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peter alsop grew up in Rotorua with a curiosity about te ao Māori, the Māori world. He now lives in Wellington with his wife, Airihi Mahuika (Ngāti Porou), and four young kids. Outside his professional career, Peter is a spare-time author and designer. This is his sixth book combining valuable cultural history with beautiful imagery and design, an approach reflecting his keen interest in the history of New Zealand art.

te rau kupenga belongs to Ngāti Porou, from the East Coast of Aotearoa/New Zealand. Te Rau received a privileged upbringing by his mother and his mother’s kin, who fostered in him a lifelong passion for tribal cultural knowledge. Having enjoyed a career in the law, as well as holding senior positions in the private and public sectors, Te Rau’s key focus these days is on tribal development. His favourite pastime is fostering in his three children a love of their cultural heritage.

Pearls of wisdom – whakataukī – have been gifted from generation to generation as an intrinsic part of the Māori world. As powerful metaphors, they combine analogy and cultural history in the most economical of words. Short and insightful, they take you by surprise, engendering reflection, learning and personal growth.

Mauri Ora links whakataukī to key personal virtues idealised across cultures and generations. The virtues – wisdom, courage, compassion, integrity, self-mastery and belief – stem from the field of positive psychology; the study of how to live a better life.

Illustrated throughout with wonderful photographs from an old world, this book draws on traditional wisdom to provide a recipe for personal effectiveness and leadership, and a rewarding connection of Māori knowledge to contemporary thinking about personal happiness and fulfilment.

M AU R I O R AW I S D O M F R O M T H E M Ā O R I WO R L D

9 7 8 0 9 4 7 5 0 3 1 4 7

ISBN 978-0-947503-14-7

front cover Mother with baby, Leo White, 1930, Alexander Turnbull Library, WA-03183-G

back cover Unidentified girl, Leo White, 1947, Alexander Turnbull Library, WA-10160-G

M AU R I O R AW I S D O M F R O M T H E M Ā O R I WO R L D

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TĪMATATANGA INTRODUCTIONS 8

TIRO WHĀNUI OVERVIEW 10

CHAP TER 1

MĀTAURANGA WISDOM 22

CHAP TER 2

MĀIA COURAGE 44

CHAP TER 3

ATAWHAI COMPASSION 66

CHAP TER 4

NGĀKAU TAPATAHI INTEGRITY 88

CHAP TER 5

WHAKAHAUTANGA SELF-MASTERY 108

CHAP TER 6

WHAKAP ONO BELIEF 130

KUPU ĀPITI ENDNOTES 158

First published in 2016 by Potton & Burton

Potton & Burton98 Vickerman Street, PO Box 5128, Nelson, New Zealandpottonandburton.co.nz

Text © Peter Alsop & Te Rau KupengaDesign – The Gas Project

Previous page: Dr Apirana Mahuika, 2014, Image courtesy of Te Rūnanganui ō Ngāti Porou

ISBN 978 0 947503 14 7

Printed in China by Midas Printing International Ltd

This book is copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of private study, research, criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright Act, no part may be reproduced by any process without the permission of the publishers.

– 1 3 –– 1 2 –

It is said that if you want to know a culture, know their proverbs. That’s a proverb in itself. Yet it’s also an unlikely starting point for cultural learning in the information-overload world of now. Therein lies the purpose of this book: to share the gifts of cultural knowledge to new audiences in a new and engaging way.

In Aotearoa New Zealand, indigenous culture – the world of Māori – is founded on a rich tradition of oral history. Māori have always been great developers and sharers of knowledge, galvanised for centuries in proverbs, or whakataukī. There is a wealth of knowledge, long on meaning and significance but, importantly, short enough to remember and pass on.

In many ways, that is the point of whakataukī: a speedy look to the past to help forge the future. Whakataukī are drawn from the accumulated experience of a culture; a gift from the school of life, distilled to its most potent form, to catapult new generations to higher wellbeing. They provide meaning and help make sense of the world; a road-map for living harmoniously with others, and for successfully manoeuvring through the environment of the day. They’re a vehicle for conveying a values system and, above all else, ingredients for living a great life.

The enduring power of story

Wisdom is universal and is not confined by generations, by oceans or by cultures. It is part of the legacy of humankind.1 – Sir Hirini Moko Mead

From the Bible to Aesop’s Fables, proverbs go back a long time, as does the study of proverbs called ‘paremiology’. Nothwithstanding, there’s no single definition of what is and what isn’t a proverb. Definitions range from ‘the wit of one and the wisdom of many’ (Lord John Russell in the 1850s); ‘an incommunicable quality’ (Archer Taylor, 1931); to longer versions like ‘a short, generally known

TIRO WHĀNUI OVERVIEW

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M ĀTAU R A N G AW I S D O M

C H A P T E R 1

M Ā I A – 6 3 – C O U R A G EM Ā I A – 6 2 – C O U R A G E

Kia mate ururoa, kei mate wheke

Fight like a shark, not an octopus

T O A B R AV E R Y

N G Ā K A U TA PATA H I – 9 5 – I N T E G R I T YN G Ā K A U TA PATA H I – 9 4 – I N T E G R I T Y

Tohaina ō painga ki te ao

Share your gifts with the world

M O T U H E N G A A U T H E N T I C I T Y

N G Ā K A U TA PATA H I – 1 0 7 – I N T E G R I T YN G Ā K A U TA PATA H I – 1 0 6 – I N T E G R I T Y

Matua whakapai i tōhou marae, ka whakapai

ai i te marae o etahi

First set in order your own courtyard before

you clean up another’s

W H A K A A E T A N G A A C C E P T A N C E

W H A K A H A U TA N G A – 1 1 9 – S E L F - M A S T E RYW H A K A H A U TA N G A – 1 1 8 – S E L F - M A S T E RY

Kaore te kūmara e kōrero mō tōna ake reka

The sweet potato does not talk of its sweetness

M Ā H A K I H U M I L I T Y

W H A K A P O N OB E L I E F

C H A P T E R 6

W H A K A P O N O – 1 4 7 – B E L I E FW H A K A P O N O – 1 4 6 – B E L I E F

Mate atu he tētēkura, ka whakaeke mai he tētēkura

As one frond perishes another grows in its place

W H A K A H O U A N G A R E N E WA L

W H A K A P O N O – 1 5 1 – B E L I E FW H A K A P O N O – 1 5 0 – B E L I E F

He matua pou whare, e rokohia ana; he matua tangata, e kore e rokohia

You can always gain shelter in your house, but

not always with other people

W H A K A M A N AWA S E L F - B E L I E F

W H A K A P O N O – 1 5 5 – B E L I E FW H A K A P O N O – 1 5 4 – B E L I E F

Kia mau ki te tūmanako, te whakapono me te aroha

Hold fast to hope, faith and love

T Ū M A N A K O H O P E

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