MIZARU, KIKAZARU, IWAZARU.

For some reason the three wise monkeys commonly known as See No Evil (Mizaru), Hear No Evil (Kikazaru) and Speak No Evil (Iwazaru) - Zaru pronounced the same as Saru meaning monkey - have always captured my imagination.

Also known as The Three Mystic Apes, The Guardian Of The Stables and The Attendants of The Gods Of The Roads what I didn't know was there is also a fourth monkey - no, not Post No Evil as seen below - Shizaru (Do No Evil) who, accompanying the other three, is portrayed sitting with crossed arms.  

Though pretty much all of the sites I visited made reference to a 17th century wooden carving at the Toshogu shrine in Nikko, Japan it is not exactly clear as to where, when or why the 'monkeys' originated or as to what exactly the phrase "see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil" means.

However ......

Largely regarded in Japan as one of the Golden Rules, in the Buddhist tradition as being about not dwelling on evil thoughts and in the Western world as a reference to a lack of moral responsibility on the part of people who refuse to acknowledge impropriety I was surprised to learn that it also may be used as a way to signify a code of silence amongst the criminal fraternity. 

Anyway, fascinated by these three (should I make that four?) monkeys, I was delighted to find mention of the below poem in The Clock Of Time by Nancy Klann-Moren (my review of which can be found HERE).

“O’er the door of the sacred Temple
They sit in their wisdom the three –
The little deaf Monkey,
The little dumb Monkey,
The Monkey who will not see;
With their eyes shut to evil,
Ears that hear only the right,
Lips that are dumb to scandal,
They sit in their silent might”

- Unknown.

Or how about this .....

Thou shalt make a covenant with thy senses,

With thine eye, that it beholds no evil.
With thine ear, that it hear no evil.
With thy tongue, that it speak no evil.
With thy hands that they commit no evils.

-Thomas Paine, 1802

Please note: All original content on http://pettywitter.blogspot.co.uk/ is created by the website owner, including but not limited to text, design, code, images, photographs and videos are considered to be the Intellectual Property of the website owner, whether copyrighted or not, and are protected by DMCA Protection Services using the Digital Millennium Copyright Act Title 17 Chapter 512 (c)(3). Reproduction or re-publication of this content is prohibited without permission.
In addition I would also urge that if you are reading this on any other page you contact the original blog owner/reviewer.