Four Huts: Asian Writings on the Simple Life

This small book containing 4 short essays (and a poem or two) on the simple life makes one realize that possessions and big houses can be a burden; life can be lived simply and serenely. These essays were written by one Chinese author and three Japanese authors, over almost a thousand years, ending with Basho. I enjoyed all four essays, but Basho has so much wit to him that I have to say he is my favorite. I love the image he presents: nothing holy or wise, just sitting there admiring the view and squishing lice. What more is there to life?

The four huts are four short essays about retreat from the world, specifically retreat to small and private home. I'm not a very romantic person, but I started to feel that longing for a thoughtful, simple life as I read these essays.The four cover an 800-year period, starting in China then moving to Japan. The earliest writing, by Po Chu-I, may be my favorite. The first part is brief and business-like, a description of the hut, its environs, and the views from it. Although the writing is plain, I can't help imagine the drifting Chinese landscape paintings I've seen, with mists and peaks off to the edge of vision. This piece ends with two brief poems that express some of the writer's quiet passion. I was quite taken by the way the prose and poetry are used to express different parts of the author's experience. The second writing in this book struck me, at first, as disingenuous. Again, the hut is simple but sturdy and well-made, and the environs capture many different aspects of natural beauty. The landscaping is completely man-made, though, and the property was acquired and developed at huge expense, near the capitol. My second impression was that yes, the scene has some Disney artificiality about it, but the urge that drove it was as real as any. Even at that time, the start of the Heian era or just before it, urban crowding was a reality, and urban gentrification was as much a factor as in any modern city. If "The Pond Pavilion" could not be an actual withdrawal from the world, it was a lovingly built homage to the ideal.The third essay, the Ten Square Foot Hut, has appeared elsewhere, and is still worth reading. This focuses less on the hut itself than on the process of withdrawal and the life of the near-hermit. It is pervasively Buddhist, and does not promote complete isolation from the world. It does, however, offer an appealing look at an old man, usually alone but never lonely, doing what he has worked for many years to do.The final essay may be the shortest. It is certainly the most recent, written some time in the 17th century AD. It is also a symmetric end to the collection - Basho's lttle essay reads much like the first. This book is quite brief, and even shorter if one skips over the translator's noted. It seemed to be over much too soon. Still, the book's brevity and simplicity are modeled after the scenes it describes. It was hard to close the book and come back to the reality of the modern world.

Burton Watson, the well-known translator of 'The Complete Works of Chuang Tzu' and Ssu-Ma Chien's 'Records of the Grand Historian of China,' here turns his attention to something much slighter, though perhaps no less profound.'Four Huts' is made up of four short prose pieces or 'chi' (Records) praising the wisdom of the simple life: 'Record of the Thatched Hall on Mount Lu,' by the major T'ang poet, Po Chu-i; 'Record of the Pond Pavilion' by Yoshishige no Yasutane; 'Record of the Ten-Foot-Square-Hut' by Kamo no Chomei; and 'Record of the Hut of the Phantom' by the famous haiku poet, Matsuo Basho. All four of these 'Records' or essays have the same theme: the wisdom of removing oneself from the rat-race, setting up a simple residence in beautiful natural surroundings, and getting back in touch with one's real nature and with real things. They celebrate, as Po Chu-i puts it, being 'happy with one's surroundings and at peace within' (page 9). Short, and easy to read, it would be a wonderful book to have along with you on your next trip to the forests, lakes, or mountains.The book also contains a brief, though somewhat uninspired Preface, by Watson; brief Introductions and endnotes to each piece; and twelve fine halftone illustrations, by the remarkably competent Zen calligrapher Stephen Addiss, which help set the mood It's a small and beautiful book of just 132 pages that will easily fit into a purse or shirt-pocket, well-printed in two colors on a heavy high-quality ivory-tinted paper, bound in a stiff glossy illustrated wrapper, and it even has persimmon endpapers. As a book, it would have been perfect if only someone had thought to add stitching.Most of us probably realize that it is the simplest things in life that bring us the greatest joys - a simple and unostenatious dwelling, time in which to unwind and become what we are supposed to be, a refreshing breeze, sunlight, wholesome food, raindrops, birdsong, the sound of water, children's laughter, a well-loved book.But despite knowing this we allow ourselves to be seduced by the tinsel glamor and superficial excitements of the bustling metropolis. And the question raised by this book is just which of the two, the simple or the glamorous, provides the richest and most rewarding satisfactions? 'Four Huts' will probably be read by those who need it least. But it would make an ideal gift for some Prozac-popping friend you think needs it most. It might, with a bit of luck, just end up changing their life.