How to Read “Pulling Mount Sumeru with a lamp wick”
Tōshin de shumisen wo hikiyoseru
Meaning of “Pulling Mount Sumeru with a lamp wick”
This proverb describes the recklessness of attempting something completely impossible without understanding your own limitations. It shows someone trying to pull the massive Mount Sumeru at the center of the universe with an extremely thin and weak lamp wick.
The difference in power is so overwhelming that it’s not even a matter of effort. The proverb warns against attempting goals that are clearly beyond your abilities or resources.
People use this saying to caution someone who is pursuing an obviously unachievable goal. It doesn’t refer to something merely difficult, but to situations where the gap in power is fundamentally too large.
This isn’t about discouraging positive challenges. It’s a warning against reckless attempts made without facing reality. Today, people still use it to describe situations like trying to compete alone against a giant corporation without funds or experience, or taking an extremely difficult exam without proper preparation.
Origin and Etymology
Clear written records about this proverb’s origin are limited. However, the components of the phrase reveal fascinating background information.
“Tōshin” (lamp wick) refers to the wick used in oil lamps and lanterns. It was made from the dried pith of rush plants and was extremely thin and soft.
People knew it as such a fragile material that it would break easily with just a light press of a finger.
“Mount Sumeru” is the enormous mountain that stands at the center of the universe in Buddhist cosmology. This concept originated from ancient Indian cosmology.
Its height was said to be 84,000 yojanas, an unimaginable scale that became widely known throughout Buddhist cultures. When Buddhism came to Japan, this concept took root.
Mount Sumeru became synonymous with “something impossibly huge.”
This proverb works through extreme contrast between the weakest, thinnest thing and the largest, most immovable thing. The overwhelming mismatch of trying to pull something as massive as Mount Sumeru with something as weak as a lamp wick is the heart of this saying.
It likely emerged during an era when Buddhist thought was deeply embedded in daily life. People created it as an expression to warn against reckless attempts.
Interesting Facts
Lamp wicks were essential for common people’s lighting until the Edo period. Their softness made them appear in other proverbs about impossibility, like “removing bamboo joints with a lamp wick.”
For people of that time, the weakness of lamp wicks was something they experienced daily. It symbolized “the most unreliable thing” in their lives.
The unit “yojana” used to express Mount Sumeru’s height comes from ancient India. It meant “the distance an ox-cart can travel in one day.”
One yojana equals about 7 kilometers. At 84,000 yojanas, that’s roughly 560,000 kilometers. This exceeds the distance from Earth to the moon, showing a truly mind-boggling scale.
Usage Examples
- As a new employee, trying to compete alone against the industry leader is like pulling Mount Sumeru with a lamp wick
- Aiming for nationwide expansion without budget or staff is like pulling Mount Sumeru with a lamp wick
Universal Wisdom
This proverb has been passed down through generations because it contains deep insight into a fundamental human tendency. That tendency is overestimating our own abilities.
Everyone holds big dreams and ambitions in their hearts. This is wonderful in itself. However, sometimes we become blind to the enormous distance between our actual capabilities and our goals.
The higher our passion and motivation rise, the more our calm judgment becomes clouded. The positive feeling of “I can do it if I try” gradually transforms into the groundless conviction that “there’s no way I can’t do it.”
Our ancestors understood this human psychology well. Pursuing dreams and making reckless challenges are separated by a paper-thin line.
When we lose sight of that boundary, we experience major failures and setbacks. Yet this is precisely why this proverb isn’t simply negative. It teaches the importance of pausing to think.
Recognizing the thinness of your own “lamp wick” and correctly measuring the size of the “Mount Sumeru” before you isn’t giving up on dreams. It’s the first step toward finding a more reliable method.
Humans are creatures of hope, but we’re also beings who easily misjudge reality. Because our ancestors understood both sides, this proverb continues to live today.
When AI Hears This
If we assume a lamp wick diameter of about 2 millimeters and Mount Sumeru as 10 trillion kilograms like Mount Fuji, the physical impossibility of this act is overwhelming.
Even considering leverage principles, a lamp wick can withstand only a few newtons of tension. No matter how cleverly you position the fulcrum, the medium transmitting the force would break.
However, here lies an interesting paradox. Modern molecular machines and nanotechnology are actually realizing this “pulling Mount Sumeru with a lamp wick” principle.
For example, DNA-based molecular motors carry substances hundreds of times their own weight. The key concept is “force aggregation.”
While one lamp wick can’t do it, if hundreds of millions of “ultra-thin lamp wicks” cooperate at the molecular level, they can generate enormous force.
More noteworthy is that the essence of mechanical advantage lies not in “magnitude of force” but in “energy conversion efficiency.” Muscles work on the same principle.
Microscopic protein fibers bundle together and convert chemical energy into mechanical force. The impossibility this proverb shows is actually “the limit of a single system.”
Modern science breaks through that wall through “parallelization and cooperation.”
Lessons for Today
What this proverb teaches us today is the importance of self-awareness. Having dreams is wonderful, but accurately understanding your current position to realize them is equally important.
Modern society overflows with phrases like “never give up” and “making the impossible possible.” A positive attitude is certainly valuable.
However, if it becomes escapism from reality, it defeats the purpose. The strength you currently have, the resources you can use, and the size of your goal—true challenge begins with calmly examining these three things.
If you’re now trying to pull Mount Sumeru with a lamp wick, that’s nothing to be ashamed of. First, bundle the lamp wicks into rope, gather companions, or start with a reachable hill instead of Mount Sumeru.
There are countless methods available. Recklessness and courage are different things. Challenge based on facing reality is true courage.
Time spent pausing to think is never wasted. It’s a precious preparation period for making your dreams more certainly achievable.
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