Tag Archive: Buddhism


A JAPANESE LESSON IN IDLENESS

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May 3, 2015

A CUP OF SAKE BENEATH THE CHERRY TREES by Kenkō (Translated by Meredith McKinney)
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Yoshida Kenkō at work – just to prove that he didn’t just sit around all day doing nothing!

Kenkō was a Japanese Buddhist monk who was probably born in 1283 and probably died in 1352 (nobody knows for sure).

This pocket-sized book is one of eighty 80p  ‘Little Black Classics’ and is a much reduced version of his Essays In Idleness.

Despite its 14th century provenance it has a remarkably contemporary application. It illustrates that the vanity of human wishes change little from century to century or from country to country. Continue reading →

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WHY IT’S OK NOT TO BE OPTIMISTIC

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December 24, 2014

happy sadI’ve let this blog lapse a little of late and my early resolution for 2015 is to post more regularly.

Thanks for those followers and passers-by (whoever you are) for dropping in if only for a brief encounter.

I’m constantly (and often desperately) seeking reasons for optimism and in a period when consumerism is celebrated as though happiness can be bought this is particularly hard.  I was happy therefore to stumble on a moment of Zen here from Eco-philosopher and translator Joanna Macy on how Rainer Maria Rilke can help us embrace our mortality and be more fully alive:

“It’s OK not to be optimistic. …….. feeling that you have to maintain hope can wear you out, so just be present… the biggest gift you can give is to be absolutely present, and when you’re worrying about whether you’re hopeful or hopeless or pessimistic or optimistic, who cares? The main thing is that you’re showing up, that you’re here, and that you’re finding ever more capacity to love this world”.

Season’s greetings to all with the courage to show up!

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