Scan barcode
farnz's review against another edition
informative
reflective
medium-paced
3.0
I love penguin classics & the cover was so gorgeous I couldn’t resist. The blue bits are slightly raised. This collection includes: 1. The Monk Who Built a Hut & Medidtaed in the Depths of Mount Utsu by Saigyō, 2. The 10-Foot Sqaure Hut by kamo no chōmei, & 3. How Will You Spend you Last Days by yoshida kenkō. They are translated by Meredith McKinney. 1st story is 3 pages long, 2nd is 19 pages, & last one is 74 pages long. The 1st story was too short for me to have any real opinion on it. I enjoy the 2nd. I liked the quotations, but I think he was too hard on himself. He enjoyed a simple life & was attached to it & thus questioned whether he was following Buddha’s path for rebirth. I think life is difficult enough, do what brings you peace & joy, but then again I’m not very religious/spiritual. The last story thinks people should die after 40 cause you’re too ugly & old to be in company which is insane. Very judgemental for a monk. I usually disagreed with him, not everyone is suited to a monk lifestyle. He just states what others have said & says ah yes remarkable. He gives a condescending vibe & keeps contradicting himself. For example? He thinks you’re lowly if you like rare flowers. It’s just weird. It’s a diary of someone who says we shouldn’t gossip but is telling us other’s gossip & judging people for enjoying the simplest things. Overall, pretty interesting but nothing special
Now for some of my fave quotations:
- “The world is a hard place to live, & both we & our dwellings are fragile & impermanent“(13)
- “Wealth brings great anxiety, while with poverty comes fierce resentments”(14)
- “Without a peaceful mind, elephants, horses, & the 7 treasures are worthless things, palaces & fine towers mean nothing”(21)
- “Someone who has desires but does not fulfil it, who has money but does not use it, is essentially no different from a poor man”(93)
- Page 39 on foolishness of seeking fame & riches. “Great wealth will drive you to neglect your own well-being in pursuit of it. It is asking for harm & tempting trouble”
aesopsdaddy's review against another edition
4.0
“On quiet nights, the moon at my window recalls to me past friends, and tears wet my sleeve at the cries of the monkeys”
Big fan of this Great Ideas series by Penguin. This is a diverse and delightful collection of bite-sized Buddhist wisdom within three monastic meditations on life of varying length. The second was my favourite and the most poetic; the third fragmentary, occasionally humorously hypocritical in such a way which underscores Zen Buddhism’s anxiety over attachment to the written word, and understandably a bit preachy at times (they are monks, after all) but nevertheless filled with satoric flashes of profound Indic insight.
Big fan of this Great Ideas series by Penguin. This is a diverse and delightful collection of bite-sized Buddhist wisdom within three monastic meditations on life of varying length. The second was my favourite and the most poetic; the third fragmentary, occasionally humorously hypocritical in such a way which underscores Zen Buddhism’s anxiety over attachment to the written word, and understandably a bit preachy at times (they are monks, after all) but nevertheless filled with satoric flashes of profound Indic insight.
pauliana93's review against another edition
challenging
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
4.0
in_praise_of_idlenesss's review against another edition
4.0
what we as a society have failed to grasp is that Britney Spears shaving her head was her taking the tonsure. a first step on her path to enlightenment by symbolically shedding her worldly attachments and desires in the utter abandonment of shedding her hair.
aceamy6's review against another edition
4.0
Despite the differences in time, geography & culture, the writings by Saigyō, Chōmei & Kenkō were really relatable. Their fables, observations & thoughts were full of wisdom and mindfulness that anyone could apply to their own life or way of thinking.