A Study and Translation of Zhuangzi Juanzhai kouyi (Juanzhai's Vernacular Explanations of the Zhuangzi)

FAIN: FB-54675-10

Peipei Qiu
Vassar College (Poughkeepsie, NY 12604-0001)

This project is a study and translation of Lin Xiyi's Zhuangzi Juanzhai kouyi, a 13th century Chinese commentary on the Zhuangzi. The Zhuangzi is one of the two foundational classics of the Daoist philosophy and Lin's interpretation has had a profound impact on both Chinese and Japanese thinkers. Unlike earlier commentators who focused on Daoist teaching, Lin's text integrated Confucian and Buddhist thoughts and drew upon a wide range of literary texts. This synthetic nature made his work a very rich source of East Asian intellectual history. Despite its importance, Lin's work has never been translated into any Western language. My project will make this seminal text accessible to Western readers by producing an English translation of the Zhuangzi Juanzhai kouyi and an analytical introduction. It will expand the primary sources for the study of the East Asian philosophy, religion, aesthetics and literature and help general readers learn one of the world's great intellectual traditions.

Associated Products

An Interview with Professor Peipei Qiu, Simply Haiku: The Internatioanl Journal of English Language Tranditional Japanese Short Form Poetry (Web Resource)
Title: An Interview with Professor Peipei Qiu, Simply Haiku: The Internatioanl Journal of English Language Tranditional Japanese Short Form Poetry
Author: Peipei Qiu interviewed by Robert D. Wilson
Abstract: A written interview on the Daoist influence in the formation of Japanese poetics.
Year: 2013
Primary URL: http://simplyhaikujournal.com/summer-2013/features/interview-prof-peipei-qiu.html
Primary URL Description: This is the website of the Journal, _Simply Haiku: The Internatioanl Journal of English Language Tranditional Japanese Short Form Poetry_

Book chapter, “The Zhuangzi, Haikai, and the Poetry of Basho^" (Book Section)
Title: Book chapter, “The Zhuangzi, Haikai, and the Poetry of Basho^"
Author: Peipei Qiu
Editor: Jeffrey L. Richey
Abstract: Daoist classics had a profound impact on Japanese literature, but English studies of this influence have been scarce. This chapter sheds light on this area by examining the role Daoist classic Zhuangzi played in the development of Japanese haikai—the matrix of modern haiku—during the latter half of the seventeenth century. When haikai became a popular genre of linked verse in the seventeenth century, haikai poets faced paradoxical demands. On the one hand, they had to break the conventions of the classical linked verse in order to reach a popular audience, on the other hand, they needed codified poetic signifiers and intertextual structures from the classical tradition to elevate haikai’s vernacular language to poetic art. This chapter locates haikai’s encounter with the Zhuangzi in the intersection of the deconstructing and reconstructing of the canonical traction. It provides a hermeneutic reading of the intertextual relations between haikai compositions and the Daoist texts, as well as an in-depth analyses of key terms that have been instrumental in reconstructing haikai’s poetic essence. Through examining the works of Japan’s greatest haikai poet Matsuo Basho (1664-1694), it shows how the Zhuangzi helped turn the parodic and vernacular haikai into a high art.
Year: 2015
Primary URL: http://newfirstsearch.oclc.org.libproxy.vassar.edu/WebZ/FSFETCH?fetchtype=fullrecord:sessionid=fsapp4-47035-iqtmhbm3-sjvm3t:entitypagenum=3:0:recno=2:resultset=1:format=FI:next=html/record.html:bad=error/badfetch.html:entitytoprecno=2:entitycurrecno=2:num
Primary URL Description: WorldCat Detailed Record
Access Model: Book in print
Publisher: Routledge
Book Title: Daoism in Japan: Chinese Traditions and Their Influence on Japanese Religious Culture
ISBN: ISBN-10: 11387

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