301Japanese quotation 名言
われ、ただ足るを知る
われ、ただたるをしるWare, tada taru o shiru
“I know only what is enough.”
The meaning
Four characters arranged around a central square — the famous inscription on the stone basin of Ryōan-ji in Kyoto. A single knowledge claimed: that of enough. A whole program of life held on one stone.
At the origin
The inscription of the tsukubai (stone basin) of the Ryōan-ji garden in Kyoto — cited here for its cultural motif, not as doctrine.
The characters
In practice
Write "this is enough for me" on one real thing today — and mean it.
Themes
Similar proverbs
- 116 足るを知る Know what is enough.
- 296 家は漏らぬほど、食事は飢えぬほどにて足る事なり A house that does not leak, meals that end hunger: that is enough.
- 017 井の中の蛙大海を知らず The frog at the bottom of the well knows nothing of the great ocean.
- 090 我が身をつねって人の痛さを知れ Pinch yourself to know another's pain.
- 223 やれ打つな蠅が手をすり足をする Don't swat it! The fly wrings its hands, wrings its feet.