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...as in Zen Buddhism
First, let's correct something: The Japanese romanization for this character, “Zen” has penetrated the English language. In English, it's almost always incorrectly used for phrases like “That's so zen.” Nobody says, “That's so meditation” - right? As the title of a sect, this would be like saying, “That's so Baptist!"
禪 by itself just means “meditation.” In that context, it should not be confined to use by any one religion or sect.
Regardless of the dictionary definition, more often than not, this character is associated with Buddhism. And here is one of the main reasons:
Zen is used as the title of a branch of Mahayana Buddhism, which strongly emphasizes meditation practice.
However, it should be noted that Buddhism came from India, and “Chan Buddhism” evolved and developed in medieval China. The Chinese character “Chan” was eventually pronounced as “Zen” in Japanese. Chan Buddhists in China have much in common with Zen Buddhists in Japan.
More about the history of Zen Buddhism here.
Please also note that the Japanese Kanji character for Zen has evolved a little in Japan, and the two boxes (kou) that you see at the top of the right side of the character have been replaced by three dots with tails.
The original character would still be generally understood and recognized in Japanese (it's considered an ancient version in Japan) but if you want the specifically modern Japanese version, please click on the zen Kanji to the right. Technically, there is no difference between the Tensho and Reisho versions of Zen since they are ancient character styles that existed long before Japan had a written language.
There is also an alternate/shorthand/simplified Chinese version, which has two dots or tails above the right-side radical. This version is also popular for calligraphy in China. If you want this version, just click the character to the right.
Further notes: Zen is just one of seven sects of Buddhism practiced in Japan. The others are 律 Ritsu (or Risshū), 法相 Hossō, 論 Sanron 華嚴 Kegon, 天台 Tendai, and 眞言 Shingon.
Below are some entries from our dictionary that may match your tensho search...
Characters If shown, 2nd row is Simp. Chinese |
Pronunciation Romanization |
Simple Dictionary Definition |
典攝 典摄 see styles |
diǎn shè dian3 she4 tien she tenshō |
to be in charge of |
典詔 典诏 see styles |
diǎn zhào dian3 zhao4 tien chao tenshō |
scriptural teachings |
天承 see styles |
tenshou / tensho てんしょう |
(hist) Tenshō era (1131.1.29-1132.8.11) |
天昭 see styles |
tenshou / tensho てんしょう |
(given name) Tenshou |
天枩 see styles |
tiān sōng tian1 song1 t`ien sung tien sung Tenshō |
Cheonsong |
天正 see styles |
tenshou / tensho てんしょう |
Tenshō era (1573.7.28-1592.12.8); (place-name, surname) Tenshou |
天祥 see styles |
tenshou / tensho てんしょう |
(given name) Tenshou |
天章 see styles |
tenshou / tensho てんしょう |
(given name) Tenshou |
天笑 see styles |
tenshou / tensho てんしょう |
(given name) Tenshou |
天繒 天缯 see styles |
tiān zēng tian1 zeng1 t`ien tseng tien tseng tenshō |
divine silk fabrics |
天翔 see styles |
tenshou / tensho てんしょう |
(female given name) Tenshou |
天處 天处 see styles |
tiān chù tian1 chu4 t`ien ch`u tien chu tensho |
a heaven |
天象 see styles |
tiān xiàng tian1 xiang4 t`ien hsiang tien hsiang tenshou / tensho てんしょう |
meteorological or astronomical phenomenon (e.g. rainbow or eclipse) weather; astronomical phenomena |
展掌 see styles |
tenshou / tensho てんしょう |
(personal name) Tenshou |
添書 see styles |
tensho てんしょ |
accompanying note or letter; postscript |
点鐘 see styles |
tenshou / tensho てんしょう |
ships' bell |
篆書 篆书 see styles |
zhuàn shū zhuan4 shu1 chuan shu tensho てんしょ |
seal script (Chinese calligraphic style) seal-engraving style (of writing Chinese characters); seal script |
転所 see styles |
tensho てんしょ |
(n,vs,vi) (1) change of location (address, nursery school, institute, etc.); moving; transfer; (n,vs,vi) (2) moving to a new post (of a judge) |
転正 see styles |
tenshou / tensho てんしょう |
(surname) Tenshou |
転生 see styles |
tensei; tenshou / tense; tensho てんせい; てんしょう |
(n,vs,vi) {Buddh} transmigration; reincarnation; metempsychosis |
轉勝 转胜 see styles |
zhuǎn shèng zhuan3 sheng4 chuan sheng tenshō |
transform or change into something better |
轉生 转生 see styles |
zhuǎn shēng zhuan3 sheng1 chuan sheng tenshō |
reincarnation (Buddhism) transmigration |
轉稍 转稍 see styles |
zhuǎn shāo zhuan3 shao1 chuan shao tenshō |
gradually |
轉聲 转声 see styles |
zhuǎn shēng zhuan3 sheng1 chuan sheng tenshō |
declension |
七轉聲 七转声 see styles |
qī zhuǎn shēng qi1 zhuan3 sheng1 ch`i chuan sheng chi chuan sheng shichi tenshō |
seven declensions |
天正大判 see styles |
tenshouooban / tenshoooban てんしょうおおばん |
(hist) tenshō ōban; oval gold coin struck by Toyotomi Hideyoshi in 1588 |
後後轉勝 后后转胜 see styles |
hòu hòu zhuǎn shèng hou4 hou4 zhuan3 sheng4 hou hou chuan sheng gogo tenshō |
continuous subsequent changes for the better |
輪廻轉生 轮廻转生 see styles |
lún huí zhuǎn shēng lun2 hui2 zhuan3 sheng1 lun hui chuan sheng rinne tenshō |
transmigration |
Variations: |
tensho; tensho テンショ; てんしょ |
{cards;hanaf} (See 天正カルタ) tensho (game originally played with a Tensho karuta) |
Variations: |
tenshoukaruta / tenshokaruta てんしょうカルタ |
(hist) (See 天正) Tensho karuta; the first domestically produced Japanese deck of cards, closely based on Latin-suited decks brought over by the Portuguese |
The following table may be helpful for those studying Chinese or Japanese...
Title | Characters | Romaji (Romanized Japanese) | Various forms of Romanized Chinese | |
Zen Chan Meditation | 禪 禅 | zen | chán / chan2 / chan | ch`an / chan |
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. |
Successful Chinese Character and Japanese Kanji calligraphy searches within the last few hours...
All of our calligraphy wall scrolls are handmade.
When the calligrapher finishes creating your artwork, it is taken to my art mounting workshop in Beijing where a wall scroll is made by hand from a combination of silk, rice paper, and wood.
After we create your wall scroll, it takes at least two weeks for air mail delivery from Beijing to you.
Allow a few weeks for delivery. Rush service speeds it up by a week or two for $10!
When you select your calligraphy, you'll be taken to another page where you can choose various custom options.
The wall scroll that Sandy is holding in this picture is a "large size"
single-character wall scroll.
We also offer custom wall scrolls in small, medium, and an even-larger jumbo size.
Professional calligraphers are getting to be hard to find these days.
Instead of drawing characters by hand, the new generation in China merely type roman letters into their computer keyboards and pick the character that they want from a list that pops up.
There is some fear that true Chinese calligraphy may become a lost art in the coming years. Many art institutes in China are now promoting calligraphy programs in hopes of keeping this unique form
of art alive.
Even with the teachings of a top-ranked calligrapher in China, my calligraphy will never be good enough to sell. I will leave that to the experts.
The same calligrapher who gave me those lessons also attracted a crowd of thousands and a TV crew as he created characters over 6-feet high. He happens to be ranked as one of the top 100 calligraphers in all of China. He is also one of very few that would actually attempt such a feat.
Check out my lists of Japanese Kanji Calligraphy Wall Scrolls and Old Korean Hanja Calligraphy Wall Scrolls.
Some people may refer to this entry as Tensho Kanji, Tensho Characters, Tensho in Mandarin Chinese, Tensho Characters, Tensho in Chinese Writing, Tensho in Japanese Writing, Tensho in Asian Writing, Tensho Ideograms, Chinese Tensho symbols, Tensho Hieroglyphics, Tensho Glyphs, Tensho in Chinese Letters, Tensho Hanzi, Tensho in Japanese Kanji, Tensho Pictograms, Tensho in the Chinese Written-Language, or Tensho in the Japanese Written-Language.
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