Poetry Chaikhana
Sacred Poetry from Around the World

Buddhist : Zen / Chan

Taoist

18th Century

China
(East Asia)

Yuan Mei

Timeline (1716 - 1798)

Poems by Yuan Mei
Books - Links

Yuan Mei, Yuan Mei poetry, Buddhist, Buddhist poetry, Zen / Chan poetry, poetry, Taoist poetry

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Yuan Mei was born in Hangchow, Chekiang during the Qing dynasty. As a boy, he was a talented student who earned his basic degree at the age of eleven. He received the highest academic degree at 23 and then went to advanced studies. But Yuan Mei failed in his studies of the Manchu language, which limited his future government career.

Like many of the great Chinese poets, Yuan Mei exhibited many talents, working as a government official, teacher, writer, and painter.

He eventually left public office and retired with his family to a private estate named "The Garden of Contentment." In addition to teaching, he made a generous living writing funerary inscriptions. Among other things, he also collected local ghost stories and published them. And he was an advocate of women's education.

He traveled quite a bit and soon gained the reputation as the pre-eminent poet of his time. His poetry is deeply engaged with Chan (Zen) and Taoist themes of presence, meditation, and the natural world. As biographer Arthur Whaley notes, Yuan Mei's poetry "even at its lightest always had an undertone of deep feeling and at its saddest may at any moment light a sudden spark of fun."

Poems by Yuan Mei

	Climbing the Mountain
	Gone Again to Gaze on the Cascade
	Just Done
	Mad Words
	Motto
	Nearing Hao-pa
	P'u-t'o Temple

Recommended Books

	Censored by Confucius: Ghost Stories of Yuan Mei, Edited by Kam Louie Amazon.com
	A Drifting Boat: Chinese Zen Poetry, Edited by J. P. Seaton / Edited by Dennis Maloney Amazon.com
	I Don't Bow to Buddhas: Selected Poems of Yuan Mei, Translated by J. P. Seaton Amazon.com
	The Poetry of Zen: (Shambhalla Library), Edited by Sam Hamill / Edited by J. P. Seaton Amazon.com
	Yuan Mei: Eighteenth Century Chinese Poet, by Arthur Waley Amazon.com

Related Links:

	Yuan Mei Biography http://www.bookrags.com/biography-yuan-mei/index.html Biography online.

Please support the Poetry Chaikhana, as well as the authors and publishers of sacred poetry, by purchasing some of the recommended books through the links on this site. Thank you!

Poetry Chaikhana Sacred Poetry from Around the World

Yuan Mei

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Poetry Chaikhana
Sacred Poetry from Around the World