Great Fool : Zen master Ryokan : poems, letters, and other writings / translated with essays by Ryuichi Abe and Peter Haskel.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Ryōkan, 1758-1831.

Contributor:

Abe, Ryūichi, 1954-

Haskel, Peter.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Ryōkan, 1758-1831.

Ryōkan.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (325 p.)

Place of Publication:

Honolulu : University of Hawaii Press, c1996.

Language Note:

English

System Details:

Mode of access: World Wide Web.

Summary:

Taigu Ryokan (1759-1831) remains one of the most popular figures in Japanese Buddhist history. Despite his religious and artistic sophistication, Ryokan referred to himself as "Great Fool" and refused to place himself within the cultural elite of his age. In contrast to the typical Zen master of his time, who presided over a large monastery, trained students, and produced recondite religious treatises, Ryokan followed a life of mendicancy in the countryside. Instead of delivering sermons, he expressed himself through kanshi (poems composed in classical Chinese) and waka and could typically be found playing with the village children in the course of his daily rounds of begging. Great Fool is the first study in a Western language to offer a comprehensive picture of the legendary poet-monk and his oeuvre. It includes not only an extensive collection of the master's kanshi, topically arranged to facilitate an appreciation of Ryokan's colorful world, but selections of his waka, essays, and letters. The volume also presents for the first time in English the Ryokan zenji kiwa (Curious Accounts of the Zen Master Ryokan), a firsthand source composed by a former student less than sixteen years after Ryokan's death. Although it lacks chronological order, the Curious Account is invaluable for showing how Ryokan was understood and remembered by his contemporaries. It consists of colorful anecdotes and episodes, sketches from Ryokan's everyday life. To further assist the reader, three introductory essays approach Ryokan from the diverse perspectives of his personal history and literary work.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Essays

Ryōkan of Mount Kugami / Haskel, Peter

A Poetics of Mendicancy Nondualist Philosophy and Ryōkan's Figurative Strategies / Abé, Ryūichi

Commemorating Ryōkan: The Origin and Growth of Ryōkan's Biographies / Abé, Ryūichi

Translations

Translators' Note

Curious Accounts of the Zen Master Ryōkan / Yoshishige, Kera

Kanshi (Poems in Chinese)

Waka (Poems in Japanese)

Letters

Reflections on Buddhism

Finder's Lists

Notes

Select Bibliography

Index

About the Translators

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 291-294) and index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 28. Aug 2019)

ISBN:

9780824862701

0824862708

OCLC:

923486048