The Study On The Zen Poetry Of Linji Sect In The Northern Song Dynasty

The Linji Sect in the Northern Song Dynasty with a rapid development and a differentiation of two factions named Huanglong and Yangqi,is one of five sects of the Nanzong Zen which called a flower with five leaves.Zen poetry is the monks' literary expression and also belongs to categories of Zen philosophy and Zen historiography.The study on the Zen poetry of Linji Sect in the Northern Song Dynasty is of great significance in observing the living condition and the content of meditation of the Linji monks,and also important in comprehending the development of the Linji Sect and concrete contents and features of the Linji Zen in the Northern Song Dynasty.In this paper,the Linji Zen poetry was put under the background of the whole sect to carry out the macroscopic observation and research.With starting from the three dimensions of monks,Zen poetry and Zen,and combining typical and representative poems,the study is aimed at obverving the characteristics of poetry and focusing on the internal relations between poetry and Zen Buddhism of the Linji Sect in the Northern Song Dynasty.In the way of thinking,the Zen poems of the Linji Sect in the Northern Song Dynasty reflect the characteristics of stopping,jumping,visualizing,figurating,eliminating logic and violating common sense.In the aspect of content,it has diversified theme types,especially there is the unique creation named Huanglong Sanguan in its Zen poems,which is the particular content in the Linji Sect in the Northern Song Dynasty.In the terms of artistic features,it has the characteristics of lively and daily language style,natural and simple aesthetic connotation and grand meteorological atmosphere.These characteristics are closely related to the contents of the Buddhist philosophy from the Master of Linji,named Linji Yixuan,and are basically derived from Zhaozhou Zen,Hongzhou Zen and even the Liuzu Zen.These characteristics are the embodiment of Zen Buddhism and Prajna.Although both the Huanglong and Yangqi factions are derived from the theories of Linji Yixuan,the Huanglong faction inherits the thoughts of Yixuan and Daoyi more faithfully,and Yangqi faction is more flexible and natural.These differences are clearly showed in the poetry from two monks named Qingliang Huihong and Yuanwu Keqin.Whether the way of thinking the poetry reflects or the content of the theme and the artistic features it shows,the poetry of the Linji Sect in the Northern Song Dynasty is actually the concrete interpretation of Linji monks' cognition and development of the empty thought of Zen and the inner meditation.