The Selection Of Canon And Poetry Composition Of Japanese Gosan Zen School

This paper studies the influence of poetry of Chinese Song Dynasty on Poetry of Gosan Zen school from the angle of canon.The first chapter starts with the form of creation of Gosan poetry,summarizing its general style,and the influence from Su Shi’s canon.From the generative theory of poetry,Gosan poetry is with a pattern of responding poems.Based on this judgment,along the vicissitude of form of creation,the first segment reveals the development of Gosan poetry.The context of responding poetry draws the most attention from Gosan monks to the Su Shi-centric responding poems when the creation follows the canon of Su Shi.The second segment discusses the way Gosan Monks imitated the style of Su Shi-centric responding poems,from the form of Ci Yun(using the rhyme sequence of a poem),the themes and contents,to the function of poetry as social communication and poetization of daily life.Gosan monks’ competitive attitude and pursuit of aesthetics all embodies the influence of Su Shi-centric responding poems.The third segment discusses the image of Su Shi in Gosan painting and inscription.Dissecting the text of Su Shi in Gosan painting and inscription,comparing narration is found universally:in the Zen monks’ works,Su Shi is the frustrated Senior Dongpo,but on the other end of the comparison,he is the Transcendent Dongpo.From this phenomenon,it’s conceivable that the comparing narrative pattern becoming more and more common in inscription of Su Shi was the embodiment of assimilation of the monks’ creation of responding poems at poetry-themed gatherings.The comparison pattern of Su Shi inscription in Gosan Zen school was assimilated and reinforced by responding poetry at such gatherings,which leads the selection of subject matter,eventually affecting the molding of canon.The second chapter analyzes the influence from Huang Tingjian on the canon of Gosan Zen school from two angles.The first segment talks about the reason why Huang became the canon of these Zen monks,not only because he was the most featured poet in the Song Dynasty,but also because of the highly consistency of Huang’s pursuit in religion,art and life with the ideal of Zen monks.The discussion focuses on the image of "poet in the poetry jungle" and "White Tern".The second segment starts with the poetic theory and creation practice of Zen monks and discusses the specific influence of Huang Tingjian’s poetic theory on Gosan Zen poetry.The detailed research on some literatures discloses the preference of Gosan Zen monks accepting Huang’s poetic theory:the center of their learning goal was the wording,quoting,and syntax.During their learning,some examples in such poetic theories were absorbed parochially and mechanically.On the other hand,the pursuit of innovation in Huang’s spirit inspired the Zen monks to create fresh materials in poetry writing,slowing down the assimilation of Gosan poetry.The third chapter discusses the transfiguration of Gosan literature and the influence of Du Fu’s canon,that is,the other side of Gosan poetry apart from poetry writing from socialization,classic quoting,and refinement.The first segment introduces the reading and interpreting of Du Fu’s poetry among Gosan Zen school,from which the process of Gosan monks reading Du Fu’s poetry from notes and commentary to punctuation and annotation is revealed.The second section discusses the richness of images of Du Fu in painting during Song Dynasty,Yuan Dynasty and Gosan period,discovering the implication of the way Zen monks understood their reality in the way they depicted Du Fu,showing the element of reality of Gosan poetry.The third segment discusses the political and realistic side of Gosan Zen poetry,which was deeply affected by Du Fu’s works.Following the canon Du Fu started with "end of the year" poems,Gosan monks wrote poems that griped about their wasted talents and worried about the life.In the turbulence of Nanboku-cho period and the end of Muromati period,the pain from wars were depicted in an epic way in Gosan monks’poetry.To some extents,those Zen monks accepted the theories developed in the Song Dynasty discussing Du Fu’s "Poetry is history" theory,and showed their initiative in some of their poetry composition to record history in poetry and hide praises and censures in poetry.