Poetry
Poems are like islands in the sea of words through which we swim every day. We take comfort and pleasure in them, but they can also sometimes challenge us, provoke, us, or wake us up to see things in new ways. The enlightening art of poetry has been a part of our publishing program from the very beginning.
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Cold Mountain Poems
Zen Poems of Han Shan, Shih Te, and Wang Fan-chih
The incomparable poetry of Han Shan (Cold Mountain) and his sidekick Shih Te, the rebel poets who became icons of Chinese poetry and Zen, has long captured the imagination of poetry lovers and Zen aficionados. Popularized in the West by Beat Generation writers Gary Snyder and Jack Kerouac, these legendary T’ang era (618–907) figures are portrayed as the laughing, ragged pair who left their poetry on stones, trees, farmhouses,… Read More
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Cold Mountain Poems
Zen Poems of Han Shan, Shih Te, and Wang Fan-chih
Popularized in the West by Beat Generation writers Gary Snyder and Jack Kerouac, T’ang-era rebel poet Han Shan is an icon of Chinese poetry and Zen. He and his sidekick, Shih Te, are known as the laughing, ragged pair who left their poetry on stones, trees, farmhouses, and monastery walls, calling others to “the Cold Mountain way” of simple, honest, joyful living. J. P. Seaton takes a fresh… Read More
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Dewdrops on a Lotus Leaf
Zen Poems of Ryokan
The Japanese poet-recluse Ryokan (1758–1831) is one of the most beloved figures of Asian literature, renowned for his beautiful verse, exquisite calligraphy, and eccentric character. Deceptively simple, Ryokan's poems transcend artifice, presenting spontaneous expressions of pure Zen spirit. Like his contemporary Thoreau, Ryokan celebrates nature and the natural life, but his poems touch the whole range of human experience: joy and sadness, pleasure and pain, enlightenment and illusion, love and… Read More
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Haiku
An Anthology of Japanese Poems
This celebration of what is perhaps the most influential of all poetic forms takes haiku back to its Japanese roots, beginning with poems by the seventeenth- and eighteenth-century masters Basho, Busson, and Issa, and going all the way up to the late twentieth century to provide a survey of haiku through the centuries, in all its minimalist glory. The translators have balanced faithfulness to the Japanese with an appreciation of… Read More
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Haiku Mind
108 Poems to Cultivate Awareness and Open Your Heart
Haiku, the Japanese form of poetry written in three short lines, is celebrated for its ability to express a simple moment in a profound way. The “haiku moment,” as it is called, refers to a heightened awareness of the world around us and how, in that small, transient period, the greater essence of our lives is reflected. As our culture speeds up and our personal lives… Read More
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Haiku Mind
108 Poems to Cultivate Awareness and Open Your Heart
Haiku, the Japanese form of poetry written in just three lines, can be miraculous in its power to articulate the profundity of the simplest moment—and for that reason haiku can be a useful tool for bringing us to a heightened awareness of our lives. Here, the poet Patricia Donegan shares her experience of the haiku form as a way of insight that anyone can use to slow down and… Read More
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The Poetry of Enlightenment
Poems by Ancient Chan Masters
For the masters of the Chan tradition, poetry was a form of creative expression, but even more than that, it was a primary vehicle for teaching. Here a modern master presents ten teaching poems from the ancient masters, with illuminating commentary. “These poems flow directly from the minds of the enlightened Chan masters,” Master Sheng Yen says. “We get a glimpse into their experience at the time of, and after,… Read More
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The Poetry of Zen
- edited by
- Sam Hamill,
- J. P. Seaton
A Zen poem is nothing other than an expression of the enlightened mind, a handful of simple words that disappear beneath the moment of insight to which it bears witness. Poetry has been an essential aid to Zen Buddhist practice from the dawn of Zen—and Zen has also had a profound influence on the secular poetry of the countries in which it has flourished. Here, two… Read More
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Sky Above, Great Wind
The Life and Poetry of Zen Master Ryokan
Ryokan (1758–1831) is, along with Dogen and Hakuin, one of the three giants of Zen in Japan. But unlike his two renowned colleagues, Ryokan was a societal dropout, living mostly as a hermit and a beggar. He was never head of a monastery or temple. He liked playing with children. He had no dharma heir. Even so, people recognized the depth of his realization, and he was sought out by… Read More
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