Four brief essays from four renowned Asian writers exploring the theme of homes, while indirectly conveying a philosophy of simplicity and living in harmony with nature. A calming and subtle book that gets a reader pondering what constitutes happiness in this life. Are its requirements really as extensive as we think?
1) The Thatched Hall by Po Chu-I [China, 9th Century]
* "One night here and my body is at rest. Two nights and my mind is content, and after three nights I'm in a state of utter calm and forgetfulness. I don't know why it's like this, but it is."
* A word on Western environmental writing and how it could take a page from books like this: I can't help but think about how so much Western environmental writing is at its core totally misanthropic: see the works of Paul Gruchow where a loathing disdain for his fellow human drips off every page; see also the works of Edward Abbey; see even the book I just reviewed by Rick Ridgeway. All hold condescension and disgust toward humanity, even to the point of seeing humanity as a type of planetary cancer. (The "85% of you have to go" comedy bit from Bill Burr captures this vibe perfectly.)
Four Huts isn't environmental writing, but then again it is. In fact, it's as compelling and persuasive as anything in the Western environmental canon, with none of the misanthropy and ill will! It's beautiful, it calms and enlivens the reader, and it offers healthy examples of appreciating and living peacefully with nature.
2) Record of the Pond Pavilion by Yoshishige No Yasutane [Japan, 10th Century]
* "So, after five decades in the world, I've at last managed to acquire a little house, like a snail at peace in his shell, like a louse happy in the seam of a garment."
* "Since the Owa era [961-964], people of the time have taken a fancy to building luxurious mansions in high-roofed halls... But though the expenditure runs into many millions in cash, they manage to live there barely two or three years. People in old times used to say, 'The builder doesn't get to live in what he builds'--how right they were."
3) Record of the Ten-Foot-Square Hut by Kamo No Chomei [Japan, 13th Century]
* Sad and mournful essay, elegant.
* This 13th century quote is further proof (as if we really need more?) that nothing changes, and that every era longs for a long-lost government of enlightened and compassionate leaders:
"I have heard it said that the sage rulers of antiquity governed the nation with compassion. Their palaces were roofed with mere thatch, left untrimmed at the eaves, and when they saw that little smoke rose from the cooking fires of the people, they excused them from even the light tribute that was ordinarily required. All this they did because they pitied the people and wished to ease their lot. We have only to compare such ways with those in use today to see the difference."
* "People all spoke of how fleeting and untrustworthy this world is and for a time appear to mend their evil ways. But then the days and months went by, and after a year had passed no one any longer even mentioned the event." It's reassuring but at the same time depressing that the difficulties of life in this world have the same rhythm no matter what the era. We soon forget all about them, including the things we could have learned from them.
* "The world as a whole is a hard place to live in, and both we and our dwellings are precarious and uncertain things."
* "In autumn the cicada's cry fills my ears, and he seems to be lamenting this empty shell of a world. In winter I watch the snows pile up and melt away again like the sins and impediments in our lives."
* "Knowing my own size and knowing the ways of the world, I crave nothing, chase about after nothing."
4) Record of the Hut of the Phantom Dwelling by Matsuo Basho [Japan, 17th Century]
* Matsuo Basho was a famous Japanese haiku poet, this work is "basho" a form of poetic prose style.
* "I have only the drip, drip of the spring to relieve my loneliness"
* "And when the sun has begun to sink behind the rim of the hills, I sit quietly in the evening waiting for the moon so I may have my shadow for company, or light a lamp and discuss right and wrong with my silhouette."
To read:
Hung Lou Meng: Or, The Dream of the Red Chamber, a Chinese Novel Volumes 1-2 By Xueqin Cao
Ojoyoshu (Essentials of Salvation) by Genshin
Man'yoshu (Collection of Ten Thousand Leaves) ancient compilation of Japanese poetry