A Study On The Farewell Poems Of Monks In The Northern Song Dynast

The research subject of this paper is the farewell poems of the monks in the Northern Song Dynasty.It starts the discussion from the titles of their poems and basic information of the creation group.The element of recording things is added into the titles of the farewell poems of the monks in the Northern Song Dynasty,and long titles begin to emerge.In terms of sects,there are three farewell poem creation groups in the Northern Song Dynasty,namely,the Tiantai Sect,the Yunmen Sect and the Linji Sect.They either live in similar times,bidding farewell and replying with poems mutually,or form a closely associated creation group by passing on from generation to generation.Then,this paper discusses the reasons why monks in the Northern Song Dynasty write farewell poems,which mainly include the following three points: the common practice of traveling,repaying kindness and filial piety and communicating with scholars.Bidding farewell affects people’ s mood.In their farewell poems,the monks in the Northern Song Dynasty express emotions and thoughts such as lingering and sadness,wandering and homesickness,philosophy and encouragement,etc.The combination of emotion and thought is the most remarkable characteristic of the emotional features in the farewell poems of the monks in the Northern Song Dynasty.In addition,the farewell poems in the Northern Song Dynasty have their own characteristics in genre,expression and aesthetic style.In terms of genre,they are comprehensive and diverse.Monks of the Tiantai Sect mostly use the Wulv(an eight-line poem with five characters to a line and a strict tonal pattern and rhyme scheme),monks of the Yunmen Sect,the Linji Sect and other Chan sects mostly use the Qijue(a four-line poem with seven characters to a line and a strict tonal pattern and rhyme scheme),the miscellaneous poems and old style poems.In the late Northern Song Dynasty,a great deal of metrical farewell poems emerge.The expression of the farewell poems of the monks in the Northern Song Dynasty are profound and implicit.The monks express their thoughts by means of objects and cite Buddhist cases in their poems,and their poems are featured with state and hardly any emotions.In terms of aesthetic style,the farewell poems of the monks in the Northern Song Dynasty present two types of styles.On the one hand,they are clear and natural,demonstrating the feature of “clear ” in the poems of monks;on the other hand,they are magnificent and generous,reflecting the grand and magnificent trend of the times.Among the numerous farewell poems of the monks,the works of Xuedou Chongxian of the Yunmen Sect and Huihong of the Huanglong School,Linji Sect in the Northern Song Dynasty are more than others and boast most prominent styles.The farewell poems of Chongxian have a natural and unconventional style and use a wide range of appropriate allusions;the farewell poems of Huihong use more Buddhist metaphors which are peculiar,unusual and novel in portraying characters with a clear and bright disposition and demeanor.They represent the highest level of farewell poem creation by the monks in the Northern Song Dynasty.