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To create unique paintings made from fragile Bodhi leaves, Pham Van Long (born in 1996, in Hai Phong) went through many experiments and suffered many failures.
Passionate about Buddhism and painting, in 2019, Pham Van Long (born in 1996, from Hai Phong) decided to quit his office job to pursue his dream after watching a TV program introducing Bodhi leaf paintings. During the pandemicCOVID-19rampant, Long spent time learning about this type of painting, went to collect leaves himself to research how to make paintings.
Every day, Long "breathes life" into the fragile Bodhi leaves, meticulously arranging each leaf into paintings. "Before coming to this genre of painting, I also learned about Buddhism. As if by fate, when I encountered Bodhi leaves, I immediately felt interested, motivated to learn and research. During the learning process, I also went through many experiments and failed quite a lot. Only now has the process been perfected so that I can produce paintings made according to the most standard process," Long shared.
From the green leaves on the tree, Long himself collects them, processes them, and filters out the most beautiful and suitable sized leaves. Then, he sorts them and soaks them in water for about 3 weeks to 1 month depending on the water temperature.
By removing all the chlorophyll from the leaves, Long will have raw, gray leaves. During the processing, the leaves will be white, then dyed yellow. Depending on the purpose of each painting, Long will choose the appropriate leaf color. The painting in the photo is of a Bodhi tree, Long chose to dye the leaves yellow, and the round flower paintings are a combination of yellow and white.
Over time, the designs of the paintings made from Bodhi leaves by this young man have also become more diverse. Among them, the Bodhi tree painting associated with the story of Buddha Shakyamuni sitting under the tree is very popular.
There are also other painting patterns such as round flower arrangements or stylized peacocks, writing on bodhi leaves... These paintings can be placed in many different spaces such as living rooms, worship rooms, kitchens... depending on the purpose, people can choose suitable paintings for themselves.
Along with making paintings from Bodhi leaves, Long also studied the art of calligraphy and realized that he could combine these two subjects together.
"I have a talent for painting, so I researched, learned, and tried writing calligraphy on my first leaf," Long shared.
Nowadays, many people love the art of calligraphy on Bodhi leaves. Long sells calligraphy on leaves or paintings made from Bodhi leaves for prices ranging from tens of thousands of dong to tens of millions of dong. Long said that making paintings is not too much about economics and material things, but he wants to create new products as well as a space for those who practice.
The time to complete a painting made from Bodhi leaves depends on the design of each painting. In particular, the Bodhi tree painting will take the longest time, about a month from the stage of preparing the leaves and tree trunk, the time to combine the materials into a complete painting will take about a day.
There are many types of Bodhi leaves, some are oval-shaped and suitable for phone cases, hanging on cars, or placing in small picture frames. The pure Vietnamese leaf is rounder, with shorter leaf tips, suitable for making circular paintings.
Currently, my sister is Long's companion in the process of bringing Bodhi paintings closer to everyone. "I hire people to do the steps of making leaves, washing leaves, rolling leaves... I will directly go get the leaves and assemble the leaves into complete paintings. Because, the paintings require meticulousness and aesthetic eyes. Especially the Bodhi tree painting, the leaves must be arranged to look natural, like a real tree", Mr. Long shared more.
People who come to the Bodhi leaf paintings are all connected by groups practicing and learning about Buddhism. Not only domestic customers, Mr. Long has also shipped paintings made from Bodhi leaves to Germany, Japan, England, Poland... The largest painting that Mr. Long has ever made is 170cm long, recreating the Bodhi tree with Buddha sitting under the tree, currently hanging at a customer's house on Van Cao Street (Hai Phong).
As a researcher of Buddhism, Ms. Nguyen Thi Thuc (60 years old, in Hai Phong) said: "When I saw paintings made from Bodhi leaves, I really liked them. Bodhi leaves are heart-shaped, meaning love, luck, peace and happiness. I hope that all the artisans who make this type of painting will have many works so that more and more people at home and abroad will know about it," Ms. Thuc said.
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