拈華微笑 [ねんげみしょう] – heart-to-heart communication

If you’ve known me, or have been reading this website, for any length of time, you probably know that I love 四字熟語, or four-character idiomatic compounds.  Sometimes, they poetically express meaning that may not be obvious on the surface.  Sometimes, they make references to history or spirituality.  Today’s phrase covers all the aforementioned bases.

The story goes that 釈迦 Gautama Siddartha (Shakyamuni), the founder of Buddhism, was explaining Buddhism to his disciples by silently twirling a lotus blossom.   Only one of his students, having grasped the inner meaning of Gautama’s teaching, smiled.  Thus, the phrase 拈華微笑 means “twirling a flower and subtly smiling.”

There are a number of other four-character compounds that also have similar meanings:

• 以心伝心 – direct communication from one heart to another
• 維摩一黙 – there is more value in silence than in eloquence
• 拈華瞬目 – twirling a flower and winking
• 笑拈梅花 – smiling while twirling a plum blossom
• 不立文字 – enlightenment cannot be reached through words
• 黙契秘旨 – a secret principle, taught silently

A Duke Ellington quote comes to mind: “The artist must say it without saying it.”

• 三 [サン・みつ] – three
• 寒 [カン・さむい] – cold
• 四 [シ・よ・よつ・よっつ・よん] – four
• 温 [オン・あたたかい] – warm

This saying describes how winter transitions into spring, with alternating cold and warm days.

• 真 [シン・まこと] – true; reality
• 剣 [ケン・つるぎ] – sword

真剣 is a real sword.  Not a toy.  Not a replica.  Not a wooden training tool.  真剣 is a real, live, sharp blade that can maim and kill.  The notion of such a dangerous instrument gives a clear impression of something very serious.

To change this word from a noun into an adverb, simply add に: 私は日本語を真剣に勉強しました (lit – “I studied Japanese seriously” or “I made a very serious study of Japanese”).  This rules works for changing many nouns into adverbs.

One of my favorite 四字熟語 is 真剣勝負 [しんけんしょうぶ] – “a fight with real swords.”  It indicates that the effort being described is extremely serious, even to the point of life-and-death.

• 呉 [ゴ] – The ancient Chinese kingdom of Wu
• 越 [エツ] – The ancient Chinese kingdom of Yue
• 同 [ドウ・おなじ] – the same
• 舟 [シュウ・ふね] – boat

The Wu (呉) and Yue (越) Kingdoms existed in China from 770 to 476 BC.  As they were in a nearly constant state of war with each other, the image of both of them literally being in the same boat conjures up notions of very strange bedfellows.

• 四 [シ・よ・よん] – four
• 字 [ジ・あざ] – character
• 熟 [ジュク・うれる] – ripen; mature
• 語 [ゴ・かたる] – word; language

As you can see, an idiom is a “matured/ripened word.”  四字熟語 are among my favorite things in Japanese.  In the future, I intend to bring more 四字熟語 to your attention, but in the meantime, here are a few examples:

一日千秋 [いちじつせんしゅう] – One-Day-Thousand-Autumn - To wait impatiently; each moment seeming like an eternity.

七転八起 [ななころびやおき・しちてんはっき] – Seven-Fall-Eight-Rise – Always picking oneself up despite repeated failures.

以心伝心 [いしんでんしん] – By Means Of-Heart-Transmit-Heart - telepathy; direct heart-to-heart communication

一期一会 [いちごいちえ] – One-Time-One-Meeting – a once-in-a-lifetime encounter.  (Interestingly, “Forrest Gump” was titled 一期一会 in Japan.)