知足 in Chinese / Japanese...

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Contentment

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zhī zú

chisoku

知足 means content with one's situation or to know contentment (hence happiness).

From the Zen Buddhist context, Chisoku or 知足 (knowing what’s enough) means always to know and be satisfied with one’s lot.

Human pain and suffering are born of greed, and that greed arises because we do not know what’s enough.

The Chinese philosopher, Menzi (372-289 BCE) said, “to nourish the mind, there is nothing better than to make the desires few.” This relays the idea that the best method to cultivate the mind is to have little desire.

Daodejing / Tao Te Ching - Chapter 33

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zhī rén zhě zhī yě zì zhī zhě míng yě shèng rén zhě yǒu lì yě zì shèng zhě qiáng yě zhī zú zhě fù yě qiáng xíng zhě yǒu zhì yě bù zhī qí suǒ zhě jiǔ yě sǐ ér bù wáng zhě shòu yě

Daodejing / Tao Te Ching - Chapter 33 Scroll

This is referred to as passage or chapter 33 of the Dao De Jing (often Romanized as “Tao Te Ching”).

These are the words of the philosopher Laozi (Lao Tzu).

The following is one translation of this passage:
To know others is wisdom;
To know oneself is acuity/intelligence.
To conquer others is power,
To conquer oneself is strength.
To know contentment is to have wealth.
To act resolutely is to have purpose.
To stay one's ground is to be enduring.
To die and yet not be forgotten is to be long-lived.

Another translation:
To understand others is to be knowledgeable;
To understand yourself is to be wise.
To conquer others is to have strength;
To conquer yourself is to be strong.
To know when you have enough is to be rich.
To go forward with strength is to have ambition.
To not lose your place is to be long-lasting.
To die but not be forgotten -- that's true long life.

A third translation of the second half:
He who is content is rich;
He who acts with persistence has will;
He who does not lose his roots will endure;
He who dies physically but preserves the Dao
will enjoy a long after-life.

Notes:

During our research, the Chinese characters shown here are probably the most accurate to the original text of Laozi. These were taken for the most part from the Mawangdui 1973 and Guodan 1993 manuscripts which pre-date other Daodejing texts by about 1000 years.

Grammar was a little different in Laozi’s time. So you should consider this to be the ancient Chinese version. Some have modernized this passage by adding, removing, or swapping articles and changing the grammar (we felt the oldest and most original version would be more desirable). You may find other versions printed in books or online - sometimes these modern texts are simply used to explain to Chinese people what the original text really means.

This language issue can be compared in English by thinking how the King James (known as the Authorized version in Great Britain) Bible from 1611 was written, and comparing it to modern English. Now imagine that the Daodejing was probably written around 403 BCE (2000 years before the King James Version of the Bible). To a Chinese person, the original Daodejing reads like text that is 3 times more detached compared to Shakespeare’s English is to our modern-day speech.

Extended notes:

While on this Biblical text comparison, it should be noted, that just like the Bible, all the original texts of the Daodejing were lost or destroyed long ago. Just as with the scripture used to create the Bible, various manuscripts exist, many with variations or copyist errors. Just as the earliest New Testament scripture (incomplete) is from 170 years after Christ, the earliest Daodejing manuscript (incomplete) is from 100-200 years after the death of Laozi.

The reason that the originals were lost probably has a lot to do with the first Qin Emperor. Upon taking power and unifying China, he ordered the burning and destruction of all books (scrolls/rolls) except those pertaining to Chinese medicine and a few other subjects. The surviving Daodejing manuscripts were either hidden on purpose or simply forgotten about. Some were not unearthed until as late as 1993.

We compared a lot of research by various archeologists and historians before deciding on this as the most accurate and correct version. But one must allow that it may not be perfect, or the actual and original as from the hand of Laozi himself.

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Below are some entries from our dictionary that may match your 知足 search...

Characters If shown, 2nd row is Simp. Chinese	Pronunciation Romanization	Simple Dictionary Definition
知足 see styles	zhī zú zhi1 zu2 chih tsu tomotaru ともたる	More info & calligraphy: Contentment content with one's situation; to know contentment (hence happiness) (personal name) Tomotaru Complete knowledge; satisfaction.
知足天 see styles	zhī zú tiān zhi1 zu2 tian1 chih tsu t`ien chih tsu tien Chisoku Ten	知足天 Custom Scroll (知足) Tuṣita, the fourth devaloka, Maitreya's heaven of full knowledge, where all bodhisattvas are reborn before rebirth as buddhas; the inner court is知足院.
知足院 see styles	chisokuin ちそくいん	知足院 Custom Scroll (place-name) Chisokuin
少欲知足 see styles	shǎo yù zhī zú shao3 yu4 zhi1 zu2 shao yü chih tsu shōyoku chisoku	少欲知足 Custom Scroll Content with few desires.
知足常樂知足常乐 see styles	zhī zú cháng lè zhi1 zu2 chang2 le4 chih tsu ch`ang le chih tsu chang le	知足常樂 Custom Scroll satisfied with what one has (idiom)
知足院ナラヤエザクラ see styles	chisokuinnarayaezakura ちそくいんナラヤエザクラ	Buy Custom Scroll (place-name) Chisokuinnarayaezakura

The following table may be helpful for those studying Chinese or Japanese...

Title	Characters	Romaji (Romanized Japanese)	Various forms of Romanized Chinese
Contentment	知足	chisoku	zhī zú / zhi1 zu2 / zhi zu / zhizu	chih tsu / chihtsu
Daodejing Tao Te Ching - Chapter 33	知人者知也自知者明也勝人者有力也自勝者強也知足者富也強行者有志也不失其所者久也死而不亡者壽也知人者知也自知者明也胜人者有力也自胜者强也知足者富也强行者有志也不失其所者久也死而不亡者寿也		zhī rén zhě zhī yě zì zhī zhě míng yě shèng rén zhě yǒu lì yě zì shèng zhě qiáng yě zhī zú zhě fù yě qiáng xíng zhě yǒu zhì yě bù zhī qí suǒ zhě jiǔ yě sǐ ér bù wáng zhě shòu yě zhi1 ren2 zhe3 zhi1 ye3 zi4 zhi1 zhe3 ming2 ye3 sheng4 ren2 zhe3 you3 li4 ye3 zi4 sheng4 zhe3 qiang2 ye3 zhi1 zu2 zhe3 fu4 ye3 qiang2 xing2 zhe3 you3 zhi4 ye3 bu4 zhi1 qi2 suo3 zhe3 jiu3 ye3 si3 er2 bu4 wang2 zhe3 shou4 ye3 zhi ren zhe zhi ye zi zhi zhe ming ye sheng ren zhe you li ye zi sheng zhe qiang ye zhi zu zhe fu ye qiang xing zhe you zhi ye bu zhi qi suo zhe jiu ye si er bu wang zhe shou ye	chih jen che chih yeh tzu chih che ming yeh sheng jen che yu li yeh tzu sheng che ch`iang yeh chih tsu che fu yeh ch`iang hsing che yu chih yeh pu chih ch`i so che chiu yeh ssu erh pu wang che shou yeh chih jen che chih yeh tzu chih che ming yeh sheng jen che yu li yeh tzu sheng che chiang yeh chih tsu che fu yeh chiang hsing che yu chih yeh pu chih chi so che chiu yeh ssu erh pu wang che shou yeh
In some entries above you will see that characters have different versions above and below a line. In these cases, the characters above the line are Traditional Chinese, while the ones below are Simplified Chinese.