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達摩 is the Chinese and Japanese title for Dharma (a short name for Bodhidharma).
He's known in Chinese as Damo and in Japanese as Daruma.
Note: In Japanese, they tend to write the last character as versus . If you choose the Japanese master calligrapher, expect it to be written in the Japanese version.
五祖拳 is a martial arts concept (or school) known as Five Ancestors' Fist.
The first character means five.
The second means ancestor, forefather, or grandparents.
The third means fist.
The ancestors referred to by this title and whose attributes contribute to this style are as follows:
1. Grace of the White Crane.
2. Agility of the Monkey.
3. Precision and skill of Emperor Taizu (great mythical ancestor).
4. Power of Luohan (Buddhist arhat).
5. Breath of Damo (founder of Buddhism, or the first Buddha).
菩提達磨 is the title Bodhidharma in Chinese and Japanese.
Bodhidharma, commonly known as Damo, is reputed as the founder of the Chan (Zen) or Intuitional or Mystic School.
He likely came from south India and spread Mahayana Buddhism throughout China (even meeting the Emperor) and his disciples likely spread this all the way to Korea, Japan, and beyond in the 5th and 6th centuries.
Sometimes the last character varies in Chinese to 摩 instead of 磨 - let me know if you need a certain variation when you order.
Below are some entries from our dictionary that may match your damo search...
Characters If shown, 2nd row is Simp. Chinese |
Pronunciation Romanization |
Simple Dictionary Definition |
菩提達磨 菩提达磨 see styles |
pú tí dá mó pu2 ti2 da2 mo2 p`u t`i ta mo pu ti ta mo bodaidaruma ぼだいだるま |
More info & calligraphy: BodhidharmaBodhidharma, commonly known as Damo, v. 達; reputed as the founder of the Chan (Zen) or Intuitional or Mystic School. His original name is given as 菩提多羅 Bodhitara. |
たも see styles |
damo だも |
(particle) (form) (more emphatic than だに) even |
達磨 达磨 see styles |
dá mó da2 mo2 ta mo daruma(p); daruma だるま(P); ダルマ |
(1) (kana only) daruma; tumbling doll; round, red-painted good-luck doll in the shape of Bodhidharma, with a blank eye to be completed when a person's wish is granted; (2) (kana only) Bodhidharma; (3) prostitute; (personal name) Daruma dharma; also 達摩; 達麼; 達而麻耶; 曇摩; 馱摩 tr. by 法. dharma is from dhara, holding, bearing, possessing, etc.; and means 'that which is to be held fast or kept, ordinance, statute, law, usage, practice'; 'anything right.' M.W. It may be variously intp. as (1) characteristic, attribute, predicate; (2) the bearer, the transcendent substratum of single elements of conscious life; (3) element, i.e. a part of conscious life; (4) nirvāṇa, i.e. the Dharma par excellence, the object of Buddhist teaching; (5) the absolute, the real; (6) the teaching or religion of Buddha; (7) thing, object, appearance. Also, Damo, or Bodhidharma, the twenty-eighth Indian and first Chinese patriarch, who arrived in China A.D. 520, the reputed founder of the Chan or Intuitional School in China. He is described as son of a king in southern India; originally called Bodhitara. He arrived at Guangdong, bringing it is said the sacred begging-bowl, and settled in Luoyang, where he engaged in silent meditation for nine years, whence he received the title of wall-gazing Brahman 壁觀婆羅門, though he was a kṣatriya. His doctrine and practice were those of the 'inner light', independent of the written word, but to 慧可 Huike, his successor, he commended the Laṅkāvatāra-sūtra as nearest to his views. There are many names with Dharma as initial: Dharmapāla, Dharmagupta, Dharmayaśas, Dharmaruci, Dharmarakṣa, Dharmatrāta, Dharmavardhana, etc. |
達磨宗 达磨宗 see styles |
dá mó zōng da2 mo2 zong1 ta mo tsung darumashuu / darumashu だるましゅう |
(1) (rare) (See 禅宗) Zen (Buddhism); (2) (derogatory term) (archaism) (See 達磨歌) confusing style of middle-age Japanese poetry The Damo, or Dharma sect, i.e. the 禪宗 Meditation, or Intuitional School. |
達摩戒本 达摩戒本 see styles |
dá mó jiè běn da2 mo2 jie4 ben3 ta mo chieh pen Datsuma kaihon |
Damo jieben |
The following table may be helpful for those studying Chinese or Japanese...
Title | Characters | Romaji (Romanized Japanese) | Various forms of Romanized Chinese | |
Dharma Damo Daruma | 達摩 / 達磨 达摩 / 达磨 | daru ma / daruma | dá mó / da2 mo2 / da mo / damo | ta mo / tamo |
Bodhidharma | 菩提達摩 / 菩提達磨 菩提达摩 / 菩提达磨 | bo dai daru ma bodaidaruma | pú tí dá mó pu2 ti2 da2 mo2 pu ti da mo putidamo | p`u t`i ta mo putitamo pu ti ta mo |
Five Ancestors Fist | 五祖拳 | wǔ zǔ quán wu3 zu3 quan2 wu zu quan wuzuquan | wu tsu ch`üan wutsuchüan wu tsu chüan |
|
Bodhidharma | 菩提達磨 菩提达磨 | bodai daruma bodaidaruma | pú tí dá mó pu2 ti2 da2 mo2 pu ti da mo putidamo | p`u t`i ta mo putitamo pu ti ta mo |
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. |
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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 Damo Kanji, Damo Characters, Damo in Mandarin Chinese, Damo Characters, Damo in Chinese Writing, Damo in Japanese Writing, Damo in Asian Writing, Damo Ideograms, Chinese Damo symbols, Damo Hieroglyphics, Damo Glyphs, Damo in Chinese Letters, Damo Hanzi, Damo in Japanese Kanji, Damo Pictograms, Damo in the Chinese Written-Language, or Damo in the Japanese Written-Language.
30 people have searched for Damo in Chinese or Japanese in the past year.
Damo was last searched for by someone else on Feb 27th, 2024