What? 108 Zen Poems

by Un, Ko; Hanh, Thich Nhat; Ginsberg, Allen

• ISBN13: 9781888375657
• ISBN10: 1888375655
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-01-22
• Publisher: Parallax Press

Summary

Korea's premier poet, the former Buddhist monk Ko Un, presents 108 Zen poems: "Thought-stopping Koan-like mental firecrackers" - from the Foreword by Allen Ginsberg. From these poems, we can taste, hear, smell, and see the life of Ko Un, who is affectionately called "the great mountain peak" by his friends. Ko Un is a traveller on the Way. Throughout his eventful life as monk, poet, novelist, political dissident, and husband and father, Ko Un has dashed like a galloping horse, always moving and searching. When this volume first appeared in 1997with the title Beyond Self, Ko Un and the translators were not very happy with it. In addition to now receiving a title more exactly reflecting the simple Mu_nya of the original Korean, the translations have been slightly revised to bring them closer to the originals. Also added were eleven original brush paintings by the author. It is a joy to re-introduce Ko Un, a compassionate poet, who said that "A poet should cry many days before becoming a poet. A poet must have cried for others when he was three or four years old." The poems in this volume offer 108 glimpses of Ko Un. His poems are also 108 ways to look at ourselves.

Table of Contents

Foreword	p. 9
Introduction	p. 13
Poet's Welcome	p. 15
Echo	p. 21
The Owl	p. 22
Baby	p. 23
Blind Aniruddha	p. 24
Beef	p. 25
Walking Down a Mountain	p. 27
Three Names	p. 28
Bushmen	p. 30
Testing	p. 31
Beyond	p. 32
Deep Feelings	p. 33
The Monk Gyeongho	p. 35
Broad Daylight	p. 36
A Smile [I]	p. 37
Clothes	p. 38
A Drunkard	p. 39
The Lotus Sutra	p. 40
Sitting	p. 41
An Alley	p. 42
Moon at Midday	p. 43
A Temple's Main Hall	p. 44
The Master's Scroll	p. 45
A Rainbow	p. 46
South and North	p. 47
Meditation Room	p. 48
Late Summer	p. 49
A Sudden Shower	p. 50
Idle Talk	p. 51
A Friend	p. 52
Bar by a Road Junction	p. 53
Gleaning	p. 55
Dayfly	p. 56
A Phantom	p. 57
A Rosary	p. 59
Moon [I]	p. 60
One Word	p. 61
Lepers	p. 62
Master Bojo of Gorqeo	p. 63
A Green Frog [I]	p. 64
In Your Bosom	p. 65
Cuckoo	p. 66
A Smile [II]	p. 67
The Horizon	p. 68
Mountain Is Mountain	p. 69
Mountaintop	p. 70
Faraway Lights	p. 71
Ripples [I]	p. 72
Asking the Way	p. 73
Baby Magpies	p. 75
Blue Skies	p. 76
In a Tiny Prison Cell	p. 77
A Lion	p. 78
The Path	p. 79
A Certain Bird	p. 81
The Wash	p. 82
Palgong Mountain	p. 83
The Wind	p. 84
One Day	p. 85
Simply	p. 86
Steak	p. 87
In Daylight	p. 88
Jongno Street	p. 89
Old Buddha	p. 90
Reeds in Jeju Island	p. 91
A Stone Between Two Fields	p. 93
Moon [II]	p. 94
Odae Mountain	p. 95
Spring Dreams	p. 96
A Green Frog [II]	p. 97
Ripples [II]	p. 98
Heavy Rain	p. 99
Weaklings	p. 100
Wind	p. 101
Leaving Home	p. 102
A Hermit	p. 103
Words I Like	p. 104
Mosquito	p. 105
Hanshan and Shide	p. 106
The Women of Majeong	p. 107
A New Way	p. 108
House	p. 109
A Single Word	p. 110
A Shooting Star	p. 111
Summer	p. 113
An Autumn Night	p. 114
Today	p. 115
Earthworm	p. 116
A Bowl of Rowan Tea	p. 117
One Little Kid	p. 118
Slamming the Door	p. 119
Friends	p. 120
Late One Night	p. 121
Why Kill?	p. 122
Birthplace	p. 123
A Moonlit Night	p. 124
A Moonless Night	p. 125
A Nap	p. 126
One Fly	p. 127
Wild Boars	p. 128
Harsh Training	p. 129
Tripitaka Koreana	p. 130
Ananda	p. 131
The Pole Star	p. 133
Records of the Lamp Transmission	p. 134
A Letter	p. 135
Yefu	p. 136
Pig	p. 137
Parting	p. 139
Notes on the Poems	p. 140
Biography of Ko Un	p. 146
Translator's Note	p. 157
Table of Contents provided by Blackwell. All Rights Reserved.