萬wàn古gǔ長cháng空kōng,，一yī朝zhāo風fēng月yuè

What does 萬古長空，一朝風月 (wàn gǔ cháng kōng, yī zhāo fēng yuè) mean?

萬古長空，一朝風月 (wàn gǔ cháng kōng, yī zhāo fēng yuè) is a line of classical verse (shīcí 詩詞). Word for word it reads "Ten thousand ages of eternal sky; one morning's wind and moon." In use it means: Eternity and the present moment are not opposites but two aspects of the same reality. The timeless sky is only ever experienced as this particular morning's breeze and moonlight. You reach for it when you want that idea in one breath, and the Metal note it carries is why we hand it to those born in the Year of the Pig.

Literally: "Ten thousand ages of eternal sky; one morning's wind and moon."

The reading

Philosophy loves to talk about forever, but forever only shows up wearing today's clothes. The sky that hung above the dinosaurs is the same sky you glanced at walking to work this morning. Chan masters used this phrase to collapse the distance between the cosmic and the intimate. You do not need to grasp all of time to live fully. You only need to feel the wind on your face right now and recognize that this particular gust connects to every gust that ever blew.

What kind of proverb it is

• Typeshīcí 詩詞
• FocusPresent-minded
• Element金 Metal
• Zodiac tie豬 Year of the Pig

Source Wudeng Huiyuan (五燈會元), Song Dynasty Chan anthology

Sits beside

Keep reading

Return to the Proverb Pond to draw another of the eighty-seven, or hear one read aloud. Read the rest of its chapter in Nature, Seasons & Health, or follow the years these lines belong to: Year of the Pig, Year of the Rat, and Year of the Ox.