#hojoki

[passengerpigeons]

On mornings when my thoughts turn to the 'white retreating waves' of this transient life, I gaze out to the boats that ply the river at Okanoya, and savour as my own the feelings of the old poet Novice Mansei. On evenings when the wind rustles in the leaves of the katsura trees, I cast my thoughts to Xunyang Inlet, and pluck my biwa in the way of Tsunenobu. And if the mood is still upon me, often I play to the sough of wind in the pines the piece called 'Autumn Wind Music', or 'Flowing Spring' to the murmur of the running water. My skill is poor, but then I do not aim to please the ears of others. I play alone, I sing alone, simply for my own fulfillment.'

Yoshida Kenko, Hojoki, trans. Meredith McKinney

[jamabushi]

The flow of the river is ceaseless and its water is never the same. The bubbles that float in the pools, now vanishing, now forming, are not of long duration: so in this world are man and his dwellings

https://washburn.edu/reference/bridge24/Hojoki.html

[strange-stuff-i-like]

[gleaningsinbuddhafields]

"But it's not hard to imagine that the super wealthy today living the same isolated, lonely, insular life...."

More Money, More Troubles

[shiroomo]

📜 Hōjōki – Kamo no Chōmei’s Timeless View of Impermanence

“The flow of the river is ceaseless, and yet the water is never the same.” 🌊

This opening line from Hōjōki is one of the most famous expressions of impermanence in Japanese literature.

Kamo no Chōmei was not a social man 🤫—often reclusive, sometimes stubborn—who cherished a solitary life in a tiny hut. 🏡 In his quiet retreat, he found joy in detachment and peace away from the bustle of the world.

It’s a work young readers may find distant, but as we age, its quiet truth sinks deeper into the heart. 💭 Few writings capture life’s transience so simply, yet so beautifully.

[gleaningsinbuddhafields]

Peace of Mind

During the past few weeks, I took up reading a 12th-century Japaense text, the Hojoki (discussed here) using Dr. Meredith McKinney’s excellent translation. It’s not a big text; you can probably read it in an hour or less. There’s a lot of stuff to unpack in this paragraph near the end. I do not make claims for these [simple] pleasures to disparage the rich. I am simply comparing my past life…

[gleaningsinbuddhafields]

The Quiet Life

When news of the capital happens to come my way, I learn of many people in high places who have met their end since I retired to this mountain, and other lesser folk besides, too many to be told. And how many houses too, have been lost in all those fires? In all this, my mere passing shelter has remained tranquil and safe from fears.Small it may be, but there is a bed to on a night, and a place…

[origami10]

Re: a post about your culture being forgotten as time passes (which I’m not reblogging because yuck ethnic cleansing etc)

I’ve been reading the Hojoki (Account of a Ten Foot Square Hut) from classical Japanese literature around the year 1100 and my man’s out there like “too many fires and plagues and bad decisions and other disasters, I’m happy sitting here in my small room where there’s enough space for me to sit and sleep and occasionally get news about famous people dying” as if that hasn’t only gotten more relatable