expression:

• A single seed can eventually produce a great harvest; Even the smallest beginning can generate a greatest profit; Watch the pennies, and the pounds will look after themselves - four character idiom

noun / ~する noun:

• involving the audience (by talking to them, bringing them on stage, etc.)

expression:

• it's always darkest before the dawn; the darkest hour is just before the dawn

noun:

• fire lit at a gate for funerals, weddings and Obon

noun:

• negative question; question asked in the negative (e.g. "Can't you read Japanese?") - Linguistics term

noun / ~する noun:

• reversing the order of (relative) importance (of); putting the cart before the horse; the tables being turned; mistaking the insignificant for the essential; mistaking the means for the end - four character idiom

adverb:

• without hesitation; frankly (esp. speaking); bluntly; without shilly-shallying; straight to the point; getting to the heart of the matter ➜ ずばり
• cutting (forcefully, directly); piercingly

expression:

• you can't make an omelet without breaking eggs; you can't solve a problem without making some sacrifice - proverb ➜ 背に腹はかえられない

expression:

• the poor can't afford manners; only when basic needs for living are met can people spare the effort to be polite - proverb

noun / ~する noun / ~の noun:

• failing to properly evaluate the (relative) importance (of); putting the cart before the horse; mistaking the cause for the end; mistaking the insignificant for the essential; getting one's priorities backwards - four character idiom

noun:

• Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch; Platform Sutra - Buddhism term

noun:

• monk; priest, particularly a high-ranking Zen monk honored by the imperial court - honorific language

noun:

• sutra read in conclusion - Buddhism term

noun:

• exact center of the Garbhadhatu mandala - obscure term
• platform upon which the fire is lit in a stone lantern

noun:

• Buddhist service centred around the Lotus Sutra held over four days in Shiga Prefecture, starting from the 24th day of the second month of the lunisolar calendar

noun / ~する noun:

• spending one night ahead (e.g. at a hotel near the airport the night before catching a flight); spending the night before ➜ 後泊【こうはく】

expression:

• spare the rod and spoil the child; if you love your children, send them out into the world [literal] - proverb

noun:

• imperial event at which high monks recited the Golden Light Sutra to pray for national security and good harvests (held annually at the palace from the 8th to the 14th of the first lunar month, between the Nara and Muromachi periods) ➜ 金光明最勝王経

adverb:

• before the week is out; before the week is over; within the week; sometime this week

expression / adverb:

• before very long; soon; someday; one of these days; sooner or later
• of the previously mentioned; of that number; among them; among others

expression:

• you learn, without realising it, from what is around you; a shop-boy near the temple gate will recite sutras untaught [literal] - proverb

expression:

• you learn, without realising it, from what is around you; a shop-boy near the temple gate (will recite sutras untaught) [literal] - proverb - abbreviation ➜ 門前の小僧習わぬ経を読む【もんぜんのこぞうならわぬきょうをよむ】

noun:

• monk who attends to the principal image of a temple
• Buddhist monk serving at an attached Shinto shrine

noun:

• monk who attends to the principal image of a temple - abbreviation ➜ 供奉僧
• Buddhist monk serving at an attached Shinto shrine

expression:

• the clothes do not make the man; the cowl does not make the monk - proverb