Proverbs & idioms

Japanese proverbs (ことわざ), four-character idioms (四字熟語), and idioms — from JMdict.

• 疑心暗鬼ぎしんあんきsuspicion will raise bogies; once you suspect something, everything else will look suspicious; jumping at shadows
• 発菩提心ほつぼだいしんdeciding to embrace Buddhism; deciding to seek enlightenment; seeking to have religious awakening
• 百尺竿頭ひゃくせきかんとうthe highest state of one's enlightenment; the highest level one can attain
• 百年河清ひゃくねんかせいwaiting for one hundred years for the waters of the Yellow River to clear; waiting in vain for an unlikely event; waiting for pigs to fly; when the sky falls, we shall catch larks
• 百発百中ひゃっぱつひゃくちゅうalways hitting the bull's-eye; infallible
• 百舌勘定もずかんじょうsplitting the bill so that the others end up paying the whole amount; wheedling the others into paying the whole bill