Here is a graphic novel portrait of the wild antics and legendary poetry of two of China’s greatest poets. Han Shan (known as "Cold Mountain") and Shih Te lived during the Tang dynasty (618–906 C.E.) and were critics of authority (both secular and religious) and champions of social justice. They left their poetry on tree trunks and rocks, and they were also reportedly monastics, drunks, cave dwellers, immortals, and many other unconventional and wondrous things. There is much delightful un...

In traditional Chinese culture, poetic artistry held a place that was unrivaled by any other single talent, and was a source of prestige and even of political power. In this rich collection, J. P. Seaton introduces the reader to the main styles of Chinese poetry and the major poets, from the classic Shih Ching to the twentieth century. Seaton has a poet's ear, and his translations here are fresh and vivid.

"The Great Way is not difficult for those who have no preferences."—Seng-ts'anThe Hsin-Hsin Ming, Verses on the Faith-Mind by Seng-ts'an, the third Chinese patriarch of Zen, is considered to be the first Chinese Zen document. Lucidly translated here by Richard B. Clark, it remains one of the most widely-admired and elegant of Zen writings, and is as relevant today as it was when it was written. In a world where stress seems unavoidable, Seng-ts'an's words show us how to ...

“Magnificent . . . poems to inspire [with] brief and brilliant, offhand notes about how to read them.”—Alan Cheuse, NPRQuick, joyful, and playfully astringent, with surprising comparisons and examples, this collection takes an unconventional approach to the art of poetry. Instead of rules, theories, or recipes, Singing School emphasizes ways to learn from great work: studying magnificent, monumentally enduring poems and how they are made— in terms borrowed...

Attributed to Valmiki, thought to be India's first poet, the Ramayana's origins date back thousands of years when it was first committed to Sanskrit. Since then, generations of children the world over have grown up with its story of Rama's quest to recover his wife Sita from her abduction by Raavana, the Lord of the Underworld. The tale has been celebrated in many languages and has spread to many other countries including Nepal, Tibet, Thailand, Burma, Laos, Cambodia, Malaysia and Indonesi...

In 1953, Gary Snyder returned to the Bay Area and, at age 23, enrolled in graduate school at the University of California, Berkeley, to study Asian languages and culture. He intensified his study of Chinese and Japanese, and taking up the challenge of one of his professors, Chen Shih–hsiang, he began to work on translating a largely unknown poet by the name of Han Shan, a writer with whom the professor thought Snyder might feel a special affinity. The results were magical. As Patrick Murph...

To mark the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II's accession to the throne, Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy brings together a dazzling array of contemporary poets (sixty in fact) to write about each of the of the sixty years of Her Majesty's reign. Celebrated writers as Simon Armitage, Gillian Clarke, Wendy Cope, Geoffrey Hill, Jackie Kay, Michael Longley, Andrew Motion, Don Paterson and Jo Shapcott, alongside some of the newest young talent around - address a moment or event from their cho...

Fruit-Gathering by Rabindranath Tagore is a poem about how people work hard so they can eat fruit. It's an ancient saying that "man cannot live on bread alone" and the old man in this poem symbolizes all of humanity, seeking nourishment from fruits. The old man spends his days climbing up the mountain to collect the delicious fruit.

"A travel writer with a cult following."-The New York Times"There are very few westerners who could successfully cover so much territory in China, but Porter pulls it off. Finding Them Gone uniquely draws upon his parallel careers as a translator and a travel writer in ways that his previous books have not. A lifetime devoted to understanding Chinese culture and spirituality blossoms within its pages to create something truly rare."-The Los An...

In his collection Risking Everything, Housden addressed love’s many aspects. Now, in Dancing with Joy, he assembles 99 poems from 69 poets that celebrate the many colors of joy. Anything can be a catalyst for joy, these poems reveal.For Wislawa Szymborska, the catalyst is a dream; for Robert Bly, being in the company of his ten-year-old son; for Gerald Stern, it is a grapefruit at breakfast; for Billy Collins, a cigarette. Dancing with Joy includes Englis...

This collection of Tibetan poetry and lyrics is accompanied by extensive commentary and offers a great insight into a rich literary culture.Tibet, remote and inaccessible, is less known to the western world for its literary than its artistic contributions to world culture. Nevertheless, it has produced a literature of enduring beauty and significance, the supreme achievement of which is the poetry of Milarepa, its greatest poet and saint.This Tibetan poetry...

Women played major roles in the history of Buddhist China, but given the paucity of the remaining records, their voices have all but faded. In Daughters of Emptiness, Beata Grant renders a great service by recovering and translating the enchanting verse - by turns assertive, observant, devout—of forty-eight nuns from sixteen centuries of imperial China. This selection of poems, along with the brief biographical accounts that accompany them, affords readers a glimpse into the extra...