Chinese poetry has been championed in the West by Ezra Pound, Kenneth Rexroth, Jack Kerouac, and Gary Snyder. This alluring anthology brings together the work of 14 Chinese Buddhist poet monks writing between the T'ang Dynasty and the early twentieth century. As Andrew Schelling notes in the introduction, these spare poems are restrained, excluding "anything grand, sensational, strenuous, or heroic." The dharma is hinted at and approached indirectly without any fanfare. These gentle verses present a quiet respect for "the ten thousand things" — Taoist shorthand for earth's numberless creatures.
Some of the delights to be found here are Chia Tao's sadness at seeing off an old friend at dusk, Ch'i-Chi's musings on white hair, and Shih-Shu's advocacy of the study of the Way. Many poems pay homage to the natural world, the pleasures of solitude, and the unencumbered life.