Japanese Buddhist Proverbs
169
4.—Banji wa yumé.
All things[1] are merely dreams.
5.—Bonbu mo satoréba hotoké nari.
Even a common man by obtaining knowledge becomes a Buddha.[2]
6.—Bonnō kunō.
All lust is grief.[3]
7.—Buppō to wara-ya no amé, dété kiké.
One must go outside to hear Buddhist doctrine or the sound of rain on a straw roof.[4]
8.—Busshō en yori okoru.
Out of karma-relation even the divine nature itself grows.[5]
- ↑ Literally, “ten thousand things.”
- ↑ The only real differences of condition are differences in knowledge of the highest truth.
- ↑ All sensual desire invariably brings sorrow.
- ↑ There is an allusion here to the condition of the shukké (priest): literally, “one who has left his house.” The proverb suggests that the higher truths of Buddhism cannot be acquired by those who continue to live in the world of follies and desires.
- ↑ There is good as well as bad karma. Whatever happiness we enjoy is not less a consequence of the acts and thoughts of previous lives, than is any misfortune that
