(Clearwisdom.net) Where did the Chinese writing brush come from? Sima Qian wrote in Records of the Grand History of China that "Meng Tian used hair from the mountain hare to make brushes." Meng Tian (?-210 BC) was a high-ranking general during the Qin Dynasty who distinguished himself in campaigns against the Northwestern minorities and in the construction of the Great Wall of China. The later generations then inherited this saying that "Meng Tian was the creator of brushes." However, in Meng Tian's time, the other states also had brushes, but none of them were called Bi (brush). Only brushes made by Qin Dynasty's general Meng Tian were called Bi. The brushes used in the other states, such as Chu, Wu and Yan, all had different names. It wasn't until Qin Shi Huang became the first emperor of a unified China, that the making and naming of the writing brush became unified.
However, at that time, the skill of making writing brushes remained to be perfected; in addition, it was not popularized. Therefore, commoners did not have access to brushes. Such a story is told in Biographies of Immortals by Liu Xiang. The story said that during the time of Emperor Huan of Han (132 A.D.-168 A.D.), there was a brush maker called Li Zhongfu. One day he took the brushes he made to the Liaodong market for sale. Regardless of whether people had the money to pay him or not, he gave each person a brush. So all the brushes were gone in a short while. On the second day, he again brought ten bunches of brushes to the market. Because his skill for making brushes was very advanced, his brushes were soon recognized by people.
Then, what kind of person was he? According to Biographies of Immortals, Li Zhongfu practiced Taoist cultivation by following Taoist Wang Jun. Very soon he learned many Taoist techniques, one of which was being able to disappear in broad daylight (invisibility). Moreover, when he was over 100 years old, he suddenly became very young.
When he was first learning the technique of invisibility, he could only be invisible for about 100 days. Later he was able to be invisible for an extended time period. When he had a conversation with someone, the other party could only hear his voice, but was unable to see his image. One day, a person who made a living by catching birds had cast a net to catch birds in a place 250 kilometers (156 miles) from Li Zhongfu's residence. He caught a bird, but this bird became Li Zhongfu. They bid each other goodbye after having a talk. Li Zhongfu then headed for home. It would take an ordinary person several days to walk a distance of 250 kilometers, but Li Zhongfu arrived home on the same day. He stayed in the human world for over 300 years before he entered the Western Mt. Yue. He never came out of the mountain since then.
I knew of this story for some time, but it wasn't until I watched the dance performance "Legend of the Brush" from Shen Yun Performing Arts that I thought about writing this article. It suddenly occurred to me that ancient people made their brushes to be very straight. Probably, they were hoping that later generations would be upright and dare to speak the truth. Dear friends, when you encounter a group of Falun Gong practitioners as upright as the writing brushes, clarifying the truth to you, they do that out of their compassion and sincerity. Do not let the opportunity pass by. I hope you will soon learn the truth and have a bright future.
Original article date: October 29, 2009
