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547-553 Poetry China Song and After.Indd Poetry: China (Song and After) Chinese Buddhist poetry from the Song (宋; 960– Chan Buddhist Poetry in the Song and 1279) onward was marked by the dominance of Its Influence Chan Buddhism and the participation of a newly emergent literary elite whose writings were increas- The growth and institutionalization of Chan ingly published and preserved due to advances in Buddhism as the foremost Buddhist tradition of printing technology. All of these factors, their indi- the Song, along with the invention of new forms of vidual development and occasional confluence, are Chan literature, had an enormous impact on the the most salient traits of Chinese Buddhist literature collection and conceptualization of poetry writ- from the Song until the literary May Fourth Move- ten by Buddhist monks. The two most prominent, ment (1919). and closely related, Chan literary innovations, The special relationship between Buddhism and “lamp records” (denglu [燈錄]) and “recorded say- poetry has been a recurring subject of scholarship, ings” (yulu [語錄]), both came to maturity during mostly focused on Chan (Demiéville, 1970; Iriya, the Song. While denglu are extensive genealogical 1983; Ge, 1986; Watson, 1988), which has further histories of Chan lineages that compile exemplary yielded the study of Chan poetry and aesthetics (Pi, writings and anecdotes from hundreds of masters, 1995; Zhang, 2006). The study of Buddhist poetry yulu collect the sermons and writings of individual as literary history has focused on noteworthy Bud- abbots. Both types of literature include the poetry of dhist poet-monks and established poets who wrote Chan monks in significant quantities, which tends Buddhist-themed poetry (Sun, 2006; Xiao, 2012). to increase and diversify through the Song and later Buddhist poetry has also been studied for its role dynasties. Although the verses within denglu and in generating critical discourse and influential say- yulu can be classified according to various genres ings within the field of poetics, primarily articulated and subgenres, they are all broadly conceptualized by literati within the “remarks on poetry” (shihua as jisong (偈頌), the Chinese rendering of Sanskrit [詩話]) genre (Du, 1976; Kaji, 1979; Lynn, 1987; gāthā, roughly meaning Buddhist religious verse. Zhou, 1992). This article surveys the notable developments of Buddhist poetry since the Song, both as cultivated Chan Doctrinal Verse within monastic institutions and as circulated out- The term jisong originally refers to the verse sec- side its formal confines, with a focus on the contri- tions of Indian Buddhist sūtras. In China, the term butions of esteemed poet-monks. Chinese Buddhist also included newly written verses on Buddhist doc- discourse long distinguished between “inner learn- trine, and this didactic function of jisong remained ing” (neixue [内學]) and “outer learning” (waixue prevalent within Chan literature from the Tang [外學]), and Southern Song compilers began to Song. At the forefront of most Chan denglu is a employing “inner works” (neiji [内集]) and “outer master-by-master account of the mind-to-mind works” (waiji [外集]) to organize the literature of transmission from Śākyamuni Buddha to the Chi- monks. As a taxonomy for monkish authors, neiji nese patriarchs, where the “wordless” dharma is are obviously Buddhistic and belong within the embodied in a series of transmission verses. The Buddhist canon. The category of waiji (including didactic efficacy of poetry is further displayed in the many bieji [別集]; “individual works”) refers to col- collection of long inscriptions (ming [銘]) and songs lections placed outside the Buddhist canon that (ge [歌]), mostly attributed to Chan masters from were often anthologized and enjoyed wide circu- the Tang. The most influential denglu, Daoyuan’s lation. In the following, we outline the changes (道原; fl. 1004) Jingde chuandeng lu (景德傳燈錄; that both categories of verse underwent dur- Jingde Era Record of the Transmission of the Lamp; ing the Song that greatly influenced subsequent T. 2076), collects many lengthy versifications ( juan literary history. 29–30), including Xinxin ming (信心銘; Faith in © Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2015 BEB, vol. I Also available online – www.brill 548 Poetry: China (Song and After) Mind) and Zhengdao ge (證道歌; Song of Enlight- poetry written by laypersons or collected in the enment), that became fundamental expressions of “outer works” of poet-monks, overall the Buddhist Chan doctrine. character of these verses is heightened. They often Elaborate doctrinal verses, such as Hongzhi contain explicit Buddhist terminology or are at least Zhengjue’s (宏智正覺; 1091–1157) Mozhao ming coded with recurrent metaphors and images that (默照銘; Inscription of Silent Illumination), con- have religious significance within the corpus of Chan tinued to be composed by Song dynasty masters. literature. Secular modes, such as the parting poem, In addition, masters frequently wrote verses on are primarily exchanged between monks and are concepts drawn from the Mahāyāna Buddhist tradi- developed into metaphorical expositions of Chan tion and composed poetic series on Chan doctrinal philosophy. In general, only poetry with explicit, or schemes, especially Dongshan Liangjie’s (洞山 strongly implicit, Buddhist significance is admitted 良价; 807–869 ce) “five ranks” (wuwei [五位]). into a master’s yulu, whereas the literati-style poetry Besides composing verses on set topics, Chan mas- (shi [詩]) of poet-monks deals with a greater variety ters employed verse in sermons to illustrate their of nonreligious topics, including poems on history points, often in reference to well-known Chan dia- and books, on seasonal occasions, and on objects. logues. Inscriptions, songs, and jisong by Tang and Due to the fact that doctrinal verses were also Song masters were anthologized in sub sequent often exchanged among monks, there is no categor- denglu and other compilations like the Song dynasty ical distinction between doctrinal and social and Chanmen zhuzushi jisong (禪門諸祖師偈頌; Gāthā of occasional poetry within yulu. The following types Chan Patriarchs and Masters; ZZ 1298; Shiina, 2003). of verse, however, may be collected separately from, or under subheadings within, a selection of jisong. Expansion of the Form and Function Praise poetry, particularly zan (讚/贊/賛; enco- of Jisong mium or eulogy), formed an integral part of the As the writings of Chan masters were increasingly ritual and social life of Chan monasteries. Zan are recorded in yulu, the conceptualization of jisong written in rhymed parallel couplets of irregular expanded through the Song to include a broader line length, usually as “portrait encomia” (zhenzan range of poetic activity representative of practices [真讚]) inscribed on images of illustrious mas- within Chan monasteries. In Song yulu, jisong is no ters and popular Buddhist figures. These portraits longer limited to verses that are strictly devoted to were used in funerary rites and for the worship of doctrinal themes but includes a great deal of social bodhisattvas. During the Song, masters also began and occasional verse and reclusive poetry, along writing encomia for portraits of themselves (zizan with praise poetry and new genres particular to the [自讚]), which were disseminated to lay and monas- Chan establishment (see below). Although the yulu tic followers to garner patronage and as a means of attributed to Tang dynasty masters rarely contain fundraising (Foulk & Sharf, 1993). The practice of more than a handful of poems, poetry consistently composing self-encomia became prevalent among appears as part of the records of Song dynasty mas- literati (Xie, 2012), who also wrote encomia for Chan ters and is often collected within a distinct section masters and other popular figures, especially the of jisong (for Tang and Song yulu, see T. vols. 47–48; bodhisattva Guanyin (Skt. Avalokiteśvara). Zan are ZZ 62–73). Jisong sections can be brief, but most similar in form and function to funerary verses writ- yulu include between 50 and 200 verses, while ten for deceased monks ( foshi [佛事]) and are simi- there are more than 1,000 verses in master Hongzhi lar in tenor to pagoda inscriptions (taming [塔銘]) Zhengjue’s (宏智正覺) Hongzhi chanshi guanglu dedicated to the lives of illustrious masters. (宏智禪師廣錄; Extensive Records of Chan Mas- One of the most distinctive and ubiquitous ter Hongzhi; T. 2001). The recurrence of particular poetic genres within yulu is songgu (頌古). Songgu poetic forms and themes indicates that the compo- are versified responses to Chan gong’an (公案; sition of set types of verse constituted a key activity Jpn. kōan), brief anecdotes and dialogues drawn from for Chan monks (see below). denglu as exemplars of Chan insight. While modern The social and occasional poetry within yulu scholarship has focused on the language and use of includes parting poems (songbieshi [送別詩] or the gong’an case, the master’s poetic commentary zengbieshi [贈別詩]), poems written in the reclusive was the literary focal point of Song dynasty collec- mode, epistolary verse, and verses written on spe- tions. Some collections of songgu circulated inde- cific occasions within the monastery. Although this pendently, and songgu are at the core of the major poetry exhibits similarities with Buddhist-inspired gong’an collections. The best-known examples are Poetry: China (Song and After) 549 Wumenguan (無門關; Gateless Gate; T. 2005) com- rial of Master Tiantai Zhiyi; T. 1948), and Zhigong posed by Wumen Huikai (無門慧開; 1183–1260) (智肱; 11th cent.) did the same for
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