The Cold Mountain Poems

The Cold Mountain Poems presents Nishitani Keiji in a somewhat unexpected role: as a devoted reader of the poems of the legendary Zen recluse Hanshan, or “Cold Mountain.” Nishitani takes up the poems one by one, exploring their spiritual, philosophical, and poetic dimensions while bringing them into conversation with themes central to his own thought—emptiness, selfhood, nature, and awakening. He shows how their deceptively simple language opens onto questions central to Zen practice and to philosophy more broadly. Situating Hanshan’s voice within the interpretive horizon of the Kyoto School while preserving the freshness and immediacy of the poems themselves, Nishitani’s reflections invite us to read Cold Mountain anew—through the eyes of one of Japan’s most profound thinkers.