Printing Press Completion
During the last two weeks we have been planning and building the printing press for the Nun’s library which was recently destroyed. The printing press will be used mainly to print Yikacha, commentaries on monastic manual specific to our nunneries. We have many people with varied skills working on the printing press. Leah, our head nun, has instructed us on which rituals to use when gathering wood. Dilshad, a nun, and Candice, a ritualist, have been working on organizing this ritual. Sarah and Phyllis researched how to make the pigments for the ink and have collected the materials we will need. Herbert, a book trader, is gathering books which we can copy and print copies. I am the builder; I am building the printing press and carving the blocks for printing.
This project is extremely significant to our community as in Buddhism we highly value the written word and we just lost so many books in the Nun’s library. The printing press will allow the nuns to print copies of the texts, which they write themselves, and to make copies of prayers and other texts to be distributed. Most of the books for the library will be acquired through trade but the printing press is vital to the library so the nuns can print their own texts. Each member of the printing press group has contributed a number of our own resources but most will be acquired through donation. Community members who donate to the library will be rewarded with merit and so we have received many donations of money, paper and other resources.
There are many resources required to build the printing press. First the nuns gathered juniper for the Bsang smoke rituals, which we will perform to the deities before gathering the wood. This ritual does not require any special officiate beside a nun so we will perform this ritual ourselves. We have acquired special amulets to use in this ritual. We are mainly using wood, which fell during the hailstorm so we will not have to damage many living trees. Some tress will have to be cut down but the ritual will maintain our own good karma while cutting them down. Although I do not believe in taking life, sometimes it is absolutely necessary such as when eating meat or for building the printing press that is vital to our community. A painting of the healing Buddha has been acquired to hang on the library walls. I have many of the tools which we will need to build the press but a few I will have to trade for from the next village. As I build the majority of houses from wood I have many cutting and sanding tools, which I will use to make the base of the press and the roller. Carving the wood blocks into words and letters is the most technical part of the building process. For this I will need to trade with a neighboring village who has made a press before. The library there will have the fine carving tools, which we must use to carve out the letters. The artist in our group may also have some special carving tools, which will be useful in carving the wood blocks. Luckily for us, all of the supplies we need to make ink are right here in our village. The artist found a recipe that uses walnuts and vinegar. The walnuts have already been collected and are currently drying, and then we will crush them up into a powder. The plants used to make vinegar grow in our village and have also been collected. We will mix the walnut powder with the vinegar to make the ink for printing. The final thing we need for printing is something to print on. We will use resources donated by the community to trade for paper and fabric, this is what our texts for the library will be printed on.
Each person in the group has had specific tasks to compete for the printing press. First we did the Bsang ritual over the wood and collected it. Then we gathered the walnuts and vinegar and make the ink. Then we took the wood and made the base of the press and the roller. Fourth, we collected all of the tools and carved the wooden blocks for the first book we are printing, this step was the most time consuming. Then we traded for paper and fabric to print on. We arranged the blocks in the same text as the book we are printing and printed it.
Our group must soon get back to our regular jobs but first we will have to teach the nuns how to use the press so they can print any books they desire for the library. I am very happy with how the press turned out. Through cooperation, research and hard work we have built something great. The press will be a great asset to the Nun’s library and to our community.
