[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.”
83.—Shiranu ga, hotoké; minu ga, Gokuraku.
Not to know is to be a Buddha; not to see is Paradise.
84.—Shōbo ni kidoku nashi.
There is no miracle in true doctrine.[[66]]
[66] Nothing can happen except as a result of eternal and irrevocable law.
85.—Shō-chié wa Bodai no samatagé.
A little wisdom is a stumbling-block on the way to Buddhahood.[[67]]
[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.
86.—Shōshi no kukai hetori nashi.
There is no shore to the bitter Sea of Birth and Death.[[68]]
[68] Or, “the Pain-Sea of Life and Death.”
87.—Sodé no furi-awasé mo tashō no en.
Even the touching of sleeves in passing is caused by some relation in a former life.
88.—Sun zen; shaku ma.
An inch of virtue; a foot of demon.[[69]]