Wang Wei (王維) (701 - 761), sometimes titled the Poet Buddha, was a Tang Dynasty Chinese poet, musician, painter and statesman. Events September 30 - John VI succeeds Sergius I as Pope. ... Events Telets succeeds Vinekh as king of Bulgaria. ... For the band, see Tang Dynasty (band). ... Poets who wrote or write much of their poetry in the Chinese language. ... A musician is a person who plays or composes music. ... A painter is a person who paints woodwork, walls, etc. ...

From a high family, he passed the civil service entrance examination in 721 and had a successful civil service career, rising to become Chancellor in 758. During the An Lushan Rebellion he avoided actively serving the insurgents during the capital's occupation by pretending to be deaf. The imperial examinations (Chinese: 科舉; Hanyu Pinyin: ) in dynastic China determined positions in the civil service based on merit and education, which promoted upward mobility among the population for centuries. ... Events Former Byzantine emperor Anastasius II leads a revolt against emperor Leo III Theuderic IV succeeds Chilperic II Battle of Covadonga is won by Pelayo, thus preventing the takeover of his Christian Kingdom of Asturias by the Islamic Moors. ... Chancellor of China 丞相 (Cheng Xiang) or 宰相 (Zai Xiang), was the highest rank in the imperial government in former China after the emperor (685 BC-6 BC, 189-1380). ... Events End of the reign of Empress Koken of Japan; she is succeeded by Emperor Junnin. ... The Anshi Rebellion (安史之亂 pinyin: an1 shi3 zhi1 luan4) occurred in China, during the Tang Dynasty, from 756 to 763. ... This article is about hearing impairment in the patholocial sense. ...

He spent ten years studying with the Chan master Daoguang. After his wife's death in 730, he did not remarry and established a monastery on part of his estate. Chán is a major school of Chinese Mahāyāna Buddhism. ... Events Emperor Leo III of the Byzantine Empire orders the destruction of all icons. ... The Tikse monastery in Ladakh, India A monastery is the habitation of monks, derived from the Greek word for a hermits cell. ...

He is best known for his quatrains depicting quiet scenes of water and mist, with few details and little human presence. The Indiana Companion comments that he affirms the world's beauty, while questioning its ultimate reality. It also draws a comparison between the deceptive simplicity of his works and the Chan path to enlightenment, which is built on careful preparation but is achieved without conscious effort. A quatrain is a poem or a stanza within a poem that consists of four lines. ... Bodhi (Pāli and Sanskrit. ...

None of his original paintings survive, but copies of works attributed to him are also landscapes with similar qualities. He influenced what became known as the Southern school of Chinese landscape art, which was characterised by strong brushstrokes contrasted with light ink washes. The Harvesters, by Pieter Brueghel the Elder, 1565: Peace and agriculture in a pre-Romantic ideal landscape, without sublime terrors Landscape near Bologna, by Frans Koppelaar, 2001: Realistic landscape painted after nature Landscape art depicts scenery such as mountains, valleys, trees, rivers and forests. ... Chinese painting is a form of Chinese art. ...

Wang Wei's most famous poetry, such as the poem "Deer Park," form a group titled Wang River Collection. They record a poet's journey, ostensibly that of Wang Wei and his close friend, Pei Dei. They are far more universal than a simple journey and have inspired generations of poets since, including recent adaptations such as Pain Not Bread's Introduction to the Introduction to Wang Wei (ISBN 1894078098), Barry Gifford's Replies to Wang Wei (ISBN 0887394418) and Gary Blankenship's A River Transformed (ISBN 141166227X).

Eliot Weinberger and Octavio Paz's 19 Ways of Looking at Wang Wei (ISBN 0918825148) is a brilliant essay concerning more than 19 translations of Wang Wei's "Deer Park."

One of Wang Wei's poems, called Weicheng Qu or "Song of the City of Wei" has been adapted to the famous music melody, Yangguan Sandie or "Three Refrains on the Yang Pass". The most famous version of this melody is that of the guqin, which Wang Wei probably played. The Guqin (Chinese: 古琴; Hanyu Pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: ku-chin; literally ancient stringed-instrument) is the modern name for a plucked seven-string Chinese musical instrument of the zither family (中華絃樂噐). It has been played since ancient times, and has traditionally been favored by scholars and literati as an instrument of...

Poetry sample

「獨坐幽篁裡， 彈琴復長嘯， 深林人不知， 明月來相照。」 "Sitting alone, in the hush of the bamboo; I thrum my zither, and whistle lingering notes. In the secrecy of the wood, no one can hear; Only the clear moon, comes to shine on me." [《竹里館》 Hut Among the Bamboos]

References

• Nienhauser, William H (ed.). The Indiana Companion to Traditional Chinese Literature. Indiana University Press 1986. ISBN 0253329833

External links

• Open Directory Project category