寒かん苦く鳥ちょう

noun

cold-suffering bird; kankuchō

A mythical bird from Buddhist lore, said to live in the Himalayas. It suffers greatly from the cold at night and resolves to build a nest, but forgets its suffering when morning comes and never builds one. Used as a metaphor for people who fail to learn from hardship.

• 寒かん苦く鳥ちょうは夜よるの寒さむさに耐たえかねて巣すを作つくろうと決けっ心しんするが、朝あさになると暖あたたかさに負まけて怠なまけてしまうという。

  The cold-suffering bird, unable to bear the cold at night, resolves to build a nest, but when morning comes it gives in to the warmth and becomes lazy, or so the story goes.

noun

lazy ascetic; person unlikely to reach enlightenment

Derogatory Buddhist term for a practitioner who is lazy in their ascetic training and unlikely to attain satori. Derived from the story of the cold-suffering bird.

• あの修しゅ行ぎょう者しゃは寒かん苦く鳥ちょうのように、苦くるしい時ときだけ決けっ心しんしてすぐに怠なまけてしまう。

  That ascetic is like the cold-suffering bird: he makes resolutions only when suffering and soon becomes lazy again.