Shide (monk)

Shide (Chinese: 拾得; pinyin: Shídé; Wade–Giles: Shih-Te; lit. 'Pick-up or Foundling', fl. 9th century)^[1] was a Tang dynasty Chinese Buddhist poet at the Guoqing Temple on Mount Tiantai on the East China Sea coast; roughly contemporary with Hanshan and Fenggan, but younger than both of them. As close friends, the three of them formed the "Tiantai Trio". Shide lived as a lay monk, and worked most of his life in the kitchen of Guoqing Temple.

Yan Hui, *Shi De* 拾得. Color on silk. Tokyo National Museum

An apocryphal story relates how Shide received his name: Once, Fenggan was travelling between Guoqing Temple and the village of Tiantai, when at the redstone rock ridge called 'Red Wall' (赤城) he heard some crying. He investigated, and found a ten-year-old boy who had been abandoned by his parents; and picked him up and took him back to the temple, where the monks subsequently raised him.^[2]

Shide is referred to as Jittoku in Japanese.

Poetry

Shide wrote a number of poems, 49 of which have survived. According to Xiang Chu in his book Cold Mountain Poems and Notes,^[3] there are 57 poems attributed to Shide. Shide's poems are short; and rarely exceed 10 lines. They are typically on a Buddhist subject, and executed in a style reminiscent of Hanshan's.

References

^ Cihai lists Shide as living during the time of emperor Tai Zong who ruled from 626 to 649. See the date controversy in Hanshan article. Page 692.
^ Cihai Page 692.
^ Cold Mountain Poems and Notes (1997, 2000, 2010) 3rd edition, by Xiang Chu, Zhonghua Book Company, Beijing, China ISBN 978-7-101-01645-1

Cold Mountain Poems and Notes (1997, 2000, 2010) 3rd edition, by Xiang Chu, Zhonghua Book Company, Beijing, China ISBN 978-7-101-01645-1
Ci hai bian ji wei yuan hui (辞海编辑委员会). Ci hai (辞海). Shanghai: Shanghai ci shu chu ban she (上海辞书出版社), 1979.
The Collected Songs of Cold Mountain, Red Pine, Copper Canyon Press 2000, ISBN 1-55659-140-3

Shide (monk)

Contents

Poetry

See also

References

Further reading