When he died at the age of 75 in 846, Po Chu-i left behind a legacy of some 2,800 poems. A civil servant, he early on wrote poetry critical of authority and was consequently demoted to the provinces. There he had the leisure to undertake serious religious study, particularly Ch'an, Zen-style meditation, and to write the poems for which he is now remembered.
By the time he was recalled to Ch'ang-an, he had completed a large body of work and even built himself a small thatch-roofed hut where he could meditate and write poetry. No longer did he criticize. Rather, once in the capital, he continued his vocation and polished his craft.
He also put his papers in order, arranging them in 75 "chapters," and had copies of each sent to temple libraries or to friends. As a result, his work has come down nearly complete -- 71 out of the original 75 chapters.