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a_eterno's review against another edition
slow-paced
3.75
"What a glorious luxury it is to taste life to the full for even a single year. If you constantly regret life's passing, even a thousand long years will seem but the dream of a night."
"In all things, the beginning and end are the most engaging. Does the love of a man and woman suggest only their embraces? No, the sorrow of lovers parted before they met, laments over promises betrayed, long lonely nights spent sleepless until dawn, pining thoughts for one in some far place, a woman left sighing over past love in her tumbledown abode– it is these, surely, that embody the romance of love"
overall an interesting collection of musings. what was lovely to see were that these musings are so fundamentally human and relatable– they talk about many of the things we still talk about today. some of it was a slog perhaps but overall enjoyable.
"In all things, the beginning and end are the most engaging. Does the love of a man and woman suggest only their embraces? No, the sorrow of lovers parted before they met, laments over promises betrayed, long lonely nights spent sleepless until dawn, pining thoughts for one in some far place, a woman left sighing over past love in her tumbledown abode– it is these, surely, that embody the romance of love"
overall an interesting collection of musings. what was lovely to see were that these musings are so fundamentally human and relatable– they talk about many of the things we still talk about today. some of it was a slog perhaps but overall enjoyable.
abbeysullivan96's review against another edition
3.0
"All desire is delusion." tbh i needed to hear that :/
I really enjoyed reading this with a pen - next time I want to remind myself of the nuggets in here I can flip through and find them quickly. The rest was just ok.
can i just say...the third guy sometimes was kind of a hater. he'd describe people having fun at a party and be like how disgraceful! but then describe the way he likes to party as being ok. hater behavior unfortunately.
I really enjoyed reading this with a pen - next time I want to remind myself of the nuggets in here I can flip through and find them quickly. The rest was just ok.
can i just say...the third guy sometimes was kind of a hater. he'd describe people having fun at a party and be like how disgraceful! but then describe the way he likes to party as being ok. hater behavior unfortunately.
redsunyubin's review against another edition
3.0
The writings by chomei and saigyo were a pleasure to read and deserve five stars.
I bought this book not knowing it would be mostly essays by kenko. Personally his writings are rarely to my liking so I sadly can’t rate the book as a total higher than 3
I bought this book not knowing it would be mostly essays by kenko. Personally his writings are rarely to my liking so I sadly can’t rate the book as a total higher than 3
pellesmith's review against another edition
challenging
informative
inspiring
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
4.0
alanffm's review against another edition
3.0
This book really should have been called How Will You Spend Your Last Day? as that excerpt (by Yoshida Kenko) takes up about 85% of the volume's space. This is not to say that Seigo and Chomei are not pleasurable reads, but only that this book is largely about Kenko.
Kenko is an absolute wonder to read and an easy five out of five-stars. Save yourself the headache of being bamboozled by this book's misleading title and cover art and instead buy a book specifically about Kenko, unabridged. You won't regret it.
Kenko is an absolute wonder to read and an easy five out of five-stars. Save yourself the headache of being bamboozled by this book's misleading title and cover art and instead buy a book specifically about Kenko, unabridged. You won't regret it.
hellhoundharry's review against another edition
4.0
Two of my favorite buddhist stories are found here.