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Among Mahatma Gandhi’s few personal possessions was a small clay figurine of three monkeys. One covered its eyes, one its ears, one its mouth. It became one of the most recognised symbols of his philosophy.
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1. Mizaru, Kikazaru, and Iwazaru
- Figurine Gandhi kept a small china-clay figurine of three monkeys among his personal belongings.
- Monkey Names One monkey, Mizaru, covers its eyes, meaning “see no evil”. The second, Kikazaru, covers its ears, meaning “hear no evil”. The third, Iwazaru, covers its mouth, meaning “speak no evil”.
- Everyday Use Gandhi used the figurine as a paperweight, and kept it close as a daily reminder.
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2. The Toshogu Shrine, Sevagram Ashram, and Ahimsa
- Origin The “see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil” saying is far older than Gandhi. It traces to a 17th-century carving on the Toshogu Shrine, in Nikko, Japan.
- Wordplay In Japanese, the monkeys’ names carry a wordplay: “-zaru” sounds like “saru,” the word for monkey, while also negating each verb.
- Preservation The figurine is now preserved at Sevagram Ashram, in Wardha, alongside Gandhi’s other personal effects.
- Why For Gandhi, the three monkeys weren’t just decorative. They summed up a discipline of self-restraint he tried to practise daily. He linked the symbol to ahimsa, or non-violence: avoiding harm in what one sees, hears, and says, not only in physical action.
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3. Fujii’s 1933 Gift, a Fourth Monkey, and a Modern Cynical Use
- Story The most widely repeated account says Gandhi received the figurine in 1933, as a gift from the Japanese Buddhist monk Nichidatsu Fujii. Fujii met Gandhi at his ashram in Wardha that year, and later founded the Nipponzan-Myohoji order, known for building Peace Pagodas.
- Instead No single museum record confirms this exact origin story, though it remains the version most often repeated in India.
- Fourth Monkey A fourth monkey, Shizaru, sometimes joins the set in later tellings. It usually covers its crossed arms or groin, meaning “do no evil”.
- Confucian Roots Some scholars trace the saying’s deeper roots to a Confucian precept: “look not, listen not, speak not” at what is contrary to propriety.
- Instead The three monkeys remain a common shorthand today, often used more cynically, for willful ignorance of wrongdoing. That’s a meaning quite different from Gandhi’s own reading of self-discipline.
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