Customer Reviews

A Drifting Boat: Chinese Zen Poetry

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4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
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A Drifting Boat includes Chinese Zen poems that have been gathered over 1500 years. The book has been divided into six sections, each one covering the poets of a different dynasty.

The poems themselves are beautiful, simple yet complex, elegant. The words just seem to flow from the pages. A delightful reading experience.

"as I wonder aimlessly under a frozen moon a flute poors its beauty from a nearby tower. then morning breezes begin to rise and gust - the river already a carpet of scattered white blossoms." --Kuan Hsiu

Quite by accident I discovered the book "Mountain Home; the Wilderness Poetry of Ancient China" translated by David Hinton. That got me started on a search of nature and Zen poetry of China and Japan. So far I have read at least a few dozen books and this is my favorite! The anthology covers from 4th century to modern and has quite a few authors represented. The sensitive translations are what, I am sure, attracts me to re-read and highlight this book. This book is a keeper!

This is a great read. The spare images have such power and rightness. A kind of serenity too. Might go well with Poems of the Late T'ang (Graham)and Stranger by the River (Twitchell).

Yes, I'm picky and had a quarrel with the introduction's reference to religious institutions without a recognition of the interplay between Nestorian Christianity and Chan Buddhism but such a point is of no interest to the general reader. The book is a wonderfully broad selection of poets and styles including poets with a strong Taoist bent - a happy addition illustrating the coexistence of multiple religious traditions within single individuals. There are differing styles of translation - from the more literal to the more poetic - but only two poems in the entire book that leave me wanting to read the original Chinese because the translation seems too free. The book as a whole is a marvelous example of the force of poetry that is rooted in experience rather than metaphor; as such it should be read by those without a specific interest in Buddhism.

My criticism? Too many poets are represented by only one or two poems.