Dissertation > Excellent graduate degree dissertation topics show

A Study of Buddhist Shanju Poetry

Author: QiWei
Tutor: ZhouYuZuo
School: Sichuan University
Course: Chinese classical literature
Keywords: Buddhism Shanju poetry Zen reclusion
CLC: I207.22
Type: PhD thesis
Year: 2007
Downloads: 482
Quote: 2
Read: Download Dissertation

Abstract


It is no doubt that Shanju poetry is one of the most usual and important Buddhist literature. A great deal of poems under the title "Shanju" are found in various existing Buddhism documents such as lamp records, recorded sayings, monks’ biographies, notes, Chinese encyclopedias and monks’ poetry collections. The number of Shanju poems is not under one thousand from Tang Dynasty to Ming Dynasty so as to Shanju Poems by Eminent Monks and the Continuation could be compiled and printed. This is a writing tradition of Chinese Zen monks which has already been forgotten by the academe, while its significance as religious literature should have our attention.This thesis aims to display such a special form of Buddhist literature by combing and studying Shanju poems and to appreciate the unique view of Buddhist poems in literary quotation, wording and phrasing, religious meaning, and humanism spirit.Chapter 1 explains that Shanju (mountain-life) is a tradition for Zen monks to cultivate themselves according to religious doctrines and it is significant in Buddhism. Sequestered environment and peaceful mountain life is propitious to monks’ Zen experience and also can provide a shelter in troubled times.Chapters 2, 3, 4 and 5 open out the production of Shanju poems in Tang, Song, Yuan and Ming Dynasties. We can find that the person who initiated Buddhist Shanju poems is GuanXiu, but it is HanShan who really enlightened subsequent writers of such poems. Although HanShan’s poems are all without title, they exert a subtle influence on production of Shanju poems afterward. The Shanju poems in Song Dynasty are most produced in the northern Song Dynasty, most of which describe the insipid mountain life and involve historic allusion rarely except YongMing YanShou. The Shanju poems in Yuan Dynasty are most produced in the middle and late Yuan Dynasty. Influenced by the ethos and Zen, these poems emphasize particularly on the discussion about history and realism, the pursuance to the ultimate life meaning and feature of dialectical thought. Meanwhile, this thought about life also influences the production of San Qu (non-dramatic songs) in Yuan Dynasty. The Shanju poems in Ming Dynasty are most produced in the late Ming Dynasty, with "Mozuo (sit in silence)" and "Wuzuo (sit erect)" as common words and emphasizing the pure and unworldly heart. Thus it can be seen that the development of Shanju poetry goes with the evolution of Zen thought and has close relation with the atmosphere of society and culture of the time.Chapter 6 sums up the theme types of Shanju poetry, including daily life, historic vicissitude, awakening experience, delight in mountain life. Shanju poems have different themes in different times. For example, Shanju poems often describe the daily life of monks as a result of influence by Hongzhou Zen in Song Dynasty, enhance reflective thoughts about social reality and historic vicissitude due to the influence of "true experience and actual realization" of Zen path in Yuan Dynasty, return to the pursuit for pure and still internal world in Ming Dynasty, and the theme of delight in mountain life runs through the production history of Shanju poems from Tang to Ming Dynasties.Chapter 7 discusses the religious spirits in Shanju poems: mindless freedom, extramundane loneliness, and eternal reclusion. That is to say, return to the inborn freedom of life beyond every oppression and bondage, proud loneliness beyond uproar after realizing ego and world, and reclusion indifferent to fame or lordliness. In fact, these just are the representative of traditional Zen spirits.

Related Dissertations

  1. The Tibetan Muslims in the Sino-Tibetan Borderlands,C955
  2. The School-running of Buddhist Nun Department in Fujian Buddhist Institute,B947
  3. Origin as one, which vary by track,B948
  4. Dao an and Chinese Characterization in Buddhism,B948
  5. The Idea of Practice in Luo Religion Compare with Zen,B948
  6. Diqing Tibetan areas of funeral rites and soul Worship,K892.22
  7. Calligraphy Zen Theory,J292.1
  8. The Tracking Research on the Half Attribute of "Water" Culture,G122
  9. The Buddhist language function studies,B948
  10. The Study of Dream Novels of Buddhism and Taoism in Tang Dynasty,I207.41
  11. Folk Beliefs of Buddhism of the Pingcheng of T He Northern Wei Dynasty,B948
  12. From Zhi Dun’s Poetry to Wang Fanzhi’s Poetry: Research on the Elegant-Secular Style of Monk-Poetry,I207.22
  13. Buddhist Nirvana and literary aesthetic,I106
  14. On Zen Wei Yang Zong and Tea Culture,G122
  15. Tea and explore Tang Poetry,I207.22
  16. Dai brocade pattern Art Research,J523
  17. The Commercial Communication of Songshan Shaolin Zen and Wushu Culture,G852
  18. The Present Situation and the Future on Television Transmission of Shaolin Zen-Wu Culture,G206
  19. Novels, Buddhism and Wang Xue,I206.5
  20. The Research on Plant Landscape of Buddhism Temple Garden in Nanyue Hengshan,TU986
  21. Chinese Buddhist and Taoist philosophy comparative study,B958

CLC: > Literature > Chinese Literature > The body of literature reviews and research > Poetry,verse > Poem
© 2012 www.DissertationTopic.Net  Mobile