Abstract
Pei Yue 裴説 is a poet who flourished in the Late Tang (618–907) and Five Dynasties (907–960). The historical literature contains relatively limited information about his life, and his poems handed down to this day are also rare. To date, he has not been a major focus in the academic literature. Eight complete poems and two remnants from Pei Yue’s existing poems were addressed to monks, including the renowned monk and calligrapher Huaisu 懷素 (737–?), the two outstanding monks and poets Guanxiu 貫休 (832–912) and Shangyan 尚顏 (fl. 881), as well as the lesser known Chubin 處賓, Chumo 處默, Zhiqian 知乾, a nameless monk always in his monastery (bu chuyuan seng 不出院僧), and Su Zhan 蘇瞻, who was an advanced scholar (jinshi 進士) and planned to become a monk. It can be seen from these poems that Pei Yue often associated with monks: he discussed Buddhist concepts and artistic skills with them, and he both praised and mourned them. Moreover, Pei Yue was strongly averse to worldly life and yearned for a peaceful and pure land. He understood the intricacies of a number of Buddhist concepts, such as “emptiness” (wu 無) and “mind” (xin 心). He sometimes compared and combined Buddhist theories with poetic creation.
Highlights
No existing historical record reveals the year of Pei Yue’s birth or death, and many history books summarize his life in a few words: Pei Yue became the NumberOne Scholar in the third year of Tianyou 天祐 (906) in the TangDynasty;1 he once served as Rectifier of Omissions (Buque 補闕) and Vice Director in the Ministry of Rites (Libu yuanwailang 禮部員外郎), and he often wandered among “civilian society” because his official career was hindered by war (Jiang1981, p. 807)
不出院僧), and Su Zhan 蘇瞻, who was an advanced scholar and planned to become a monk. It can be seen from these poems that Pei Yue often associated with monks: he discussed
Despite having a scholarly reputation, he has not attracted the attention of academics because he does not have many political achievements or outstanding extant poems
Summary
No existing historical record reveals the year of Pei Yue’s birth or death, and many history books summarize his life in a few words: Pei Yue became the Number. “artistic styles” of Pei Yue’s “poems describing traveling or sceneries”, “Buddhist and Daoist poems”, “poems recording current events” and “mourning poems” He emphasizes that Pei Yue’s poems have the characteristics of “thinking hard, polishing words and desiring for novelty”. Pei Yue expressed worship, admiration, mourning and pity for monks He generously eulogized a monk calligrapher, discussed poetry with a monk poet, memorialized a dead monk and interacted with a scholar who would later become a monk and, achieve liberation. Performing in depth research on Pei Yue’s poems for monks represents a good starting point from which to explore the relationship between Buddhism and the poetry of the Tang Dynasty
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