Traversing widest oceans
where countless vessels find sail.
With the turning of tides
darkest storms subside.
And the light of compassion prevails.

In just ten simple Chinese characters, Wang Zhihuan portrayed a powerful painting with both still and moving themes and a magnificent view. In just ten simple Chinese characters, he brought the readers to the scenery without actually being there and made the readers open up their heart to the grand, magnificent view. Wang Zhihuan used ten very ordinary characters, but he drew a philosophical law that everyone can relate to:

“You can enjoy a grander sight
By climbing to a greater height.”

Valleys to mountains
horizons and beyond
The Fa calling hearts
to highest realms.

How long must
the innocent suffer.
How many lies can
China’s people be told?

With the ‘Party’ and
its spectre presiding.
How many lives have been
ruined and hearts made cold?

Horizons unfolding to widest heavens
worlds where no hearts collide.
Moments to aeon's come interwoven
when tides find calm and storms subside.

It is such an image-filled poem. In just twenty characters, Liu Zongyuan created a complete, ethereal landscape and a chilly, indescribable solitude. It was though the entire world is filled with snow and the entire universe is silent and clean. The chill is awe-inspiring. The image of an elderly man in a rain cloak sitting alone in the snow fishing suggests the author’s lofty character and his chilly solitude. It also suggests that the author is impervious to the external environment. Throughout the ages, readers have sympathised, admired and respected Liu Zongyuan for his superior character and will.

Beckoned towards wondrous firmaments,
Cradled by the unseen,
Hearts unveiled beyond clouded skies.

No walls or darkest tides,
Only mountains climbing immeasurable heights.
A vision mended, fathomable to boundless eyes.

Bai Yuyi wrote this poem in the summer of the 12th year of Yuanhe Period (817 A.D.) of Emperor Xian Zong’s reign in the Tang Dynasty (618 – 907 A.D.) He wrote it when he was working as a low-level government official in Jiangzhou. This poem is a genuine literary treasure of the Tang Dynasty. Dalin Temple (大林寺) refers to an ancient Buddhist temple on Xianglu Ridge of Lu Mountain.

Zhang Jie is famous poet in the late Tang Dynasty (618 – 907 A.D.) He wrote most of his poems in seven-character regular verse (七言律詩.) He often expressed his rage for the injustices that civilians were suffering from in society in his poems. He also showed novel and creative ideas and techniques in his poems. He once created a new form of poetry, which was known as “The Reformed Form.” His contemporaries called him a “novelty poet.” A Complete Collection of The Tang Dynasty Poetry contains 26 of his poems.

Bai Juyi, also known as Bai Letian, was a renowned poet during the Tang Dynasty. He lived from 772 to 846 AD. The less educated people at that time could easily understand the language used in his poems, with their explicit themes. The poems flowed so smoothly and his poetic style was so unique that it became a literary form commonly known as Fundamentally Plain Form (元白體.)