Description

Translated by Meredith McKinney (Shambhala, paperback)

Publication Date: September 7, 2021

Publisher Marketing:A fresh translation of the classical Buddhist poetry of Saigy, whose aesthetics of nature, love, and sorrow came to epitomize the Japanese poetic tradition.

Saigy, the Buddhist name of Fujiwara no Norikiyo (11181190), is one of Japans most famous and beloved poets. He was a recluse monk who spent much of his life wandering and seeking after the Buddhist way. Combining his love of poetry with his spiritual evolution, he produced beautiful, lyrical lines infused with a Buddhist perception of the world.

Gazing at the Moonpresents over one hundred of Saigystankatraditional 31-syllable poemsnewly rendered into English by renowned translator Meredith McKinney. This selection of poems conveys Saigys story of Buddhist awakening, reclusion, seeking, enlightenment, and death, embodying the Japanese aesthetic ideal ofmono no awareto be moved by sorrow in witnessing the ephemeral world.