Tao Te Ching
Yoshida Kenkō 兼好
1284 – 1350 CE
Inspiration of self-reinvention
After a life working as an officer of the guards in the Imperial palace, Kenko became a monk and one of the most famous authors of his era. His speculations on universal themes like beauty, nature, impermanence, and friendship found a deep resonance of feeling during his own time, one that continued fresh through the time since, and one remains part of Japanese school curriculum today. A paragon demonstrating the ever-present possibilities of re-inventing ourselves, Kenko’s transformation from a menial worker into an insightful sage became an inspiration in itself, beyond the wisdom in his essays and poems themselves.
Eras
Chinese
Yuan Dynasty 元朝 (1271 – 1368 CE)Sources
Unlisted Sources
Essays in Idleness
Quotes by Yoshida Kenkō (37 quotes)
“What a strange feeling to realize I have spent whole days before this inkstone jotting down at random without order or purpose whatever nonsensical, trifling thoughts have passed through my mind. What a demented and crazy thing to do!”
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“The beauty of life is in its impermanence. If we lived forever, if the dews of Adashino never vanished, if the crematory smoke on Toribeyama never faded, men would hardly feel the pity of things.”
from Harvest of Leisure
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“It is a world full of lies, and we shall make no mistake if we make up our minds that what we hear is really not at all strange and unusual but merely exaggerated in the telling.”
from Harvest of Leisure
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“To sit alone in the lamplight with a book spread out before you, and hold intimate converse with men of unseen generations—such is a pleasure beyond compare.”
from Harvest of Leisure
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“Looking back on months and years of intimacy, to feel that your friend, while you still remember the moving words you exchanged, is yet growing distant and living in a world apart—all this is sadder far than partings brought by death.”
from Harvest of Leisure
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“It is a great error to act superior to others.... anyone truly versed in any art will be clearly aware of his own deficiency; and therefore, his ambition being never satisfied, he ends by never being proud.”
from Harvest of Leisure
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“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.”
from Harvest of Leisure
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“The day is ending, the way is long; my life already begins to stumble on its journey. I shall not keep promises, nor consider decorum. Let anyone who cannot understand my feelings feel free to call me mad… Abuse will not bother me; I shall not listen if praised.”
from Harvest of Leisure
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“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.”
from Harvest of Leisure
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“Leaving something incomplete makes it interesting, and gives one the feeling that there is room for growth.”
from Harvest of Leisure
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“If you imagine that once you have accomplished your ambitions you will have time to turn to the Way, you will discover that your ambitions never come to an end.”
from Harvest of Leisure
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”
from Harvest of Leisure
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“If man were never to fade away ... but lingered on forever in the world, how things would lose their power to move us. The most precious thing in life is its uncertainty.”
from Harvest of Leisure
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“The true criminal must be defined as a man who commits a crime though he is as decently fed and clothed as others.”
from Harvest of Leisure
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“Branches about to blossom or gardens strewn with faded flowers are worthier of our admiration. In all things, it is the beginnings and ends that are interesting.”
from Harvest of Leisure
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“I am happiest when I have nothing to distract me and I am completely alone.”
from Harvest of Leisure
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“Verily, the roots of passion are deep, and remote its sources. It can hardly be uprooted, and young and old, wise and foolish are alike its slaves.”
from Harvest of Leisure
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“Even the moonshine seems to gain in friendly brilliance, striking into the house where a good man lives in peaceful ease.”
from Harvest of Leisure
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“So long as people, being ill-governed, suffer from hunger, criminals will never disappear. It is extremely unkind to punish those who, being sufferers from hunger, are compelled to violate laws.”
from Harvest of Leisure
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“There is nothing better than to refrain from contention; to yield oneself, to put oneself last and others first.”
from Essays in Idleness
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“A wife is something a man should not have... It is by keeping apart, and going to stay with her only from time to time that an intimacy is reached that even the passing of months and years will not destroy.”
from Essays in Idleness
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“We should put our trust in nothing at all. It is because foolish people are deeply trustful that they know hatred and anger... If you put trust in neither yourself or others, you will rejoice when good comes, and when evil comes you will not grieve.”
from Essays in Idleness
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“Though you have talent, do not trust in it. Confucius himself was unsuited to his times... Do not trust in promises. Truth is rare.”
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“The autumn moon is of loveliness without end. Nobody is more pitiable than a man who cannot see the difference and thinks the moon is the same at all times.”
from Essays in Idleness
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“If a man has desires but cannot satisfy them, or has money but does not use it, he is exactly the same as a poor man... When it comes to this point, there is no difference between poverty and wealth.”
from Essays in Idleness
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“If you wish to be free from all blame, there is no better course than to be always sincere... All blame from others is due to pretending experience, making oneself out to be skillful, putting on superior airs, and looking down on people.”
from Essays in Idleness
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“A man who does not like to picture himself standing beneath the clouded moon on a night when the plum blossom smells sweet, or brushing at daybreak through the dewy moor—such a man had better have nothing to do with women at all.”
from Essays in Idleness
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“Pleasure is liking and loving. We never for a moment cease to seek it... That we are forever the servants of our likes and dislikes is entirely for the sake of pleasure and pain.”
from Essays in Idleness
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“Of a man's abilities first comes knowledge of the teachings of the sages... Next should be learned the art of medicine. Without medicine, a man cannot care for his own body, nor help others, nor perform his duties to his parents”
from Essays in Idleness
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“Mistakes always happen when an easy place is reached.”
from Essays in Idleness
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“You should never play to win but so as not to lose. Think what moves will be quickest beaten, avoid making them, and make whatever move will take most time to beat. In learning any accomplishment, in controlling one's own conduct, and in governing a nation, the same rule applies.”
from Essays in Idleness
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“It is only at night that brilliance and color are pleasing. By day let your appearance be simple and sober but at night it is well to wear bright and gay garments.”
from Essays in Idleness
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“Much better to not marry. Living day in and day out with the same man or woman—of whatever sort—makes the other less attractive and become disliked. By keeping apart and only staying together from time to time, they reach a deep intimacy that even the passing of many years will not destroy.”
from Essays in Idleness
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“If you pour water into a large vessel and then make a tiny hole in it, though it drips but a little, yet if it goes on steadily leaking, soon there is none left... Therefore the dealers in coffins can never make enough to keep a stock.”
from Essays in Idleness
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