"Other kinsfolk may be likened unto the rushes: husbands and wives are but useless stones.[1]
"He that loveth iniquity beckoneth to misfortune: it is, as it were, the echo answering to the voice.
"He that practiseth righteousness receiveth a blessing: it cometh as surely as the shadow followeth the man.
"Be reverent when thou goest past a grave: alight from thine horse when thou goest past a Shintō shrine.
"When thou art near a Buddhist temple or pagoda, thou shalt not commit any unclean act: when thou readest the sacred writings, thou shalt do nothing unseemly.
"Human ears are listening at the wall: speak no calumny, even in secret.
"Human eyes look down from the heavens: commit no wrong, however hidden.
"When a hasty word hath once been spoken: a team of four horses may pursue, but cannot bring it back.
"The flaw in a mace of white jade may be ground away: but the flaw of an evil word cannot be ground away.
"Calamity and prosperity have no gate: they are there only whither men invite them.
"From the evils sent by Heaven there is deliverance: from the evils we bring upon ourselves there is no escape.
"The gods punish fools, not to slay but to chasten them: the teacher smiteth his disciple, not from hatred but to make him better.
"Though the sins committed by the wise man be great, he shall not fall into hell: though the sins committed by the fool be small, he shall surely fall into hell.
"Life, with birth and death, is not enduring: and ye should haste to yearn after Nirvana.
"The body, with its passions, is not pure: and ye should swiftly search after intelligence.
- ↑ According to the Confucian ethical code, which the Japanese adopted, a man's parents, his teacher, and his lord claim his lifelong service, his wife standing on an immeasurably lower plane.
