Poetry Chaikhana
Sacred Poetry from Around the World

Buddhist : Zen / Chan

8th Century

About Meng Hao-jan

Timeline (689 - 740)

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English version by
David Hinton

Original Language
Chinese

Climbinb Long-View Mountain's Highest Peak

Themes

Moon

Mountain

Sky

Spring Blossom

Water

Recommended Books

	The Mountain Poems of Meng Hao-jan, Translated by David Hinton
	The Poetry of Zen: (Shambhalla Library), Edited by Sam Hamill / Edited by J. P. Seaton
	Sunflower Splendor: Three Thousand Years of Chinese Poetry, Edited by Wu-chi Liu / Edited by Irving Yucheng Lo

Rivers and mountains beyond the form seen:
Hsiang-yang's beauty brings them in reach,

and Long-View has the highest peak around.
Somehow I'd never climbed its cragged heights,

its rocky cliffs like walls hacked and scraped
and towering over mountains crowded near,

but today, skies so bright and clear, I set out.
Soon the far end of sight's all boundless away,

Cloud-Dream southlands a trifle in the palm,
Warrior Knoll lost in the realm of blossoms.

And back on my horse, riding home at dusk,
a vine-sifted moon keeps the stream lit deep.

-- from The Mountain Poems of Meng Hao-jan, Translated by David Hinton

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Poetry Chaikhana Sacred Poetry from Around the World

About Meng Hao-jan

Poetry Chaikhana
Sacred Poetry from Around the World