Zen Poetry, The Penguin Book of (Penguin Poets) [Mass Market Paperback]

Various (Author), Lucien Stryk (Translator), Takashi Ikemoto (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 1995 | Series: Penguin Poets

Jointly translated by a Japanese scholar and an American poet, this collection spans 1500 years - from the early T'ang dynasty to the present day - and offers Zen poetry in all its diversity: Chinese poems of enlightenment and health, poems of the Japanese masters and many "haiku", the quintessential Zen art. Japan's contemporary Zen poet, Shinkichi Takahashi, is also well represented and the volume contains many poems never before rendered into English, as well as numerous examples of Zen painting.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Puffin (January 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0140585990
• ISBN-13: 978-0140585995
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,609,037 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One bath/after another/how stupid. (Isso), March 10, 2003

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Dr. Christopher Coleman (HONG KONG) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Zen Poetry, The Penguin Book of (Penguin Poets) (Mass Market Paperback)

This is a nice collection of Chinese and Japanese poetry in English translation--not only haiku, but all the works are haiku-esque in their brevity and style. After an excellent introduction explaining the Zen aesthetic of suggestion rather than depiction come four sections of poetry in English translation: Chinese Poems of Enlightenment and Death; Poems of the Japanese Zen Masters; Japanese Haiku; and Shikichi Takahashi, Contemporary Japanese Master. The poems are complemented by 14 black and white reproductions of Eastern paintings also demonstating the Zen influence in which detail is suggested rather than portrayed.

One might quibble about what is missing--apparently nothing from China after the southern Sung dynasty, or about the proportions of Japanese to Chinese work, or the inclusion of so much by a single modern master. But to do so would be to miss the point, and certainly to fail to bring a Zen sensibility to the collection as a whole. And here the introduction is invaluable--not only in explaining the selection made, but more importantly discussing the sensibility required. Certainly, for many Westerners, Zen is at best inscrutable and at worst commonplace; and they may see a haiku like Onitsura's likewise: Autumn wind--/across the fields/faces. Lucien Stryk has a very nifty comparison of this haiku with a short poem of Ezra Pound's which reveals its immediacy, and suggests an approach of thought that is absolutely necessary to the understanding of this poetry. All in all, a very worthwhile product. ...