爱上世间唯一活着的象形文字
　　
　　2007年3月，在昆明临近名胜大观楼的一个普通院落里，中央电视台两位年轻记者正兴致勃勃地拍摄着一个特别的展览：展品是数十件被誉为“文字活化石”东巴文写成的组合画。这些作品或舞龙飞凤，大气浑然；或鸟飞鱼跃，惟妙惟肖；或造型规整，质朴无华；或构图奇峭，鲜亮活泼；生动展示了纳西民族古老的历史积淀与现代化社会的发展节律。
　　作品的主人是年近八旬的离休干部高峰。此刻，老人正向中央电视台的记者款款叙述他的东巴文组合画创作经历。
　　高老先生早年投身革命时就酷爱书法，但繁重的工作任务使他没有时间挥毫泼墨。1988年离休后，老人如鱼得水钟情于书法艺术，经过10年耕耘书艺精进：篆、隶、行、草均有所长，尤其是魏碑中的“爨宝子”成了他获奖的强项。
　　1997年春，一个偶然的机会，高峰在昆明看到了丽江东巴文书画展览，作品用纳西族东巴文书写的格言、对联是如此奇特而富有生气。老人被震撼了，他心中燃起了研习纳西族东巴文的浓厚兴趣。
　　不久正好大女儿出差去丽江，高峰便让她买来了东巴文专著《纳西象形文字谱》《纳西象形文字·词注释》《东巴文论》《纳西古籍注释》。在得到这些专著后，老人潜沉书案，细心研读，硬是用半年时间啃下了1300多个东巴文字，然后对照东巴文集逐字逐句地学习研判，从中品味东巴文所蕴含的艺术底蕴和纳西族先民的神奇智慧。
　　东巴文是纳西族所使用的象形文字，它既不同于中美洲玛雅象形文字，也不同于苏美尔人的楔形文字，又有别于我国商周时期的甲骨文，它是一种表意表音兼备的图画形象形文字。如今，世界上的所有象形文字都已湮没在时代的尘埃之中，而东巴文至今仍用来写经、作文、记账、通信，因而它被人们誉为“世界上唯一活着的象形文字”。
　　高峰深知东巴文不仅对人类古文字起源、发展的研究和应用有很高的学术价值，而且在书画艺术上也有很高的审美价值。从此，他对产生了浓厚的兴趣和不渝的信念，在心头对东巴文化刻上了一个大写的爱。
　　
　　对东巴文作出特殊贡献
　　
　　1999年11月，“’99中国丽江国际东巴文化艺术节”在世界文化遗产地丽江大研镇举行，高峰受到艺术节组委会特别邀请。在东巴文书画展上，《美丽的丽江》《五谷丰登》《六畜兴旺》等3幅东巴文组合画引起了与会的国内外嘉宾和参观者高度关注。这些作品用苍劲的隶书作标题，优美的东巴象形文字作构图，流畅的行书作注解，用古老的东巴文字对纳西族现代生活作了真实的反映。这是高峰的东巴文组合画首次在国际东巴文化艺术节上亮相。展出备受观众关注，好评如潮。
　　“梅花香自苦寒来”，高峰在探索东巴组合画艺术上，不知花费了多少心血！他劳心竭力，甘之如饴，卧室成了书房，床铺成了画桌，日复一日，月复一月，年复一年，白天思考，晚上写，常常忘了吃饭和睡觉，有时到了半夜脑海突然产生灵感，他便赶紧起身开灯，拿起笔来。
　　为了使创作之树常青，老人不顾高龄，两赴丽江汲取东巴组合画创作的源头活水，他细心观摩东巴壁画，倾听东巴洞经音乐，从中领悟东巴文化的真谛；他还四处奔走虚心求教纳西族老人和东巴文专家，亲身感受东巴文化所特有的强烈生命意识。有了这样的坚实基础，高峰的东巴文组合画创作犹如山间流泉，喷涌不绝：在《美丽的丽江》《五谷丰登》《六畜兴旺》等展出后，他那表现纳西族神话故事的《祭天》《祭署》《祭风》又相继问世，并由云南民族出版出社编辑出版。此外，在“非典”横行时他以崇敬的心情创作了讴歌抗“非典”英雄《廿一世纪的董存瑞》；在洪水泛滥时，他深情地创作了《小江珊与奶奶》；在香港回归时，他激情满怀地创作了《团圆》；在神舟五号发射成功时，他更是满怀激情地创作了《飞天》……
　　
　　一幅幅的东巴文组合画，融入了高峰老人对祖国优秀民族文化的拳拳之心，也使众多东巴文爱好者领略了东巴文化的精妙。
　　著名东巴文专家、云南省少数民族学会会长郭大烈教授深为高峰老人古稀之年探索东巴文化的精神所感动，称赞高峰的创作是对东巴文普及化、通俗化的“特殊贡献”。
　　高峰的名声渐渐越出昆明，走向海外。2004年1月，在美国社会学博士培吉教授的热情支持下，美国德州州立博物馆亚洲文化与教育中心发出邀请，请高峰携作品赴美国展出。
　　为了准备展出，高峰老人开始废寝忘食地四处奔忙，他从收集资料到撰写说明，从书写标题到联系装裱，从宏观策划到细致末节，他都一丝不苟，亲自动手。由此，在准备工作就绪后，他积劳成疾，住进了医院。
　　
　　作品让美国人着迷
　　
　　2005年3月，“高峰东巴文组合画展览”在德克萨斯州州立博物馆开幕。他的作品《祭天》和其他百余件东巴文组合画，令在场的各界人士耳目一新。纳西族神奇的传统故事通过东巴文这种“活化石”展现在大洋彼岸人们的面前，显得格外醒目和传神，在场的华人、华侨和美国朋友被这种独特的艺术深深地吸引和着迷，也为祖国源远流长、丰富多姿的优秀文化而骄傲；而更多的美国人则为中国少数民族文化的神奇、美丽而兴趣盎然。
　　高峰夫人刘秀媛和小女儿高崇慧代表高峰出席了开幕式。
　　为了表彰高峰为中美文化交流所作的贡献，科帕斯克列斯蒂市长亲切接见了高老的夫人和女儿，并向高峰颁发了荣誉市民证书和纪念章。同时，市长还 分别致信云南省长和昆明市长，感谢展览为传播中国少数民族文化、为增进中美两国人民的友谊作出了贡献。
　　高峰老人虽然养病在家，但仍热切地关注着展览的各种信息。当展出圆满成功的消息传来时，老人欣慰地笑了。
　　2006年5月，在美国文化交流机构“中美桥”的安排下，这一展览除了在德克萨州展出一个月外，又在亚特兰大市展出了一个月。
　　
　　向北京奥运会献礼
　　
　　老人喜欢将自己离休后的生活比作长跑。在他看来，他的作品展出、出版只是一次次的短跑，而赴美展出的成功，也只是一次短跑的结束。现在，他又有了新的跑步目标——2008年北京奥运会。
　　北京奥运会是举世瞩目的盛事，灵感告诉老人，这不仅为他的东巴文组合画创作提供了丰富的创作源泉，更是他传播东巴文化，光大民族艺术的好时机，大平台。于是高峰按北京奥运会规定的28个比赛项目，创作了40多幅东巴文组合作品。这些作品造型简洁生动，极具奥运比赛特色。著名纳西族学者郭大烈教授，看到高峰老人的创作不禁感慨万千，激动之余他诚挚地写了推荐书向北京奥运会组委会推荐了这些作品。
　　狄更斯说过“顽强的毅力可以征服世界上任何一座高峰。”高峰老人向北京奥运会献礼一定能心想事成，因为他的心头刻着对东巴文化大写的爱，而这爱正是老人智慧与毅力不竭的源泉。
　　
　　A Calligrapher of Living Linguistic Fossils
　　Qian Songqiao
　　
　　Of numerous prominent calligraphers in China, Gao Feng is quite unique, neither because he is near 80 years old nor because he is an amateur master of various classic calligraphic styles. He stands out because he masterfully and artistically brings out the beauty of the world”s only living pictographs: Dongba characters.
　　That”s why this past March, 2007 witnessed Beijing-based CCTV, country”s biggest television network, sending two young journalists all the way to Kunming, the capital of southwest China”s Yunnan Province, to cover Gao”s one-man show of calligraphic pictographs.
　　
　　Dozens of exhibits displayed Dongba characters, whose dynamic pictographic images formed into vivid pictures. Critics commented that Gao”s calligraphic pieces vividly reflected the ancient history of the Naxi ethnic people and the progressive rhythms of the modern civilization.
　　Gao Feng had a passion for calligraphy in his early life, but he did not commit himself to the writing art until he retired in 1978. He studied and practiced various styles of writing for ten years and became a frequent winner at various calligraphic competitions.
　　In 1997 Gao Feng ran into the Dongba characters at an exhibition held in Kunming. In his eye, the maxims and couplets written in the pictographs pulsated with charm, elegance and vigor. He fell in love with the living pictographs and decided to try his hands at the ancient ethnic written language.
　　His daughter bought him a few reference books and dictionaries of the Dongba language on a business trip to Lijiang, an ancient town where the tradition and literature of the Naxi ethnic people are well maintained. Gao applied himself to the studies of the language. Within six months, he mastered 1,300 pictographs and then began to plunge himself into original works in the Dongba pictographs.
　　Unlike the world”s other pictographs which are dead now, Dongba pictographs are well alive. These vivid images, which are both ideographic and phono-oriented, are in active use today for copying religious scriptures, writing compositions, keeping accounts, and writing letters among the Naxi people.
　　
　　In November 1999, Gao first presented his three calligraphic paintings at an international art festival held in Lijiang. His masterpieces were a sensational success. In the three works, Gao used the official script (an ancient style of calligraphy officially used in the Han Dynasty about 2,000 year ago) to write the title, and used the cursive script (popular about 1,000 years ago in the Tang Dynasty) to annotate a picture of Dongba pictographs, which in turn showcased the modern life of the Naxi ethnic group.
　　To make his representation of the ancient pictographs more successful, Gao often traveled to Lijiang to view murals and listen to the music played by Naxi artists, consult the old Naxi ethnic people and experts of the Dongba language.
　　The ample exposure to the Dongba tradition gave Gao insights to the vigor of the written language and inspired him to create more pictures using the images of the Dongba characters.
　　As Gao Feng”s reputation spread, he became known beyond Kunming. In January of 2004, with the help of an American sociologist, the Museum of Asian Cultures in the city of Corpus Christi in southern Texas sent an invitation to Gao to hold an exhibition there.
　　
　　Gao got busy with preparations, taking care of every detail of captions, mounting, packaging, etc. After finally sending off all the exhibits to Texas, he fell ill and was hospitalized.
　　In March, 2005, his one man show opened with a big bang at the Museum of Asian Cultures. His wife and daughter attended the exhibition on behalf of Gao Feng. To express his appreciation, the mayor of Corpus Christi issued an honored citizen certificate and a medal to Gao Feng and wrote letters to the governor of Yunnan Province and the mayor of Kunming City to express his appreciation of the exhibition for its focus on the Chinese ethnic culture and the people-to-people cultural dialogue between America and China.
　　In May, 2006, the exhibition was held for a month in Atlanta, America, arranged by China-America Bridge, an American cultural organization that promotes cultural dialogue between China and America.
　　Now Gao Feng has prepared more than 40 pictographic calligraphies for 28 competition events of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, believing that it will be a good occasion to promote the culture of Dongba Culture. Guo Renlie, a Naxi scholar, wrote a recommendation letter to the organizing committee of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games for Gao”s works of art.
　　(Translated by David)