On Effort, Volume 1

What makes effort fruitful, and what makes it wasteful? Kōda Rohan examines attention, generosity, ambition, and the changing energies of daily life.

From morning-glory seedlings and neglected desks to distracted go players and rising tides, his examples explore the difference between forced labor and wholehearted action.

These essays bring Confucian, Buddhist, and Daoist ideas into conversation with historical anecdotes and close observation. Their historical assumptions are preserved with brief explanatory notes.