- Title Pages
- Dedication
- Acknowledgments
- List of Abbreviations
- Introduction
-
One Prologue -
Two Renga History -
Three On the Tsukubashū -
Four Post-Shinkokinshū Waka -
Five Ancient and Middle-Period Renga -
Six The Character of the Work of the Early Masters -
Seven The Style of Ineffable Depth (Yūgen) -
Eight Learning and the Study of Renga -
Nine The Role of Waka in Renga Training -
Ten On Hokku -
Eleven Double Meaning in Poetry -
Twelve The Manifold Configurations of Poetry -
Thirteen The Roots of Poetry in Temporality -
Fourteen Poetic Process as a Contemplation -
Fifteen The Wisdom of Nondiscrimination -
Sixteen Right Teaching and the Individual Poet -
Seventeen The Influence of Companions in the Way -
Eighteen Poetry and the Mundane Mind -
Nineteen The Issue of Fame as Index of Poetic Value -
Twenty Poetry is an Existential Discipline -
Twenty-One Poetry Is a Self-Consuming Passion -
Twenty-Two Worldly Glory Versus Reclusive Concentration -
Twenty-Three Criticism is a Function of One's Own Limitations -
Twenty-Four Sitting with a Master -
Twenty-Five Constant Practice Is Decisive -
Twenty-Six Valorizing the Deviant or Obscure -
Twenty-Seven The Difficulty of Comprehending Superior Poetry -
Twenty-Eight The “Vulgar” Verse -
Twenty-Nine Plagiarism -
Thirty Excessive Straining After Effect -
Thirty-One Semantic Confusion -
Thirty-Two Incomprehensibility -
Thirty-Three The Close Link and the Distant Link -
Thirty-Four On Hen-jo-dai-kyoku-ryū as the Structure of the Renga Link -
Thirty-Five On Rikugi: -
Thirty-Six Poetry Contests and Criticism -
Thirty-Seven Marks and Grade Points in Renga -
Thirty-Eight One's True Poetry Emerges in Old Age -
Thirty-Nine The State of Renga in Our Time - Appendix: Biographical Notes
- Bibliography
- Character List
- Index of First Lines
- Subject Index
The Difficulty of Comprehending Superior Poetry
The Difficulty of Comprehending Superior Poetry
- Chapter:
- (p.81) Twenty-Seven The Difficulty of Comprehending Superior Poetry
- Source:
- Murmured Conversations
- Publisher:
- Stanford University Press
This chapter reveals Shinkei's Buddhist-inspired conception of renga as a poetic structure. According to Shinkei, the renga verses of those who have reached the farthest realm tend to sound ever more remote and are difficult to comprehend. This is because the consummate renga verse is a manifestation of a mind that has achieved the state of “perfect fusion,” or all-encompassing comprehensiveness. More specifically, it is a mind that is aware of the progressively widening function of the single verse in relation to the one immediately preceding and following it; is sensible to the larger block of verses of which it is a part; and sees the whole sequence. A person who can only see the verse as such, in isolation, will never be able to understand its true significance. Like the dharmas, the single verse is empty because it is conditioned by what precedes it, yet it is real because it also conditions what follows it.
Keywords: Shinkei, renga, Japanese poetry, perfect fusion, verse
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- Title Pages
- Dedication
- Acknowledgments
- List of Abbreviations
- Introduction
-
One Prologue -
Two Renga History -
Three On the Tsukubashū -
Four Post-Shinkokinshū Waka -
Five Ancient and Middle-Period Renga -
Six The Character of the Work of the Early Masters -
Seven The Style of Ineffable Depth (Yūgen) -
Eight Learning and the Study of Renga -
Nine The Role of Waka in Renga Training -
Ten On Hokku -
Eleven Double Meaning in Poetry -
Twelve The Manifold Configurations of Poetry -
Thirteen The Roots of Poetry in Temporality -
Fourteen Poetic Process as a Contemplation -
Fifteen The Wisdom of Nondiscrimination -
Sixteen Right Teaching and the Individual Poet -
Seventeen The Influence of Companions in the Way -
Eighteen Poetry and the Mundane Mind -
Nineteen The Issue of Fame as Index of Poetic Value -
Twenty Poetry is an Existential Discipline -
Twenty-One Poetry Is a Self-Consuming Passion -
Twenty-Two Worldly Glory Versus Reclusive Concentration -
Twenty-Three Criticism is a Function of One's Own Limitations -
Twenty-Four Sitting with a Master -
Twenty-Five Constant Practice Is Decisive -
Twenty-Six Valorizing the Deviant or Obscure -
Twenty-Seven The Difficulty of Comprehending Superior Poetry -
Twenty-Eight The “Vulgar” Verse -
Twenty-Nine Plagiarism -
Thirty Excessive Straining After Effect -
Thirty-One Semantic Confusion -
Thirty-Two Incomprehensibility -
Thirty-Three The Close Link and the Distant Link -
Thirty-Four On Hen-jo-dai-kyoku-ryū as the Structure of the Renga Link -
Thirty-Five On Rikugi: -
Thirty-Six Poetry Contests and Criticism -
Thirty-Seven Marks and Grade Points in Renga -
Thirty-Eight One's True Poetry Emerges in Old Age -
Thirty-Nine The State of Renga in Our Time - Appendix: Biographical Notes
- Bibliography
- Character List
- Index of First Lines
- Subject Index
