Origin of 'See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil'
Posted: Monday, September 20, 2004
by lorien1973
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“See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil" is a common phrase, usually used to describe someone who doesn’t want to be involved in a situation. But where did the saying originate?
Unfortunately, no one knows for sure how it evolved. Because the saying is typically associated with three monkeys one covering his eyes, one covering his ears, and the other covering his mouth it is believed that the saying may have its origin in a 17th century temple in Japan.
Others believe that the saying originated from a Japanese play on words. “See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil," translated into Japanese is, “mizaru, kikazaru, iwazaru." The Japanese word for monkey is “saru", and sounds very similar to the verb-ending “zaru". It is easy to see how the saying may have originated from a fun play on words. The only problem with this explanation is that the three wise monkeys aren’t originally from Japan.
In the eighth century A.D. a Buddhist monk from China introduced the three wise monkeys to Japan. They were associated with a fearsome blue-faced deity called Vadjra. It is believed that the monkeys’ gestures were a representation of a command of the deity to “see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil."
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 contend that it is a proverb reminding us not to be so snoopy, so nosy, and so gossipy. Others say that it is a warning to stay away from places where immoral acts are taking place. Whatever the origin and meaning of “see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil," it is one of the most visual phrases in existence. It’s impossible to hear it spoken without thinking of three wise, but very cute, little monkeys.
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More commentsYour wrong.....peanut butter....jam....bananas....im right your wrong. HAH!
I believe it just means to not be involved in evil. Simple.
Thank you. Nice Post.
I am curious. I have an ornament of four monks heads. There are the obvious hear no, see no, speak no, but I cannot work out what the fourt monk is meant to indicate. Can any one help me understand the fourth monk? I would appreciate any thoughts. Jilldo no evilThe fourth one has "Think No Evil"do or act no evilThe 4th monk is do no evil, not too many people know about the 4 monkeys
"See no Evil, Hear no Evil, Speak no Evil" was Vespasian's dictum.
Only the monkeys are recent and possibly oriental.
I don't know what the real origin of this phrase is, but it can be clearly taken as a representation of totalitarian Orwellian thought control: As it was and is in communist/socialist, nationalsocialist and religious totalitarian states, and today represented by the 'political correctness'. It's the means to make people shut their mouth about real evil grievances.It's the way to hold people down. And these people are the monkeys, and 'ape' is not commonly the wise one as claimed, but the idiot. If this maxim was given up by authorities, it's obviously a thought control method to suppress people, even mocking them as apes, by in the same time hoaxing them they were 'wise'. The useful simpleton can be deceived so easily. The usual old mesh of the powerful to deceive the masses into being controlled ants. 'Be nice' as in the user regulations is just one of the forms of this phrase, and, if you find this comment of mine published, you have experienced nearly a wonder as it is not at all nice to some, here not named peolpe.
I have 4 monkeys. The 4th monkey has "think no evil". Wonder why this one is always left out. They are all held together with a chain leading the each other. Has a sticker on the bottom that says hand painted ATLAS Japan. These appear to be fairly old. They have blue, red, yellow, and green hats. When was the 4th monkey dropped?
i am doing a visual art statement i guess u could say and i thaught it would be intresting to do a peice on this this information helped thanks_jasmine W.
This has been around for many years and in Italian it's "The Code of Silence" and also "The Blue Wall of Silence" for police officers. And of course it was used in The 1968 movie, "Planet of The Apes" when three orrangatans actors did that turning the "trial" of Heston's, Taylor character. But in various, Columbus, Ohio - Eastside neighboorhoods it has a meaning. When ever there is a bad incident the Eastside residents when questioned by the local police say, I see nothing, hear nothing & saying nothing. A good example is a shooting between two parties like Stagger Lee & Billy Stewart because one used doctored dice to win the other gambler's posessions and Billy won Stagger Lee's sacred Stenson Hat and his 1959 Cadillac. So Stag goes to the bar & shoots Billy dead on the spot in front of 100 patrons. When Stagger Lee leaves, The local police questions the patrons and the bartender on the incident. Then the results were, "They saw nothing, They heard nothing, and they talk nothing about the demise of Billy Stewart. Because the patrons fear, they will be next on Stagger Lee's hit list. Many characters on TV were sent to jail for withholding information, among them was Mary Tyler Moore's Mary Richards, Hal Linden's Barney Miller and Jon & Ponch the CHiP officers served jail time to withhold information that could put their "friend" in peril. The 4 examples are revered as "heroes" for serving time withholding information. Another good example is me & coming home from a comic book convention, a famous comic book writer gets runned over by a mysterious, African-American girl with a 1959 Edsel Corsair Convertible. And it's my turn to be questioned by the local police. I might have to be like the three wise monkeys, I saw nothing, I heard nothing and I'm going to say nothing. And I don't want to go thru legal jive for it. Thank you for your time. Marcus Brainard
you are in this world only//
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