- Title Pages
- Dedication
- Acknowledgments
- List of Abbreviations
- Introduction
-
Forty About Hen-jo-dai-kyoku-ryū -
Forty-One The Central Place of Grace [en] in the Poetic Process -
Forty-Two Verses on the Moon, Flowers, and Snow -
Forty-Three The Verse of Ineffable Remoteness (Yōon) -
Forty-Four Renga Rules and Buddhist Precepts: -
Forty-Five Poetry and Zen Meditation, the Cosmic Body, and the True Word -
Forty-Six The Link Betwee Maeku and Tsukeku -
Forty-Seven The Nature and Goal of Criticism -
Forty-Eight Selecting Friends of the Way -
Forty-Nine The Close Link and the Distant Link -
Fifty On the Issue of the Ultimate Style -
Fifty-One Discipline in the Mind-Ground -
Fifty-Two Orthodoxy and Plurality -
Fifty-Three Reclusion -
Fifty-Four The Impartiality of Divine Response -
Fifty-Five Heredity, Social Status, and the Way -
Fifty-Six The Mark of Temporality in Talent, Training, and Fame or Obscurity -
Fifty-Seven The Difficulty of Achieving the Way: -
Fifty-Eight Mutually Supportive and Antagonistic Arts -
Fifty-Nine The Practice of Poetry in Our Time -
Sixty The Question of the True Buddha and the Ultimate Poem -
Sixty-One The Ten Virtues -
Sixty-Two Epilogue - Appendix: Biographical Notes
- Bibliography
- Character List
- Index of First Lines
- Subject Index
The Central Place of Grace [en] in the Poetic Process
The Central Place of Grace [en] in the Poetic Process
- Chapter:
- (p.140) Forty-One The Central Place of Grace [en] in the Poetic Process
- Source:
- Murmured Conversations
- Publisher:
- Stanford University Press
This chapter, considered one of the most important in Sasamegoto, includes the frequently cited passage on the medieval religio-aesthetic ideal of spiritual grace (kokoro no en). Spiritual grace is a quality of mind that emanates from the existential knowledge of the emptiness and temporality of phenomena, as well as a consequent renunciation of mundane desire. Paradoxically, this consciousness is tied to a valorization of human feeling (hito no nasake), a bodhisattva-like compassion that is of greater value than life itself. In terms of poetic style, kokoro no en ideally manifests itself in the “chill and stilled” aspect of sabi. What is manifested in the poem is a nondualism of mind and phenomena. Shinkei argues that refined language is what sets poetry apart as a pedagogical instrument from the disorder associated with mundane discourse.
Keywords: Sasamegoto, Shinkei, spiritual grace, kokoro no en, human feeling, hito no nasake, sabi, nondualism, mind, Japanese poetry
Stanford Scholarship Online requires a subscription or purchase to access the full text of books within the service. Public users can however freely search the site and view the abstracts and keywords for each book and chapter.
Please, subscribe or login to access full text content.
If you think you should have access to this title, please contact your librarian.
To troubleshoot, please check our FAQs , and if you can't find the answer there, please contact us.
- Title Pages
- Dedication
- Acknowledgments
- List of Abbreviations
- Introduction
-
Forty About Hen-jo-dai-kyoku-ryū -
Forty-One The Central Place of Grace [en] in the Poetic Process -
Forty-Two Verses on the Moon, Flowers, and Snow -
Forty-Three The Verse of Ineffable Remoteness (Yōon) -
Forty-Four Renga Rules and Buddhist Precepts: -
Forty-Five Poetry and Zen Meditation, the Cosmic Body, and the True Word -
Forty-Six The Link Betwee Maeku and Tsukeku -
Forty-Seven The Nature and Goal of Criticism -
Forty-Eight Selecting Friends of the Way -
Forty-Nine The Close Link and the Distant Link -
Fifty On the Issue of the Ultimate Style -
Fifty-One Discipline in the Mind-Ground -
Fifty-Two Orthodoxy and Plurality -
Fifty-Three Reclusion -
Fifty-Four The Impartiality of Divine Response -
Fifty-Five Heredity, Social Status, and the Way -
Fifty-Six The Mark of Temporality in Talent, Training, and Fame or Obscurity -
Fifty-Seven The Difficulty of Achieving the Way: -
Fifty-Eight Mutually Supportive and Antagonistic Arts -
Fifty-Nine The Practice of Poetry in Our Time -
Sixty The Question of the True Buddha and the Ultimate Poem -
Sixty-One The Ten Virtues -
Sixty-Two Epilogue - Appendix: Biographical Notes
- Bibliography
- Character List
- Index of First Lines
- Subject Index