---
title: Morning Awakening After a Night’s Rest in a Temple, part 2 — In Ghostly Japan · full text with trees · page 2
description: Morning Awakening After a Night’s Rest in a Temple, part 2, «In Ghostly Japan» by Lafcadio Hearn: the whole chapter, every sentence with its dependency tree and pragmatics. It begins: [38] Or “mind.”
---

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# Morning Awakening After a Night’s Rest in a Temple, part 2 · page 2

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[1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg8128/25/) **2**

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70.—\_Onna wa Sangai ni iyé nashi.[113](../../113/ "tree and pragmatics") \_ Women have no homes of their own in the Three States of Existence.[114](../../114/ "tree and pragmatics")

71.—\_Oya no ingwa ga ko ni mukuü.[115](../../115/ "tree and pragmatics") \_ The karma of the parents is visited upon the child.[116](../../116/ "tree and pragmatics") \[59\][117](../../117/ "tree and pragmatics")

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\[59\] Said of the parents of crippled or deformed children.[118](../../118/ "tree and pragmatics") But the popular idea here expressed is not altogether in accord with the teachings of the higher Buddhism.[119](../../119/ "tree and pragmatics")

72.—\_Rakkwa éda ni kaerazu.[120](../../120/ "tree and pragmatics") \_ The fallen blossom never returns to the branch.[121](../../121/ "tree and pragmatics") \[60\][122](../../122/ "tree and pragmatics")

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\[60\] That which has been done never can be undone: the past cannot be recalled.—This proverb is an abbreviation of the longer Buddhist text: \_Rakkwa éda ni kaerazu; ha-kyō futatabi terasazu:\_ “The fallen blossom never returns to the branch; the shattered mirror never again reflects.”[123](../../123/ "tree and pragmatics")

73.—\_Raku wa ku no tané; ku wa raku no tané.[124](../../124/ "tree and pragmatics") \_ Pleasure is the seed of pain; pain is the seed of pleasure.[125](../../125/ "tree and pragmatics")

74.—\_Rokudō wa, mé no maë.[126](../../126/ "tree and pragmatics") \_ The Six Roads are right before your eyes.[127](../../127/ "tree and pragmatics") \[61\][128](../../128/ "tree and pragmatics")

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\[61\] That is to say, Your future life depends upon your conduct in this life; and you are thus free to choose for yourself the place of your next birth.[129](../../129/ "tree and pragmatics")

75.—\_Sangai mu-an.[130](../../130/ "tree and pragmatics") \_ There is no rest within the Three States of Existence.[131](../../131/ "tree and pragmatics")

76.—\_Sangai ni kaki nashi;—Rokudō ni hotori nashi.[132](../../132/ "tree and pragmatics") \_ There is no fence to the Three States of Existence;—there is no neighborhood to the Six Roads.[133](../../133/ "tree and pragmatics") \[62\][134](../../134/ "tree and pragmatics")

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\[62\] Within the Three States (Sangai), or universes, of Desire, Form, and Formlessness; and within the Six Worlds, or conditions of being,—\_Jigokudō\_ (Hell), \_Gakidō\_ (Pretas), \_Chikushōdō\_ (Animal Life), \_Shuradō\_ (World of Fighting and Slaughter), \_Ningendō\_ (Mankind), \_Tenjōdō\_ (Heavenly Spirits)—all existence is included.[135](../../135/ "tree and pragmatics") Beyond there is only Nirvâna.[136](../../136/ "tree and pragmatics") “There is no fence,” “no neighborhood,”—that is to say, no limit beyond which to escape,—no middle-path between any two of these states.[137](../../137/ "tree and pragmatics") We shall be reborn into some one of them according to our karma.—Compare with No. 74.[138](../../138/ "tree and pragmatics")

77.—\_Sangé ni wa sannen no tsumi mo hōrobu.[139](../../139/ "tree and pragmatics") \_ One confession effaces the sins of even three years.[140](../../140/ "tree and pragmatics")

78.—\_San nin yoréba, kugai.[141](../../141/ "tree and pragmatics") \_ Where even three persons come together, there is a world of pain.[142](../../142/ "tree and pragmatics") \[63\][143](../../143/ "tree and pragmatics")

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\[63\] \_Kugai\_ (lit.: “bitter world”) is a term often used to describe the life of a prostitute.[144](../../144/ "tree and pragmatics")

79.—\_San nin yoréba, Monjū no chié.[145](../../145/ "tree and pragmatics") \_ Where three persons come together, there is the wisdom of \_Monjū\_.[146](../../146/ "tree and pragmatics") \[64\][147](../../147/ "tree and pragmatics")

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\[64\] Monjū Bosatsu \[\_Mañdjus’ri Bodhisattva\_\] figures in Japanese Buddhism as a special divinity of wisdom.—The proverb signifies that three heads are better than one.[148](../../148/ "tree and pragmatics") A saying of like meaning is,\_ Hiza to mo dankō:\_ “Consult even with your own knee;” that is to say, Despise no advice, no matter how humble the source of it.[149](../../149/ "tree and pragmatics")

80.—\_Shaka ni sekkyō.[150](../../150/ "tree and pragmatics") \_ Preaching to Sâkyamuni.[151](../../151/ "tree and pragmatics")

81.—\_Shami kara chōrō.[152](../../152/ "tree and pragmatics") \_ To become an abbot one must begin as a novice.[153](../../153/ "tree and pragmatics")

82.—\_Shindaréba, koso ikitaré.[154](../../154/ "tree and pragmatics") \_ Only by reason of having died does one enter into life.[155](../../155/ "tree and pragmatics") \[65\][156](../../156/ "tree and pragmatics")

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\[65\] I never hear this singular proverb without being re-minded of a sentence in Huxley’s famous essay, \_On the Physical Basis of Life:\_—“The living protoplasm not only ultimately dies and is resolved into its mineral and lifeless constituents, but is always dying, and, strange as the paradox may sound, \_could not live unless it died\_.”[157](../../157/ "tree and pragmatics")

83.—\_Shiranu ga, hotoké; minu ga, Gokuraku.[158](../../158/ "tree and pragmatics") \_ Not to know is to be a Buddha; not to see is Paradise.[159](../../159/ "tree and pragmatics")

84.—\_Shōbo ni kidoku nashi.[160](../../160/ "tree and pragmatics") \_ There is no miracle in true doctrine.[161](../../161/ "tree and pragmatics") \[66\][162](../../162/ "tree and pragmatics")

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\[66\] Nothing can happen except as a result of eternal and irrevocable law.[163](../../163/ "tree and pragmatics")

85.—\_Shō-chié wa Bodai no samatagé.[164](../../164/ "tree and pragmatics") \_ A little wisdom is a stumbling-block on the way to Buddhahood.[165](../../165/ "tree and pragmatics") \[67\][166](../../166/ "tree and pragmatics")

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\[67\] \_Bodai\_ is the same word as the Sanscrit \_Bodhi\_, signifying the supreme enlightenment,—the knowledge that leads to Buddhahood; but it is often used by Japanese Buddhists in the sense of divine bliss, or the Buddha-state itself.[167](../../167/ "tree and pragmatics")

86.—\_Shōshi no kukai hetori nashi.[168](../../168/ "tree and pragmatics") \_ There is no shore to the bitter Sea of Birth and Death.[169](../../169/ "tree and pragmatics") \[68\][170](../../170/ "tree and pragmatics")

\[68\] Or, “the Pain-Sea of Life and Death.”[171](../../171/ "tree and pragmatics")

87.—\_Sodé no furi-awasé mo tashō no en.[172](../../172/ "tree and pragmatics") \_ Even the touching of sleeves in passing is caused by some relation in a former life.[173](../../173/ "tree and pragmatics")

88.—\_Sun zen; shaku ma.[174](../../174/ "tree and pragmatics") \_ An inch of virtue; a foot of demon.[175](../../175/ "tree and pragmatics") \[69\][176](../../176/ "tree and pragmatics")

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\[69\] \_Ma\_ (Sanscrit, \_Mârakâyikas\_) is the name given to a particular class of spirits who tempt men to evil.[177](../../177/ "tree and pragmatics") But in Japanese folklore the \_Ma\_ have a part much resembling that occupied in Western popular superstition by goblins and fairies.[178](../../178/ "tree and pragmatics")

89.—\_Tanoshimi wa hanasimi no motoi.[179](../../179/ "tree and pragmatics") \_ All joy is the source of sorrow.[180](../../180/ "tree and pragmatics")

90.—\_Tondé hi ni iru natsu no mushi.[181](../../181/ "tree and pragmatics") \_ So the insects of summer fly to the flame.[182](../../182/ "tree and pragmatics") \[70\][183](../../183/ "tree and pragmatics")

\[70\] Said especially in reference to the result of sensual indulgence.[184](../../184/ "tree and pragmatics")

91.—\_Tsuchi-botoké no midzu-asobi.[185](../../185/ "tree and pragmatics") \_ Clay-Buddha’s water-playing.[186](../../186/ "tree and pragmatics") \[71\][187](../../187/ "tree and pragmatics")

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\[71\] That is to say, “As dangerous as for a clay Buddha to play with water.”[188](../../188/ "tree and pragmatics") Children often amuse themselves by making little Buddhist images of mud, which melt into shapelessness, of course, if placed in water.[189](../../189/ "tree and pragmatics")

92.—\_Tsuki ni murakumo, hana ni kazé.[190](../../190/ "tree and pragmatics") \_ Cloud-wrack to the moon; wind to flowers.[191](../../191/ "tree and pragmatics") \[72\][192](../../192/ "tree and pragmatics")

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\[72\] The beauty of the moon is obscured by masses of clouds; the trees no sooner blossom than their flowers are scattered by the wind.[193](../../193/ "tree and pragmatics") All beauty is evanescent.[194](../../194/ "tree and pragmatics")

93.—\_Tsuyu no inochi.[195](../../195/ "tree and pragmatics") \_ Human life is like the dew of morning.[196](../../196/ "tree and pragmatics")

94.—\_U-ki wa, kokoro ni ari.[197](../../197/ "tree and pragmatics") \_ Joy and sorrow exist only in the mind.[198](../../198/ "tree and pragmatics")

95.—\_Uri no tsuru ni nasubi wa naranu.[199](../../199/ "tree and pragmatics") \_ Egg-plants do not grow upon melon-vines.[200](../../200/ "tree and pragmatics")

96.—\_Uso mo hōben.[201](../../201/ "tree and pragmatics") \_ Even an untruth may serve as a device.[202](../../202/ "tree and pragmatics") \[73\][203](../../203/ "tree and pragmatics")

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\[73\] That is, a pious device for effecting conversion.[204](../../204/ "tree and pragmatics") Such a device is justified especially by the famous parable of the third chapter of the \_Saddharma Pundarîka\_.[205](../../205/ "tree and pragmatics")

97.—\_Waga ya no hotoké tattoshi.[206](../../206/ "tree and pragmatics") \_ My family ancestors were all excellent Buddhas.[207](../../207/ "tree and pragmatics") \[74\][208](../../208/ "tree and pragmatics")

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\[74\] Meaning that one most reveres the \_hotoké\_—the spirits of the dead regarded as Buddhas—in one’s own household-shrine.[209](../../209/ "tree and pragmatics") There is an ironical play upon the word \_hotoké\_, which may mean either a dead person simply, or a Buddha.[210](../../210/ "tree and pragmatics") Perhaps the spirit of this proverb may be better explained by the help of another: \_Nigéta sakana ni chisai wa nai; shinda kodomo ni warui ko wa nai\_—“Fish that escaped was never small; child that died was never bad.”[211](../../211/ "tree and pragmatics")

98.—\_Yuki no haté wa, Nehan.[212](../../212/ "tree and pragmatics") \_ The end of snow is Nirvâna.[213](../../213/ "tree and pragmatics") \[75\][214](../../214/ "tree and pragmatics")

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\[75\] This curious saying is the only one in my collection containing the word \_Nehan\_ (Nirvâna), and is here inserted chiefly for that reason.[215](../../215/ "tree and pragmatics") The common people seldom speak of \_Nehan\_, and have little knowledge of those profound doctrines to which the term is related.[216](../../216/ "tree and pragmatics") The above phrase, as might be inferred, is not a popular expression: it is rather an artistic and poetical reference to the aspect of a landscape covered with snow to the horizon-line,—so that beyond the snow-circle there is only the great void of the sky.[217](../../217/ "tree and pragmatics")

99.—\_Zen ni wa zen no mukui; aku ni wa aku no mukui.[218](../../218/ "tree and pragmatics") \_ Goodness \[or, virtue\] is the return for goodness; evil is the return for evil.[219](../../219/ "tree and pragmatics") \[76\][220](../../220/ "tree and pragmatics")

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\[76\] Not so commonplace a proverb as might appear at first sight; for it refers especially to the Buddhist belief that every kindness shown to us in this life is a return of kindness done to others in a former life, and that every wrong inflicted upon us is the reflex of some injustice which we committed in a previous birth.[221](../../221/ "tree and pragmatics")

100.—\_Zensé no yakusoku-goto.[222](../../222/ "tree and pragmatics") \_ Promised \[or, destined\] from a former birth.[223](../../223/ "tree and pragmatics") \[77\][224](../../224/ "tree and pragmatics")

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\[77\] A very common saying,—often uttered as a comment upon the unhappiness of separation, upon sudden misfortune, upon sudden death, etc. It is used especially in relation to \_shinjū\_, or lovers’ suicide.[225](../../225/ "tree and pragmatics") Such suicide is popularly thought to be a result of cruelty in some previous state of being, or the consequence of having broken, in a former life, the mutual promise to become husband and wife.[226](../../226/ "tree and pragmatics")

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[1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg8128/25/) **2**

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