Zen In The Dufu’s Poems

Du Fu claimed that at his early age he had already “been devoted to The Templeof Double Peaks, and knocked at the temple Gate for the Seven Godfathers’Buddhist Zen Clique.” When we taste his early Buddhist related poems, e.g. Travelto Dragon Gate Ghetto’s Fengxian Temple, Recluse Si’s Thatch Hut, and EnjoyingShiyi Xu’s Reading Poems at Night etc. We feel that Du Fu travelled aroundrandomly, put Zen thoughts into his poems, set him thinking on Buddhism, and wasinspired by Buddhist thoughts bit by bit.Though he has learned from Master Hui Ke&Zeng Can, he was bound to theZen in loneliness. His late years’ works in Sichuan Province, like Tour in Bull’sHead Temple, View on Bull’ Head Temple, Tour in Shuailv Temple, View on ShuailvTemple etc. are the ones that express his intentions to follow Zen and theenlightenment in enjoying Zen’s thoughts and from his works, we can feel that hestudied more thoroughly on the Buddhism theory, seeking on the First Dogma,Searching the Unsticking Minds thus showing his spiritual requirements.His poems written in Kuizhou County like Farewell to Secretary Lee inBeginning Temple, Chants in Kuizhou in autumn, Visits to Monk of The TruthTemple and Tour toYuelu Mountain Daoliner Temple etc. further promoted hissatisfaction on being a virtuous man, apprehension of the actual emptiness ofexistence and seeking Buddhism, and proof on his ideology on Vanity realization ofNo Fixed Route of everything, All Cliques Exclude Sexually, Close Relationship ofSex and Vanity, and at the same time consciously and unconsciously carried onReturning Life theory Mahayana Buddhism has been advocating.More than forty Du Fu’s poems which are definitely related to Buddhism andZen include abundant Buddhism images and ideas. These images which are mainly derived from Mahayana Buddhism classics like Lotus Sultra, Vimalakirti Sultra,Surangama Sultra, Paramita Sultra. The Great Nirvana Sultra, the Sultra of Weilang,Sultra of Perfect Enlightenment etc. are for example, Three Carriages of DeerBuffalo and Goat,the White Buffalo Carriage. The Poor Guy who turns millionaireovernight and buys wisdom from then on, which are typical images from LotusSultra. The Delicious Meal, Marvelous Fragrance Constantly from the Mouth of aMonk and All Kinds of Fragrance, are strictly Vimalakirti’s images. Unsticking tothe Heart is the Surangama one.Besides, a series of images of Buddhism such as Sudatta Paving Gold,Pavingthe Land,Jetavana Vihara,The Garden of Offering to the Weak, the Vanity, the World,Azoic Era, the Snow Mountain, Mani’s Pearls and the Light all widely stretch on theBuddhism classics, hence, prove fully the close relationship between Du Fu’s poemsand Buddhism and Zen.