Art space in Zen master Hai Luong’s poetry

Abstract

Not only praised by contemporaries for his outstanding military, political, and diplomatic talents, Zen master Hai Luong (Ngo Thi Nham) was also known as a literary genius. He made a clear impression in the literary village under the Tay Son dynasty with a variety of genres, especially in the zen poetry department. Using structural analysis, statistics, and comparison, the article analyzes the characteristics of art spatial forms in the author’s meditation poetry. Results show that the artistic space in Zen master Hai Luong’s zen poetry is expressed mainly through the space of pagodas and monasteries and a few poems are the space of Buddha’s land. Accordingly, this article presents three main characteristics of art space, specifically: (1) The space calming the body and mind, supporting people to reach meditation in reality; (2) The space harmonizing with the natural landscape and communication with the universe; (3) The space signaling meditation, thereby awakening people's minds in the midst of a busy life. Thereby, the article aims to clarify the feeling and philosophy of meditation experienced by the author through each spatial form.