What a wonderful world!
“amanomini kumono namitachi tsukino fune hoshino hayashini kogikakuru miyu”
On the sea of heaven
the waves of clouds rise
and I can see
the moon ship disappearing
as it is rowed into the forest of stars
―Kakinomoto no Hitomaro, translated by Ian Hideo Levy
Kakinomoto no Hitomaro was a Japanese Waka poet and aristocrat of the late Asukka period (538-710). He was the most prominent of the poets included in the Manyoshu, the oldest Waka anthology.
Luckily, last September I was able to see the forest of stars on the sea of heaven from a canoe in the Lake Akan National Park just like what Hitomaro described in his poem.
【Starry sky canoe taken by Nao-cyan】
Immanuel Kant said
“Two things fill the mind with ever new and increasing admiration and awe, the more often and steadily we reflect upon them: the starry heavens above me and the moral law within me.”
I think we can come back to the free existence as we are, which should be the base of the moral law, by encountering not only the starry heavens but also every beautiful nature surrounding us, a flower by the wayside, a passing white cloud, the setting sun and the golden red sky. These are ordinary but full of wonder and energy of Cosmic Life.
What a wonderful world!
SNS