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Essays in Idleness and 贬ō箩ō办颈
These two works on life's fleeting pleasures are by Buddhist monks from medieval Japan, but each shows a different world-view. In the short memoir Hojoki, Chomei recounts his decision to withdraw from worldly affairs and live as a hermit in a tiny hut in the mountains, contemplating the impermanence of human existence. Kenko, however, displays a fascination with more earthy matters in his collection of anecdotes, advice and observations. From ribald stories of drunken monks to aching nostalgia for the fading traditions of the Japanese court, Essays in Idleness is a constantly surprising work that ranges across the spectrum of human experience. Meredith McKinney's excellent new translation also includes notes and an introduction exploring the spiritual and historical background of the works. Chomei was born into a family of Shinto priests in around 1155, at at time when the stable world of the court was rapidly breaking up. He became an important though minor poet of his day, and at the age of fifty, withdrew from the world to become a tonsured monk. He died in around 1216. Kenko was born around 1283 in Kyoto.He probably became a monk in his late twenties, and was also noted as a calligrapher. Today he is remembered for his wise and witty aphorisms, 'Essays in Idleness'. Meredith McKinney, who has also translated Sei Shonagon's The Pillow Book for Penguin Classics, is a translator of both contemporary and classical Japanese literature. She lived in Japan for twenty years and is currently a visitng fellow at the Australian National University in Canberra. "[Essays in Idleness is] a most delightful book, and one that has served as a model of Japanese style and taste since the 17th century. These cameo-like vignettes reflect the importance of the little, fleeting futile things, and each essay is Kenko himself".
188 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1332
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About the author
Yoshida Kenkō
36?books83?followersYoshida Kenkō (吉田 兼好, 1283? – 1350?) was a Japanese author and Buddhist monk. His most famous work is Tsurezuregusa (Essays in Idleness), one of the most studied works of medieval Japanese literature. Kenko wrote during the Muromachi and Kamakura periods.
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January 8, 2022
Introduction & Notes, by Meredith McKinney
Further Reading
Note on the Translation & Notes
Kamo no Chōmei
--贬ō箩ō办颈
Yoshida Kenkō
--Essays in Idleness
Map
Timeline of Emperors
Notes
Further Reading
Note on the Translation & Notes
Kamo no Chōmei
--贬ō箩ō办颈
Yoshida Kenkō
--Essays in Idleness
Map
Timeline of Emperors
Notes
November 3, 2014
I haven't read all that much east Asian prose, but I'm starting to suspect that I might over-identify with the overlooked-sensitive-and-ironic-scholar who is unable to find a position in the bureaucracy or hierarchy. Chomei's 'Hojoki' is a charming little piece about living the simple life and so on, but rather undermined by the fact that, in order to live the simple life, you have to be independently wealthy. Kenko's 'Essays,' on the other hand, are an absolute delight. There's nothing I like quite so much as people who are willing to hold their own most deeply held beliefs to the standards of their beliefs--here, that leads to 'kill the buddha' kind of things. I also like people who:
* like autumn rather than spring.
* pay attention to language.
* say things like "the testament to our birth in the human realm should be a strong urge to escape from this world. Surely there can be nothing to distinguish us from the beasts if we simply devote ourselves to greed."
* or "things that are not unpleasant in large amounts are books on a book cart, and rubbish on a rubbish heap."
* or "the best things are those that have a somewhat antique air, are unpretentious and are inexpensive but well made."
* or "if you run about the streets pretending to be a madman, then a madman is what you are."
* or "it is cruel to make people suffer and drive them to break the law, then treat the poor creatures as criminals."
* or "Phenomena and their essence are intrinsically one."
* list all the terrible consequences of drinking for a few pages... then say there's nothing quite so pleasant as drinking with a friend.
* being very intelligent, are aware of their own limitations, but do not therefore consider themselves to be as bad as everyone else.
If the world were rather more full of Kenkos, I'd be much happier in it.
* like autumn rather than spring.
* pay attention to language.
* say things like "the testament to our birth in the human realm should be a strong urge to escape from this world. Surely there can be nothing to distinguish us from the beasts if we simply devote ourselves to greed."
* or "things that are not unpleasant in large amounts are books on a book cart, and rubbish on a rubbish heap."
* or "the best things are those that have a somewhat antique air, are unpretentious and are inexpensive but well made."
* or "if you run about the streets pretending to be a madman, then a madman is what you are."
* or "it is cruel to make people suffer and drive them to break the law, then treat the poor creatures as criminals."
* or "Phenomena and their essence are intrinsically one."
* list all the terrible consequences of drinking for a few pages... then say there's nothing quite so pleasant as drinking with a friend.
* being very intelligent, are aware of their own limitations, but do not therefore consider themselves to be as bad as everyone else.
If the world were rather more full of Kenkos, I'd be much happier in it.
Read
January 12, 2017
The great Buddha in Kamakura
If man were never to fade away like the dews of Adashino, never to vanish like the smoke over Toribeyama, but lingered on forever in this world, how things would lose their power to move us! The most precious thing in life is its uncertainty.
When in 1333 the Emperor Go-Daigo returned triumphantly to Kyoto from exile to mark the end of the Kamakura Shogunate and the rule of the samurai, Yoshida Kenko (1283-1350) - a middle ranking court officer and Buddhist monk- must have been ecstatic. After 150 years the imperial family and the aristocracy were again in power, and Yoshida's dream of returning to the hot house refinement of the Heian era could become reality. But the Emperor quickly managed to alienate the samurai who had played such a crucial role in casting down the bakufu, and one of them - Ashikaga Takauji - captured Kyoto in 1336, replaced Go-Daigo with a member of another branch of the imperial family, and had himself declared Shogun in 1338. The warriors would stay in power for the next 550 years until the Meiji Restoration.
Just before the brief Kenmu Restoration, between 1330 and 1332, Kenko wrote the Tsurezuregusa (available in Donald Keene's wonderful translation Essays in Idleness), regarded as one of the finest gems of Japanese literature and forming with Sei Shonagon's Makura no Sōshi (The Pillow Book) and Kamo no Chomei's 贬ō箩ō办颈(*) the classic triumvirate of the zuihitsu (follow the brush) genre, the deliberately discursive and informal literary form westerners rather misleadingly refer to as the essay when discussing this characteristic product of the Country of Eight Islands.
Despite the fact that its composition took place while Japan was embroiled in a civil war, the Tsurezuregusa serenely takes no notice of such matters; indeed, Kenko claimed he was writing his text out of sheer boredom. And while his ruminations on what makes the perfect gentleman or the proper manner to carry out some ceremony generated in me a similar emotion, there is much in this text that holds the attention beyond the beautifully flowing prose.
Of particular interest are his thoughts on aesthetics, the nature of the beautiful. The ideas expressed were not original to Kenko, but the manner in which he formulated them has made the Tsurezuregusa one of the most influential texts in Japanese culture.(**) Though long before the modern era the gaudy and the garish could be viewed as admirable by some Japanese,(***) Kenko prized the old, the imperfect, the asymmetric, the restrained. His musings on love lost, reports on events holding significance for himself, moments of very concrete philosophizing and remarks on human behavior alternate seemingly at random, constantly refreshing one's interest. And then there are the pieces of invaluable advice:
You should never put the new antlers of a deer to your nose and smell them. They have little insects that crawl into the nose and devour the brain. (!)
One is taken aback by some passages - like his complaint that in his time no one knew the proper shape of a torture rack nor how to correctly attach a criminal to it (!) - but, nonetheless, this one-sided conversation with an opinionated, rather grumpy fellow who was deeply nostalgic for a time he had never seen and, like Montaigne, wasn't the least concerned about contradicting himself is, finally, charming, and I was sorry to see the old curmudgeon go. And which Goodreader would dissent with another of his famous lines:
The pleasantest of all diversions is to sit alone under the lamp, a book spread out before you, and to make friends with people of a distant past you have never known.
(*) I discuss the latter here: /review/show...
(**) Heightening the irony of the following lines:
If I fail to say what lies on my mind it gives me a feeling of flatulence; I shall therefore give my brush free rein. Mine is a foolish diversion, but these pages are meant to be torn up, and no one is likely to see them.
(***) Many of the Tokugawa rulers provide such an instance.
May 24, 2019
What a strange demented feeling it gives me when I realize that I have spent whole days before this inkstone, with nothing better to do, jotting down at random whatever nonsensical thoughts have entered my head.
*
Are we to look at cherry blossoms only in full bloom, the moon only when it is cloudless? To long for the moon while looking on the rain, to lower the blinds and be unaware of the passing of the spring - these are even more deeply moving. Branches about to blossom or gardens strewn with flowers are worthier of our admiration.
May 11, 18
*
Are we to look at cherry blossoms only in full bloom, the moon only when it is cloudless? To long for the moon while looking on the rain, to lower the blinds and be unaware of the passing of the spring - these are even more deeply moving. Branches about to blossom or gardens strewn with flowers are worthier of our admiration.
May 11, 18
September 8, 2019
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June 12, 2011
If I fail to say what lies on my mind it gives me a feeling of flatulence. – Kenkō (1285–1350)Kenkō, a fourteenth-century Japanese monk, courtier, poet, and antiquarian, had a lot on his mind. Retired from the tumult of the imperial court, he spent whole days alone in his cottage in Kyoto, jotting random, nonsensical thoughts on slips of paper that he pasted to the walls. After his death, these scraps were peeled away, sorted, and copied into a volume now known as Essays in Idleness (1332). These 243 epigrammatic articles, written to relieve a pressing and uncomfortable ennui, give us a fascinating glimpse into both the world of medieval Japan and the inner workings of one of that nation’s most forthright thinkers and influential stylists.
Kenkō’s reflections can be slight, suggestive, and to modern readers, utterly bizarre:
A flute made from a sandal a woman has worn will infallibly summon the autumn deer.Brief and of dubious practicality, these pithy observations nevertheless show us part of a mind that took an encyclopaedic interest in the world: Buddhist ritual, carp fishing, the education of courtiers, physical deformities, burning moxa on kneecaps, the beauty of dew-covered flowers in the morning, the best way to view the moon on cloudy nights ... just a few of the many thoughts that crowded his attention. Despite the author’s expectation that his pages would be ‘torn up, and no one is likely to see them’, their influence on how the Japanese regard behaviour and beauty – often one and the same – has been far from transitory.
On a day when you’ve eaten carp soup your sidelocks stay in place.
You should never put the new antlers of a deer to your nose and smell them. They have little insects that crawl into the nose and devour the brain.
Kenkō, whose life spanned a period of intense civil disruption, took little interest in politics, but he was mesmerised by court etiquette. Some of the niceties of the emperor’s house certainly took some explaining: ‘Fire tongs are never used when placing lighted charcoal in a hibachi in the presence of the emperor or empress’ (a courtier was expected to use his bare hands unless he was wearing spotless white). Part of Kenkō’s fascination with courtly protocol was based on his belief that he lived in an age of profound social and artistic decay. He finds evidence of this deterioration in departures from old customs: a slightly misshaped window, a cap that’s a little too large, a coarse expression. And he sought to correct these failures by recording his memories of the proper way life was led at court in the past.
Sometimes crotchety and frequently sentimental, Kenkō could not escape his ‘longing for things of the past’, even in deep meditation. This pervasive nostalgia naturally seeps into his appreciation of art. Beauty, he finds, is usually bound up with a feeling of incompleteness or an element of age: ‘It is only after the silk wrapper has frayed at top and bottom, and the mother-of-pearl has fallen from the roller, that a scroll looks beautiful’. The recognition of elegance comes with the realisation that everything is impermanent and that ‘the most precious thing in life is uncertainty’.
He was a connoisseur of muted suspense, and that, coupled with his longing for the past led naturally to his greatest pleasure – reading. ‘The pleasantest of all diversions is to sit alone under the lamp, a book spread out before you, and to make friends with people of a distant past you have never known’. This is the image of Kenkō is perhaps most appealing to us: the bald monk, alone in his small home, poring over his scrolls, the Oi river and Mt. Arashiyama in the background. In a world where there was too much talk, too much posturing, too many possessions, there were never too many books. A friend, Kenkō concluded, may ‘grow distant and live in a world apart’, but a man who lives alone with only his books for company, his thoughts free to flutter in the breeze, can find true happiness.
November 15, 2021
3.5 stars.
While I nevertheless enjoyed reading both Hojoki and Essays in Idleness, I can't help but feel that I missed out on a lot which has been lost in translation. Penguin compensates for this by putting in a great list of notes, but it's not the same.
Some of the stories made me laugh, inspired me and/or carried me away to a magnificent ancient Japan which no longer exists. I can only help but wonder how much stronger those experiences would be if I could read it in its original language one day.
While I nevertheless enjoyed reading both Hojoki and Essays in Idleness, I can't help but feel that I missed out on a lot which has been lost in translation. Penguin compensates for this by putting in a great list of notes, but it's not the same.
Some of the stories made me laugh, inspired me and/or carried me away to a magnificent ancient Japan which no longer exists. I can only help but wonder how much stronger those experiences would be if I could read it in its original language one day.
February 5, 2015
I had read Hojoki before but I read it again anyway, it's really short and touching. Essays in Idleness was good, it was lighter than what I expected, amusing stories, conversations he had with people, buddhist stuff, etc. Two great works in one book, worth it.
September 9, 2015
This collection of Kenko's essays is often compared with by Chomei, but there is a vast difference. Kenko might sound like he is just rambling (and he takes that pose intentionally), but he is not. He is talking about the existential dilemma of human being. His awareness is very modern. He is keenly aware of the problems and also his powerlessness. He cannot solve the problems, so he writes them down, with a compassionate yet cool attitude. Great read.
(I read this in Japanese. I hope the English translation by Donald Keene is reasonably good.)
(I read this in Japanese. I hope the English translation by Donald Keene is reasonably good.)
July 13, 2022
czy fakt, ?e zaznacza?am jaki? fragment praktycznie co stron? wystarczy jako pozytywna recenzja tej ksi??ki? prawdopodobnie tak, wi?c powiem tylko - BARDZO m?dra i warto?ciowa ksi??ka
March 24, 2021
2021 Reread: Still enjoyed it, but there is one really misogynistic passage inside
I actually didn't know that I already reviewed this book once before here. I guess it makes sense, because I only heard about this book one, two years ago, when this blog was already up. But nevermind, I have new things to say!
Basically, after my first review, I lost the book. I don't know how, I don't know when but it was lost for a period of time. And then I found out I was going to Japan. So before I went, I was at Kinokuniya using up all those vouchers people gave me; and quite naturally, I rebought this.
I can't actually say that reading it in Japan is a different experience because honestly, I read it in my dorm room (does the fact that I was eating edamane at the same time count?). But I can say that this book is timeless. I wasn't bored with it even though it was a re-read.
In fact, I think this book was "made" for re-reads. It's essentially full of seemingly random short chapters, so you really could just flip to a random page and read a chapter (which can be as short as a paragraph really. I learnt that although the arrangement of the chapters seem random, they're actually really skillfully arranged. Sadly, my literature skills aren't at the level to discern and appreciate it without any help, although every now and then, I'd get the "woah, cool arrangement" feeling.
Being written so long ago, it's imbued with many Buddhist thoughts. This was because at that time, the only two religions in Japan were Shintoism and Buddhism. Plus, the Tsurezuregusa of Kenko is a Buddhist priest. But I would think that it's a pity to skip this book merely because of its religious influence. I think it's a really great way to appreciate the culture of that period and once you know that the religious aspect is there (and really, it's very obvious), you can always take a step back whenever you feel uncomfortable. The book isn't wholly spiritual after all. Kenko seems to be attached to the past and the secular world (he doesn't sound like a hermit) so plenty of, in fact the majority of, the passages are related to life in Japan then (or the past) rather than to Buddhism.
And let me reiterate again, that I really like the Donald Keene translation. It would be interesting to read it in Japanese but let's face it, my proficiency is no where near what is necessary and even my sensei has said that it's hard for the Japanese to understand it. I suppose I'll have to wait another year or two
First posted at
I actually didn't know that I already reviewed this book once before here. I guess it makes sense, because I only heard about this book one, two years ago, when this blog was already up. But nevermind, I have new things to say!
Basically, after my first review, I lost the book. I don't know how, I don't know when but it was lost for a period of time. And then I found out I was going to Japan. So before I went, I was at Kinokuniya using up all those vouchers people gave me; and quite naturally, I rebought this.
I can't actually say that reading it in Japan is a different experience because honestly, I read it in my dorm room (does the fact that I was eating edamane at the same time count?). But I can say that this book is timeless. I wasn't bored with it even though it was a re-read.
In fact, I think this book was "made" for re-reads. It's essentially full of seemingly random short chapters, so you really could just flip to a random page and read a chapter (which can be as short as a paragraph really. I learnt that although the arrangement of the chapters seem random, they're actually really skillfully arranged. Sadly, my literature skills aren't at the level to discern and appreciate it without any help, although every now and then, I'd get the "woah, cool arrangement" feeling.
Being written so long ago, it's imbued with many Buddhist thoughts. This was because at that time, the only two religions in Japan were Shintoism and Buddhism. Plus, the Tsurezuregusa of Kenko is a Buddhist priest. But I would think that it's a pity to skip this book merely because of its religious influence. I think it's a really great way to appreciate the culture of that period and once you know that the religious aspect is there (and really, it's very obvious), you can always take a step back whenever you feel uncomfortable. The book isn't wholly spiritual after all. Kenko seems to be attached to the past and the secular world (he doesn't sound like a hermit) so plenty of, in fact the majority of, the passages are related to life in Japan then (or the past) rather than to Buddhism.
And let me reiterate again, that I really like the Donald Keene translation. It would be interesting to read it in Japanese but let's face it, my proficiency is no where near what is necessary and even my sensei has said that it's hard for the Japanese to understand it. I suppose I'll have to wait another year or two
First posted at
September 13, 2018
Essay 75
"I wonder what feelings inspire a man to complain of "having nothing to do." I am happiest when I have nothing to distract me and I am completely alone.
If a man conforms to society, his mind will be captured by the filth of the outside world, and he is easily led astray; if he mingles in society, he must be careful that his words do not offend others, and what he says will not at all be what he feels in his heart. He will joke with others only to quarrel with them, now resentful, now happy, his feelings in constant turmoil. Calculations of advantage will wantonly intrude, and not a moment will be free from considerations of profit and loss. Intoxication is added to delusion, and in a state of inebriation the man dreams. People are all alike: they spend their days running about frantically, oblivious to their insanity."
"I wonder what feelings inspire a man to complain of "having nothing to do." I am happiest when I have nothing to distract me and I am completely alone.
If a man conforms to society, his mind will be captured by the filth of the outside world, and he is easily led astray; if he mingles in society, he must be careful that his words do not offend others, and what he says will not at all be what he feels in his heart. He will joke with others only to quarrel with them, now resentful, now happy, his feelings in constant turmoil. Calculations of advantage will wantonly intrude, and not a moment will be free from considerations of profit and loss. Intoxication is added to delusion, and in a state of inebriation the man dreams. People are all alike: they spend their days running about frantically, oblivious to their insanity."
January 8, 2017
Really enjoyable and pleasant. A few simple stories stuck with me and I think they are the most universal in humanity, rather than epic tales such as in religious books or fiction.
Chomei living in the woods and walking around with the woods wardens 10 year old son and though 50 years separates them, they are able to enjoy the same pleasures.
Kenko is just an overall doofus.
Chomei living in the woods and walking around with the woods wardens 10 year old son and though 50 years separates them, they are able to enjoy the same pleasures.
Kenko is just an overall doofus.
December 11, 2017
3.75 stars
These two-prose works “Essays in Idleness” by Yoshida Kenko and “Hojoki” (Record of a Ten-foot-Square Hut) by Kamo no Chomei would, I think, be a delight to those seeking solace or inspiration from their Mahayana Buddhist, hermit-like views in which they have long meant to share their initiatives, ideas and opinions as the voices from medieval Japan to his readers. Interestingly, “Hojoki” is the first work presented in the book followed by “Essays in Idleness” and I wonder if this new translation is more or less readable so my 欧宝娱乐 friends are welcome to compare its first paragraph:
a) By Meredith McKinney
On flows the river ceaselessly, nor does its water ever stay the same. The bubbles that float upon its pools now disappear, now form anew, but never endure long. And so it is with people in this world, and with their dwellings.
b) By A. L. Sadler (Tuttle 1972)
Ceaselessly the river flows, and yet the water is never the same, while in the still pools shifting foam gathers and is gone, never staying for a moment. Even so is man and his inhabitation.
Incidentally, I have long encountered the word 'idleness' in various essays but I usually conclude that it seemingly denotes retirement or laxity. I liked Samuel Johnson's advice, "If you are idle, be not solitary; if you are solitary, be not idle" due to its practicality. Then many years ago I came across a 15-essay book entitled, "In Praise of Idleness" (Routledge 2007) by Bertrand Russell and wondered what and why he would narrate on this ambiguous topic in 15 pages. In fact, the title comes from the first essay written in 1932. So it would be a good idea to read to compare idleness as viewed by Yoshida Kenko and Bertrand Russell.
In “Hojoki”, I think it should be a good idea to quote a few extracts from Kamo no Chomei so that we better understand him:
i) His initiative:
[In fact, on this page, there is a sketch of his hut with different parts, for instance, verandah, bracken for bedding, awning, etc.]
ii) His idea:
iii) His opinion:
Comparatively, readers can enjoy reading "Hojoki" in one sitting due to its 14 pages but they need time and motivation for 243 "Essays in Idleness" since each essay's content varies from a few lines to three pages, for example:
These two-prose works “Essays in Idleness” by Yoshida Kenko and “Hojoki” (Record of a Ten-foot-Square Hut) by Kamo no Chomei would, I think, be a delight to those seeking solace or inspiration from their Mahayana Buddhist, hermit-like views in which they have long meant to share their initiatives, ideas and opinions as the voices from medieval Japan to his readers. Interestingly, “Hojoki” is the first work presented in the book followed by “Essays in Idleness” and I wonder if this new translation is more or less readable so my 欧宝娱乐 friends are welcome to compare its first paragraph:
a) By Meredith McKinney
On flows the river ceaselessly, nor does its water ever stay the same. The bubbles that float upon its pools now disappear, now form anew, but never endure long. And so it is with people in this world, and with their dwellings.
b) By A. L. Sadler (Tuttle 1972)
Ceaselessly the river flows, and yet the water is never the same, while in the still pools shifting foam gathers and is gone, never staying for a moment. Even so is man and his inhabitation.
Incidentally, I have long encountered the word 'idleness' in various essays but I usually conclude that it seemingly denotes retirement or laxity. I liked Samuel Johnson's advice, "If you are idle, be not solitary; if you are solitary, be not idle" due to its practicality. Then many years ago I came across a 15-essay book entitled, "In Praise of Idleness" (Routledge 2007) by Bertrand Russell and wondered what and why he would narrate on this ambiguous topic in 15 pages. In fact, the title comes from the first essay written in 1932. So it would be a good idea to read to compare idleness as viewed by Yoshida Kenko and Bertrand Russell.
In “Hojoki”, I think it should be a good idea to quote a few extracts from Kamo no Chomei so that we better understand him:
i) His initiative:
This house looks quite unlike a normal one. It has a mere ten feet square, and less than seven feet high. Since I was not much concerned about where I lived, I did not construct the house to fit the site. I simply set up a foundation, put up a bit of a roof and fastened each joint with a metal catch, so that if I didn’t care for one place I could easily move to another. Just how much trouble would it be to rebuild, after all? The house would take a mere two cartloads to shift, and the only expense would be the carrier. (p. 13)
[In fact, on this page, there is a sketch of his hut with different parts, for instance, verandah, bracken for bedding, awning, etc.]
ii) His idea:
I do not make claims for these pleasures to disparage the rich. I am simply comparing my past life with my present one. The Triple World is solely Mind. Without a peaceful mind, elephants, horses and the seven treasures are worthless things, palaces and fine towers mean nothing. (p. 17)
iii) His opinion:
Yes, take it for all in all, this world is a hard place to live, and both we and our dwellings are fragile and impermanent, as these events reveal. And besides, there are the countless occasions when situation or circumstance cause us anguish.
Imagine you are someone of no account, who lives next to a powerful man. There may be something that deeply delights you, but you cannot go ahead and express your joy. If something has brought you terrible grief, you cannot raise your voice and weep. You worry over your least action and tremble with every move you make, like a sparrow close to a falcon’s nest. . . . (p. 11)
Comparatively, readers can enjoy reading "Hojoki" in one sitting due to its 14 pages but they need time and motivation for 243 "Essays in Idleness" since each essay's content varies from a few lines to three pages, for example:
17 [This number in fact should be in the middle]
When you are on a retreat at a mountain temple, concentrating on your devotions, the hours are never tedious, and the heart feels cleansed and purified. (p. 29)
238
The imperial guard Chikatomo once drew up a list of seven things in his own praise. They were all to do with the art of horsemanship, and not particularly impressive. This precedent encourages me to make my own list of seven.
. . .
But I subsequently heard that that night at the temple a fine lady had spied me from where she was seated behind her screen. She spruced up her gentle woman prettily and sent her off to me. 'With luck,' she said, 'you'll be able to speak to him. Come back and tell me what he was like. This should be fun.' it had apparently all been planned. (pp. 135-137)
June 7, 2016
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?? ????? ?? ???? ??? ????? ????? ?? ???? ???? ? ?????? ?? ?????? ??? ?? ??? ??? ????? ???????. ??? ?? ???? ????? ?? ?????? ??? ??? ???? ?? ?? ???? ????? ? ?? ???? ?????? ?? ??? ??????? ???? ??? ?????? ? ????? ???? ?????. ??? ???? ?? ??? ????? ? ??? ???? ?? ??? ????? ?????
?? ?? ???? ???? ??? ?? ???? ???? ? ????? ???? ? ??? ???? ?????? ??? ...
??????? ?????? ? ??????????? ?? ?? ?? ????? ??? ??? ??? ???? ??? ??. ??????? ? ????? ???? ????? ?? ?????? ?? ????? ?? ?????? ?? ???? ???? ???? ???? ? ????? ???? ??? ????? ?????? ? ?????? ?? ????? ????? ??????? ? ????????? ?? ??? ? ??? ?? ??? ???? ??? ?? ?????? ?? ?? ??? ??? ????? ? ?????? ???? ????? ??? ?????? ?? ?? ???? ???? ???? ?? ???? ? ?????? ?? ?? ????? ????? ????? ???? ??? ????
?? ????? ?? ???? ??? ????? ????? ?? ???? ???? ? ?????? ?? ?????? ??? ?? ??? ??? ????? ???????. ??? ?? ???? ????? ?? ?????? ??? ??? ???? ?? ?? ???? ????? ? ?? ???? ?????? ?? ??? ??????? ???? ??? ?????? ? ????? ???? ?????. ??? ???? ?? ??? ????? ? ??? ???? ?? ??? ????? ?????
?? ?? ???? ???? ??? ?? ???? ???? ? ????? ???? ? ??? ???? ?????? ??? ...
September 15, 2021
??y là t?p tu? bút c? do tu s? Ph?t giáo Kenko vi?t cách ??y 7 th? k?, sau khi ?ng t? quan v? ? ?n. T?p tu? bút g?m 243 ?o?n, ?o?n ng?n nh?t ch? g?m 20 ch? nh?ng ??u là nh?ng áng thi?n nh? nhàng, thoát ly kh?i cu?c s?ng tr?n t?c. Kh?ng n?ng n? v? giáo l? c?a Ph?t nh?ng r? ràng m?i t? t??ng và suy ni?m ??u mang d?u ?n c?a m?t ng??i tu thi?n.
Khi t? mình tách bi?t kh?i nh?ng náo nhi?t th??ng m?c c?a ??i s?ng, Kenko l?a ch?n cho mình m?t hành trình chiêm nghi?m s?u s?c h?n v? con ng??i, quan sát và c?m nh?n t? m? h?n v?i thiên nhiên. Trong ?o?n 17 ?ng có ghi “Lui vào làm Ph?t s? ? chùa trong núi, mình s? h?t bu?n chán, t?m h?n ???c xoá s?ch m?i phi?n n?o.” Nh?ng t? duy ?ng dàn tr?i trong “?? nhiên th?o” là nh?ng t? t??ng v??t th?i gian. Dù là nh?ng phút h?n hoan hay kho?nh kh?c tr?m m?c, cái t?i cá nh?n ?y c?ng nh? b?ng và thoát t?c, qua ?ó nh?ng c?m quan tr? nên tinh t? h?n bao gi? h?t. Nh?ng t? s? c?a ?ng v? các m?i quan h? trong tri?u ?ình, v? n?i lòng c?a ph? n?, v? gi?y phút hoà mình vào v? ??p c?a t? nhiên, v? các v? hành gi?, tu s?, v? th? ca nh?c ho? và hàng tr?m ?i?u l?n nh? c?a th? gian. Ngay c? ?i?u u hoài c?ng ???c nhìn b?ng con m?t kh?ng khái, ??n gi?n hoá m?i t?ng s?u c?a t?m h?n. Trong ?o?n 7 ghi nh? sau “N?u cu?c ??i c? kéo dài v?nh vi?n thì còn gì ?áng ?? xúc ??ng n?a. Chính vì ??i v? th??ng nên nó m?i tuy?t v?i.” ?ng ?? t?ng yêu thích s? xê d?ch và bác b? danh l?i nên gi? phút trong am th?o có m?t chút nh?n ra “N?u ta có nhi?u c?a c?i, c? ngày c? ph?i bo bo v?i nó, s? l?i là vi?c b?o tr?ng t?m th?n.” Bao nhiêu th?nh th?i cùng tr?ng gió, mùa màng, hoa c? ???c trao g?i trên nh?ng dòng ch? ?? t? t?n t?n h??ng.
“?? nhiên th?o” kh?ng ch? là th? gi?i c?a ?n s?, ?ó là ph?n n?i t?m s?u th?m c?a nh?ng ai bi?t ki?m soát nh?p ?i?u c?a th?i gian ?? lui vào bên trong và nhìn ra bên ngoài. Khi ta cho phép mình ???c s?ng ch?m ?i vài nh?p ngh?a là m?i th? trong m?t ta s? hi?n th? r? ràng h?n. V?i t?p tu? bút c? này, ng??i ??c có th? l?t gi? b?t c? trang, ?o?n nào ?? chiêm nghi?m vì chúng kh?ng h? có s? liên k?t hay theo th? t?. M?c dù v?y, ngay c? v?i ?o?n ng?n nh?t c?ng là nh?ng tr?i nghi?m có b? dày c?a Kenko v?i cu?c ??i.
Ph?i c?m ?n d?ch gi? Nguy?n Nam Tr?n ?? dày c?ng ??a dòng v?n h?c ?n s? này ??n v?i b?n ??c. Nh?ng chú gi?i v?i t?ng nh?n v?t, s? ki?n và c?u t? v? cùng c?n k? và uyên bác. R?t kh?p khi?ng n?u so sánh tác ph?m này v?i nh?ng tác ph?m Ph?t giáo khác b?i vì nó mang m?t giá tr? r?t khác. Nh?ng tinh hoa c?a v?n hoá, n?p ngh?, giá tr? truy?n th?ng c?a Nh?t B?n ?? ?óng góp chung v?i s? tu h?c Ph?t pháp ? Kenko hình thành nên tác ph?m này. M?c dù ?? 7 th? k? tr?i qua, chúng ta v?n có th? c?m trên tay m?t v?n ph?m giá tr?, tao nh? và thu?n khi?t nh?ng kh?ng kém ph?n hi?n sinh và nó x?ng ?áng ?? ??c l?i nhi?u l?n.
Khi t? mình tách bi?t kh?i nh?ng náo nhi?t th??ng m?c c?a ??i s?ng, Kenko l?a ch?n cho mình m?t hành trình chiêm nghi?m s?u s?c h?n v? con ng??i, quan sát và c?m nh?n t? m? h?n v?i thiên nhiên. Trong ?o?n 17 ?ng có ghi “Lui vào làm Ph?t s? ? chùa trong núi, mình s? h?t bu?n chán, t?m h?n ???c xoá s?ch m?i phi?n n?o.” Nh?ng t? duy ?ng dàn tr?i trong “?? nhiên th?o” là nh?ng t? t??ng v??t th?i gian. Dù là nh?ng phút h?n hoan hay kho?nh kh?c tr?m m?c, cái t?i cá nh?n ?y c?ng nh? b?ng và thoát t?c, qua ?ó nh?ng c?m quan tr? nên tinh t? h?n bao gi? h?t. Nh?ng t? s? c?a ?ng v? các m?i quan h? trong tri?u ?ình, v? n?i lòng c?a ph? n?, v? gi?y phút hoà mình vào v? ??p c?a t? nhiên, v? các v? hành gi?, tu s?, v? th? ca nh?c ho? và hàng tr?m ?i?u l?n nh? c?a th? gian. Ngay c? ?i?u u hoài c?ng ???c nhìn b?ng con m?t kh?ng khái, ??n gi?n hoá m?i t?ng s?u c?a t?m h?n. Trong ?o?n 7 ghi nh? sau “N?u cu?c ??i c? kéo dài v?nh vi?n thì còn gì ?áng ?? xúc ??ng n?a. Chính vì ??i v? th??ng nên nó m?i tuy?t v?i.” ?ng ?? t?ng yêu thích s? xê d?ch và bác b? danh l?i nên gi? phút trong am th?o có m?t chút nh?n ra “N?u ta có nhi?u c?a c?i, c? ngày c? ph?i bo bo v?i nó, s? l?i là vi?c b?o tr?ng t?m th?n.” Bao nhiêu th?nh th?i cùng tr?ng gió, mùa màng, hoa c? ???c trao g?i trên nh?ng dòng ch? ?? t? t?n t?n h??ng.
“?? nhiên th?o” kh?ng ch? là th? gi?i c?a ?n s?, ?ó là ph?n n?i t?m s?u th?m c?a nh?ng ai bi?t ki?m soát nh?p ?i?u c?a th?i gian ?? lui vào bên trong và nhìn ra bên ngoài. Khi ta cho phép mình ???c s?ng ch?m ?i vài nh?p ngh?a là m?i th? trong m?t ta s? hi?n th? r? ràng h?n. V?i t?p tu? bút c? này, ng??i ??c có th? l?t gi? b?t c? trang, ?o?n nào ?? chiêm nghi?m vì chúng kh?ng h? có s? liên k?t hay theo th? t?. M?c dù v?y, ngay c? v?i ?o?n ng?n nh?t c?ng là nh?ng tr?i nghi?m có b? dày c?a Kenko v?i cu?c ??i.
Ph?i c?m ?n d?ch gi? Nguy?n Nam Tr?n ?? dày c?ng ??a dòng v?n h?c ?n s? này ??n v?i b?n ??c. Nh?ng chú gi?i v?i t?ng nh?n v?t, s? ki?n và c?u t? v? cùng c?n k? và uyên bác. R?t kh?p khi?ng n?u so sánh tác ph?m này v?i nh?ng tác ph?m Ph?t giáo khác b?i vì nó mang m?t giá tr? r?t khác. Nh?ng tinh hoa c?a v?n hoá, n?p ngh?, giá tr? truy?n th?ng c?a Nh?t B?n ?? ?óng góp chung v?i s? tu h?c Ph?t pháp ? Kenko hình thành nên tác ph?m này. M?c dù ?? 7 th? k? tr?i qua, chúng ta v?n có th? c?m trên tay m?t v?n ph?m giá tr?, tao nh? và thu?n khi?t nh?ng kh?ng kém ph?n hi?n sinh và nó x?ng ?áng ?? ??c l?i nhi?u l?n.
March 1, 2018
Writing this, I realize that all this has already been spoken of long ago in The tale of Genji and The Pillow Book — but that is no reason not to say it again. After all, things thought but left unsaid only fester inside you. So I let my brush run on like this for my own foolish solace; these pages deserve to be torn up and discarded, after all, and are not something others will ever see. —Kenkō, Essay 19
...but it is above all the sensitivity to beauty and refinement of the old culture that embodies all things good for Kenkō. —From the Introduction
Chōmei's summary of the progress of his own life, from the fine mansion of his youth through a series of diminishing houses to the tiny 'brief dwelling' of his few final years, traces a trajectory that mirrors his slow realization of the truth of impermanence...As that end approaches with the end of 贬ō箩ō办颈 itself, even this hut is cast away at the realization of the necessity of non-attachment, the lesson that lies behind the sermon preached by this work. —From the Introduction
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I knew nothing about these two works other than their titles, so I was pleasantly surprised when I thought they were much better than anything I was expecting.
The first work, 贬ō箩ō办颈 by Chōmei, is a beautiful short work (~15pp) reflecting on the author's life, impermanence, and his commitment to Buddhism.
The second work, Essays in Idleness by Kenkō, are a series of 243 essays about all manner of subjects. Some of his favourite subjects are philosophy, aesthetics, anecdotes, and observations of people's behaviours. They show great variety, and range from lighthearted to more serious topics, and are incredibly easy to read.
The translations by Meredith McKinney are excellent, and rendered into a beautiful English.
(In fact, I discovered that the translator, Meredith McKinney, translated The Pillow Book by Sei Shōnagon for Penguin, and after comparing her translation with a copy that I own translated by Ivan Morris, I bought the former straight away and will definitely be reading from her translation.)
May I suggest reading this with some playing queitly in the background, as I did?
I'm all for total immersion when experiencing a piece of art, and I don't usually listen to music whilst reading (usually rain/fire/ocean sounds), but I think Skyrim Atmospheres by Jeff Beal was a great match with these works.
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On flows the river ceaselessly, nor does its water ever stay the same. the bubbles that float upon its pools now disappear, now form anew, but never endure long. And so it is with people in this world, and with their dwellings. —贬ō箩ō办颈
And so it is with the pelasures of seclusion. Who but one who lives it can understand its joys? —贬ō箩ō办颈
How could I waste my days like this, describing useless pleasures? —贬ō箩ō办颈
What happiness to sit in intimate conversation with someone of like mind, warmed by candid discussion of the amusing and fleeting ways of this world . . . but such a friend is hard to find, and instead you sit there doing your best to fit in with whatever the other is saying, feeling deeply alone. —Essay 12
It is a most wonderful comfort to sit alone beneath a lamp, book spread before you, and commune with someone from the past whom you have never met. —Essay 13
Some of today's poems could be said to achieve a nice turn of phrase here and there, but somehow they just do not have the old poetry's subtle flavour of feeling that resonates beyond words. —Essay 14
At times of quiet contemplation, my one irresistible emotion is an aching nostalgia for all things past. —Essay 29
The place is large, with an ancient grove of trees, and cherry blossoms drift down in the garden —Essay 43
There are endless examples of something that attaches itself to another, eats away at it and harms it. A body has fleas. A house has rats. A nation has robbers. A lesser man has wealth. An honourable man has moral imperatives. A monk has the Buddhist Law. —Essay 97
If you wish to follow the Buddhist Way, you should simply retire and make time in your life, and not let your mind dwell on worldly matters. This is the most important thing. —Essay 98
If you wish to be better than others, you should aim to excel them through study; by pursuing truth, you will learn not to take pride in your virtues or compete with others, It takes the strength conferred by study to enable you to relinquish high office and to turn your back on gain. —Essay 130
The man of quality never appears entranced by anything; he savours things with a casual air. —Essay 137
When people get together, they are never silent for a moment. They will always talk. When you listen to what they say, a great deal of it is pointless. —Essay 164
There is so much talking when people get together. It is exhausting, disturbs the mind and wastes time better spent on other things. —Essay 170
Remember, the Buddha teaches that those who lift the wine glass either to their own lips or to others' will spend five hundred lifetimes without hands. —Essay 175
As a rule, people should display no learning or art. —Essay 232
March 24, 2017
How do you rate essays written by Buddhist monks from the 11th and 12th centuries? The first of these, "Hojoki" is a short meditative piece about the decision to become a monk and to live in seclusion, and the internal struggle of living within the Way. As an essay, it's much more successful than "Essays in Idleness" -- it's concise and moving. "Essays in Idleness" is a much more sprawling work, which covers living as a monk and living a secluded life, but also discusses everything from courtly manners to garden design. Some of the sections aren't interesting or are too esoteric for the Western reader, but many paint a vivid picture of life in the 12th century courts, and for that alone, they're entertaining to read.
May 29, 2022
“Things of which it is good to see plenty:
Books in a book-case.
Dust in a dust heap.”
There is a wealth of good advice that has not aged since it was written.
Books in a book-case.
Dust in a dust heap.”
There is a wealth of good advice that has not aged since it was written.
March 5, 2015
Il monaco buddhista Kenkō, avrebbe via via incollato le strisce di carta contenenti i singoli brani del libro sulle pareti della sua casa. Dopo la sua morte, altri avrebbero messo insieme tali frammenti, in cui molti lettori dovevano trovare quello che è forse il più essenziale concentrato dello spirito giapponese.
Makoto e’ dunque sentire, vivere immediatamente e attraverso i sensi le cose del mondo. E’ una forma di estrinsecazione dell’emotivita’ che, facendo perno sul cuore, ne manifesta i sentimenti in modo vigoroso, schietto e immediato.
…
Noi troviamo il makoto in Kenko in quel fascino che per lui hanno le cose antiche o che rievocano il passato, nella sua preferenza per la semplicita’, nel suo vivo interesse per gli antichi riti e consuetudini e per le antiche parole ed espressioni e, in senso piu’ ampio, in quella sua avversione per le persone invadenti che vogliono a ogi costo mettersi in evidenza, e contro le quali esercita la sua ironia. (203)
Mono no aware, vale dunque: il turbamento (aware) delle (no) cose (mono), cioe’: la commozione, la simpatia per le cose, gli altri esseri e la stessa natura ci ispirano. (204)
Il titolo Tsurezure-gusa e’ composto di due parole, … Il significato preciso del vocabolo tsurezure non e’ molto chiaro. Di solito viene reso con contemplazione, tempo libero, noia, ozio; ma sembra piuttosto indicare quella feconda beatitudine che riempie l’anima quand’essa e’ sola con se stessa, non turbata o distratt da altro, nel silenzio che la circonda. (209)
Nelle mie ore d’ozio, seduto davanti al calamaio, vado annotando giorno dopo giorno, senza alcun motivo particolare, ogni pensiero che mi passa per la mente, per quanto futile sia: e’ una cosa, questa, che mi procura una sensazione davvero strana, simile a una lieve ebbrezza. (13)
1 * Il lignaggio e l’aspetto noi lo riceviamo dalla natura: ma perche’ non dovremmo almeno far si’ che il nostro cuore diventi sempre piu’ saggio? (14)
13 * Non c’e’ cosa piu’ consolante che sedere sotto una lampada con un libro aperto e far conoscenza con coloro che son vissuti nei tempi passati. (19-20)
73 * Cio’ che in questo mondo viene tramandato e’ in gran parte frutto di fantasia; forse perche’ la verita’, in se’, non e’ mai particolarmente interessante. (53)
75 * Quali saranno mai i sentimenti di colui che vive in un ozio tedioso e melanconico? Stare soli, senza essere turbati da influenze esterne, e’ certo cosa gradita. Se si segue il mond, il proprio cuore viene facilmente traviato dall’impurita’. Frequentando la gente, la parola si adegua alle intenzioni altrui, non al proprio cuore. … Gli uomini sono tutti cosi’: corrono frenetici, e dimenticano la loro follia. (54)
Life is a well of delight; but where the rabble also drink, there all fountains are poisoned. (The rabble, xxviii, Thus Spake Zarathustra, Nietzsche)
91 * Cio’ che si e’ iniziato non giunge alla fine e cio’ a cui miriamo non si realizza, eppure i nostri desideri non hanno limite. Il cuore dell’uomo e’ instabile e tutte le cose non sono che illusioni. C’e’ qualcosa che rimanga, sia pur per breve tempo, immutato? (62)
105 * Nell’ombra del lato a settentrione della casa, dove la neve non sciolta era ghiacciata, stava ferma una vettura, le cui stanghe scintillavano di ghiaccioli. La luna dell’alba era tersa, ma qua e la’ v’erano angoli oscuri. Nel corridoio del tempio solitario sedevano sulla soglia di una porta un uomo, dall’aspetto distinto, e una donna. I due conversavano chissa’ di quale argomento, che sembrava non dovesse mai esaurirsi. Il modo con cui la donna inclinava il capo era segno di eleganza, e l’indefinibile profumo che emanava era delizioso. Quanto avrei voluto udire, sia pure in parte, cio’ che si dissero! (68-9)
108 * Nessuno in questo mondo conferisce valore all’istante. E’ forse per saggezza o per stupidita’? (70)
164 * Quando le persone si incontrano non stanno mai zitte un momento, hanno sempre qualcosa di cui discorrere; ma se si ascolta quel che dicono, si tratta quasi sempre di futilita’: voci senza fondamento, commenti benevoli o malevoli, … (101)
166 * Quando considero le cose per cui le creature umane si affannano, mi sembra come se, avendo costruito un Buddha di neve, esse fabbricassero ornamenti d’oro e d’argento e gioielli, e costruissero un tempio o una pagoda per lui. Potrebbe mai il Buddha di neve attendere la fine della costruzione?
Spesso all’uomo sembra che la vita duri eterna, e invece svanisce come neve e lascia molte cose incompiute. (102)
208 * Nel legare i rotoli dei sutra e’ stata sempre consuetudine avvolgere il laccio a croce, come nel tasuki, da sopra a sotto, facendone passare l’estremita’, tirandola per traverso, sotto l’incrocio, in modo da formare un cappio. (123)
211 * Non bisogna mai fidarsi di nessuno e di nulla, in nessuna occasione.
…
L’uomo e’ l’anima dell’universo, che non conosce limiti: come potrebbe dunque avere una natura diversa? Se agisce con larghezza di vedute e senza restrizioni, allora ne’ la gioia ne’ l’ira lo sfioreranno, ne’ le circostanze lo faranno soffrire. (125)
239 * Il quindicesimo giorno dell’ottava lunazione e il tredicesimo della nona sono dominati dalla costellazione Ro, che fa parte dell’Ariete. Poiche’ tale costellazione e’ straordinariamente luminosa, queste due notti sono particolarmente propizie per contemplar la luna. (142)
Makoto e’ dunque sentire, vivere immediatamente e attraverso i sensi le cose del mondo. E’ una forma di estrinsecazione dell’emotivita’ che, facendo perno sul cuore, ne manifesta i sentimenti in modo vigoroso, schietto e immediato.
…
Noi troviamo il makoto in Kenko in quel fascino che per lui hanno le cose antiche o che rievocano il passato, nella sua preferenza per la semplicita’, nel suo vivo interesse per gli antichi riti e consuetudini e per le antiche parole ed espressioni e, in senso piu’ ampio, in quella sua avversione per le persone invadenti che vogliono a ogi costo mettersi in evidenza, e contro le quali esercita la sua ironia. (203)
Mono no aware, vale dunque: il turbamento (aware) delle (no) cose (mono), cioe’: la commozione, la simpatia per le cose, gli altri esseri e la stessa natura ci ispirano. (204)
Il titolo Tsurezure-gusa e’ composto di due parole, … Il significato preciso del vocabolo tsurezure non e’ molto chiaro. Di solito viene reso con contemplazione, tempo libero, noia, ozio; ma sembra piuttosto indicare quella feconda beatitudine che riempie l’anima quand’essa e’ sola con se stessa, non turbata o distratt da altro, nel silenzio che la circonda. (209)
Nelle mie ore d’ozio, seduto davanti al calamaio, vado annotando giorno dopo giorno, senza alcun motivo particolare, ogni pensiero che mi passa per la mente, per quanto futile sia: e’ una cosa, questa, che mi procura una sensazione davvero strana, simile a una lieve ebbrezza. (13)
1 * Il lignaggio e l’aspetto noi lo riceviamo dalla natura: ma perche’ non dovremmo almeno far si’ che il nostro cuore diventi sempre piu’ saggio? (14)
13 * Non c’e’ cosa piu’ consolante che sedere sotto una lampada con un libro aperto e far conoscenza con coloro che son vissuti nei tempi passati. (19-20)
73 * Cio’ che in questo mondo viene tramandato e’ in gran parte frutto di fantasia; forse perche’ la verita’, in se’, non e’ mai particolarmente interessante. (53)
75 * Quali saranno mai i sentimenti di colui che vive in un ozio tedioso e melanconico? Stare soli, senza essere turbati da influenze esterne, e’ certo cosa gradita. Se si segue il mond, il proprio cuore viene facilmente traviato dall’impurita’. Frequentando la gente, la parola si adegua alle intenzioni altrui, non al proprio cuore. … Gli uomini sono tutti cosi’: corrono frenetici, e dimenticano la loro follia. (54)
Life is a well of delight; but where the rabble also drink, there all fountains are poisoned. (The rabble, xxviii, Thus Spake Zarathustra, Nietzsche)
91 * Cio’ che si e’ iniziato non giunge alla fine e cio’ a cui miriamo non si realizza, eppure i nostri desideri non hanno limite. Il cuore dell’uomo e’ instabile e tutte le cose non sono che illusioni. C’e’ qualcosa che rimanga, sia pur per breve tempo, immutato? (62)
105 * Nell’ombra del lato a settentrione della casa, dove la neve non sciolta era ghiacciata, stava ferma una vettura, le cui stanghe scintillavano di ghiaccioli. La luna dell’alba era tersa, ma qua e la’ v’erano angoli oscuri. Nel corridoio del tempio solitario sedevano sulla soglia di una porta un uomo, dall’aspetto distinto, e una donna. I due conversavano chissa’ di quale argomento, che sembrava non dovesse mai esaurirsi. Il modo con cui la donna inclinava il capo era segno di eleganza, e l’indefinibile profumo che emanava era delizioso. Quanto avrei voluto udire, sia pure in parte, cio’ che si dissero! (68-9)
108 * Nessuno in questo mondo conferisce valore all’istante. E’ forse per saggezza o per stupidita’? (70)
164 * Quando le persone si incontrano non stanno mai zitte un momento, hanno sempre qualcosa di cui discorrere; ma se si ascolta quel che dicono, si tratta quasi sempre di futilita’: voci senza fondamento, commenti benevoli o malevoli, … (101)
166 * Quando considero le cose per cui le creature umane si affannano, mi sembra come se, avendo costruito un Buddha di neve, esse fabbricassero ornamenti d’oro e d’argento e gioielli, e costruissero un tempio o una pagoda per lui. Potrebbe mai il Buddha di neve attendere la fine della costruzione?
Spesso all’uomo sembra che la vita duri eterna, e invece svanisce come neve e lascia molte cose incompiute. (102)
208 * Nel legare i rotoli dei sutra e’ stata sempre consuetudine avvolgere il laccio a croce, come nel tasuki, da sopra a sotto, facendone passare l’estremita’, tirandola per traverso, sotto l’incrocio, in modo da formare un cappio. (123)
211 * Non bisogna mai fidarsi di nessuno e di nulla, in nessuna occasione.
…
L’uomo e’ l’anima dell’universo, che non conosce limiti: come potrebbe dunque avere una natura diversa? Se agisce con larghezza di vedute e senza restrizioni, allora ne’ la gioia ne’ l’ira lo sfioreranno, ne’ le circostanze lo faranno soffrire. (125)
239 * Il quindicesimo giorno dell’ottava lunazione e il tredicesimo della nona sono dominati dalla costellazione Ro, che fa parte dell’Ariete. Poiche’ tale costellazione e’ straordinariamente luminosa, queste due notti sono particolarmente propizie per contemplar la luna. (142)
February 12, 2024
yoshida kenko.. I was unfamiliar with ur game.. wish it had stayed that way... idk who convinced u that ur dick is huge and that ur balls weight a ton but they lied to you badly, you will NEVER be sei shonagon FUCK YOU!!
July 20, 2013
This is a miscellany. It is a collection of various thoughts and things and events that the author finds interesting. A journal basically, or a diary. Some of it was uninteresting to me though, and did not translate at all. Proper etiquette is discussed. What constitutes refined behavior, and other matters. He talks a lot about how this tradition has been performed during the time of this or that emperor.
Where the book shines is with regards to aesthetics. Yoshida shows a taste on things which is rooted on buddhist philosophy. Probably the best paragraphs in the book are the ones under the heading 'On Different Points of View," where the beauty of imperfect things are discussed. It begins:
"Is it only when the flowers are in full bloom and when the moon is shining in spotless perfection that we ought to gaze at them?"
From there it goes on a rather interesting sort of exposition, describing and praising refined behavior and condemning the unrefined behavior of some people.
The perspective is intimate (similar to the 'slice-of-life' genre in Japanese anime and manga), and might surprise you in how 'modern' the sentiment of the author is. It is a trove of information on the culture and behavior of people during the author's time.
My version is the 1914 translation by William N. Porter, and since I have no knowledge of Japanese, I cannot make any comment on it. This version is freely available online and I enjoin the reader to have a go at it, and read it in her Iphone or Android phone using an ebookreader while waiting for someone or going on a public commute in a train or any public vehicle, as she could find something of interest to her in it.
Where the book shines is with regards to aesthetics. Yoshida shows a taste on things which is rooted on buddhist philosophy. Probably the best paragraphs in the book are the ones under the heading 'On Different Points of View," where the beauty of imperfect things are discussed. It begins:
"Is it only when the flowers are in full bloom and when the moon is shining in spotless perfection that we ought to gaze at them?"
From there it goes on a rather interesting sort of exposition, describing and praising refined behavior and condemning the unrefined behavior of some people.
The perspective is intimate (similar to the 'slice-of-life' genre in Japanese anime and manga), and might surprise you in how 'modern' the sentiment of the author is. It is a trove of information on the culture and behavior of people during the author's time.
My version is the 1914 translation by William N. Porter, and since I have no knowledge of Japanese, I cannot make any comment on it. This version is freely available online and I enjoin the reader to have a go at it, and read it in her Iphone or Android phone using an ebookreader while waiting for someone or going on a public commute in a train or any public vehicle, as she could find something of interest to her in it.
Read
August 12, 2022Why should you buy this book? To learn something unique about Japanese culture from the perspective of Buddhism, and perhaps gain a new perspective on how to lead a good life and to value it, while also remembering that death is always lurking around, and that happiness is ephemeral.
Also to get a low-key introductory course to Buddhism if you're so inclined to try it.
If that's not your kind of thing, move on.
The beauty of this edition lies in the apparent contrast between 贬ō箩ō办颈's sense of isolation, and Essays in Idleness's advice on leading a satisfactory life in community. However, the latter in many ways encourages intellectual isolation and disregard for materialism, which are some of the precepts of Buddhism.
Worry not, this book will not convert you into a Buddhist, unless you're willing, but it certainly does a great job tantalizing you with the idea, especially Essays in Idleness that imparts wisdom with ease. One thing I did take from this book is a great deal of teachings that are relevant in today's social landscape, and I hope to apply at least half of them.
Reading this reminded me a lot of how people seek guidance in the Bible, and while I have many problems with that book and the damage it has brought about to the world, at least this book offers guidance without implicitly promoting hatred, and it's way shorter and less preachy since it does not pretend to offer any truths about the world, just about the human condition and that we will certainly die.
Also to get a low-key introductory course to Buddhism if you're so inclined to try it.
If that's not your kind of thing, move on.
The beauty of this edition lies in the apparent contrast between 贬ō箩ō办颈's sense of isolation, and Essays in Idleness's advice on leading a satisfactory life in community. However, the latter in many ways encourages intellectual isolation and disregard for materialism, which are some of the precepts of Buddhism.
Worry not, this book will not convert you into a Buddhist, unless you're willing, but it certainly does a great job tantalizing you with the idea, especially Essays in Idleness that imparts wisdom with ease. One thing I did take from this book is a great deal of teachings that are relevant in today's social landscape, and I hope to apply at least half of them.
Reading this reminded me a lot of how people seek guidance in the Bible, and while I have many problems with that book and the damage it has brought about to the world, at least this book offers guidance without implicitly promoting hatred, and it's way shorter and less preachy since it does not pretend to offer any truths about the world, just about the human condition and that we will certainly die.
April 16, 2015
Oh, how I wanted to love this book! Existential, poetic musings by a 14th century Buddhist monk. What's not to like, right? Well, unfortunately this monk comes across a lot more like a curmudgeon who's hung up on tradition, formality and overall reserve. While I can see that it's a very historically important work, the parables, anecdotes and recommendations come across a bit flat, at least for this modern reader.
I think my favorite musing was the following, in which the humor was most likely accidental, but welcome: "You should never put the new antlers of a deer to your nose and smell them. They have little insects that crawl into the nose and devour the brain.”
No doubt more historical/cultural background and context could help one appreciate the work more, but on its own, it seems to be missing something, especially compared with the Japanese poetry by other authors occasionally quoted within the work itself.
―
I think my favorite musing was the following, in which the humor was most likely accidental, but welcome: "You should never put the new antlers of a deer to your nose and smell them. They have little insects that crawl into the nose and devour the brain.”
No doubt more historical/cultural background and context could help one appreciate the work more, but on its own, it seems to be missing something, especially compared with the Japanese poetry by other authors occasionally quoted within the work itself.
―
March 5, 2023
Periodo medioevale, prima metà del 1300, giappone: un periodo turbolento e di incertezza, un monaco buddista che si dedica solo a vergare tutti i suoi pensieri. Ci troviamo a leggere pensieri, aneddoti, considerazione su una multitudine di soggetti, per lo più intrisi di filosofia buddista, una finestra sul pensiero dell'epoca con l'esaltazione della bellezza dell'effimero.
Il libro si è rilevato esattamente quello che mi aspettavo e mi è piaciuto: una immersione nella saggezza antica che aiuta a formare una percezione di quel mondo, e fa avvicinare a una cultura fondamentalmente diversa in sensibilità dalla nostra.
Fra i libri di filosofia storici di filosofia giapponese che ho letto quest'anno sicuramente è quello che ho apprezzato di più.
Il libro si è rilevato esattamente quello che mi aspettavo e mi è piaciuto: una immersione nella saggezza antica che aiuta a formare una percezione di quel mondo, e fa avvicinare a una cultura fondamentalmente diversa in sensibilità dalla nostra.
Fra i libri di filosofia storici di filosofia giapponese che ho letto quest'anno sicuramente è quello che ho apprezzato di più.
July 11, 2017
4.5 stars. This was the full version of "A Cup of Sake Beneath the Cherry Trees" by Kenko and contained a few more observations of humans and nature, it was still enjoyable the second time around. Hojoki was a very short text by Chomei about living a secluded life and reevaluating your standards. It seemed like he was okay with that way of living until the very end when he kind of wondered why he did this to himself. I felt bad for him in the end.
September 12, 2021
Hojoki - 5/5 (awesome)
Essays in Idleness - 2/5
rounding down average cause I didn't really like essays all that much.
It felt like Hojoki was more thoughtful and impactful while Essays in Idleness were more like passing thoughts. Most of those thoughts weren't all that interesting or thought provoking. Not sure why Essays is considered a classic maybe its beyond me.
Essays in Idleness - 2/5
rounding down average cause I didn't really like essays all that much.
It felt like Hojoki was more thoughtful and impactful while Essays in Idleness were more like passing thoughts. Most of those thoughts weren't all that interesting or thought provoking. Not sure why Essays is considered a classic maybe its beyond me.
August 31, 2014
"It is most wonderful comfort to sit alone beneath a lamp, book spread before you, and commune with someone from the past whom you have never met." This is a book of indelible expressions and images to savor, sip by sip, over the course of several days. Delightful.
April 28, 2020
Lanterfanttips uit de 14e eeuw
De hedendaagse mens moet voortdurend iets doen. Zijn telefoon checken, zijn productiviteit verhogen, naar een vrijgezellenfeestje, aan een teambuildingsdag deelnemen, een festival bezoeken, een berg op fietsen voor het goede doel, een bucketlist afwerken, sociale media-accounts actualiseren, zijn lichaam verbeteren, leren ontspannen en mindful zijn. Van de veertiende-eeuwse Japanse monnik Kenkō (ca. 1283 tot ca. 1352) hoeven we dat allemaal niet te doen. In De kunst van het nietsdoen, prachtig soepel vertaald door Jos Vos, schrijft hij dat voedsel, kleding, een huis en toegang tot medische zorg genoeg zijn om een tevreden leven te leiden.
Medio maart kwam ons leven tot stilstand door het coronavirus. Na enkele persconferenties van de minister-president zijn we ervan doordrongen dat we nog een lange, rustige periode tegemoet gaan, zonder bezoek, barbecues, buitenlandse reizen, concerten, wandelvierdaagses, Formule 1-races enzovoort. Hoe lang we nog verstoken blijven van sociale contacten en georganiseerde activiteiten buitenshuis is onbekend. Het covidium, zoals deze periode wel wordt genoemd, heeft nog geen einddatum. Daar kun je volgens Kenkō maar beter in berusten. Het heeft immers geen zin ‘om plannen te smeden voor een toekomst die je nooit zult beleven’. Lees verder
De hedendaagse mens moet voortdurend iets doen. Zijn telefoon checken, zijn productiviteit verhogen, naar een vrijgezellenfeestje, aan een teambuildingsdag deelnemen, een festival bezoeken, een berg op fietsen voor het goede doel, een bucketlist afwerken, sociale media-accounts actualiseren, zijn lichaam verbeteren, leren ontspannen en mindful zijn. Van de veertiende-eeuwse Japanse monnik Kenkō (ca. 1283 tot ca. 1352) hoeven we dat allemaal niet te doen. In De kunst van het nietsdoen, prachtig soepel vertaald door Jos Vos, schrijft hij dat voedsel, kleding, een huis en toegang tot medische zorg genoeg zijn om een tevreden leven te leiden.
Medio maart kwam ons leven tot stilstand door het coronavirus. Na enkele persconferenties van de minister-president zijn we ervan doordrongen dat we nog een lange, rustige periode tegemoet gaan, zonder bezoek, barbecues, buitenlandse reizen, concerten, wandelvierdaagses, Formule 1-races enzovoort. Hoe lang we nog verstoken blijven van sociale contacten en georganiseerde activiteiten buitenshuis is onbekend. Het covidium, zoals deze periode wel wordt genoemd, heeft nog geen einddatum. Daar kun je volgens Kenkō maar beter in berusten. Het heeft immers geen zin ‘om plannen te smeden voor een toekomst die je nooit zult beleven’. Lees verder
July 24, 2017
This book--"Essays in Idleness" and "Hojoki", by the medieval Japanese monks Yoshida Kenko and Kamo no Chomei, sensitively translated by Australian scholar Meredith McKinney--details the spiritual journeys of two men who 'took the tonsure', shaved their heads in the Buddhist monastic tradition, living lives of poverty, poetry, reflection, and relative seclusion.
Chomei retired later in life, after a series of crises. He studies the world through the window of architecture: cities, towns, homes, and lives, ravaged by natural, political, and personal disaster. He gives the exact dimensions of the portable cabin he builds as his retreat. He tells us precisely where things are placed, how the moon looks from his window, and describes his bed of bracken inside, and the arrangement of stones beneath a bamboo pipette outside, and how they are all related. Apart from that little bit of plumbing, H.D. Thoreau's experimental abode at Walden Pond seems like a clapboard Versailles stuffed with modern luxuries and conveniences by comparison.
Chomei's primary theme is the mutability of fortunes and the impermanence of all things and learning how to live with change, spiritually. "Hojoki" shows how impermanence creates not only beauty, but lends all that is transitory a permanent and poignant magnificence by virtue of its fragility: which he powerfully illustrates in person, in a moment of what Aristotle might have called "anagnorisis" in the concluding four paragraphs of this brief, intensely intimate and powerful 18 page self-portrait.
Kenko entered the priesthood in his 20s and never fully abandoned his ties to the city. "Essays In Idleness" is less a coherent statement of belief than a collection of 243 vignettes, canny, clever, and often profound, on a wide range of topics--stories, earthy trivia, nostalgia, moralia, precepts, advice and admonitions, and philosophical reflections. Here are a few examples of his work that I copied into my journal, that I simply can't summarize:
20: A certain recluse monk once remarked, "I have relinquished all that ties me to the world, but the one thing that still haunts me is the beauty of the sky." I can quite see why he would feel this.
29: How melancholy to think that your own familiar things, too, will remain in existence down the years to come, indifferent and unchanged.
137: Should we look at the spring blossoms in full flower or the moon only when cloudless and clear? To long for the moon with the rain before you, or to lie curtained in your room while the spring passes unseen, is yet more poignant and deeply moving.
149: One shouldn't put new [powdered, I expect] deer antler to the nose and sniff it. There is a tiny insect in it that will enter through the nose and devour the brain.
166: The way people struggle to get along in the world strikes me as like fashioning a buddha from snow on a spring day, decking it out with precious metals and jewels, then setting out to build a worship hall for it. Would it survive long enough to be placed in the finished hall? So many strive in hopes of the future, even as the life still in them is daily dissolving away like snow beneath the snowman.
The peripatetic and poetical nature of these little essays (which owe a considerable debt to the lavish lists and loose literary structure of Sei Shonagan's Heian Era masterpiece, "The Pillow Book," which Kenko alludes to frequently) is delightful: in the same discursive way that a tipsy walk home with an intimate friend might be at midnight, parting at some curious intersection, somewhere, to go your own separate ways, for all you really know, forever, even unto eternity.
"Essays In Idleness" differs from "Hojoki" in that it is less overtly ascetic, and places more value on the fleeting pleasures of the moment, more fully enjoyed, I think, because of their intrinsic perishability. Yet, like "Hojoki," there is the same emphasis on the illusory nature of duration and durability of these moments in the world of time and the moral problem that both pleasure and beauty create for us 'sub specie aeternitatis,' to borrow one of Baruch Spinoza's favorite phrasings.
The writing is clear, concise, surprisingly detailed and fresh in feel, for being nearly 1000 years old. I would recommend this book to anyone troubled by our turbulent present. Not those looking to flee it--for there is no escape, of course, as both Chomei and Kenko, despite their differences in approach, both emphasize. However, if you are seeking a strategy for looking at passing events, personal or political, through the open window of experience--say, at the battered but beautiful face of our faithful celestial companion, the moon--in the rustling leaves of these ancient books, closer at hand, you might find the first stirrings of some remarkable insights of your own.
Chomei retired later in life, after a series of crises. He studies the world through the window of architecture: cities, towns, homes, and lives, ravaged by natural, political, and personal disaster. He gives the exact dimensions of the portable cabin he builds as his retreat. He tells us precisely where things are placed, how the moon looks from his window, and describes his bed of bracken inside, and the arrangement of stones beneath a bamboo pipette outside, and how they are all related. Apart from that little bit of plumbing, H.D. Thoreau's experimental abode at Walden Pond seems like a clapboard Versailles stuffed with modern luxuries and conveniences by comparison.
Chomei's primary theme is the mutability of fortunes and the impermanence of all things and learning how to live with change, spiritually. "Hojoki" shows how impermanence creates not only beauty, but lends all that is transitory a permanent and poignant magnificence by virtue of its fragility: which he powerfully illustrates in person, in a moment of what Aristotle might have called "anagnorisis" in the concluding four paragraphs of this brief, intensely intimate and powerful 18 page self-portrait.
Kenko entered the priesthood in his 20s and never fully abandoned his ties to the city. "Essays In Idleness" is less a coherent statement of belief than a collection of 243 vignettes, canny, clever, and often profound, on a wide range of topics--stories, earthy trivia, nostalgia, moralia, precepts, advice and admonitions, and philosophical reflections. Here are a few examples of his work that I copied into my journal, that I simply can't summarize:
20: A certain recluse monk once remarked, "I have relinquished all that ties me to the world, but the one thing that still haunts me is the beauty of the sky." I can quite see why he would feel this.
29: How melancholy to think that your own familiar things, too, will remain in existence down the years to come, indifferent and unchanged.
137: Should we look at the spring blossoms in full flower or the moon only when cloudless and clear? To long for the moon with the rain before you, or to lie curtained in your room while the spring passes unseen, is yet more poignant and deeply moving.
149: One shouldn't put new [powdered, I expect] deer antler to the nose and sniff it. There is a tiny insect in it that will enter through the nose and devour the brain.
166: The way people struggle to get along in the world strikes me as like fashioning a buddha from snow on a spring day, decking it out with precious metals and jewels, then setting out to build a worship hall for it. Would it survive long enough to be placed in the finished hall? So many strive in hopes of the future, even as the life still in them is daily dissolving away like snow beneath the snowman.
The peripatetic and poetical nature of these little essays (which owe a considerable debt to the lavish lists and loose literary structure of Sei Shonagan's Heian Era masterpiece, "The Pillow Book," which Kenko alludes to frequently) is delightful: in the same discursive way that a tipsy walk home with an intimate friend might be at midnight, parting at some curious intersection, somewhere, to go your own separate ways, for all you really know, forever, even unto eternity.
"Essays In Idleness" differs from "Hojoki" in that it is less overtly ascetic, and places more value on the fleeting pleasures of the moment, more fully enjoyed, I think, because of their intrinsic perishability. Yet, like "Hojoki," there is the same emphasis on the illusory nature of duration and durability of these moments in the world of time and the moral problem that both pleasure and beauty create for us 'sub specie aeternitatis,' to borrow one of Baruch Spinoza's favorite phrasings.
The writing is clear, concise, surprisingly detailed and fresh in feel, for being nearly 1000 years old. I would recommend this book to anyone troubled by our turbulent present. Not those looking to flee it--for there is no escape, of course, as both Chomei and Kenko, despite their differences in approach, both emphasize. However, if you are seeking a strategy for looking at passing events, personal or political, through the open window of experience--say, at the battered but beautiful face of our faithful celestial companion, the moon--in the rustling leaves of these ancient books, closer at hand, you might find the first stirrings of some remarkable insights of your own.
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