Download or read book Hojoki A Buddhist Reflection on Solitude written by Kamo no Chomei and published by Tuttle Publishing. This book was released on 2024-05-07 with total page 191 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Discover the tranquil wisdom of Chomei's 13th-century masterpiece, Hojoki, as it unveils the beauty of imperfection and the serenity of a simple life amidst the chaos of existence. Hojoki is an introspective poem written in the 13th century by the enigmatic Japanese hermit Kamo no Chomei, who as a young man served in the capital as official court poet but later in life withdrew from society. Composed in a time of devastating fires, floods, earthquakes, droughts and famines, Chomei's masterpiece reflects on the impermanence of things, expressing life's mysterious beauty and the profound wisdom to be found in nature. Chomei paints a vivid picture of the chaos and suffering of the human condition. Amidst this turmoil, he discovers an oasis of calm in a simple mountain hut, where he contemplates the virtues of nature and the wabi sabi beauty of imperfection in all things. In their friends, People like to find affluence and a ready smile. Compassion and honesty, Not so much. So why not make friends with music and nature instead: The moon; the flowers? ******** I know my needs, And I know the world. I want for nothing, And do not labor to acquire things. Quietude is all I desire: To be free from worry is happiness enough. This new translation by Matthew Stavros, presented alongside the original Classical Japanese, perfectly captures the profound serenity of Chomei's writings. His poignant verses serve as timely reminders that amidst the uncertainty of this world, true contentment can often be found in the simple life, in embracing fleeting moments, and in seeking solace in nature's beauty.
Download or read book Gazing at the Moon written by Meredith McKinney and published by Shambhala Publications. This book was released on 2021-09-07 with total page 157 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A fresh translation of the classical Buddhist poetry of Saigyō, whose aesthetics of nature, love, and sorrow came to epitomize the Japanese poetic tradition. Saigyō, the Buddhist name of Fujiwara no Norikiyo (1118–1190), is one of Japan’s most famous and beloved poets. He was a recluse monk who spent much of his life wandering and seeking after the Buddhist way. Combining his love of poetry with his spiritual evolution, he produced beautiful, lyrical lines infused with a Buddhist perception of the world. Gazing at the Moon presents over one hundred of Saigyō’s tanka—traditional 31-syllable poems—newly rendered into English by renowned translator Meredith McKinney. This selection of poems conveys Saigyō’s story of Buddhist awakening, reclusion, seeking, enlightenment, and death, embodying the Japanese aesthetic ideal of mono no aware—to be moved by sorrow in witnessing the ephemeral world.
Download or read book The Art of Solitude written by Stephen Batchelor and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2020-02-18 with total page 198 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Elegant and formally ingenious."--Geoff Wisner, Wall Street JournalIn a time of social distancing and isolation, a meditation on the beauty of solitude from renowned Buddhist writer Stephen Batchelor When world renowned Buddhist writer Stephen Batchelor turned sixty, he took a sabbatical from his teaching and turned his attention to solitude, a practice integral to the meditative traditions he has long studied and taught. He aimed to venture more deeply into solitude, discovering its full extent and depth. This beautiful literary collage documents his multifaceted explorations. Spending time in remote places, appreciating and making art, practicing meditation and participating in retreats, drinking peyote and ayahuasca, and training himself to keep an open, questioning mind have all contributed to Batchelor's ability to be simultaneously alone and at ease. Mixed in with his personal narrative are inspiring stories from solitude's devoted practitioners, from the Buddha to Montaigne, from Vermeer to Agnes Martin. In a hyperconnected world that is at the same time plagued by social isolation, this book shows how to enjoy the inescapable solitude that is at the heart of human life.
Download or read book Buddhist Wisdom written by David Crosweller and published by Tuttle Publishing. This book was released on 2017-03-21 with total page 22 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Awaken your heart and engage your mind with Buddhist Wisdom: Daily Reflections, a simple but powerful collection of Buddhist sayings and extracts that offer an easy way to incorporate the Buddha's greatest teachings into your everyday life. Use it daily or at random to find help facing a particular issue, problem or simple uncertainty. Illustrated with photographs of traditional Buddhist people, sacred places and monuments, the book provokes contemplation and deeper understanding for all individuals, regardless of religious persuasion. Buddhist Wisdom also offers a brief overview of the life of the Buddha, Buddhist teachings and the spread of Buddhism around the world; includes a Buddhist calendar of celebration days and festivals.
Download or read book Essays in Idleness written by Kenko and published by Penguin UK. This book was released on 2013-12-05 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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 Hôjôki, Chômei 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. Chômei 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. Kenkô 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' Asian Student
Download or read book Solitude and Loneliness written by Sarvananda and published by A Buddhist View. This book was released on 2012 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This approachable and compelling exploration considers aloneness through literature, Buddhism, psychology and personal experience.
Download or read book Modern Religious Cults and Movements written by Gaius Glenn Atkins and published by . This book was released on 1923 with total page 376 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Solitude written by Evan Sutter and published by . This book was released on 2015-09-15 with total page 244 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How will three months living in a small wooden hut in the forests of a Buddhist Monastery in the South of France affect him? How about seeing his brother for the first time in two years, the brother who now happens to be a Monk? See how one email from his brother led Sutter, a lost young man and vagabond, to fly across the world, and how that one email will change the direction of his life forever. It will be opposite to the days and nights he spent in bars drinking alcohol, taking drugs and chasing women. There will be no mobile phone, no laptop computer, no social media and no daily newspaper. How will an arrogant young Australian carnivore handle a vegetarian diet for three months? Three months without sex, alcohol or drugs? Three months without friends? Three months without any distractions? A raw exploration into Sutter's time in Plum Village, see as he explores his new surroundings, shares a tiny hut with his Monk brother, meets new people from around the world and struggles with his own personal demons. A new found appreciation of the present moment, finding enjoyment in doing nothing and an ability to forge a greater connection with his inner self lead Sutter to examine a whole range of relevant and contentious topics that every man and woman can relate to.
Download or read book Exploring the Self Subjectivity and Character across Japanese and Translation Texts written by Senko K. Maynard and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2022-01-17 with total page 306 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This study investigates our multiple selves as manifested in how we use language. Applying philosophical contrastive pragmatics to original and translation of Japanese and English works, the concept of empty yet populated self in Japanese is explored.
Download or read book Four Huts written by Burton Watson and published by Shambhala Publications. This book was released on 2018-12-11 with total page 100 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This beloved Eastern classic on living simply and in harmony with nature is back as part of the new Shambhala Pocket Library series. The short works collected in Four Huts give voice to one of the most treasured aesthetic and spiritual ideals of Asia—that of a simple life lived in a simple dwelling. The texts were written between the ninth and the seventeenth centuries and convey each author’s underlying sense of the world and what is to be valued in it. Four Huts presents original translations by Burton Watson—one of the most respected translators of Chinese and Japanese literature. The qualities that emerge from these writings are an awareness of impermanence, love of nature, fondness for poetry and music, and an appreciation of the quiet life. Four Huts features eleven brush paintings by renowned artist Stephen Addiss.
Download or read book Pilgrimage to Dzhvari written by Valeria Alfeyeva and published by Three Rivers Press. This book was released on 1995 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Pilgrimage to Dzhvari is set in the last days of the Communist regime when people from all levels of Soviet society are searching for ways to reconnect with their memories of goodness and truth. A writer leaves her work in Moscow and with her teenage son sets out to visit the few remaining monasteries in the Georgian Caucasus in order to discover the mystical teachings of the Eastern Orthodox Church. In particular, they seek instruction in the Prayer of the Heart, the constant internal repetition of the words, "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner." For centuries this practice -- known in the West as the "Jesus Prayer" -- has been one of the principal disciplines of monks, priests, and elders of the Eastern rite. There is a purity and clarity about this simple tale of devotion that is reminiscent of that earlier spiritual classic The Way of a Pilgrim. But this journey is undertaken by a woman at the end of the twentieth century. The eloquence and power of Valeria Alfeyeva's description of the eternal quest for the divine on earth will not easily be forgotten. Cover illustration by Tim Bower Cover design by John Fontana
Download or read book Unflattening written by Nick Sousanis and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2015-04-20 with total page 209 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Unflattening is an experiment in visual thinking. Nick Sousanis defies conventional forms of scholarly discourse to offer readers both a stunning work of graphic art and a serious inquiry into the ways humans construct knowledge.
Download or read book Kyoto written by Matthew Stavros and published by University of Hawaii Press. This book was released on 2014-10-31 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Kyoto was Japan’s political and cultural capital for more than a millennium before the dawn of the modern era. Until about the fifteenth century, it was also among the world’s largest cities and, as the eastern terminus of the Silk Road, it was a place where the political, artistic, and religious currents of Asia coalesced and flourished. Despite these and many other traits that make Kyoto a place of both Japanese and world historical significance, the physical appearance of the premodern city remains largely unknown. Through a synthesis of textual, pictorial, and archeological sources, this work attempts to shed light on Kyoto’s premodern urban landscape with the aim of opening up new ways of thinking about key aspects of premodern Japanese history. The book begins with an examination of Kyoto’s highly idealized urban plan (adapted from Chinese models in the eighth century) and the reasons behind its eventual failure. The formation of the suburbs of Kamigyō and Shimogyō is compared to the creation of large exurban temple-palace complexes by retired emperors from the late eleventh century. Each, it is argued, was a material manifestation of the advancement of privatized power that inspired a medieval discourse aimed at excluding “outsiders.” By examining this discourse, a case is made that medieval power holders, despite growing autonomy, continued to see the emperor and classical state system as the ultimate sources of political legitimacy. This sentiment was shared by the leaders of the Ashikaga shogunate, who established their headquarters in Kyoto in 1336. The narrative examines how these warrior leaders interacted with the capital’s urban landscape, revealing a surprising degree of deference to classical building protocols and urban codes. Remaining chapters look at the dramatic changes that took place during the Age of Warring States (1467–1580s) and Kyoto’s postwar revitalization under the leadership of Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Nobunaga’s construction of Nijō Castle in 1569 transformed Kyoto’s fundamental character and, as Japan’s first castle town, it set an example soon replicated throughout the archipelago. In closing, the book explores how Hideyoshi—like so many before him, yet with much greater zeal—used monumentalism to co-opt and leverage the authority of Kyoto’s traditional institutions. Richly illustrated with original maps and diagrams, Kyoto is a panoramic examination of space and architecture spanning eight centuries. It narrates a history of Japan’s premodern capital relevant to the fields of institutional history, material culture, art and architectural history, religion, and urban planning. Students and scholars of Japan will be introduced to new ways of thinking about old historical problems while readers interested in the cities and architecture of East Asia and beyond will benefit from a novel approach that synthesizes a wide variety of sources. For more on Kyoto: An Urban History of Japan’s Premodern Capital, visit www.kyotohistory.com.
Download or read book William Shakespeare s the Merchant of Venice written by Sterling Professor of Humanities Harold Bloom and published by Infobase Publishing. This book was released on 2010 with total page 215 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice is a richly complicated and, to some, a deeply;disturbing work.
Download or read book Hojoki written by Kamo no Chomei and published by Stone Bridge Press. This book was released on 1998-07-01 with total page 98 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An extraordinary literary work from the 12th century, a meditation on nature and mortality.
Download or read book 1000 Poems from the Manyoshu written by Anonymous and published by Courier Corporation. This book was released on 2012-12-13 with total page 466 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Features 1,000 poems from the oldest Japanese poetry anthology, chosen by a scholarly committee based on their poetic excellence and their role in revealing the Japanese national spirit and character. Text is in English only.
Download or read book Zen Wisdom for the Anxious written by Shinsuke Hosokawa and published by Tuttle Publishing. This book was released on 2020-10-13 with total page 231 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: By dipping into this little book of simple Zen Buddhist sayings, you can calm your anxiety and return serenity to your soul. Are you feeling stress and anxiety from the demands of daily life? Do you feel overwhelmed by your to-do list and the constant deluge of information from all quarters? Are you unhappy with your life and envious of those around you? At times like these it's important to step back and take a breath. Zen meditation may conjure up images of sitting in silence for long hours, but according to Buddhist monk and author Shinsuke Hosokawa, Zen can be summed up as "the knowledge needed for a person to live life with a positive outlook." With this in mind, he has produced this charmingly illustrated collection of thoughts and sayings to help you live life with less stress and anxiety. The sayings include: Pay attention to what is right in front of your eyes Nothing happens by chance. Every encounter has its meaning Be careful not to confuse the means and the purpose Keep flowing just like water Nothing will control you Even a bad day is a good day Check the ground beneath your feet when you're in trouble You'll never walk alone These 52 mindful sayings mirror the 52 steps traditionally taken to achieve Buddhist enlightenment, and they also coincide with the 52 weeks of the year--passing through the seasons, both in the natural world and our lives. Each page has an illustration and a simple, meditative reflection to help you see into your own heart, accept your current state of being, reduce anxiety and find peace. Whatever the time of year, whatever your time of life, by browsing the pages of this book you are sure to quickly find a piece of universal wisdom that will resonate with your soul.
