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
mudrà 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