See Hear Speak No Evil

THREE WISE MONKEYS

If you were wondering what See Hear Speak no Evil means read on.

www.wikipedia.org says…

Origin
The source that popularized this pictorial maxim is a 17th century carving over a door of the famous Tōshō-gū shrine in Nikkō, Japan. The maxim, however, probably originally came to Japan with a Tendai-Buddhist legend, possibly from India via China in the 8th century (Yamato Period).

In China, a similar phrase exists in the Analects of Confucius: “Look not at what is contrary to propriety; listen not to what is contrary to propriety; speak not what is contrary to propriety; make no movement which is contrary to propriety” (非禮勿視， 非禮勿聽，非禮勿言， 非禮勿動). It may be that this phrase was simplified after it was brought into Japan.

Though the teaching had nothing to do with monkeys, the concept of the three monkeys originated from a word play. In Japanese, zaru, which is a (less common) negative form of a verb, sounds like saru meaning monkey (it is one reading of 猿, the Chinese character for monkey). The saying in Japanese is “見ざる、聞かざる、言わざる” (mizaru, kikazaru, iwazaru), literally “don’t see, don’t hear, don’t speak”. Therefore, it is evident how the monkeys may have originated from what one would see as an amusing play on words.

Meaning of the proverb
Just as there is disagreement about the origin of the phrase, there are differing explanations of the meaning of “see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil.”

Some simply take the proverb as a reminder not to be snoopy, nosy and gossipy.

Early associations of the three monkeys with the fearsome six-armed deity Vajrakilaya link the proverb to the teaching of that cult that if we do not hear, see or talk evil, we ourselves shall be spared all evil. This may be considered similar to the English proverb “Speak of the devil - and the devil appears.”

Others believe the message is that a person who is not exposed to evil (through sight or sound) will not reflect that evil in their own speech and actions.

Today “See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil” is commonly used to describe someone who doesn’t want to be involved in a situation, or someone turning a wilful blind eye to the immorality of an act he is involved in.

how does this apply to us, three friends who have known each other for, well, forever? it’s just a proverb we’ve always liked. it’s always been significant to us. are we three gals who don’t want to be involved? you be the judge…check out the blog!