Introduction The Poems Wulian After the Rain An Autumn Night: Written in the Moment Jieshi Early Morning Qingming Miaoni Spring Night The Girl Nun from Yan Gatha Xingkong Reflecting on Myself Mojing Going by Way of Tiger Hill Jueqing Poem Inscribed on a Convent Wall Wuwei Deathbed Gatha Jiyin Dharma Hall Gatha Deyin Early Autumn: A Distant Evening View Song of Planting Bamboo Lady Huang Jieling Came to Stay at My Mountain Boudoir, Written in the Moment Derong Pitying the Caged Bird Who is Just Like Me Plum Blossom Jingming Improvised Dharma Instructions to My Disciples Jingyin Going to See Huang Yuanjie but Not Finding Her In Dumu Jin'gang Gatha Gatha Deathbed Gatha Xiang'an Yinhui Gatha: Eating Bamboo Shoots Deshan Carries His Bowl Miaohui Passing By the Tomb of Tenth Daughter Ma Drinking on Flower-Raining Terrace, I Was Assigned "Falling Leaves" as the Topic for a Poem Daoyuan Seated Meditation: Reflections Sengjian Early Summer The Autumn Flowering Crabapple Tree Shenyi A Dream Journey to Mount Tiantai Crossing Again the Hengyun Mountain, Thinking of Jingwei Zaisheng Composed in Early Spring Winter's Day Narrating My Feelings on a Winter's Night Jingwei The Emerald Sea Random Thoughts on Living in the Country Facing the Moon on an Autumn Night Sitting at Night Shangjian Huizong Village Life Thoughts on Living in Seclusion A Friend from the Inner Chambers Comes to Visit: Remembering Old Times Heartfelt Recollections Wugou Writing of My Feelings (Version 1) Writing of My Feelings (Version 2) Climbing the Mountain after the Snow Chaoyi Deathbed Gatha Mingxuan Wuzhen Autumn Night Falling Leaves Inscribed on a Ying Stone Weiji Xingzhi Ode to the Honeybees Living in the Mountains Listening to the Geese Jingnuo Chaoyue Song of the Ancient Plum Trees Passing by Yongqing Monastery, I Came Upon Its Peonies and Wrote These For Lady Yang A Celebration in Verse of the Autumn Orchid Chaoyan Miyin Self-Encomium Yizhen Mid-Autumn Younger Sister Yuying and I Planned to Meet on the Ninth Day, But She Didn't Arrive Living in the Mountains Among Falling Leaves Matching the Rhymes of "Cloud Hermitage" Shangxin Ice Yuanduan Yufu My Study: An Impromptu Verse Miaohui Dawn Sitting at Bo're Convent Shiyan Recalling a Dream Swallows Rising at Dawn: An Expression of Feelings A Reply to Sixth Elder Sister Ruixian Wanxian Inside the Convent: Reflections Lianhua Kedu Gatha Yinyue Xinglin In the MountainsThe Three Blows Gatha When Sansheng Saw People He Came Out, When Xinghua Saw People He Did Not Ansheng Ode to the Silkworm Mourning Zhanna Zhuanzheng Deathbed Gatha Zhisheng Ode to the Snow The Chrysanthemum Deri Early Autumn Feelings by a Rainy Window Deyue On an Autumn Night Listening to the Crickets Zhiyuan A Lament for Peng E Qiyuan Xinggang The First Month of Summer Retreat: A Song of Leisure Dharma Instructions for Mingyuan Dharma Instructions for Person of the Way Xu Chaogu Addressing the Congregation on My Birthday Matching Jiang Yundu's "Autumn Pavilion Song" Ode to the Plum Blossom Yigong Chaoke Grieving for My Master Climbing up to a Thatched Hut on Lingyin and Gazing at Feilai Peak: An Impromptu Poem Yikui Chaochen Five Gathas: Sitting in Meditation (To a Previous Tune) To a Previous Tune Just Before Parting from My Elder Brothers Bidding Farewell to the Lay Dharma-Protectors of Meixi Of My Feelings after Visiting the Nun Weiji from Xiongsheng and Not Finding Her In Hymn: The Honeycomb In Praise of the Venerable Bamboo (To a Previous Tune) On the Fifteenth of the Twelfth Lunar Month After the Snow, Returning Home by Boat I Improvised This Poem Presented to Chan Master Zhuying Inside my Boat on My Return Home to Dongting: An Impromptu Poem Deathbed Gatha Zukui Xuanfu An Ode to Honeybees An Ode to Fireworks Breaking off a Plum Branch to Offer to the Buddha To Myself A Leisurely Visit to an Ancient Temple Returning to the Mountain, I Cross the Lake Returning to the Mountains, I Laugh at Myself A Leisurely Stroll on a Moonlit Night Traveling by Boat on a Winter Day In Search of Plum Blossoms Dharma Instructions for Practitioner Keren Taking up Residence in a Hermitage Living in the Mountains: An Impromptu Poem Reading the Recorded Sayings of Layman Pang Leaving My Old Retreat on Dongting The Moon in the Water: A Gatha My Aspirations Dharma Instructions for Person of the Way Xunji To Layman Zhao Fengchu (second of two verses) The Road is Hard (To the Tune "Immortals by the River") Summer Rest on East Mountain Song of the Twelve Hours of the Day Living in the Mountains: Miscellaneous Gathas Thoughts Baochi Xuanzong Matching the Ten Verses of Chan Master Cishou Huaiyin's "Cloud Dispelling Terrace" Silk-embroidered Peonies Harmonizing with Temple Manager Teacher Shao's "Mastering Yangqi's Primary Strategy": Four Verses Watching the Snow from Nanzhou's Phoenix Rising Tower Dharma Instructions for Person of the Way Liyan Jizong Xingche Living the Nanyue Mountains: Miscellaneous Verses Mist and Clouds Peak Gods and Immortals Grotto Heavenly Terrace Temple Mount Zhong's Great Illumination Temple The Great Yang Spring The Second Month of Autumn: A Parting Poem Enjoying the Snow on New Year's Day My Aspirations Written to Rhymes by the Layman of Zhoukui Hermitage Visiting the Monk of Nanyue on His Sickbed: Two Poems To Chan Elder Dharma Brother Zaisheng on Her Fiftieth Birthday At the Zhixi Cloister on Hidden Lake, Presented to Chan Master Daoming Presented to Layman Xu Jingke Having Borrowed a Meditation Hut from Chan Practitioner Zhubing, I Wrote a Poem to Present to Her A Farewell Poem for Person of the Way Yan Duoli New Year's Eve of the Year Wuxu (1658) Composed for Layman Gu Mengdiao on His Sixtieth Birthday On an Autumn Day, Thinking of My Mother Dharma Instructions to the Lay Assembly: Four Gathas Ziyong Chengru A Bell Shattered After Being Struck and I Was Moved to Compose a Gatha Upon Hearing the Sound of Wood Being Chopped Ode to the Snow Two Verses: Living in the Mountains Thoughts in the Bingzi Year (1696) An Excursion to the Western Hills Gatha: Boarding My Boat Early Autumn Sentiments To My Elder Dharma Brother Ruru Asking Questions of the Masters: Four Gathas A Miscellaneous Chant Walking Through the Rice Paddies, I Casually Composed This Gatha Eight Miscellaneous Gathas (selection of three) Entrusting Head Student Zhi with Robes and Whisk, I Composed This Gatha Mingxiu Seeing Off Relatives, Bowing to My Master, and Taking the Vows My Inscription for a Painting of West Lake Requested While Staying at My Convent in Jingzhou Shuxia In Deep Autumn, Returning to My Hometown; in Sixth Uncle's Garden Pavilion, Standing in Front of the Chrysanthemums To the Tune "Immortal by the River" Composed While on a Boat To the Tune "Bodhisattva Barbarian": A Parting Poem Wuqing Feelings Huiji Reply to Lady Gioro Heseri Lianghai Ru'de Poems of the Pure Land Untitled Verses Written in Imitation of an Ancient Style: The Filial Girl Lu of Pinghu Buddha-Recitation (Selections from a Series of Forty-Eight Poems) Abbreviations Bibliography Index of Sources

"[The Hsu-Tang Library] will open up a classical tradition that spans millennia, relatively little of which has ever been translated into English. There is a humanity and irreverence to some of these works that readers expecting stuffy, prim Confucian moralizing will find refreshing." -- The Wall Street Journal "The Anthology of Poetry by Buddhist Nuns reveal hitherto hidden aspects of Chinese history and literature." -- Frances Wood, Times Literary Supplement "The volume presents not just precise and skilful translation but also original and solid research through a comprehensive introduction, a meticulous excavation and selection of long-neglected poems, a resourceful biographical account for each nun-poet, and annotations to the poems and translations... This is an excellent volume that presents a new kind of religious poetry and contributes greatly to the interdisciplinary field of Chinese literary tradition, Buddhist history and women and gender studies. Professor Beata Grant brings to life the voices and stories of Buddhist nuns from late imperial China and will inspire and facilitate other scholars to further study the nun-poets and their works." -- Studies in Chinese Religions "The volume presents not just precise and skilful translation but also original and solid research through a comprehensive introduction, a meticulous excavation and selection of long-neglected poems, a resourceful biographical account for each nun-poet, and annotations to the poems and translations... This is an excellent volume that presents a new kind of religious poetry and contributes greatly to the interdisciplinary field of Chinese literary tradition, Buddhist history and women and gender studies. Professor Beata Grant brings to life the voices and stories of Buddhist nuns from late imperial China and will inspire and facilitate other scholars to further study the nun-poets and their works." -- Studies in Chinese Religions "This is an excellent volume that presents a new kind of religious poetry and contributes greatly to the interdisciplinary field of Chinese literary tradition, Buddhist history and women and gender studies. Professor Beata Grant brings to life the voices and stories of Buddhist nuns from late imperial China and will inspire and facilitate other scholars to further study the nun-poets and their works." -- Jinhua Jia, Studies in Chinese Religions

Beata Grant is Professor Emerita of Chinese and Religious Studies at Washington University in St. Louis. Her previous books include The Red Brush: Women Writers of Imperial China (with Wilt Idema), Eminent Nuns: Women Chan Masters of Seventeenth-Century China, Escape from Blood Pond Hell: The Tales of Mulian and Woman Huang (with Wilt Idema), and Zen Echoes: Classic Koans with Verse Commentaries by Three Female Chan Masters.

Selling point: Most of these poems are translated into English here for the first time Selling point: Includes individual biographies for each of the poets as well as an Introduction that places these works in the larger context of Chinese Buddhism and poetry Selling point: Provides glimpses into the largely neglected lives of Buddhist nuns of this period Selling point: Introduces readers to a powerful and moving variety of religious poetry Selling point: Includes parallel Chinese text