Japanese Buddhist Proverbs
185
60.—Neko mo Busshō ari.
In even a cat the Buddha-nature exists.[1]
61.—Néta ma ga Gokuraku.
The interval of sleep is Paradise.[2]
62.—Nijiu-go Bosatsu mo soré-soré no yaku.
Even each of the Twenty-five Bodhisattvas has his own particular duty to perform.
63.—Nin mité, hō toké.
[First] see the person, [then] preach the doctrine.[3]
64.—Ninshin ukégataku Buppō aigatashi.
It is not easy to be born among men, and to meet with [the good fortune of bearing the doctrine of] Buddhism.[4]
- ↑ Notwithstanding the legend that only the cat and the mamushi (a poisonous viper) failed to weep for the death of the Buddha.
- ↑ Only during sleep can we sometimes cease to know the sorrow and pain of this world. (Compare with No. 83.)
- ↑ The teaching of Buddhist doctrine should always be adapted to the intelligence of the person to be instructed. There is another proverb of the same kind,—Ki ni yorité hō wo toké: “According to the understanding [of the person to be taught], preach the Law.”
- ↑ Popular Buddhism teaches that to be born in the
