Awakened Cosmos: The Mind of Classical Chinese Poetry

"Although it tells the tale of an individual's life, this book is no ordinary biography. Awakened Cosmos presents the life and poetry of Tu Fu through the lens of the idea that animated all of his work that a person is a location in which the cosmos can awaken to itself. Each of the nineteen chapters begins with one of Tu Fu's poems, rendered first in literal character-by-character translation, then in translator David Hinton's signature style. Hinton captures the texture and density of the originals while rendering the poems in vivid, accessible English. He then offers a philosophically rich interpretation of each poem, at once delving into the depths of the Daoist and Ch'an influences, context, and subtext of the poems and guiding the reader through TuFu's dramatic life--which included everything from serving in the Emperor's court and achieving national prestige as a poet to experiencing warfare, deprivation, and years of refugee wandering. The result is nothing short of remarkable--a biography of the wild Cosmos awakened to itself in one particular human manifestation: the poet Tu Fu"--
A deep and radically original exploration of Taoist and Ch'an (Zen) Buddhist wisdom through the lens of the life and work of Tu Fu, widely considered China's greatest classical poet.What is consciousness but the Cosmos awakened to itself? This question is fundamental to the Taoist and Ch'an (Zen) Buddhist worldview that shapes classical Chinese poetry. A uniquely conceived biography, Awakened Cosmos illuminates that worldview through the life and work of Tu Fu (712-770 C.E.), China's greatest classical poet. Tu Fu's writing traces his life from periods of relative normalcy to years spent as an impoverished refugee amid the devastation of civil war. Exploring key poems to guide the reader through Tu Fu's dramatic life, Awakened Cosmos reveals Taoist/Ch'an insight deeply lived across the full range of human experience.Each chapter presents a poem in three stages: first, the original Chinese; then, an English translation in Hinton's masterful style; and finally, a lyrical essay that discusses the untranslatable philosophical dimensions of the poem. The result is nothing short of remarkable: a biography of the Cosmos awakened to itself in the form of a magisterial poet alive in T'ang Dynasty China.Thirty years ago, David Hinton published America's first full-length translation of Tu Fu's work. Awakened Cosmos is published simultaneously with a newly translated and substantially expanded version of that landmark translation: The Selected Poems of Tu Fu: Expanded and Newly Translated (New Directions).