Don’t read books!
Don’t chant poems!
When you read books your eyeballs wither away
leaving the bare sockets.
When you chant poems your heart leaks out slowly
with each word.
People say reading books is enjoyable.
People say chanting poems is fun.
But if your lips constantly make a sound
like an insect chirping in autumn,
you will only turn into a haggard old man.
And even if you don’t turn into a haggard old man,
it’s annoying for others to have to hear you.It’s so much better
to close your eyes, sit in your study,
lower the curtains, sweep the floor,
burn incense.
It’s beautiful to listen to the wind,
listen to the rain,
take a walk when you feel energetic,
and when you’re tired go to sleep.
—Chinese poet Yang Wanli in the 12th century
I laughed when I found this poem months ago. I’ve been having more trouble with eyestrain lately, but it will have to get a lot worse before I give up reading. And even though I don’t chant, that hasn’t prevented me from looking old and haggard. Do you agree with anything the poet says?
August 20, 2015
What’s wrong with the above text that it’s not an “either or”. You can do both (the reading and the listening) side by side, alternately. There is a time for reading, there is a time for reciting poetry (even writing some – I don’t but the Angel does) and there is a time for stillness.
And I dare say, Jean: If and when one of us, or both, goes blind there’ll be plenty of time for other senses to kick in and take up top seat at the table.
U
The fellow is highly opinionated — he would disagree with you. I don’t!
I am an expert in doing all the things in the second half of that poem. And no, I don’t have to sweep the floor.
He would think you’re missing something by not sweeping the floor yourself.
I agree with Ursula. Our lives can and probably should include both: times to read and times to listen to the wind and rain. We stood on our back porch this morning and listened to the sound of rain approaching, rain that our parched part of the country needs. It’s such a wondrous sound, when you really listen. However, I would have a hard time not reading or writing and feel that my life would lose something essential without time spent that way, too.
I agree, of course. The fellow tickled me because he was so one-sided. He would go crazy in our modern world.
i love that poem!
he’s a crotchedy old fellow though isn’t he? LOL!
or maybe bossy is a better word.
i do all the second half… especially sitting quietly listening to the rain.
doing nothing. just being.
but i could never give up reading. and i seldom chant a poem from memory.
and i obviously haven’t given up talking. which is what i imagine he really means…
so…
oh yes. what was your question again? LOLOL!!! XOXO
😀
I think I get the idea of not escaping from the rest of reality through books and mindless repetition.
When I was a kid books expanded my view of the world, and I was grateful. I’ve always loved the wind and the rain, but they would never be enough by themselves.
I agree with, when you are tired, go to sleep.
Well, then again maybe not.
I mean, here I am typing a comment and I’m exhausted.
Goodnight!
🙂 Thank you for taking the time to come by — connecting with friends is important too. He doesn’t mention friends.
when computer first came in that could all kinds of useful things for businesses, my ex-DH insisted that they would cause him to go “blind” and then he utterly refused to use them at work…he lost his job as young woman was hired, cost the company less and she had not problem with the screens or even the thought she would go blind!
he has never taken to them, now when he wants to know something…he will call me up and I have to look it up.
funny thing is that he knows no one who has gone “blind” working with a computer screen…
So what job did he get after that? I assume he’s retired now?
My mother-in-law didn’t want a microwave for years because they were new and she didn’t trust them. She finally got one when all of the grandchildren wanted to use one when they visited.
He got a similar job in the same field, he could fix all kind of woes in the data processing/pay master field – and so many times machines failed AND these so called whizz kids – didn’t know how to do anything manual…they floundered.
He could look at a set of numbers and have them added up before the w/kid got out an old fashioned calculator…AND of course companies needed him, because end product – known as employee wanted their pay TODAY – not when the machinery was sorted out…
He would called to help someone, he never had a pen on him…he would use the one on said desk. At the end of the day, he would stroll away with said pen, after rolling them all into the top drawer – when he left a job – there would be dozens of pens in the top drawer!!!
Just like now when a till in a supermarket fails and they don’t know how to count back the change, they are so used the machine telling them to give $5.60 back – that from say a $10.00 bill!
However, in the end, he got tired of this type of life, never advancing his own career AND all because he thought he would go blind!
A couple of years ago the gov’t let the contract for school teachers out to an company who – for reason – ballsed it all up! I am not sure if they have solved the problem as every now and then you hear something via the news. He was telling me how simple it would be to fix – even with computerisation…. it’s a shame he hadn’t kept up with that life – and even though he’s past retirement age.
Because he could have returned and sorted out the darn mess…
oh, he didn’t like microwaves either!
that is until he went to flat with some people who had one of them… he really loved it – especially when the coffee went cold and he reheated it.
he lives in a pensioner unit but he still doesn’t have one!
He sounds like a remarkable, but underappreciated, fellow.