Anthology of Poetry By Buddhist Nuns of Late Imperial China

Opening up new religious and poetic worlds for readers, this anthology presents the poems of Buddhist nuns from China's late imperial period (1368-1911), a time marked by great political upheavals and social changes. Appreciation of the poems is enhanced by individual biographical accounts for each of the sixty-five nun-poets and an Introduction to the historical, religious, and literary context of these women's writing, including a concise discussion of their place in Chinese Buddhism and Chinese Buddhist poetry.

List of contents

• Introduction


• The Poems


• Wulian


• After the Rain


• An Autumn Night: Written in the Moment


• Jieshi


• Early Morning


• Qingming


• Miaoni


• Spring Night


• The Girl Nun from Yan


• Gatha


• Xingkong


• Reflecting on Myself


• Mojing


• Going by Way of Tiger Hill


• Jueqing


• Poem Inscribed on a Convent Wall


• Wuwei


• Deathbed Gatha


• Jiyin


• Dharma Hall Gatha


• Deyin


• Early Autumn: A Distant Evening View


• Song of Planting Bamboo


• Lady Huang Jieling Came to Stay at My Mountain Boudoir, Written in the Moment


• Derong


• Pitying the Caged Bird Who is Just Like Me


• Plum Blossom


• Jingming


• Improvised Dharma Instructions to My Disciples


• Jingyin


• Going to See Huang Yuanjie but Not Finding Her In


• Dumu Jin'gang


• Gatha


• Gatha


• Deathbed Gatha


• Xiang'an Yinhui


• Gatha: Eating Bamboo Shoots


• Deshan Carries His Bowl


• Miaohui


• Passing By the Tomb of Tenth Daughter Ma


• Drinking on Flower-Raining Terrace, I Was Assigned "Falling Leaves" as the Topic for a Poem


• Daoyuan


• Seated Meditation: Reflections


• Sengjian


• Early Summer


• The Autumn Flowering Crabapple Tree


• Shenyi


• A Dream Journey to Mount Tiantai


• Crossing Again the Hengyun Mountain, Thinking of Jingwei


• Zaisheng


• Composed in Early Spring


• Winter's Day


• Narrating My Feelings on a Winter's Night


• Jingwei


• The Emerald Sea


• Random Thoughts on Living in the Country


• Facing the Moon on an Autumn Night


• Sitting at Night


• Shangjian Huizong


• Village Life


• Thoughts on Living in Seclusion


• A Friend from the Inner Chambers Comes to Visit: Remembering Old Times


• Heartfelt Recollections


• Wugou


• Writing of My Feelings (Version 1)


• Writing of My Feelings (Version 2)


• Climbing the Mountain after the Snow


• Chaoyi


• Deathbed Gatha


• Mingxuan Wuzhen


• Autumn Night


• Falling Leaves


• Inscribed on a Ying Stone


• Weiji Xingzhi


• Ode to the Honeybees


• Living in the Mountains


• Listening to the Geese


• Jingnuo Chaoyue


• Song of the Ancient Plum Trees


• Passing by Yongqing Monastery, I Came Upon Its Peonies and Wrote These


• For Lady Yang


• A Celebration in Verse of the Autumn Orchid


• Chaoyan Miyin


• Self-Encomium


• Yizhen


• Mid-Autumn


• Younger Sister Yuying and I Planned to Meet on the Ninth Day, But She Didn't Arrive


• Living in the Mountains Among Falling Leaves


• Matching the Rhymes of "Cloud Hermitage"


• Shangxin


• Ice


• Yuanduan Yufu


• My Study: An Impromptu Verse


• Miaohui


• Dawn Sitting at Bo're Convent


• Shiyan


• Recalling a Dream


• Swallows


• Rising at Dawn: An Expression of Feelings


• A Reply to Sixth Elder Sister Ruixian


• Wanxian


• Inside the Convent: Reflections


• Lianhua Kedu


• Gatha


• Yinyue Xinglin


• In the MountainsThe Three Blows


• Gatha


• When Sansheng Saw People He Came Out, When Xinghua Saw People He Did Not


• Ansheng


• Ode to the Silkworm


• Mourning Zhanna


• Zhuanzheng


• Deathbed Gatha


• Zhisheng


• Ode to the Snow


• The Chrysanthemum


• Deri


• Early Autumn


• Feelings by a Rainy Window


• Deyue


• On an Autumn Night Listening to the Crickets


• Zhiyuan


• A Lament for Peng E


• Qiyuan Xinggang


• The First Month of Summer Retreat: A Song of Leisure


• Dharma Instructions for Mingyuan


• Dharma Instructions for Person of the Way Xu Chaogu


• Addressing the Congregation on My Birthday


• Matching Jiang Yundu's "Autumn Pavilion Song"


• Ode to the Plum Blossom


• Yigong Chaoke


• Grieving for My Master


• Climbing up to a Thatched Hut on Lingyin and Gazing at Feilai Peak: An Impromptu Poem


• Yikui Chaochen


• Five Gathas: Sitting in Meditation (To a Previous Tune)


• To a Previous Tune


• Just Before Parting from My Elder Brothers


• Bidding Farewell to the Lay Dharma-Protectors of Meixi


• Of My Feelings after Visiting the Nun Weiji from Xiongsheng and Not Finding Her In


• Hymn: The Honeycomb


• In Praise of the Venerable Bamboo (To a Previous Tune)


• On the Fifteenth of the Twelfth Lunar Month After the Snow, Returning Home by Boat I


• Improvised This Poem


• Presented to Chan Master Zhuying


• Inside my Boat on My Return Home to Dongting: An Impromptu Poem


• Deathbed Gatha


• Zukui Xuanfu


• An Ode to Honeybees


• An Ode to Fireworks


• Breaking off a Plum Branch to Offer to the Buddha


• To Myself


• A Leisurely Visit to an Ancient Temple


• Returning to the Mountain, I Cross the Lake


• Returning to the Mountains, I Laugh at Myself


• A Leisurely Stroll on a Moonlit Night


• Traveling by Boat on a Winter Day


• In Search of Plum Blossoms


• Dharma Instructions for Practitioner Keren Taking up Residence in a Hermitage


• Living in the Mountains: An Impromptu Poem


• Reading the Recorded Sayings of Layman Pang


• Leaving My Old Retreat on Dongting


• The Moon in the Water: A Gatha


• My Aspirations


• Dharma Instructions for Person of the Way Xunji


• To Layman Zhao Fengchu (second of two verses)


• The Road is Hard (To the Tune "Immortals by the River")


• Summer Rest on East Mountain


• Song of the Twelve Hours of the Day


• Living in the Mountains: Miscellaneous Gathas


• Thoughts


• Baochi Xuanzong


• Matching the Ten Verses of Chan Master Cishou Huaiyin's "Cloud Dispelling Terrace"


• Silk-embroidered Peonies


• Harmonizing with Temple Manager Teacher Shao's "Mastering Yangqi's Primary Strategy": Four Verses


• Watching the Snow from Nanzhou's Phoenix Rising Tower


• Dharma Instructions for Person of the Way Liyan


• Jizong Xingche


• Living the Nanyue Mountains: Miscellaneous Verses


• Mist and Clouds Peak


• Gods and Immortals Grotto


• Heavenly Terrace Temple


• Mount Zhong's Great Illumination Temple


• The Great Yang Spring


• The Second Month of Autumn: A Parting Poem


• Enjoying the Snow on New Year's Day


• My Aspirations


• Written to Rhymes by the Layman of Zhoukui Hermitage


• Visiting the Monk of Nanyue on His Sickbed: Two Poems


• To Chan Elder Dharma Brother Zaisheng on Her Fiftieth Birthday


• At the Zhixi Cloister on Hidden Lake, Presented to Chan Master Daoming


• Presented to Layman Xu Jingke


• Having Borrowed a Meditation Hut from Chan Practitioner Zhubing, I Wrote a Poem to Present to Her


• A Farewell Poem for Person of the Way Yan Duoli


• New Year's Eve of the Year Wuxu (1658)


• Composed for Layman Gu Mengdiao on His Sixtieth Birthday


• On an Autumn Day, Thinking of My Mother


• Dharma Instructions to the Lay Assembly: Four Gathas


• Ziyong Chengru


• A Bell Shattered After Being Struck and I Was Moved to Compose a Gatha


• Upon Hearing the Sound of Wood Being Chopped


• Ode to the Snow


• Two Verses: Living in the Mountains


• Thoughts in the Bingzi Year (1696)


• An Excursion to the Western Hills


• Gatha: Boarding My Boat


• Early Autumn Sentiments


• To My Elder Dharma Brother Ruru


• Asking Questions of the Masters: Four Gathas


• A Miscellaneous Chant


• Walking Through the Rice Paddies, I Casually Composed This Gatha


• Eight Miscellaneous Gathas (selection of three)


• Entrusting Head Student Zhi with Robes and Whisk, I Composed This Gatha


• Mingxiu


• Seeing Off Relatives, Bowing to My Master, and Taking the Vows


• My Inscription for a Painting of West Lake Requested While Staying at My Convent in Jingzhou


• Shuxia


• In Deep Autumn, Returning to My Hometown; in Sixth Uncle's Garden Pavilion, Standing in Front of the Chrysanthemums


• To the Tune "Immortal by the River" Composed While on a Boat


• To the Tune "Bodhisattva Barbarian": A Parting Poem


• Wuqing


• Feelings


• Huiji


• Reply to Lady Gioro Heseri


• Lianghai Ru'de


• Poems of the Pure Land


• Untitled Verses


• Written in Imitation of an Ancient Style: The Filial Girl Lu of Pinghu


• Buddha-Recitation (Selections from a Series of Forty-Eight Poems)


• Abbreviations


• Bibliography


• Index of Sources

About the author

Beata Grant is Professor Emerita of Chinese and Religious Studies at Washington University in St. Louis. Her previous books include The Red Brush: Women Writers of Imperial China (with Wilt Idema), Eminent Nuns: Women Chan Masters of Seventeenth-Century China, Escape from Blood Pond Hell: The Tales of Mulian and Woman Huang (with Wilt Idema), and Zen Echoes: Classic Koans with Verse Commentaries by Three Female Chan Masters.

Summary

The Hsu-Tang Library presents authoritative and eminently readable translations of classical Chinese literature, in bilingual editions, ranging across three millennia and the entire Sinitic world.

This anthology opens up new religious and poetic worlds for readers. It consists of translations of poems written by Buddhist nuns from China's late imperial period (1368-1911). Appreciation of these poems is enhanced by individual biographical accounts for each of the sixty-five nun-poets and an Introduction to the historical, religious, and literary context of these poems, including a concise discussion of Chinese Buddhism and Chinese Buddhist poetry.

The nuns in this anthology come from a range of backgrounds: some were placed in convents when very young; others were former palace ladies or courtesans who found refuge in the religious life; others were women left widowed or destitute in the wake of the various political and social upheavals of the times, especially the violent transition between the Ming and Qing dynasties in the mid-seventeenth century.

This period was also marked by a flourishing of women's culture, as more and more women from the gentry-class began not only to receive the classical education required to write poetry, but also to have their works printed and circulated. Most of the poet-nuns in this volume were from this gentry class, and almost all of them had at least one collection of writings, usually poetry, printed in their names. Although most of these collections are now lost, some of their poems have fortunately been preserved in various anthologies from this period, including anthologies dedicated exclusively to women's poetry, as well as in collections of Buddhist records.

Additional text

This is an excellent volume that presents a new kind of religious poetry and contributes greatly to the interdisciplinary field of Chinese literary tradition, Buddhist history and women and gender studies. Professor Beata Grant brings to life the voices and stories of Buddhist nuns from late imperial China and will inspire and facilitate other scholars to further study the nun-poets and their works.

Product details

• Authors: Grant
• Assisted by: Beata Grant (Translation), Grant Beata (Translation)
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 20.12.2023
• EAN: 9780197586310
• ISBN: 978-0-19-758631-0
• No. of pages: 392
• Series: The Hsu-Tang Library of Classi; The Hsu-Tang Library of Classical Chinese Literature
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Linguistics and literary studies > Other languages / Other literatures; Poetry, LITERARY CRITICISM / Ancient & Classical, LITERARY CRITICISM / Asian / General, LITERARY COLLECTIONS / Women Authors, POETRY / Asian / Chinese, Buddhism, LITERARY COLLECTIONS / Asian / Chinese, Literary studies: c 1800 to c 1900, Literary studies: classical, early & medieval, Literary theory, Literary studies: c 1500 to c 1800, Literary studies: ancient, classical and medieval