I love Amazon's book lists. Not only can I order e-books for my Kindle, but I can also find some pretty cheap hard cover and soft cover books.  Lately, I've been reading a lot of early Chinese poetry, translated of course.  I've read Ryokan, a book of haiku's and a collection of poetry by Cold Mountain, translated by Red Pine. The latest book of Zen poetry I have found was edited by Red Pine.

The Clouds Should Know Me By Now - Buddhist Poet Monks of China

This is a collection of poems by various Wandering Buddhist Poets of China. These men typically led a very austere life, many of them hermits.   Their poetry displays a simple beauty.  This book is a nice anthology of several of China's wandering poet monks. They are translated by multiple translators, Paul Hansen, Mike O'Connor (the second editor of the book), Red Pine (Bill Porter's pen name when doing translations), James Sanford, J.P. Seaton and Burton Watson.

The poets included in this beautiful anthology are Chia Tao, Ch'i Chi, The Nine Monks and Chih Yuan (poet monks of early Sung China), Han-Shan Te=Ch'ing (Cold Mountain), Shih Shu and Ching An.  The poets range from the 700s to 1912.

The book is nicely divided.  First, there is an introduction describing the 'wandering poet monk' tradition, and how until recently, the poetry of China was unknown to the West. The introduction describes how Chinese poetry was introduced and became popular in the west, instead of being forgotten. Who doesn't have a child who didn't learn about haiku's in grade school? Perhaps you remember this simple Chinese poetry style. 

Each poet is then introduced, and we get some details of their life and poetry.  Of course the best part of each chapter is the actual selection of poems by each poet. For those of you who read Chinese, or just appreciate the beauty of their written language. each poem is in the symbolic language of China as well as in the English translation.

Each chapter also has a few pages of notes (not really commentary, just notes) a bibliography, and a short list of translations in English.

Some examples

I will leave it to you to read most of these, but I did want to leave a few examples. The first poet introduced Chao Tao was a Buddhist monk of the middle T'sang dynasty. He was known as the 'Wandering Immortal'.   I was struck by the last verse of a poem entitled "Overnight at a Buddhist Mountain Temple"

One Buddhist Monk
eighty years old
has never heard
of the world's affairs

I chuckled to myself, wondering whether this was good or bad! Some days I wish I had never heard of the world's affairs, they are frequently the cause of anxiety. 

The same sentiment is echoed by Ch'i Chi in his poem Don't Ask

Don't ask if I'm out of touch with human affairs
kings, markquises- I leave all to them now.
Boorish by nature, no harm if I let it show
the way I did when I lived in the mountains.
In quiet moments I enter the soundless music,
in my madness reject properly ordered poems.
I act for myself, look after myself,
hoping the man in charge will understand.

Can poems like this still be written? From the last of the poets in this anthology, Ching An, lived from 1851 to 1912, this poem from a painting

A pine or two
three or four bamboo
cliffside cottage, long solitary silence
only floating clouds come to visit

Summary

I really enjoyed learning about these various wandering poet monks lives and even more, I enjoyed reading their poetry.  Some mornings or afternoons when I want to take some time to meditate, I will take this volume and just read a few random poems.  This book would be a great introduction to Zen poetry. No knowledge of Zen or Buddhism or any Chinese history is necessary to enjoy these simple but beautiful poems.  On deeper reflection, the poems can be seen on more levels, but even on the surface level, the poems can bring a great deal of imagery to mind.  If you enjoy poetry, The Clouds Should Know Me By Now is a great anthology of poetry from China's wandering poet monks.

More Zen

Hakuin - The Essential Teachings of Zen Master Hakuin
Hanshan - The Collected Stories of Cold Mountain
The Platform Sutra - The Zen Teaching of Hui Neng
The Zen Teachings of Bodhidharma
Sky Above, Great Wind : The Life and Poetry of Zen Master Ryokan

Recommended: Yes