My latest read is by a Japanese author named Yoshida Kenko entitled "A Cup of Sake Beneath the Cherry Trees." I'm not familiar with the author but the title sounded interesting. The description piqued my interest too - it says "a medieval Japanese monk reflects on idle moments and life's fleeting joys." In our fast-paced and busy world, I look forward to idle moments and fleeting joys. Haha...
So I started reading the book. There are lots of thought-provoking, insightful and practical life lessons. And you know what's the most amazing thing about the book? The essays were written in the 13th century!!! Wow.
The author, Kenko, is believed to have been born around 1283. He was the son of an admin official. When he grew up, he became an Imperial palace guard officer. Then when he retired from public life, he became a Buddhist monk and hermit - this is when he assumed the name Yoshida Kenko.
Below are my favorite excerpts. As you read through Kenko's words of wisdom, keep in mind that he wrote them more than 700 years ago but the lessons clearly still resonate today. :)
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Those who feel the impulse to pursue the path of enlightenment should immediately take the step, and not defer it while they attend to all the other things on their mind.
If you say to yourself, "Let's just wait after this is over,"... "let's wait a little longer while I do this"....there will be no end to it all, and the day of decision will never come.
In general, I find that reasonably sensitive and intelligent people will pass their whole life without taking the step they know they should. Would anyone with a fire close behind him choose to pause before fleeing? In a matter of life and death, one casts aside shame, abandons riches and runs. Does mortality wait on our choosing? Death comes upon us more swiftly than fire or blood. There is no escaping it. Who at the moment can refuse to part with all they love - aged parents, beloved children, lord and master, or the love of others?
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I cannot bear the way people will make it their business to know all the details of some current rumor, even though it has nothing to do with them, and then proceed to pass the story on and do their best to learn more.
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The Yin-Yang masters do not concern themselves with those days of the calendar marked "Red Tongue Days". Nor did people of old treat the day as unpropitious. It seems someone more recently has declared it unlucky, and now everyone has begun to avoid it, believing that things undertaken on this day will miscarry. This idea - that whatever is said or done on this day will fail, that objects gained on the day will be lost and plans will go awry - this is ridiculous. If you count the number of failures that happen on an auspicious day, you will find there are just as many...
It is said that evil performed on an auspicious day is always ill-fated, while good performed in an inauspicious one will be blessed by good fortune. It is people who create good fortune and misfortune, not the calendar.
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A man engaged in Buddhist practice will tell himself at night that there is always the morning, or in the morning will anticipate the night, always intending to make more effort later. And if such are your days, how much less aware must you be so difficult to carry something out right now when you think of it, to seize the instant?
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Someone told the following tale -
"A man sells an ox. The buyer says he will come in the morning to pay and take the beast. But during the night, the ox dies. The buyer, thus gained, while the seller lost," he concluded.
But a bystander remarked - "The owner did indeed lose on the transaction but he profited greatly in another way... Living creatures have no knowledge of the nearness of death... As it happened, the ox died that night; as it happened, the owner lived on. One day's life is more precious than a fortune's worth of money, while an ox's worth weighs no more than a goose feather. One cannot say that a man who gains a fortune while losing a coin or two has made a loss.
Everyone laughed at this. "The reasoning doesn't only apply to the owner of the ox," they scoffed.
The man went on - "Well then, if people hate death they should love life. Should we not relish each day the joy of survival? Fools forget this - they go striving after other enjoyments, cease to appreciate the fortune they have and risk all to lay their hands on fresh wealth. Their desires are never sated. There is deep contradiction in failing to enjoy life and yet fearing death when faced with it. It is because they have no fear of death that people fail to enjoy life - no, not that they don't fear it, but rather they forget its nearness. Of course, it must be said that the ultimate gain lies in transcending the relative world with its distinction between life and death.
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A man famed for his tree-climbing skills once directed another to climb a tall tree and cut branches. While the fellow was precariously balanced aloft, the tree-climber watched without a word, but when he was descending and had reach the height of the eaves, the expert called to him, "Careful how you go! Take care coming down!"
"Why do you say that? He's so far down now that he could leap to the ground from there," I said.
"Just so," replied the tree-climber. While he's up there among the treacherous branches I need not say a word - his fear is enough to guide him. It's in easy places that mistakes will always occur."
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A sensible man will not die leaving valuables behind. A collection of vulgar objects looks bad, while good ones will suggest a futile attachment to worldly things. And it is even more unfortunate to leave behind a vast accumulation. There will be ugly fights over it after your death, with everyone determined to get things for himself. If you plan to leave something to a particular person, you should pass it on while you are still alive.
Some things are necessary for day-to-day living, but one should have nothing else.
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