Red PineThe Clouds Should Know Me By Now: Buddhist Poet Monks of China

When a Zen Master writes, "A bird sings and the mountain is more quiet," he is summarizing the demeanor of a mind both stirred a stilled by a repose found only in what Buddhists call "mindfulness." This is an anthology stretching millennia linked by the recurrence of such moments of awakening and intactness. These poems are part of a daily bread of peaceful perception and disciplined sentience. Like all such bread, they are meant to be shared. You want to know how fishes and loaves multiplied on a hillside, these poems are part of such a multiplication. I can only sing this book's praises. Find out for yourselves what it is about and how it is organized. And remember as you read these glorious epiphanies, they were the only property of the men who wrote them and then left to the care of our delighted reading as a legacy.

While I loved the title and the premise of the book, I found the selections of poetry a bit disappointing in scope and substance. With so many wonderful Buddhist poets and verses to choose from, those presented did not, unfortunately, live up to the promise of the title.Nevertheless, this is a nice collection, but not quite what the title intimates.

A wonderful selection of Taoist and Buddhist poets. Features individual commentary for each poet. Timeless and uncluttered prose. Gets right to the center of existence. By turns sentimental, warm, cold, witty and humorous. Beauty as well as suffering and angst...but always well distilled and mature.

The Clouds Should Know Me by Now: Again, this is NOT fiction, and Amazon needs to remove the fiction-oriented boxes. Not that impressed. I hoped for poems with more depth of Buddhist practice. Only one poem really struck me, as it had the flavor of Thomas Merton's Sign of Jonas.

A very interesting collection . . . presents Zen in its simple and direct beauty.

Some fine and supple translations of zen monks' poetry through the centuries. My favorite line: "Last year's man/is this year's man"

This book represents the not-so-usual suspects in the genre of buddhist poetry. precise, yet delicate images, dynamic voices, translators who practice the way, this combination results not merely in translated verses, they are verses translating lives, works of art, acts of reverence.

I like this book very much. And it arrived quikly. It is a good experience. The service is good too. It is recommendable.

Wonderful to read these ppems in such inspired and varied translations, also a good sized selection of Ching An, who is often marginalised or overlooked in other anthologies.

This book is a real revelation for me. The poems are profound at times, and extremely calming. I love to think of these monks so many centuries ago. It is also pleasing to have the chinese script alongside it.

Fantastic