TheHsu-TangLibrarypresentsauthoritativeandeminentlyreadabletranslationsofclassicalChineseliterature,inbilingualeditions,rangingacrossthreemillenniaandtheentireSiniticworld.Thisanthologyopensupnewreligiousandpoeticworldsforreaders.ItconsistsoftranslationsofpoemswrittenbyBuddhistnunsfromChina’slateimperialperiod(1368-1911).Appreciationofthesepoemsisenhancedbyindividualbiographicalaccountsforeachofthesixty-fivenun-poetsandanIntroductiontothehistorical,religious,andliterarycontextofthesepoems,includingaconcisediscussionofChineseBuddhismandChineseBuddhistpoetry.Thenunsinthisanthologycomefromarangeofbackgrounds:somewereplacedinconventswhenveryyoung;otherswereformerpalaceladiesorcourtesanswhofoundrefugeinthereligiouslife;otherswerewomenleftwidowedordestituteinthewakeofthevariouspoliticalandsocialupheavalsofthetimes,especiallytheviolenttransitionbetweentheMingandQingdynastiesinthemid-seventeenthcentury.Thisperiodwasalsomarkedbyaflourishingofwomen’sculture,asmoreandmorewomenfromthegentry-classbegannotonlytoreceivetheclassicaleducationrequiredtowritepoetry,butalsotohavetheirworksprintedandcirculated.Mostofthepoet-nunsinthisvolumewerefromthisgentryclass,andalmostallofthemhadatleastonecollectionofwritings,usuallypoetry,printedintheirnames.Althoughmostofthesecollectionsarenowlost,someoftheirpoemshavefortunatelybeenpreservedinvariousanthologiesfromthisperiod,includinganthologiesdedicatedexclusivelytowomen’spoetry,aswellasincollectionsofBuddhistrecords.
