'I have relinquished all that ties me to the world, but the one thing that still haunts me is the beauty of the sky'These simple, inspiring writings by three medieval Buddhist monks offer peace and wisdom amid the world's uncertainties, and are an invitation to relinquish earthly desires and instead taste life in the moment.One of twenty new books in the bestselling Penguin Great Ideas series. This new selection showcases a diverse list of thinkers...

These two works on life's fleeting pleasures are by Buddhist monks from medieval Japan, but each shows a different world-view. In the short memoir Hôjôki, Chômei recounts his decision to withdraw from worldly affairs and live as a hermit in a tiny hut in the mountains, contemplating the impermanence of human existence. Kenko, however, displays a fascination with more earthy matters in his collection of anecdotes, advice and observations. From ribald stories of drunken monks to ach...

Essays in Idleness by Yoshida Kenkō is one of the most treasured works of classical Japanese literature, a timeless collection of reflections that captures the beauty, simplicity, and fleeting nature of life. Written in the fourteenth century by the Buddhist monk and courtier Yoshida Kenkō, this remarkable work offers a series of short observations and meditations on human experience, nature, culture, and the passing of time. Composed of brief and often contemplative passages, the book inv...

This book gathers contributions from a multidisciplinary research team comprised of control engineering and economics researchers and formed to address a central interdisciplinary social issue, namely economically enabled energy management. The book’s primary focus is on achieving optimal energy management that is viable from both an engineering and economic standpoint. In addition to the theoretical results and techniques presented, several chapters highlight experimental case studies, wh...

A new translation of the idiosyncratic diary of a C10 court lady in Heian Japan. Along with the TALE OF GENJI, this is one of the major Japanese Classics.

In the refined, ritual-bound world of the Heian imperial court, the beautiful and gifted Prince Genji moves through a life of love affairs, political maneuvering, and quiet heartbreak, watched over by a narrator who understands every subtle cruelty and kindness of court life. Written by a noblewoman a thousand years ago, it captures interior lives with a psychological precision that feels startlingly contemporary. Widely credited as the world's first novel in the modern sense — a sprawling...

The acknowledged masterpiece of Japanese literature, Murasaki's great 11th century novel is a beautifully crafted story of love, betrayal and death at the Imperial Court.At the core of this epic is Prince Genji, the son of an emperor, whose passionate character, love affairs and shifting political fortunes, offer an exquisite glimpse of the golden age of Japan. Royal Tyler's superb new translation is scrupulously true to the Japanese original but appeals immediately to the modern r...

**The world’s first novel, in a translation that is “likely to be the definitive edition . . . for many years to come” (The Wall Street Journal)A Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition, with flaps and deckle-edged paper**Written in the eleventh century, this exquisite portrait of courtly life in medieval Japan is widely celebrated as the world’s first novel. Genji, the Shining Prince, is the son of an emperor. He is a passionate character whose tempestuous nature, family ...