**2. Pei Yue's Poetic Creation**

Pei Yue's poems describe his experiences and characteristics in more detail. Thus, further information about Pei Yue's life, work and thought can be drawn from his poetry.

The 720th *juan* of the *Comprehensive Collection of Tang Poetry* (Quan Tangshi - , Peng et al. 1960, pp. 8260–70) records Pei Yue's fifty-one complete poems and twenty-one remnants; *A Supplement to the Comprehensive Collection of Tang Poetry* (Quan Tangshi buyi - , Sun 1982, p. 229; 1992, pp. 251–52) records one complete poem by Pei Yue; *A Further Supplement to the Comprehensive Collection of Tang Poetry* (Quan Tangshi xu buyi - , Tong 1982, p. 539; 1992, pp. 444–45) records his one complete poem and two remnants; *A Continuation of the Supplement to the Comprehensive Collection of Tang Poetry* (Quan Tangshi xushi - , Chen 1992, p. 1330) records his two complete poems. Four problems should be noted here.

Firstly, in the *Comprehensive Collection of Tang Poetry*, Pei Yue's poem "Written to a Like-Minded Friend Under Mount Hua on a Spring Morning" (Chunzao ji huaxia tongren - , Peng et al. 1960, p. 8261) and Tang Yue's (912–984) poem of the same name (Peng et al. 1960, p. 8616) are similar in content. According to Tong Peiji (Tong 1996, p. 506), this poem may have been written by Tang Yue.

Secondly, in the *Comprehensive Collection of Tang Poetry*, the last two couplets of Pei Yue's "A Monk Who Never Goes out of Monastery" (Bu chuyuan seng - , Peng et al. 1960, p. 8266) are the same as those of Cao Song's (828–903) "Written to Mr. Li Who is a Scholar Without Official Position" (Ji Li chushi , Peng et al. 1960, p. 10011). Tong Peiji (Tong 1996, pp. 506, 529, 681) roughly suggests that these couplets were created by Pei Yue.

Thirdly, Pei Yue's one complete poem, "Cold Food Day (Editor Adds the Title)" (*Hanshi (ti ni)* ( )), in *A Continuation of the Supplement to the Comprehensive Collection of Tang Poetry* (Chen 1992, p. 1330), includes Pei Yue's two remnants, "Some people gently and leisurely play colored balls, some slender women swing high on the swings" (*Huaqiu qingcu huzhong di, caisuo gaofei zhangshang shen* - -

 ), which are collected in the *Comprehensive Collection of Tang Poetry* and entitled "Tomb Sweeping Day" (Qingming , Peng et al. 1960, p. 8270).

Lastly, *A Supplement to the Comprehensive Collection of Tang Poetry* in the *First Supplement to the Comprehensive Collection of Tang Poetry* (Quan Tangshi waibian - , Sun 1982, pp. 264–65) points out that Pei Yue's "Hear the Sound of Pounding Clothes by Hammering Block" (*Wen zhen* ), also known as "Send Clothes to a Frontier Guard" (*Ji bianyi* ), as presented in the *Comprehensive Collection of Tang Poetry* (Peng et al. 1960, pp. 8260–61), may have been written by Pei Yuxian under the title "Send Warrior's Costume to Husband" (*Ji fu zhengyi* ). Zhou Zuzhuan and Jia Jinhua (cited in Xin 1990, p. 426) believe the author of this poem to be Pei Yue. *A Supplement to the Comprehensive Collection of Tang Poetry* in the *Second Supplement to the Comprehensive Collection of Tang Poetry* (Quan Tangshi bubian - , Sun 1992), published later, omits this poem.

The authors of the present paper are unable to locate any other poems or remnants by Pei Yue in any other source, so it is concluded that fifty-four complete poems and twenty-one remnants now remain. Nowadays, it can be stated that, compared with other poets who wrote a number of distinguished poems, Pei Yue created only a few and none could be regarded as a masterpiece. However, some poetry reviewers of previous dynasties spoke highly of his work. They praised him for "being famous for poetry" (Ruan 1987, p. 157), and even for "having grea<sup>t</sup> poetry fame" (Xin 1990, p. 423); they felt that Pei Yue's poems "think hard about every word carefully" (Ji 1989, p. 1748; 2013, p. 974), "express precisely" (Xin 1990, p. 425) and always "stick to the rules and forms" (Ji 1989, p. 1748; 2013, p. 974). In their opinion, Pei Yue's poetic style is similar to that of Jia Dao (779–843) and Li Dong - (?–fl. 897) (Xin 1990, p. 425). It is worth noting that Hu Zhenheng - (1569–1645) (Hu 1981, p. 80) thought Pei Yue's poems "sometimes included unexpected and amazing lines", and Xin Wenfang (fl.1304) (Xin 1990, p. 425) thought Pei Yue's poems "had fantastic ideas". One of Pei Yue's poems written to a monk, "Ode to Huaisu's Terrace" (*Huaisu tai ge* ), also known as "Written on Huaisu's Terrace" (Ti Huaisu tai , Peng et al. 1960, p. 8260), which will be explored in detail in the following sections, particularly embodies these two features.

There is only one known poem by Pei Yue, "Visit a Daoist" (Fang daoshi , Peng et al. 1960, p. 8264–65), that is related to Daoism. One couplet of this poem, "I have a general understanding of the interest in Daoism and I look forward to frequently talking to you all night" (*Cude xuanzhong qu, dangqi suhua pin* - ), tells us that, although Pei Yue was interested in Daoism, he knew little about it. In contrast, Pei Yue has relatively more poems related to Buddhism and monks. He has six poems depicting his visits to monasteries besides his poems written to monks, which will be examined below. In the six poems, Pei Yue described the scenes surrounding the monasteries, such as "The monk's house is on the birds' path, the shadow of the Buddha statue is in the fish pond" (*Sengju kua niaodao, foying zhao yutan* - - ) in "Doushuai Monastery" (Doushuai si , Peng et al. 1960, p. 8265). He presented images of several leisurely monks, e.g., "The secular world is outside the monk's monastery, the monk puts down the curtain, lives leisurely until he grows old" (*Duimian fushi ge, chuilian daolao xian* - - ) in "Daolin Monastery" (Daolin si , Peng et al. 1960, p. 8265), "The monk walks at a leisurely pace, he goes out in the morning and comes back at dusk" (*Gaoseng yin xian (yizuo xian yin) bu, zhouchu xiyang gui (yizuo shi)* - (- -)- - (- )) in "Bore Monastery" (Bore si , Peng et al. 1960, p. 8265) and "Only the water of Dongting Lake and the old monk's leisure can not be destroyed by war" (*Weiyou liangban shao bude, Dongtinghu shui laoseng xian* -- - ) in "Written on Monk's House in Yueyang After War" (Yueyang binghuo hou ti sengshe , Peng et al. 1960, p. 8269). Pei Yuealsowroteaboutamovingconversationthathehadwithamonk:"Amonkand

I recite poetry and talk in autumn, river intersects with sky in the distance" (*Yu shi yinlun chu, qiushui jin yaotian* - - ) in "Written on Monk's House in Yuezhou" (Ti Yuezhou sengshe , Peng et al. 1960, p. 8265). The lines "Why do we care about the generation of afflictions, space is around us" (*Heji sheng fannao, xukong shi silin* ---) in "Lumen Monastery" (Lumen si --, Peng et al. 1960, p. 8265) show Pei Yue's comprehension for "space". In Buddhism, "everything is empty and unreal" (Zhu 1990, p. 4), "all phenomena", "all worlds", "all things", "all actions of sentient beings", "all buddhas", "all buddhas' powers", "all meditation concentrations", "all the principles the buddhas teach", "all buddha-bodies" "are like space" (Cleary 1993, p. 875). Pei Yue had some understanding of these Buddhist concepts, suggesting that, since all the things around us are untrue, then the "afflictions" are also untrue; thus, why concern ourselves with their appearance?

All in all, Pei Yue had a close relationship with monks, and Buddhist culture is embodied in his poetry. In the following section, the authors of the present paper will further explore this topic by interpreting Pei Yue's poems for monks. The authors hope that this paper will arouse the interest of academics in Pei Yue's poetry, especially his poetry for monks, in order to facilitate more in depth investigations and reviews of Pei Yue's literary and ideological achievements.
