Part 17

Meaning that even those obliged to live in hell must learn to accommodate themselves to the situation. One should always try to make the best of circumstances. A proverb of kindred signification is, Sumeba, Miyako: “Wheresoever ones home is, that is the Capital [or, imperial City].”

38.—Jigoku ni mo shiru bito. Even in hell old acquaintances are welcome.

39.—Kagé no katachi ni shitagau gotoshi. Even as the shadow follows the shape.

Referring to the doctrine of cause-and-effect. Compare with verse 2 of the Dhammapada.

40.—Kané wa Amida yori bikaru. Money shines even more brightly than Amida.

Amitâbha, the Buddha of Immeasurable Light. His image in the temples is usually gilded from head to foot.—There are many other ironical proverbs about the power of wealth,—such as Jigoku no sata mo kané shidai: “Even the Judgments of Hell may be influenced by money.”

41.—Karu-toki no Jizō-gao; nasu-toki no Emma-gao. Borrowing-time, the face of Jizō; repaying-time, the face of Emma.

Emma is the Chinese and Japanese Yama,—in Buddhism the Lord of Hell, and the Judge of the Dead. The proverb is best explained by the accompanying drawings, which will serve to give an idea of the commoner representations of both divinities.

42.—Kiité Gokuraku, mité Jigoku. Heard of only, it is Paradise; seen, it is Hell.

Rumor is never trustworthy.

43.—Kōji mon wo idézu: akuji sen ni wo hashiru. Good actions go not outside of the gate: bad deeds travel a thousand ri.

44.—Kokoro no koma ni tadzuna wo yuru-suna. Never let go the reins of the wild colt of the heart.

45.—Kokoro no oni ga mi wo séméru. The body is tortured only by the demon of the heart.

Or “mind.” That is to say that we suffer only from the consequences of our own faults.—The demon-torturer in the Buddhist hell says to his victim:—“Blame not me!—I am only the creation of your own deeds and thoughts: you made me for this!”—Compare with No. 36.

46.—Kokoro no shi to wa naré; kokoro wo shi to sezaré. Be the teacher of your heart: do not allow your heart to become your teacher.

47.—Kono yo wa kari no yado. This world is only a resting-place.

“This world is but a travellers’ inn,” would be an almost equally correct translation. Yado literally means a lodging, shelter, inn; and the word is applied often to those wayside resting-houses at which Japanese travellers halt during a journey. Kari signifies temporary, transient, fleeting,—as in the common Buddhist saying, Kono yo kari no yo: “This world is a fleeting world.” Even Heaven and Hell represent to the Buddhist only halting places upon the journey to Nirvâna.

48.—Kori wo chiribamé; midzu ni égaku. To inlay ice; to paint upon water.

Refers to the vanity of selfish effort for some merely temporary end.

49.—Korokoro to Naku wa yamada no Hototogisu, Chichi nitéya aran, Haha nitéya aran. The bird that cries korokoro in the mountain rice-field I know to be a hototogisu;—yet it may have been my father; it may have been my mother.

This verse-proverb is cited in the Buddhist work Wōjō Yōshū, with the following comment:—“Who knows whether the animal in the field, or the bird in the mountain-wood, has not been either his father or his mother in some former state of existence?”—The hototogisu is a kind of cuckoo.

50.—Ko wa Sangai no kubikase. A child is a neck-shackle for the Three States of Existence.

That is to say, The love of parents for their child may impede their spiritual progress—not only in this world, but through all their future states of being,—just as a kubikasé, or Japanese cangue, impedes the movements of the person upon whom it is placed. Parental affection, being the strongest of earthly attachments, is particularly apt to cause those whom it enslaves to commit wrongful acts in the hope of benefiting their offspring.—The term Sangai here signifies the three worlds of Desire, Form, and Formlessness,—all the states of existence below Nirvâna. But the word is sometimes used to signify the Past, the Present, and the Future.

51.—Kuchi wa wazawai no kado. The mouth is the front-gate of all misfortune.

That is to say, The chief cause of trouble is unguarded speech. The word Kado means always the main entrance to a residence.

52.—Kwahō wa, nété maté. If you wish for good luck, sleep and wait.

Kwahō, a purely Buddhist term, signifying good fortune as the result of good actions in a previous life, has come to mean in common parlance good fortune of any kind. The proverb is often used in a sense similar to that of the English saying: “Watched pot never boils.” In a strictly Buddhist sense it would mean, “Do not be too eager for the reward of good deeds.”

53.—Makanu tané wa haënu. Nothing will grow, if the seed be not sown.