and the Himalaya in the south. Most of the population of Tibet inhabits the more arable valleys of the Tsangpo drainage in the area just north of the Himalaya. Some Tibetans are pastoral nomads, however, and inhabit the extensive grasslands of the north and east. Almost all Tibetans, though, speak dialects that, while related to Chinese, are written in an alphabetical script derivative of India’s Devanagari. From India, too, came Bud­ dhism, the principal religion of Tibetans, who practice it in a monastic form called Lamaism. Tibetan printing is ancient, and, while its origins are obscure, there is little doubt that it diffused from China proper when block printing was well established there.2 Among the block prints discovered in Sinkiang, at the oasis settlement of Turfan, for example, are Tibetan printed charms that date to at least the 13th century. Even today, charms are one of the principal objects printed by Tibetans, and they have a seemingly endless variety of them.3 Many are used as amulets, and specialized ones are intended to protect the wearer from disease, injury, and misfortune. But the most common, perhaps, are lungta, the ubiquitous prayer flags of Tibetan Buddhists.4 Printed on cloth or handmade paper, lungta are often attached to poles or tied to branches raised over houses, on cairns, and at ‘Tibetans continue to employ block printing for religious texts and literature...