Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v2.c10.43

v2.c10.43

Su Zhe (1039-1112) was Su Shi’s younger brother and had intimate association with Buddhists. It can be seen in his *Yu Jia Ao· Birthday Congratulations with Disciples* that it was in middle age that he started believing in Buddhism and was disillusioned with life. Huang Buzhi (1053-1110) described his boredom and was eager to return home in poverty after being relegated to Xinzhou in *Immortal at the River Xinzhou*, where his loneliness and solitude stood out against the background of few monks in the wild pagoda. There were also quite a few Buddhist poems in the Song; for example, Liao Yuan (1032-1098), Qing Shun (11th century), Ke Zun (11th century), De Hong (1071-1128), etc, all created some graceful lyrics. Hong De’s Ci was more worldly, and it was difficult to identify from his lyrics that he was a Buddhist.