TRANSFORMATION OF CHAN-BUDDHIST MOTIFS IN MONASTERY POETRY OF THE SONG DYNASTY (GENDER ASPECT)
Authors:   Alfred Nobel University, Ryzhkova Anna V. 
Published: July 2022

There are phenomena of Chan Buddhism as philosophical and religious dogma and embodiment of its rules in the center of the article. Study object is poetry of monks and nuns written during Song dynasty (lyrics of Dumu Jingang, Zhenru, Daoqian and Daoqiang). The study is based on the works of the Chinese (Hu Shih), Ukrainian (N. S. Isaieva), Russian (M.I. Vorobyova-Desyatovskaya, M.S. Ulanov), French (H.Ciхоus, C. Clement), Germany (S. Weigel) and American (N. Miller) researchers. However, in the same time we have noticed lack of the works addressed to analysis of the Chan poetry, its’ themes, images and symbols, so this space is ready and open for follow-up study. The main purpose of the article is to highlight the common and distinctive features of poetic works written by women and men as well as to designate level of themes transformation specific for Chan Buddhist poetry written by nuns and monks of Song Dynasty after analyzing meanings and poetics of their poetry. To achieve this goal, several methods were used – hermeneutic, historical and cultural, historical and literary, comparative methods as well as semantic and poetical analysis. This methodological base allow considering the lyrics of monks and nuns through the prism of the right explanation. Moreover, it help us to analyze gender and religious components, so we have highlighted the characteristics that are common and different for the Buddhist poetry of women and men. The article claims that particulary interesting point for researchers in feminist literary studies is the question of whether the text of a female author is different from the text of a male author. The French theorist of feminist literary studies E. Cixоus and the American psychologist N. Miller argue that the «female style» exists, but it is quite difficult to describe. According to the German literary critic S. Weigel and Doctor of Philology N.S. Isaeva, there are certain specific features that are inherent in works of art written by women (discontinuity, indentation, inconsistency, subjectivity, the desire for pleasure, the description of their own feelings), and for works written by men (logic, regularity, objectivity). If take a look at the issue of «female» and «male» style from the standpoint of Chan Buddhism, the closest position will be a completely different one. In some theoretical works concerning «feminine» it has been repeatedly emphasized that it does not oppose «masculine», because «feminine» by its nature denies the binary, dichotomy and hierarchy of created structures (including textual). Similarly, the chan denies any opposition and contrast. The results of our research show that Chan Buddhist poetry has a lot of themes created by using Chan Buddhist images and symbols. We have established that due to approach of Chan women and men are collateral because there is no dualism in the world, but after conducting a gender study we found that despite the principles of Chan Buddhism, it is still possible to identify similar and different features in the poetry of monks and nuns. We have found some transformation in the poetry written by men and women: at the level of themes, at the level of stylistic devices, as well as in the emotional component of poetry. Firstly, there are some themes which are found only in the poetry of monks: the theme of equality of everyone in front of Buddhist teachings, the theme of solitude (loneliness) or the theme of excommunication from the vain world, the theme of liberation from suffering (worries and attachments), the theme of meditative practices, the theme of accessibility of Chan teachings for everyone, the theme of suffering, the theme of harmony. Accordingly, in the lyrics of the nuns we found out the theme of joy, the theme of death, the theme of illusory contradictions. Secondly, there are small amount of stylistic devices in the Chan lyrics, but, despite this, we have concluded that only epithets are common to both the poems of monks and the poems of nuns. Antithesis and rhetorical questions are a sign of «male» style, and hyperbole is inherent in «female» style. Thirdly, the poetry of monks are objective and rational, what is a characteristic of «male» literature, while the poems of nuns are characterized by subjectivity and sensuality, what is a characteristic of «female» literature. On the contrary, we have detected that some themes are common for the monks’ and nuns’ poetry: theme of life’s worldliness, theme of meditation, theme of ease and lightness, theme of contradictions’ illusory, theme of isolation and solitude, theme of separation people to Chan Buddhists and laymen. To embody these themes authors used different images and symbols and such variety of stylistic devices shows that individual styles of writing in Chan Buddhism exist even though it may seem impossible in religious poetry, which conveys ideas of the certain religious doctrine. In summary, there is a plenty of Chan lyrics that have not been researches by Chinese scientists. Moreover, this poetry haven’t even been translated into other languages, hence, haven’t been analyzed and expounded by not Chinese researchers, so it is long-rage field to be researched.