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2. Sky / Ether / Void / Emptiness / Unreality
4. Nothingness
8. True Emptiness Yields Transcendent Existence
9. Sky / Void
(Used in Japanese version of five elements)
空 is a single character that means empty, void, hollow, vacant, vacuum, blank, nonexistent, vacuity, voidness, emptiness, non-existence, immateriality, unreality, the false or illusory nature of all existence, and being unreal.
In the Buddhist context, this relates to the doctrine that all phenomena and the ego have no reality but are composed of a certain number of skandhas or elements, which disintegrate. The void, the sky, space. The universal, the absolute, complete abstraction without relativity. The doctrine further explains that all things are compounds, or unstable organisms, possessing no self-essence, i.e. are dependent, or caused, come into existence only to perish. The underlying reality, the principle of eternal relativity, or non-infinity, i.e. śūnya, permeates all phenomena making possible their evolution.
From Sanskrit and/or Pali, this is the translation to Chinese and Japanese of the title śūnya or śūnyatā.
In Japanese, when pronounced as “ron” (sounds like “roan”) this can be a given name. It should be noted that this Kanji has about 5 different possible pronunciations in Japanese: kuu, kara, sora, ron, and uro. 空 is also an element in the Japanese version of the five elements.
空氣 means air or atmosphere in Chinese, Japanese Kanji, and old Korean Hanja.
This is an unusual title for an Asian calligraphy wall scroll, but many of our western customers have requested it.
While 空氣 is common in Chinese and Korean Hanja (and ancient Japanese Kanji); please note that in modern Japanese, the second character is written as 気, with slightly fewer strokes. If you want the modern Japanese version, please click on the character to the right. Both versions are understood by native Chinese, Japanese, and many (but not all) Korean people. You should choose the appropriate version based on the intended audience for your calligraphy artwork.
空無 is “nothingness” in a Buddhist context.
The first character means empty but can also mean air or sky (air and sky have no form).
The second character means have not, no, none, not, or to lack.
Together these characters reinforce each other into a word that means “absolute nothingness.”
I know this is a term used in Buddhism, but I have not yet figured out the context in which it is used. I suppose it can be the fact that Buddhists believe that the world is a non-real illusion, or perhaps it's about visualizing yourself as “nothing” and therefore leaving behind your desire and worldliness.
Buddhist concepts and titles often have this element of ambiguity or, rather, “mystery.” Therefore, such ideas can have different meanings to different people, and that's okay. If you don't get it right in this lifetime, there will be plenty more lifetimes to master it (whatever “it” is, and if “it” really exists at all).
Soothill defines this as “Unreality, or immateriality, of things, which is defined as nothing existing of independent or self-contained nature.”
無 is the simple way to express “nothing.”
However, this single character leaves a bit of mystery as to what you might really mean if you hang it as a wall scroll. I'm not saying that's a bad thing; as you can decide what it means to you, and you won't be wrong if you stay within the general context.
More info: 無 is usually used as a suffix or prefix for Chinese and Japanese words (also old Korean). It can be compared to “un-” or “-less” in English. It can also mean “not to have,” no, none, not, “to lack,” or nothingness.
地水火風空 is the specifically-Japanese version of the five elements.
This is a little different than the ancient or original Chinese version.
The elements are written in this order:
1. Earth / Terra / Ground
2. Water
3. Fire
4. Wind / Air
5. Sky / Emptiness / Void / Ether
Note: This set of Kanji can also be romanized as “ji sui ka fuu kuu,” “jisuikafuukuu,” or “jisuikafuku.”
These can also be written in the order 地火風水空 (chi ka sui fuu kuu). Let me know when you place your order if you want the Kanji to be in this character order.
虛空 means empty space, empty sky, or void.
In the Buddhist context, it can mean “emptiness of the material world.” This can also be used as an adjective to modify other words with a meaning of unreal or insubstantial.
According to Soothill 眞空妙有 means:
The true void is the mysteriously existing, truly void, or immaterial, yet transcendentally existing.
眞空妙有 is the state of being nonexistent after removing all errant worldly influences. 眞空妙有 is achieved when all forms of existence are seen for their real nature.
虛空 means void, hollow, empty, space, sky, atmosphere, heaven, or ether.
虛空 is the Chinese and Japanese version of the Sanskrit word ākāśa (or akasa / akash) which, beyond the sky or space meaning can be the immaterial universe behind all phenomena in the Buddhist context.
The following table may be helpful for those studying Chinese or Japanese...
Title | Characters | Romaji (Romanized Japanese) | Various forms of Romanized Chinese | |
Sky Air Ether Space | 天空 | ten kuu / tenkuu / ten ku | tiān kōng tian1 kong1 tian kong tiankong | t`ien k`ung tienkung tien kung |
Sky Ether Void Emptiness Unreality | 空 | kuu / kara / sora / ron ku / kara / sora / ron | kōng / kong1 / kong | k`ung / kung |
Air Atmosphere | 空氣 空气 / 空気 | kuu ki / kuuki / ku ki | kōng qì / kong1 qi4 / kong qi / kongqi | k`ung ch`i / kungchi / kung chi |
Nothingness | 空無 空无 | kuu mu / kuumu / ku mu | kōng wú / kong1 wu2 / kong wu / kongwu | k`ung wu / kungwu / kung wu |
Nothing Nothingness | 無 无 | mu | wú / wu2 / wu | |
Five Elements | 地水火風空 地水火风空 | chi sui ka fuu kuu chisuikafuukuu chi sui ka fu ku | ||
Nothingness Empty Void | 虛空 虚空 | kokuu / koku | xū kōng / xu1 kong1 / xu kong / xukong | hsü k`ung / hsükung / hsü kung |
True Emptiness Yields Transcendent Existence | 眞空妙有 | shin kuu myou u shinkuumyouu shin ku myo u | zhēn kōng miào yǒu zhen1 kong1 miao4 you3 zhen kong miao you zhenkongmiaoyou | chen k`ung miao yu chenkungmiaoyu chen kung miao yu |
Sky Void | 虛空 虚空 | kokū | xū kōng / xu1 kong1 / xu kong / xukong | hsü k`ung / hsükung / hsü kung |
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 Ether Kanji, Ether Characters, Ether in Mandarin Chinese, Ether Characters, Ether in Chinese Writing, Ether in Japanese Writing, Ether in Asian Writing, Ether Ideograms, Chinese Ether symbols, Ether Hieroglyphics, Ether Glyphs, Ether in Chinese Letters, Ether Hanzi, Ether in Japanese Kanji, Ether Pictograms, Ether in the Chinese Written-Language, or Ether in the Japanese Written-Language.