Like Water or Clouds: The T'ang Dynasty and the Tao

by A.S. Kline

The brilliant, and tragic, T’ang Dynasty of China, which reached its zenith in the eighth century AD, is explored, through its history, its ways of thought, and the lives and works of China’s three greatest Classical poets, Wang Wei, Li Po, and Tu Fu. Extensive, highly-crafted, translations of their poetry are included, and the text is hyperlinked to the poems. Browse or download this free text.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, China

239 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 22, 2015

About the author

Translator

Reviews

[Cristy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read Harder Challenge #23(b): Read a book of poetry in translation on a theme other than love.

Much historical context is required for the Western mind. Fortunately, this text provides plenty - it's honestly more history book than verse. The actual poetry is ethereal and somewhat whimsical.

[Myhte]

silent and empty, alone and unchanging, it has no name

over blue Void's groundless deep, moon and sun fuse silver and gold, cloud princesses slant down the air, with rainbow skirt and misted cloak. White tigress lutes strike crystal sounds, drawn by phoenix birds' flying traces, heaven's queen spans the magic spaces, the faerie fields all full of folk. My mind was stunned, my senses shaken, dazzled by the light I cried out loud and wake to find the empty pillows. All things vanish in mist and cloud.

our life's a play of light and shade,
returning at last to the Void.

see pictures of hills and seas,
one glance finds all of heaven and earth.

i am a lover of true quietness
watching the flow of clear water
I dream of sitting on the uncarved rock
casting a line on the endless stream.

once a tiny child now an old man
white hairs to match the soft down.
how the heart gets hurt by life
beyond the gateless gate's
where craving ends.

tie ourselves to eternal journeys,
swear to meet again in the milky way.

sing and watch the white moon rise,
until song's end and sense is gone.

on jade stairs the white of dewfall
deeply soaked the silken slippers
she lets fall the crystal blind
sees, through gauze, a moon of autumn.

[Erik Moron · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reading “Like Water on Clouds,” was very inspiring. I really enjoyed how he used his words to describe nature in his poems. He made me wonder and think on how my outlook is on nature, and how I don’t recognize its true beauty every day. Tao Yuanming was a very simple writer and he shows that he lived this way as well in his poems. He truly loved the way he lived his life and took the smallest things for granted. He made me think of all the things one worries about in today’s world that we shouldn’t. It made me feel like I should have a better outlook on certain situations, and to live a more simple life. I believe that in this point in time of our lives, it makes for a difficult scenario. We are all pushed by celebrities/ important people to live like they do. So we try to mimic there way of living, dressing, and acting. If we were all as simple as Tao, we would not be in this situation. We’d be in a forest enjoying the simple gifts of this Earth, taking it all in and not dwelling on things that don’t really matter at the end. As long as we are peaceful with ourselves, that is all that’s important. (217)

[kenneth · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting sampling of poets and ideas, but the translations lacked imagination.