Thomas Hitoshi Pruiksma

author, poet, teacher, and performer

Smile at Adversity: A Kural Conversation with Fiona Moore

Looking within, paradox, and the transformative power of friendliness.

With the wonderful Fiona Moore I was delighted to explore kurals 621 and 622 from chapter 63 of THE KURAL, “Not Being Defeated by Adversity.”

Here are a few highlights and where in the video you can find them:

  • Fiona explores the gift of really staying with a single verse or two: 6:02
  • Paradox and the path of healing and awakening: 10:07
  • The radical possibility of treating adversity as a friend: 14:53
  • A question from Fiona for Thomas on how it was to take on this project: 32:38

Fiona Moore

Fiona Moore is a coach, mentor, and consultant with an extraordinary capacity to help people uncover the truth of who they really are beyond their ideas, thoughts, beliefs, and fears.

“Simply by being the Love you are,” she writes, “you transform your world, and the whole world, for good.”

https://fionamoore.com/

Here are the two verses we talked about, in both English and Tamil:

621
Smile at adversity—nothing
Triumphs more fully

இடுக்கண் வருங்கால் நகுக அதனை
அடுத்தூர்வ தஃதொப்ப தில்

622
When the wise look within—the flood
Of adversity vanishes

வெள்ளத் தனைய இடும்பை அறிவுடையான்
உள்ளத்தின் உள்ளக் கெடும்

From chapter 63, “Not Being Defeated by Adversity.”

Translated from the Tamil by Thomas Hitoshi Pruiksma
THE KURAL: Tiruvalluvar’s Tirukkural
Beacon Press, Boston