Introduction

Part One

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

Part Two

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

Reference Matter