In Cloud and Water, Venerable Master Hsing Yun has collected and commented on 36 poems from the Chan tradition. The poems are divided into four sections entitled Philosophy of Life; On Practice; On Mind; and Ch'an World. These are not like the better-known but difficult-to-grasp koans, such as What is the sound of one hand? Rather, these are more penetrable poems; any ambiguities in them are amply clarified by the Master's sentence-by-sentence commentary.
Venerable Master Hsing Yun is a Chinese Buddhist monk, author, philanthropist, and founder of the Fo Guang Shan Buddhist Order, which has branches throughout Asia, Europe, Africa, Australia, and the Americas. Ordained at the age of twelve in Jiangsu Province, China, Master Hsing Yun has spent his over seventy years as a Buddhist monk building what he calls Humanistic Buddhism: Buddhism that meets the needs of people and is integrated into all aspects of life.
In 1949, Master Hsing Yun came to Taiwan and began to nurture the new burgeoning Buddhist culture in Taiwan. He served as an editor and contributor to many Buddhist magazines and periodicals, authoring the daily columns "Between Ignorance and Enlightenment," "Dharma Words," and "Hsing Yun's Chan Talk," as well as starting his own Buddhist magazine, "Awakening the World," in 1957, and the first daily Buddhist newspaper, the "Merit Times," in 2000. Master Hsing Yun authored many important works including the "Song of Silence," the "Biography of Sakyamuni Buddha," and "National Master Yulin." Master Hsing Yun also edited and sponsored the Fo Guang Encyclopedia, the most authoritative Buddhist reference work in the Chinese language. His contributions have reached as far as sponsoring Buddhist music and art, to creating Buddhist programming for television, radio, and the stage.
