Dear Matthew,

Many thanks for pointing this out, even if it is an association alone, it still tells much about the process of the origin of printing and the rationale to coin (no pun intended) new terms.

Best wishes,

Camillo

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From: Matthew Kapstein [mkapstei@uchicago.edu]
Sent: Monday, January 30, 2017 5:17 PM
To: Madhav Deshpande; Camillo Formigatti
Cc: Dominik Wujastyk; Indology
Subject: RE: [INDOLOGY] Skt vocabulary from the title pages and prefaces of Sanskrit editions

It may be worthwhile to recall the late Michel Strickman's argument that the origins of printing in
medieval China and Central Asia may have derived in part from the importance of ensigillation, the
application of seals, in Buddhist practice. So the association of the mudrā with printing may
have long preceded modern usage. But it would have been an association alone -- in neither Chinese
nor Tibetan do that actual terms for printing incorporate the terms for seals.
 

Matthew Kapstein
Directeur d'études,
Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes

Numata Visiting Professor of Buddhist Studies,
The University of Chicago

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