Hwang Jini 黃眞伊
16th century (recorded in a songbook of 1728) · Joseon Korea · The story goes that she made it to tease a royal kinsman named Byeokgyesu, "Blue Stream." Myeongwol, "Bright Moon," was Hwang Jini's name as a gisaeng
Blue stream in the green hills, do not boast of running so fast. Once you reach the wide sea it is hard to come back. The bright moon fills the empty hills: why not rest here a while?
靑山裏 碧溪水ㅣ야 수이 감을 쟈랑 마라
一到 滄海ᄒᆞ면 도라오기 어려오니
明月이 滿空山ᄒᆞ니 수여 간들 엇더리Cheonggu yeongeon (1728)
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In the same thread
Confucius 孔子
5th century BC · Lu, Spring and Autumn China
Standing by a river, the Master said: "What passes away is like this! It does not stop, day or night."
子在川上曰：「逝者如斯夫！不舍晝夜。」Analects, book 9 (Zihan)
Kamo no Chomei 鴨長明
1212 · Kamakura Japan
The flowing river never stops, and yet the water is never the same water. The foam that floats on the pools now vanishes, now forms, and never stays for long. So it is with the people of this world and their dwellings.
行く川のながれは絶えずして、しかも本の水にあらず。よどみに浮ぶうたかたは、かつ消えかつ結びて久しくとゞまることなし。世の中にある人とすみかと、またかくの如し。Hojoki (An Account of My Hut), the opening
Su Shi 蘇軾
1082 · Song China
We are mayflies lodged between heaven and earth, a single grain of millet on the vast sea. I grieve that my life is a moment, and envy the Yangtze that never ends.
寄蜉蝣於天地，渺滄海之一粟。哀吾生之須臾，羨長江之無窮。"First Rhapsody on the Red Cliff"
Omar Khayyam عمر خیام
11th–12th century · Nishapur, Persia
My coming brought the heavens no gain, and my going will add nothing to their glory. Nor have my two ears heard from anyone what this coming and going was for.
از آمدنم نبود گردون را سود
وز رفتن من جلال و جاهش نفزود
وز هیچ کسی نیز دو گوشم نشنود
کاین آمدن و رفتنم از بهر چه بودA quatrain (rubai) handed down under Khayyam's name
Yoshida Kenko 兼好
c. 1330 · late Kamakura Japan · Adashino and Toribeyama were Kyoto's burial ground and cremation ground
If the dew on Adashino never vanished and the smoke over Toribeyama never cleared, if it were our way to live on for ever, how little there would be to move us. It is because the world is uncertain that it is precious.
あだし野の露消ゆる時なく、鳥部山の煙立ち去らでのみ住み果つるならひならば、いかにもののあはれもなからむ。世は定めなきこそいみじけれ。Tsurezuregusa (Essays in Idleness), section 7
Patacara Paṭācārā
c. 5th century BC · Savatthi, India
Washing my feet, I took notice of the water; and seeing the foot-water run down from the high ground to the low, then I gathered my mind.
Pāde pakkhālayitvāna, udakesu karomahaṁ; Pādodakañca disvāna, thalato ninnamāgataṁ. Tato cittaṁ samādhesiṁ
Therigatha (Verses of the Elder Nuns) 5.10, the song of Patacara
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