The Buddhist Thought Of Poet Wang Wei And Comparision With Xuan Guang's Chan Poems

Wang Wei lived in the flourishing period of Tang dynasty when various schools of Buddhism flourished.He,a quiet man,studied Buddhism and the Chan sect and liked to study Buddha dharma,meditate,restrain himself and help others,provide fasting practice with monks and friends from various schools of Buddhism.Therefore,he not only learned about various schools of Buddhism but also lived a happy life by practice.Buddhism had greatly influenced his poems.The fusion of poetic image and meditative stage had reached a high artistic realm,spiritually silence.His study of Hua Yan Jing,Wei Mo Jie Jing,Tan Jing reflectes well on his belief of Buddhism.About Hua Yan Jing,he studies and discusses with a monk,named Dao Guan,and other friends about the core doctrine,i.e.dharma origin.This doctrine and some words from Hua Yan Jing can also be found out in his poems.About Wei Mo Jie Jing,his poems describe Buddhist worshiping at home,career and enlightenment being compatible,relieving troubles in the secular society.About Tan Jing,his poems have conveyed the core concepts: Buddha-nature;having keen sights into matters and be Buddha-like;realizing one's Buddha-nature.By studying Mahayana,he realizes that neither we,nor other beings,nor any phenomenon in the universe,has a permanent,separate,and independent core,soul,or identity,i.e.emptiness,by which he views the life,officialdom,society and issues,so he is not obsessed by all things.Huineng,a famous monk in Chan Buddhism,stresses the perspective of “no-thought”,similar to what Bodhisattva says,no thought will lead to Pure Land.Therefore,Wang Wei also advocates that,which can reflect in his poem,“The coming birds do not cause disturbance,and get along well with other animals”.Also he realizes the concept of emptiness,so he has a positive attitude towards life,just as “A philosophical person adapts himself to any circumstance,forgets himself but gives his love to the common”.The most contribution to the poetic circles is dynamic and static combination in the meditative state.By studying Mahayana,he realizes that neither we,nor other beings,nor any phenomenon in the universe,has a permanent,separate,and independent core,soul,or identity,i.e.emptiness,by which he views the life,officialdom,society and issues,so he is not obsessed by all things.Huineng,a famous monk in Chan Buddhism,stresses the perspective of “no-thought”,similar to what Bodhisattva says,no thought will lead to Pure Land.Therefore,Wang Wei also advocates that,which can reflect in his poem,“Down in my heart I have always been as pure as this limpid water is”.Also he realizes the concept of emptiness,so he has a positive attitude towards life,just as “A philosophical person adapts himself to any circumstance,forgets himself but gives his love to the common”.The most contribution to the poetic circles is dynamic and static combination in the meditative state.By studying the Buddha dharma and cultivating himself according to the doctrines,he has reached the state of Buddhism,which also can be shown in his poems.State of emptiness,expresses that “Essence is emptiness”.It means that phenomena that we experience have no inherent nature by themselves.Just as the poem says,“All things and phenomena,with internal and external causes,will exist in this world.However,they are not eternal,so they can be said to be emptiness.Therefore,it is difficult for us to obtain”.“Emptiness is essence” means that when there is an absence of everything external,we are at peace with ourselves,at peace with the love that fills that emptiness.Just as the poem says,“The purpose of this trip is to ask some questions about Buddhism,the hardship of the journey serves as a foil to the poet's devotion to the dharma.” The poem is written by Chan words,and is also written by the landscape of nature,just as “No one can be seen in the quiet valley,only the voices of people are heard.” It is because no one in the valley(emptiness)that the voice can be heard(essence).State of emptiness,expresses that “Essence is emptiness”.It means that phenomena that we experience have no inherent nature by themselves.Just as the poem says,“All things and phenomena,with internal and external causes,will exist in this world.However,they are not eternal,so they can be said to be emptiness.Therefore,it is difficult for us to obtain”.“Emptiness is essence” means that when there is an absence of everything external,we are at peace with ourselves,at peace with the love that fills that emptiness.Just as the poem says,“The purpose of this trip is to ask some questions about Buddhism,the hardship of the journey serves as a foil to the poet's devotion to the dharma.” The poem is written by Chan words,and is also written by the landscape of nature,just as “No one can be seen in the quiet valley,only the voices of people are heard.” It is because no one in the valley(emptiness)that the voice can be heard(essence).State of fulfillment,means that he realizes his Buddha-nature,which is as pure as the bright moon and clear water,i.e.fulfillment of the enlightenment,just as “No one knows me in the remote mountain;there is only ‘a bright moon' with me”.What's more,the poem “The young girls live near the Baishitan and wash clothes under the moonlight”,means that by understanding the pure Buddha-nature,he can get what his soul wants.State of leisure,shows that his leisure and content are reflected by the wonderful landscape,just as “Although flowers fall and birds chirp,it is silent in the mountain”.His leisure and content serves as a foil to the peaceful environment,just as “Down in my heart I have always been as pure as this limpid water is”.Moreover the poem “He sees the mountain while drinking,and likes to hold the guqin,leaning against the tall pine”reflects that he is really carefree.The author finds out that Wang Wei and Xuanguang,a Vietnamese Chan master,lived in different countries and periods,but their Chan poems have something in common.Therefore,the author not only studies Wang Wei's poems,but also finds out the similarities and differences of their Chan poems by comparison.From the perspective of contents,their Chan poems have something in common,such as Chan stories,Chan doctrines and Chan interests.About the Chan doctrines,they both take essence being emptiness,Buddha nature and non-duality as principles.About the Chan interests,they both express the pleasure of leisure life in the poems which reflects the comprehension of state of leisure after meditation.About Chan stories,they both describe the monasteries situated in the remote and quiet places.However,there is a difference in describing monks' spiritual life.Wang Wei studies Buddhism as a lay Buddhist,so he describes monks live a compassionate and harmonious life.But Xuanguang studies Buddhism as a monk,so he describes that he lives a leisure and delightful life.From the perspective of image,they use the same image in describing the life being impermanent and suffering because they both reach the spiritual state of leisure after meditation.Wang Wei lives a life of being both hermit and official.He often goes sightseeing,lives a carefree life and takes living in seclusion as the life goal after middle age.Through such rich life experience,he use more images to express the Chan interests while describing the landscape,some of which do not appear in Xuanguang's poems.After being a monk,Xuanguang often practices and teaches the monks to study Buddha dharma in the monastery and takes living a leisure life as his life goal.So the image he uses is most about the daily life in the monastery and the landscape around.