I Have Forsaken Heaven & Earth, but Never Forsaken You (Downloadable PDF)

by MA Hui, translated by Leilei Chen‬

The book includes seventy poems translated from MA Hui’s rewriting of Tsangyang Gyatso’s poetry. Gyatso was Tibet’s sixth Dalai Lama and is well known for his love poems. MA captures the imagery and subjects of Gyatso’s poetry, and speaks meaningfully about love, religion, life, death, power, worldly success, and the art of poetry to contemporary Chinese readers who often find themselves trapped in the relentless pursuit of wealth and fame in today’s globalized world. My translation recognizes the universal nature of these subjects and anticipates their resonance with many who wish to savour the beauty of love, to meditate on the complexities of the human condition, to feel both perplexed and enlightened in paradoxical moments, and to envision connection and spiritual kinship across national, religious, and cultural borders. My version is committed to remaining loyal to the spirit of the original and making the verses aesthetically appealing to my readers.

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SKU: 9781989466650 Categories: , , Tags: , ,

$9.95 CAD

Additional information

Page Count

96

Binding

Soft Cover with flaps

Year Published

2023

Leilei Chen

Straddling between Canada and China, Leilei Chen‬ lives her life learning the philosophy of the in-between space and its potential contribution to social progress. She translates Margaret Laurence’s short stories, Steven Grosby’s Nationalism: A Very Short Introduction, and contemporary Canadian poetry and essays. She is the English translator of contemporary Chinese ecological writings, and modern and contemporary women writers and scholar such as Ling Shuhua and Zhang Li. She publishes poetry, short memoir writings, and Re-orienting China: Travel Writing and Cross-cultural Understanding. She teaches at the University of Alberta.

www.leileichen.ca

I Wish to Find My Dreams

So quiet,
quieter than sutra chanting,
I ride my white deer
The deer, leaping
lightly like a phantom,
steps on the snowflakes
not yet reaching the ground
I go to the mountains afar to find my dreams
only to wake you
from your dream