Dynasties rise and fall; the Way of Heaven turns in cycles.
Through the ages, people come and go.
The land bears its traces, and we arrive to behold them.
The sun and moon change with time; the winds and clouds surge mightily. Qin fell and Han prospered; Sui was overthrown and Tang rose. As states and dynasties changed across the land of China, only the tangled threads of love and hate lingered amid the smoke of history. In the vast river of time, who holds the reins of fate? Who directs the cycles of rise and fall? What do right and wrong, success and failure matter? The most frightening thing is a loneliness that stretches unchanged across a thousand years.
Desire can be stirred, reflecting the sun, moon, and stars. Can the hearts of countless people, like forests and ravines, be mastered too? Why exhaust yourself with schemes when you could drink away your cares? The passage of time is the true law of heaven and earth. The stories we believe are unique to us may be unfolding elsewhere in someone else’s life.
Rise, decline, ruin, and extinction: this world, and every world, are really all the same.
Love, hate, obsession, and parting: perhaps your experiences and mine amount to no more than that...
