高峰與文字“活化石”

愛上世間唯一活著的象形文字

2007年3月，在昆明臨近名勝大觀樓的一個(gè)普通院落里，中央電視臺(tái)兩位年輕記者正興致勃勃地拍攝著一個(gè)特別的展覽：展品是數(shù)十件被譽(yù)為“文字活化石”東巴文寫成的組合畫。這些作品或舞龍飛鳳，大氣渾然；或鳥飛魚躍，惟妙惟肖；或造型規(guī)整，質(zhì)樸無華；或構(gòu)圖奇峭，鮮亮活潑；生動(dòng)展示了納西民族古老的歷史積淀與現(xiàn)代化社會(huì)的發(fā)展節(jié)律。

作品的主人是年近八旬的離休干部高峰。此刻，老人正向中央電視臺(tái)的記者款款敘述他的東巴文組合畫創(chuàng)作經(jīng)歷。

高老先生早年投身革命時(shí)就酷愛書法，但繁重的工作任務(wù)使他沒有時(shí)間揮毫潑墨。1988年離休后，老人如魚得水鐘情于書法藝術(shù)，經(jīng)過10年耕耘書藝精進(jìn)：篆、隸、行、草均有所長(zhǎng)，尤其是魏碑中的“爨寶子”成了他獲獎(jiǎng)的強(qiáng)項(xiàng)。

1997年春，一個(gè)偶然的機(jī)會(huì)，高峰在昆明看到了麗江東巴文書畫展覽，作品用納西族東巴文書寫的格言、對(duì)聯(lián)是如此奇特而富有生氣。老人被震撼了，他心中燃起了研習(xí)納西族東巴文的濃厚興趣。

不久正好大女兒出差去麗江，高峰便讓她買來了東巴文專著《納西象形文字譜》《納西象形文字·詞注釋》《東巴文論》《納西古籍注釋》。在得到這些專著后，老人潛沉?xí)福?xì)心研讀，硬是用半年時(shí)間啃下了1300多個(gè)東巴文字，然后對(duì)照東巴文集逐字逐句地學(xué)習(xí)研判，從中品味東巴文所蘊(yùn)含的藝術(shù)底蘊(yùn)和納西族先民的神奇智慧。

東巴文是納西族所使用的象形文字，它既不同于中美洲瑪雅象形文字，也不同于蘇美爾人的楔形文字，又有別于我國商周時(shí)期的甲骨文，它是一種表意表音兼?zhèn)涞膱D畫形象形文字。如今，世界上的所有象形文字都已湮沒在時(shí)代的塵埃之中，而東巴文至今仍用來寫經(jīng)、作文、記賬、通信，因而它被人們譽(yù)為“世界上唯一活著的象形文字”。

高峰深知東巴文不僅對(duì)人類古文字起源、發(fā)展的研究和應(yīng)用有很高的學(xué)術(shù)價(jià)值，而且在書畫藝術(shù)上也有很高的審美價(jià)值。從此，他對(duì)產(chǎn)生了濃厚的興趣和不渝的信念，在心頭對(duì)東巴文化刻上了一個(gè)大寫的愛。

對(duì)東巴文作出特殊貢獻(xiàn)

1999年11月，“’99中國麗江國際東巴文化藝術(shù)節(jié)”在世界文化遺產(chǎn)地麗江大研鎮(zhèn)舉行，高峰受到藝術(shù)節(jié)組委會(huì)特別邀請(qǐng)。在東巴文書畫展上，《美麗的麗江》《五谷豐登》《六畜興旺》等3幅東巴文組合畫引起了與會(huì)的國內(nèi)外嘉賓和參觀者高度關(guān)注。這些作品用蒼勁的隸書作標(biāo)題，優(yōu)美的東巴象形文字作構(gòu)圖，流暢的行書作注解，用古老的東巴文字對(duì)納西族現(xiàn)代生活作了真實(shí)的反映。這是高峰的東巴文組合畫首次在國際東巴文化藝術(shù)節(jié)上亮相。展出備受觀眾關(guān)注，好評(píng)如潮。

“梅花香自苦寒來”，高峰在探索東巴組合畫藝術(shù)上，不知花費(fèi)了多少心血！他勞心竭力，甘之如飴，臥室成了書房，床鋪成了畫桌，日復(fù)一日，月復(fù)一月，年復(fù)一年，白天思考，晚上寫，常常忘了吃飯和睡覺，有時(shí)到了半夜腦海突然產(chǎn)生靈感，他便趕緊起身開燈，拿起筆來。

為了使創(chuàng)作之樹常青，老人不顧高齡，兩赴麗江汲取東巴組合畫創(chuàng)作的源頭活水，他細(xì)心觀摩東巴壁畫，傾聽東巴洞經(jīng)音樂，從中領(lǐng)悟東巴文化的真諦；他還四處奔走虛心求教納西族老人和東巴文專家，親身感受東巴文化所特有的強(qiáng)烈生命意識(shí)。有了這樣的堅(jiān)實(shí)基礎(chǔ)，高峰的東巴文組合畫創(chuàng)作猶如山間流泉，噴涌不絕：在《美麗的麗江》《五谷豐登》《六畜興旺》等展出后，他那表現(xiàn)納西族神話故事的《祭天》《祭署》《祭風(fēng)》又相繼問世，并由云南民族出版出社編輯出版。此外，在“非典”橫行時(shí)他以崇敬的心情創(chuàng)作了謳歌抗“非典”英雄《廿一世紀(jì)的董存瑞》；在洪水泛濫時(shí)，他深情地創(chuàng)作了《小江珊與奶奶》；在香港回歸時(shí)，他激情滿懷地創(chuàng)作了《團(tuán)圓》；在神舟五號(hào)發(fā)射成功時(shí)，他更是滿懷激情地創(chuàng)作了《飛天》……

一幅幅的東巴文組合畫，融入了高峰老人對(duì)祖國優(yōu)秀民族文化的拳拳之心，也使眾多東巴文愛好者領(lǐng)略了東巴文化的精妙。

著名東巴文專家、云南省少數(shù)民族學(xué)會(huì)會(huì)長(zhǎng)郭大烈教授深為高峰老人古稀之年探索東巴文化的精神所感動(dòng)，稱贊高峰的創(chuàng)作是對(duì)東巴文普及化、通俗化的“特殊貢獻(xiàn)”。

高峰的名聲漸漸越出昆明，走向海外。2004年1月，在美國社會(huì)學(xué)博士培吉教授的熱情支持下，美國德州州立博物館亞洲文化與教育中心發(fā)出邀請(qǐng)，請(qǐng)高峰攜作品赴美國展出。

為了準(zhǔn)備展出，高峰老人開始廢寢忘食地四處奔忙，他從收集資料到撰寫說明，從書寫標(biāo)題到聯(lián)系裝裱，從宏觀策劃到細(xì)致末節(jié)，他都一絲不茍，親自動(dòng)手。由此，在準(zhǔn)備工作就緒后，他積勞成疾，住進(jìn)了醫(yī)院。

作品讓美國人著迷

2005年3月，“高峰東巴文組合畫展覽”在德克薩斯州州立博物館開幕。他的作品《祭天》和其他百余件東巴文組合畫，令在場(chǎng)的各界人士耳目一新。納西族神奇的傳統(tǒng)故事通過東巴文這種“活化石”展現(xiàn)在大洋彼岸人們的面前，顯得格外醒目和傳神，在場(chǎng)的華人、華僑和美國朋友被這種獨(dú)特的藝術(shù)深深地吸引和著迷，也為祖國源遠(yuǎn)流長(zhǎng)、豐富多姿的優(yōu)秀文化而驕傲；而更多的美國人則為中國少數(shù)民族文化的神奇、美麗而興趣盎然。

高峰夫人劉秀媛和小女兒高崇慧代表高峰出席了開幕式。

為了表彰高峰為中美文化交流所作的貢獻(xiàn)，科帕斯克列斯蒂市長(zhǎng)親切接見了高老的夫人和女兒，并向高峰頒發(fā)了榮譽(yù)市民證書和紀(jì)念章。同時(shí)，市長(zhǎng)還 分別致信云南省長(zhǎng)和昆明市長(zhǎng)，感謝展覽為傳播中國少數(shù)民族文化、為增進(jìn)中美兩國人民的友誼作出了貢獻(xiàn)。

高峰老人雖然養(yǎng)病在家，但仍熱切地關(guān)注著展覽的各種信息。當(dāng)展出圓滿成功的消息傳來時(shí)，老人欣慰地笑了。

2006年5月，在美國文化交流機(jī)構(gòu)“中美橋”的安排下，這一展覽除了在德克薩州展出一個(gè)月外，又在亞特蘭大市展出了一個(gè)月。

向北京奧運(yùn)會(huì)獻(xiàn)禮

老人喜歡將自己離休后的生活比作長(zhǎng)跑。在他看來，他的作品展出、出版只是一次次的短跑，而赴美展出的成功，也只是一次短跑的結(jié)束。現(xiàn)在，他又有了新的跑步目標(biāo)——2008年北京奧運(yùn)會(huì)。

北京奧運(yùn)會(huì)是舉世矚目的盛事，靈感告訴老人，這不僅為他的東巴文組合畫創(chuàng)作提供了豐富的創(chuàng)作源泉，更是他傳播東巴文化，光大民族藝術(shù)的好時(shí)機(jī)，大平臺(tái)。于是高峰按北京奧運(yùn)會(huì)規(guī)定的28個(gè)比賽項(xiàng)目，創(chuàng)作了40多幅東巴文組合作品。這些作品造型簡(jiǎn)潔生動(dòng)，極具奧運(yùn)比賽特色。著名納西族學(xué)者郭大烈教授，看到高峰老人的創(chuàng)作不禁感慨萬千，激動(dòng)之余他誠摯地寫了推薦書向北京奧運(yùn)會(huì)組委會(huì)推薦了這些作品。

狄更斯說過“頑強(qiáng)的毅力可以征服世界上任何一座高峰。”高峰老人向北京奧運(yùn)會(huì)獻(xiàn)禮一定能心想事成，因?yàn)樗男念^刻著對(duì)東巴文化大寫的愛，而這愛正是老人智慧與毅力不竭的源泉。

A Calligrapher of Living Linguistic Fossils

Qian Songqiao

Of numerous prominent calligraphers in China， Gao Feng is quite unique， neither because he is near 80 years old nor because he is an amateur master of various classic calligraphic styles. He stands out because he masterfully and artistically brings out the beauty of the world”s only living pictographs: Dongba characters.

That”s why this past March， 2007 witnessed Beijing-based CCTV， country”s biggest television network， sending two young journalists all the way to Kunming， the capital of southwest China”s Yunnan Province， to cover Gao”s one-man show of calligraphic pictographs.

Dozens of exhibits displayed Dongba characters， whose dynamic pictographic images formed into vivid pictures. Critics commented that Gao”s calligraphic pieces vividly reflected the ancient history of the Naxi ethnic people and the progressive rhythms of the modern civilization.

Gao Feng had a passion for calligraphy in his early life， but he did not commit himself to the writing art until he retired in 1978. He studied and practiced various styles of writing for ten years and became a frequent winner at various calligraphic competitions.

In 1997 Gao Feng ran into the Dongba characters at an exhibition held in Kunming. In his eye， the maxims and couplets written in the pictographs pulsated with charm， elegance and vigor. He fell in love with the living pictographs and decided to try his hands at the ancient ethnic written language.

His daughter bought him a few reference books and dictionaries of the Dongba language on a business trip to Lijiang， an ancient town where the tradition and literature of the Naxi ethnic people are well maintained. Gao applied himself to the studies of the language. Within six months， he mastered 1，300 pictographs and then began to plunge himself into original works in the Dongba pictographs.

Unlike the world”s other pictographs which are dead now， Dongba pictographs are well alive. These vivid images， which are both ideographic and phono-oriented， are in active use today for copying religious scriptures， writing compositions， keeping accounts， and writing letters among the Naxi people.

In November 1999， Gao first presented his three calligraphic paintings at an international art festival held in Lijiang. His masterpieces were a sensational success. In the three works， Gao used the official script (an ancient style of calligraphy officially used in the Han Dynasty about 2，000 year ago) to write the title， and used the cursive script (popular about 1，000 years ago in the Tang Dynasty) to annotate a picture of Dongba pictographs， which in turn showcased the modern life of the Naxi ethnic group.

To make his representation of the ancient pictographs more successful， Gao often traveled to Lijiang to view murals and listen to the music played by Naxi artists， consult the old Naxi ethnic people and experts of the Dongba language.

The ample exposure to the Dongba tradition gave Gao insights to the vigor of the written language and inspired him to create more pictures using the images of the Dongba characters.

As Gao Feng”s reputation spread， he became known beyond Kunming. In January of 2004， with the help of an American sociologist， the Museum of Asian Cultures in the city of Corpus Christi in southern Texas sent an invitation to Gao to hold an exhibition there.

Gao got busy with preparations， taking care of every detail of captions， mounting， packaging， etc. After finally sending off all the exhibits to Texas， he fell ill and was hospitalized.

In March， 2005， his one man show opened with a big bang at the Museum of Asian Cultures. His wife and daughter attended the exhibition on behalf of Gao Feng. To express his appreciation， the mayor of Corpus Christi issued an honored citizen certificate and a medal to Gao Feng and wrote letters to the governor of Yunnan Province and the mayor of Kunming City to express his appreciation of the exhibition for its focus on the Chinese ethnic culture and the people-to-people cultural dialogue between America and China.

In May， 2006， the exhibition was held for a month in Atlanta， America， arranged by China-America Bridge， an American cultural organization that promotes cultural dialogue between China and America.

Now Gao Feng has prepared more than 40 pictographic calligraphies for 28 competition events of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games， believing that it will be a good occasion to promote the culture of Dongba Culture. Guo Renlie， a Naxi scholar， wrote a recommendation letter to the organizing committee of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games for Gao”s works of art.

(Translated by David)