A Quick Note on the Japanese Tale Hojoki by Azfar Hussain

One might want to compare at least part of the Japanese tale Hojoki--usually translated as "The Ten Foot Square Hut"--by the 13th-century Japanese writer and poet Kamo no Chōmei to part of the pre-Socratic Greek philosopher Heraclitus's work that offers us, for instance, his famous "pranta rhei" (everything flows) formulation: Ποταμοῖς τοῖς αὐτοῖς ἐμβαίνομέν τε καὶ οὐκ ἐμβαίνομεν, εἶμέν τε καὶ οὐκ εἶμεν (We both step and do not step in the same rivers. We are and are not.) Put simply, the Japanese tale Hojoki mobilizes--in images and ideas--the Heraclitean axiom of "flux" and the Buddhist doctrine of impermanence. But what is more interesting for me is that this Heraclitean-inflected Japanese work was considerably influenced by the Indian sage Vimalakīrti from the Vimalakīrti Sūtra, although I'm wondering if much comparative work has been done on that kind of connection and influence.

Oh, and why should we compare? Because we live in the world.