--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Where there are humans, You'll find…" description: "\"Where there are humans, You'll find flies, And Buddhas.\" — Kobayashi Issa" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2ba/kobayashi-issa-24740_civilization_where-there-are-humans-you-ll-find-flies_737169.jpg" --- # Where there are humans, You'll find flies, And Buddhas. ![“Where there are humans, You'll find flies, And Buddhas.” quote by Kobayashi Issa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2ba/kobayashi-issa-24740_civilization_where-there-are-humans-you-ll-find-flies_737169.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2ba/kobayashi-issa-24740_civilization_where-there-are-humans-you-ll-find-flies_737169.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2ba/kobayashi-issa-24740_civilization_where-there-are-humans-you-ll-find-flies_737169.jpg) > “Where there are humans, You'll find flies, And Buddhas.” [Kobayashi Issa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kobayashi-issa/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Human presence attracts both mundane and spiritual beings, highlighting life's paradoxes. **In simple terms:** People bring both trivial and profound things. Key Takeaway Accept life's contradictions. Themes paradox human nature spirituality Mood reflective contemplative Type poetic philosophical When to use this quote - daily life - social gatherings - travel - observation Key Concepts Buddhism existentialism Questions to Reflect On - How do you balance the trivial and the profound? - What does “Buddhas” symbolize for you? A Different Perspective Not all humans are equally aware of deeper meanings. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Civilization](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/civilization/) [Garden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/garden/) [Humans](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/humans/) [Nature of man](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nature-of-man/) ## Related quotes > [“The world was cruel and sudden. This he knew for sure. Relax for a moment, breathe in the scent of a rose, rest in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kathy-hepinstall/the-world-was-cruel-and-sudden-this-he-knew-for-sure-relax-for-a/) [Kathy Hepinstall](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kathy-hepinstall/) > [All the time I pray to Buddha I keep on killing mosquitoes.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kobayashi-issa/all-the-time-i-pray-to-buddha-i-keep-on-killing-mosquitoes/) [Kobayashi Issa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kobayashi-issa/) > [You are all Buddhas. There is nothing you need to achieve. Just open your eyes.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gautama-buddha/you-are-all-buddhas-there-is-nothing-you-need-to-achieve-just-open/) [Gautama Buddha](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gautama-buddha/) > [The world is full of Buddhas but they're sleeping.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mooji/the-world-is-full-of-buddhas-but-they-re-sleeping/) [Mooji](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mooji/) > [When you have great joy, you will become Buddhas!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gautama-buddha/when-you-have-great-joy-you-will-become-buddhas/) [Gautama Buddha](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gautama-buddha/) > [ Many people \[still\] believe that at the time of your death, 1,000 Buddhas show up and welcome you into the paradise state. ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hiroshi-sugimoto/many-people-still-believe-that-at-the-time-of-your-death-1-000/) [Hiroshi Sugimoto](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hiroshi-sugimoto/) > [Wonder of wonders! Intrinsically all living beings are Buddhas, endowed with wisdom and virtue, but because men's minds have become inverted through delusive thinking…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gautama-buddha/wonder-of-wonders-intrinsically-all-living-beings-are-buddhas-endowed/) [Gautama Buddha](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gautama-buddha/) > [All of you knowing now, Tthat the Buddhas, the Teachers of the Ages, In accord with what is peculiarly appropriate, have recourse to expedient…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gautama-buddha/all-of-you-knowing-now-tthat-the-buddhas-the-teachers-of-the-ages-in/) [Gautama Buddha](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gautama-buddha/) > [Mortals liberate Buddhas and Buddhas liberate mortals.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bodhidharma/mortals-liberate-buddhas-and-buddhas-liberate-mortals/) [Bodhidharma](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bodhidharma/) > [To cease from evil, to do good, and to purify the mind yourself, this is the teaching of all the Buddhas.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gautama-buddha/to-cease-from-evil-to-do-good-and-to-purify-the-mind-yourself-this-is/) [Gautama Buddha](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gautama-buddha/) > [We're all buddhas. We just don't recognize it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yongey-mingyur-rinpoche/we-re-all-buddhas-we-just-don-t-recognize-it/) [Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/yongey-mingyur-rinpoche/) > [Buddhas don't practice nonsense.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bodhidharma/buddhas-don-t-practice-nonsense/) [Bodhidharma](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bodhidharma/) > [We are all incarnate Buddhas. We just have not realized it deeply. We have not moved the mind - what our friend Don Juan…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederick-lenz/we-are-all-incarnate-buddhas-we-just-have-not-realized-it-deeply-we/) [Frederick Lenz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederick-lenz/) > [Respect the gods and buddhas, but never rely on them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/miyamoto-musashi/respect-the-gods-and-buddhas-but-never-rely-on-them/) [Miyamoto Musashi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/miyamoto-musashi/) > [Unless you see your nature, all this talk about cause & effect is nonsense. Buddhas don't practice nonsense.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bodhidharma/unless-you-see-your-nature-all-this-talk-about-cause-effect-is/) [Bodhidharma](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bodhidharma/) ## More by Kobayashi Issa > [Don't weep, insects -- Lovers, stars themselves, Must part.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kobayashi-issa/don-t-weep-insects-lovers-stars-themselves-must-part/) [Kobayashi Issa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kobayashi-issa/) > [Face of the spring moon- about twelve years old, I'd say.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kobayashi-issa/face-of-the-spring-moon-about-twelve-years-old-i-d-say/) [Kobayashi Issa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kobayashi-issa/) > [“This dewdrop world Is but a dewdrop world And yet —”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kobayashi-issa/this-dewdrop-world-is-but-a-dewdrop-world-and-yet/) [Kobayashi Issa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kobayashi-issa/) > [Carrying a poppy he passes through the quarrel.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kobayashi-issa/carrying-a-poppy-he-passes-through-the-quarrel/) [Kobayashi Issa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kobayashi-issa/) > [Summer night-- even the stars are whispering to each other.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kobayashi-issa/summer-night-even-the-stars-are-whispering-to-each-other/) [Kobayashi Issa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kobayashi-issa/) > [“Never forget: we walk on hell, gazing at flowers.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kobayashi-issa/never-forget-we-walk-on-hell-gazing-at-flowers/) [Kobayashi Issa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kobayashi-issa/) > [before the gate -- my walking stick's made a river of melting snow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kobayashi-issa/before-the-gate-my-walking-stick-s-made-a-river-of-melting-snow/) [Kobayashi Issa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kobayashi-issa/) > [To the fuki plant, dandelions, and their kind that lie for long patiently under the fallen snow, comes the season of breezy spring. No…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kobayashi-issa/to-the-fuki-plant-dandelions-and-their-kind-that-lie-for-long/) [Kobayashi Issa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kobayashi-issa/) > [What a strange thing! to be alive beneath cherry blossoms.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kobayashi-issa/what-a-strange-thing-to-be-alive-beneath-cherry-blossoms/) [Kobayashi Issa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kobayashi-issa/) > [Don't worry, spiders, I keep house casually.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kobayashi-issa/don-t-worry-spiders-i-keep-house-casually/) [Kobayashi Issa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kobayashi-issa/) > [In spring rain a pretty girl yawning.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kobayashi-issa/in-spring-rain-a-pretty-girl-yawning/) [Kobayashi Issa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kobayashi-issa/) > [Take a nap Making the mountain water Pound the rice.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kobayashi-issa/take-a-nap-making-the-mountain-water-pound-the-rice/) [Kobayashi Issa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kobayashi-issa/) > [All the time I pray to Buddha I keep on killing mosquitoes.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kobayashi-issa/all-the-time-i-pray-to-buddha-i-keep-on-killing-mosquitoes/) [Kobayashi Issa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kobayashi-issa/) > [In this world we walk on the roof of hell gazing at flowers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kobayashi-issa/in-this-world-we-walk-on-the-roof-of-hell-gazing-at-flowers/) [Kobayashi Issa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kobayashi-issa/) > [“The children imitating the cormorants, Are more wonderful Than the real cormorants”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kobayashi-issa/the-children-imitating-the-cormorants-are-more-wonderful-than-the/) [Kobayashi Issa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kobayashi-issa/) [Explore all 24 Kobayashi Issa quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kobayashi-issa/) ## More Civilization quotes > [What sets worlds in motion is the interplay of differences, their attractions and repulsions. Life is plurality, death is uniformity. By suppressing differences and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/octavio-paz/what-sets-worlds-in-motion-is-the-interplay-of-differences-their/) [Octavio Paz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/octavio-paz/) > [Sentiment is the mightiest force in civilization; not sentimentality, but sentiment. Women will bring this into politics. Home, sweet home, is as powerful on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/judith-ellen-foster/sentiment-is-the-mightiest-force-in-civilization-not-sentimentality/) [Judith Ellen Foster](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/judith-ellen-foster/) > [Violence is not necessary to destroy a civilization. Each civilization dies from indifference toward the unique values which created it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicolas-gomez-davila/violence-is-not-necessary-to-destroy-a-civilization-each-civilization/) [Nicolas Gomez Davila](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicolas-gomez-davila/) > [“The voice in the head that never stops speaking becomes a civilization that is obsessed with form and therefore knows nothing of the most…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eckhart-tolle/the-voice-in-the-head-that-never-stops-speaking-becomes-a/) [Eckhart Tolle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eckhart-tolle/) > [We released 400,000 classified documents, the most extraordinary history of a war to ever have been released in our civilization. Those documents cover 109,000…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/julian-assange/we-released-400-000-classified-documents-the-most-extraordinary/) [Julian Assange](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/julian-assange/) > [Wine is one of the most civilized things in the world and one of the most natural things of the world that has been…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-hemingway/wine-is-one-of-the-most-civilized-things-in-the-world-and-one-of-the/) [Ernest Hemingway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-hemingway/) > [Whenever we touch nature we get clean. People who have got dirty through too much civilization take a walk in the woods, or a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-jung/whenever-we-touch-nature-we-get-clean-people-who-have-got-dirty/) [Carl Jung](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-jung/) > [The invention of gunpowder and the constant improvement of firearms are enough in themselves to show that the advance of civilization has done nothing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-von-clausewitz/the-invention-of-gunpowder-and-the-constant-improvement-of-firearms/) [Carl von Clausewitz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-von-clausewitz/) > [Another success is the post-office, with its educating energy augmented by cheapness and guarded by a certain religious sentimentin mankind; so that the power…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/another-success-is-the-post-office-with-its-educating-energy/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [“The mission is, not to replace old world mindlessness with new world mindlessness, but to put an end to all forms of brainless authoritarianism.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abhijit-naskar/the-mission-is-not-to-replace-old-world-mindlessness-with-new-world/) [Abhijit Naskar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abhijit-naskar/) > [We are somehow the children of the planet, we are somehow its finest hour; we bind time, we bind the past, we anticipate the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terence-mckenna/we-are-somehow-the-children-of-the-planet-we-are-somehow-its-finest/) [Terence McKenna](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terence-mckenna/) > [Our civilization, bequeathed to us by fierce adventurers, eaters of meat and hunters, is so full of hurry and combat, so busy about many…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-joyce/our-civilization-bequeathed-to-us-by-fierce-adventurers-eaters-of/) [James Joyce](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-joyce/) > [Coal lay in ledges under the ground since the Flood, until a laborer with pick and windlass brings it to the surface. We may…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/coal-lay-in-ledges-under-the-ground-since-the-flood-until-a-laborer/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [Once we allow ourselves to be disobedient to the test of an accountant's profit, we have begun to change our civilization.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-maynard-keynes/once-we-allow-ourselves-to-be-disobedient-to-the-test-of-an/) [John Maynard Keynes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-maynard-keynes/) > [Our laws and our institutions must necessarily be based upon and embody the teachings of the Redeemer of mankind. It is impossible that it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-josiah-brewer/our-laws-and-our-institutions-must-necessarily-be-based-upon-and/) [David Josiah Brewer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-josiah-brewer/) [Browse all 4,084 Civilization quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/civilization/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Where there are humans, You'll find flies, And Buddhas.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Kobayashi Issa" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kobayashi-issa/where-there-are-humans-you-ll-find-flies-and-buddhas/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Civilization" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kobayashi-issa/where-there-are-humans-you-ll-find-flies-and-buddhas/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2ba/kobayashi-issa-24740_civilization_where-there-are-humans-you-ll-find-flies_737169.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2ba/kobayashi-issa-24740_civilization_where-there-are-humans-you-ll-find-flies_737169.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2ba/kobayashi-issa-24740_civilization_where-there-are-humans-you-ll-find-flies_737169.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Where there are humans, You'll find flies, And Buddhas.” — Kobayashi Issa", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Kobayashi Issa", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kobayashi-issa/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Where there are humans, You'll find...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kobayashi-issa/where-there-are-humans-you-ll-find-flies-and-buddhas/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kobayashi-issa/where-there-are-humans-you-ll-find-flies-and-buddhas/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```