Skip to main navigation Skip to search Skip to main content

Hanshan and the Skillful Means of Buddhist Verse

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapter

Abstract

The 300 poems attributed to the Chinese recluse Hanshan (Cold Mountain) have become the most popular representatives of traditional Chinese verse for North American readers since the appearance of Gary Snyder's translations in the 1950s. An investigation into the poems themselves and the history of their reception reveal a complex intermingling of literary and religious factors: a body of poems likely written by a number of poets on Chinese folk themes came to be embraced by Zen monastics and lay believers, who read them allegorically and didactically as the teachings of a bodhisattva. Modern North American enthusiasts, on the other hand, relate his poems to countercultural and environmental movements and continue to see him as a representative of ecopoetic concerns.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationA Companion to World Literature
PublisherWiley
Pages1-13
Number of pages13
Volume2
ISBN (Electronic)9781118635193
ISBN (Print)9781118993187
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 1 2020

Keywords

  • Buddhism
  • Buddhist poetry
  • Chinese poetry
  • Cold Mountain
  • ecocriticism
  • Gary Snyder
  • Hakuin
  • Hanshan
  • Zen
  • Zen poetry

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Hanshan and the Skillful Means of Buddhist Verse'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this