Tang Dynasty Poetry

The Tao--The Way

• The way the universe works, the Order of Nature.
• The Way can’t be defined because it transcends all categories of language and thought. It requires an intuitive understanding. Daoist writings use suggestive images and parables.
• Nature is unified, free of human standards and ethical judgments. It is self-originating and spontaneous.
• The oneness of the world is also within each of us. We should embrace it and let it lead us. This is hard to do because we get distracted by desires and the material world.

• Dao literally means road, way, route, method.

• It designates the nameless and shapeless ultimate reality that produces all things:

• “There was something formed out of chaos, that was born before Heaven and Earth. Quiet and still! Pure and deep! It stands on its own and doesn’t change. It can be regarded as the mother of Heaven and Earth. I do not yet know its name: I style it ‘the way.’”

• The classical Chinese character can be noun AND verb: as a verb, dao means to travel along, to guide, to speak.

• Dao is the origin of everything AND the animating force present in all things.

Tao Te Ching/ Daodejing

Embracing Tao, you become embraced.

Supple, breathing gently, you become reborn.

Clearing your vision, you become clear.

Nurturing your beloved, you become impartial.

Opening your heart, you become accepted.

Accepting the World, you embrace Tao.

Bearing and nurturing,

Creating but not owning,

Giving without demanding,

Controlling without authority,

This is love.

Nature is unified, free of human standards and ethics.

By not setting foot outside the door

One knows the whole world;

By not looking out the window

One knows the way of heaven.

The further one goes

The less one knows.

Hence the sage knows without having to stir,

Identifies without having to see,

Accomplishes without having to do.

Nature is everlasting because it does not have a Self.

In this way the sage:

Serves his Self last and finds it served first;

Sees his body as accidental and finds it endures.

Because he does not serve his Self, he is content.

The Tao is associated with the Chinese term non-being (wu) rather than with being (yu): “All things in the world come into existence from being and being comes from non-being.”

“Thirty spokes share the hub of a wheel;

yet it is its center hole that makes it useful.

You can mould clay into a vessel;

yet, it is its emptiness that makes it useful.

Cut doors and windows from the walls of a house;

but the ultimate use of the house

is the empty part where nothing exists.

Therefore, something is shaped into what is;

but its usefulness comes from what is not.”

Nonjudgmental, Independent thinking

• Life is in a state of constant flux, and the world of our experience is constantly transforming. Therefore we must be wary of our tendency to adopt fixed or dogmatic judgments, evaluations, and standards based on a narrow viewpoint, since this leads to conflict and frustration. We should be impartial and treat all things alike.
• True observation requires independence from the past and established theories/ways of thinking.

Those who wish to change the World

According with their desire

Cannot succeed.

The World is shaped by Tao;

It cannot be shaped by Self.

If one tries to shape it, one damages it;

If one tries to possess it, one loses it.

We should not let the sensory, material world confuse us. Instead, we should learn to know when we have enough and be content with what we have (zhizu).

Zhizu

Of crimes—none is greater than having things that one desires; of disasters—none is greater than not knowing when one has enough. Of defects—none brings more sorrow than the desire to attain. Therefore the contentment one has when they know they have enough, is abiding contentment indeed.

Wu wei

• Losing the boundary between self and other and the one’s sense of self is the secret to self-preservation. The oneness of the Dao is within us and we should embrace it and follow its dictates.
• The basic way to conform with nature is to practice wu wei (non-action) but this does not mean doing nothing—it doesn’t mean laziness or lack of thought. Rather, it implies not indulging in useless effort and not doing anything that contradicts nature. When one attends to all necessary and unpleasant acts (the minor details of life), the larger goals are accomplished without having to make great effort.

Act without acting. Serve without serving. Find flavor in what has no flavor. Regard the small as large and the few as many. Repay resentment with kindness. Plan for the difficult while it is easy; act on the large while it is minute. The most difficult things in the world begin as things that are easy; the largest things in the world arise from the minute. Therefore the Sage does not strive to do the great. And as a result, he is able to accomplish the great.

Empty the Self completely; embrace perfect peace.

The World will rise and move; watch it return to rest.

All the flourishing things will return to their source.

This return is peaceful; it is the way of Nature,

An eternal decay and renewal.

Understanding this brings enlightenment,

Ignorance of this brings misery.

Who understands Nature's way becomes all-cherishing;

Being all-cherishing he becomes impartial;

Being impartial he becomes magnanimous;

Being magnanimous he becomes part of Nature;

Being part of Nature he becomes one with Tao;

Being one with Tao he becomes immortal:

Though his body will decay, Tao will not.

His Life

• Life of poverty: a bastard child, he and his mother were kicked out of his father’s family after his father died.
• He was supposedly huge and ugly but had a passion for learning.
• He saw his age in disorder and really wanted to help, but was only allowed minor offices.
• He established effective social programs—like feeding children and the elderly—and realized that people WERE good! But the three warlords in charge of China at the time saw him as a real threat and took him down

The Analects

• A book made up of the sayings and thoughts of Confucius and his followers, probably composed by his followers during the Warring States period (475-221 BCE) through the 200s CE.
• Confucianism saw a revival in the Tang period.

Overview

• Taoism rejects society and emphasizes individual development, embracing nature and the spirit world and the interconnectedness of all things.
• Confucianism is concerned with people as members of society and emphasizes rituals and morality.
• Unlike Taoism, which requires independence from the past and established ways of thinking, Confucianism embraces the past and tradition.

Filial Piety

• We owe everything to our parents and ancestors, our land, wealth, body, and even our life, and we repay them by reverently serving them, obeying their orders, and fulfilling their wishes. In addition, family relationships are at the root of all human society and are related to all other relationships, from the “teacher-parent” to the “parent-ruler.”
• "The superior man bends his attention to what is most essential at the root. That being established, all practical courses naturally grow up. Filial piety and fraternal submission, -- are they not the root of all benevolent actions?"

Ren

This term can be translated in many different ways, such as human-heartedness, benevolence, love, and goodness. Our aim in life is to promote the happiness of others (and hence ourselves) through appropriate behavior within our relationships. Part of this is reciprocity, or treating others as we would like to be treated. One can become a gentleman (“junzi”) if one practices ren.

From the Analects

The Master said: “Don’t worry if people don’t recognize your merits; worry that you may not recognize theirs.”

"Confucius said, in regard to benevolence, if you desire to establish yourself, establish others first. If you desire to develop yourself, develop others first."

"Zigong asked: “Is there any single word that could guide one’s entire life?” The Master said: “Should it not be reciprocity? What you do not wish for yourself, do not do to others.”

Propriety

Our actions should be based on li,"the rites" or "propriety," that is, the proper rules of behavior and ritual. These aren’t just rules that we follow blindly, but we should be flexible and adapt the rules depending on our circumstances.

Propriety

• We each have our place in a hierarchy and our pre-arranged duties. Since our positions are set and our duties are prescribed, we carry out our duties in a spirit of cooperation, rather than competition.
• For Confucius, competition was what was tearing out the heart of society.
• Community living should be like making music, where each instrument has its own sound and contributes to the whole.
• We should endeavor to live among society and not try to isolate ourselves, even when things get difficult; we are our relationships; take away our relationships to others, and nothing remains of us.

From the Analects

• The Master said, "A man should say, I am not concerned that I have no place, I am concerned how I may fit myself for one. I am not concerned that I am not known, I seek to be worthy to be known."
• The Master said: “It is beautiful to live amidst humanity. To choose a dwelling place void of other people is hardly wise.”

Government

• We should attempt to serve our government if our government is good; good leadership also requires ren and propriety.
• The Master said, "If the people be led by laws, and uniformity sought to be given them by punishments, they will try to avoid the punishment, but have no sense of shame. If they be led by virtue, and uniformity sought to be given them by the rules of propriety, they will have the sense of shame, and moreover will become good."
• Confucius said: "If a ruler himself is upright, all will go well without orders. But if he himself is not upright, even though he gives orders they will not be obeyed."

Education

• Education prepares individuals to participate in a peacefully ordered society.
• The Master said: “I enlighten only the enthusiastic; I guide only the fervent. After I have lifted up one corner of a question, if the student cannot discover the other three, I do not repeat.”

Du Fu, retrieved from Poetry Foundation

Du Fu is often seen as the greatest of all Chinese poets.

• The poet of history
• Records his own sufferings, exile, the death of his son by starvation
• Provides a social critique of the suffering of the poor, and the corruption of government officials
• During the An Lushan rebellion he was captured and detained. He escaped and rejoined the emperor’s court, but then was arrested for defending a friend. Finally, he was pardoned and exiled to a low post.
• Wandered in old age and ended up in a Buddhist monastery, depending on kindness and patronage
• He was frustrated by his efforts to bring ethics and wisdom to public life—he felt he’d wasted his talent and his life—just like Confucius.

On the River

by Du Fu

On the river, every day these heavy rains—

bleak, bleak, autumn in Ching-ch'u

High winds strip the leaves from the trees;

through the long night I hug my fur robe.

I recall my official record, keep looking in the mirror,

recall my comings and goings, leaning alone in an upper room.

In these perilous times I long to serve my sovereign—

old and feeble as I am, I can't stop thinking of it!

Summer Day in the Mountains

By Li Bo, Translated by Stephen Owen

Lazily waving a fan of white feathers,

stripped naked here in the green woods.

I take off my headband hang it on a cliff

my bare head splattered by winds through pines.

On the River, By Du Fu

On the river, every day these heavy rains—

bleak, bleak, autumn in Ching-ch'u

High winds strip the leaves from the trees;

through the long night I hug my fur robe.

I recall my official record, keep looking in the mirror,

recall my comings and goings, leaning alone in an upper room.

In these perilous times I long to serve my sovereign—

old and feeble as I am, I can't stop thinking of it!

Summer Day in the Mountains, By Li Bo

Lazily waving a fan of white feathers,

stripped naked here in the green woods.

I take off my headband hang it on a cliff

my bare head splattered by winds through pines.

I Stand Alone, by Du Fu, Trans. by Stephen Owen

A single bird of prey beyond the sky.

a pair of white gulls between riverbanks.

Hovering wind tossed, ready to strike;

the pair, at their ease, roaming to and fro.

And the dew is also full on the grasses,

spiders' filaments still not drawn in.

Instigations in nature approach men's affairs—

I stand alone in thousands of sources of worry.

Zazen on Ching-t’ing Mountain, BY LI BAI

The birds have vanished down the sky.

Now the last cloud drains away.

We sit together, the mountain and me,

until only the mountain remains.

Jiang Village by Du Fu

Trans. Tony Barnstone, Willis Barnstone, and Chou Ping

A clutter of chickens makes chaos,

fighting each other as guests arrive.

I drive them up bushes and trees,

then hear knocking on my brushwood gate;

four or five village elders greet me

and ask about my long absence.

Each of them brings a gift in hand.

Their wines pour out, some clear, some muddy.

They apologize for their wine, so watery,

as there was no one to grow millet.

Weapons and horses can’t rest yet;

the young men are gone on the expedition east.

I offer a song for my old village folks,

feeling deep gratitude.

After singing, I sigh and throw back my head

and tears meander down our faces.

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Buddhism

• Focuses on the transience of material life and the suffering inherent in human existence.
• Emphasis on stilling the turmoil and bringing quiet to our lives.
• Siddhartha Gautama was a prince living in luxury and wealth, but he was still troubled by age, sickness, and death. He tried renunciation (fasting, poverty), but that didn’t stop his suffering.
• The middle way: If the strings of a lute are too tight they will break, and if they are too slack they will not play. Balance is necessary in human life: a middle path between extremes of self-indulgence and self-deprivation.

Four Noble Truths

• Dukha: Suffering is intrinsic to human life
• Origin of Dukha: comes from craving, greed, ignorance
• Cessation of Dukha: the end of suffering in this life, on earth, or in the spiritual life, through achieving Nirvana--spiritual enlightenment
• The Path Leading to the Cessation of Dukha: the Eightfold Noble Path: right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration, right view, right thought

Other concepts:

• Samsara: the cycle of rebirth and death
• Karma: natural law: every action or deed has an effect

The Big Buddha, Hong Kong, retrieved from Wikimedia Commons

Wang Wei

• Poet, painter, politician
• Aristocratic family
• Took vows as a Buddhist layman
• Poetry as paintings--a unique way of seeing the world
• Also taken prisoner during the An Lushan rebellion; was also accused of disloyalty, but the charges were dismissed and he was able to take on a government position again.

Cascade, by Wing Wei, WikiArt

Fields and Gardens by the River Qi

by Wang Wei, translated by Paul Rouzer

I dwell apart by the River Qi,

Where the Eastern wilds stretch far without hills.

The sun darkens beyond the mulberry trees;

The river glistens through the villages.

Shepherd boys depart, gazing back to their hamlets;

Hunting dogs return following their men.

When a man's at peace, what business does he have?

I shut fast my rustic door throughout the day.

Li Qingzhao

Yianjushi (The Lay Buddhist of Peace)

• Born into a gifted literary family; talent recognized in teens
• Married the son of a powerful politician; he became a government official
• His career was cut short, and an invasion from the Qin Tatars in 1127 sent her fleeing from the capital while he was away at his mother’s funeral
• She traveled across China for months, and finally joined her husband in another city, where he had become mayor
• Just two years later he died on his way to a new posting
• She writes of her sorrow over separation and death; her life as a society woman

Li Qingzhao, retrieved from chinaculture.org

To the tune “As If in a Dream”

I often recall one sunset in the pavilion by the river.

Having drunk too much, I lost the way home.

My enthusiasm spent, I started back in my boat at dusk

But drifted by mistake into a thick patch of lotuses.

Paddling hard to get through,

Paddling hard to get through,

I startled a whole sandbar of egrets into flight.

[translation Xu Peijun]

In a Station of the Metro

BY EZRA POUND

The apparition of these faces in the crowd:

Petals on a wet, black bough.