Custom humanity Chinese & Japanese Calligraphy Wall Scroll

Beyond "benevolence" word can be also be defined as "charity" or "mercy" depending on context.

The meaning suggests that one should pay alms to the poor, care for those in trouble, and take care of his fellow man (or woman).

This is one of the five tenets of Confucius. In fact, it is a subject in which Confucius spent a great deal of time explaining to his disciples.

I have also seen this benevolent-related word translated as perfect virtue, selflessness, love for humanity, humaneness, goodness, good will, or simply "love" in the non-romantic form.

This word is so important to me that I named my second daughter with this character. Her name is "Renni" which means "Benevolent Girl".
-Gary.

This is also a virtue of the Samurai Warrior
See our page with just Code of the Samurai / Bushido here

See Also...  Love | Altruism | Kindness | Charity | Brotherhood | Confucius

Characters shown
above are read
vertically, starting
from the right

The Buddha ordered that all should know this triple truth...
A generous heart, kind speech, and a life of service and compassion are the things which renew humanity.

This is the English translation most commonly used for this Japanese Buddhist phrase. You might have seen this on a coffee cup or tee-shirt.

This is the simplest way to express the idea of compassion. It can also mean love for your fellow humans, humanity, or living creatures. Sometimes this is extended to mean charity.

This term is often used with Buddhist or Christian context. The concept was also spoken of by Laozi (Lao Tze) in the Dao De Jing (Tao Te Ching).

This Chinese character is understood in Japanese, but is usually used in compound words (not seen alone). Also used in Korean Hanja, so it's very universal.

See Also...  Mercy | Benevolence | Forgiveness | Kindness

Some may think of this as a "Christian trait" but actually it transcends many religions.

This Chinese teaching dates back to about 2,500 years ago in China. Confucius had always taught the belief in being benevolent (ren) but this idea was hard to grasp for some of his students, as benevolence could be kind-heartedness, or an essence of humanity itself.

When answering Zhong Gong's question as to what "ren" actually meant, Confucius said:

"When you go out, you should behave as if you were in the presence of a distinguished guest, when people do favors for you, act as if a great sacrifice was made for you. Whatever you wouldn't like done to you, do not do that thing to others. Don't complain at work or at home."

Hearing this, Zhong Gong said humbly, "Although I am not clever, I will do what you say."

From this encounter, the Chinese version of the "Golden Rule" or "Ethic of Reciprocity" came to be.
The characters you see above express, "Do not do to others whatever you do not want done to yourself."

See Also...  Confucius Teachings | Benevolence

This is the way to say mankind or humankind in Chinese. It's kind of the "animal title" for human. This is the word you would use if you said this phrase in Chinese, "Mammals include dolphins, monkeys, dogs, and humans among others".

This is a weird selection for a calligraphy wall scroll. But a customer begged me to add this word.

This is the essence of what it means to act and be human. These two characters refer to the way we are as people.

This is also sometimes translated as human personality, human instinct, humanity, or humanism.

The first character literally means human or people. The second most-closely means nature.

In Chinese and Korean, this means universal fraternity, brotherhood, or universal love.

In Japanese, this means charity, benevolence, philanthropy, or love for humanity.

Please note these subtle differences and take that into account depending on your intended audience (Chinese, Korean or Japanese).

See Also...  Love | Benevolence | Altruism

These two characters create a word that can be translated as love, kindheartedness, benevolence and humanity.

The first character means benevolence by itself.
The second character means virtue or morality.

Japanese note: The second Kanji of this word has been slightly simplified (one tiny horizontal stroke removed). It is still readable for Japanese, but if you select our Japanese calligrapher, expect that stroke to be missing on your wall scroll.

This means to love and honor. This is more or less the kind of thing you'd find in marriage vows.

The first character suggests emotions, passion, heart, humanity, sympathy, and feelings.

In this context, the second character means to honor your lover's wishes, and treat them justly and righteously (fairly). That second character can also be translated as "obligation", as in the obligation a husband and wife have to love each other even through difficult times.

In the context outside of a couple's relationship, this word can mean "comradeship".

Japanese may see this more as "humanity and justice" than "love and honor". It's probably best if your target is Chinese.

This is the short and sweet form, there is also a longer poetic form (you can find it here: Love and Honor if it's not on the page you are currently viewing).

See Also...  Love And Honor

The first Kanji alone means before, ahead, previous, future, precedence.

The second Kanji means heart, mind, soul, or essence.

Together, these two Kanji create a word that is defined as "purified spirit" or "enlightened attitude" within the context of Japanese martial arts.

This is one of the five spirits of the warrior (budo), and is often used as a Japanese martial arts tenet. Under that context, places such as the Budo Dojo define it this way: Senshin is a spirit that protects and harmonizes the universe. Senshin is a spirit of compassion that embraces and serves all humanity and whose function is to reconcile discord in the world. It holds all life to be sacred. It is the Buddha mind.

This is literally the "The Way of Being Human", or "The Human Way". It can also be translated as "humanity".

This word has a secondary meaning of "sidewalk" as in "the way for people to walk" (in Japanese and Korean only). But as calligraphy artwork, nobody will read it with that translation.

Please note that there are two ways to Romanized Dao or Tao as in Daoism = Taoism. It's the same word in Chinese.