Buy a Realm calligraphy wall scroll here!
Personalize your custom “Realm” project by clicking the button next to your favorite “Realm” title below...
1. The Buddha Realm / Buddhahood
2. Warrior of the Heavenly Realm
6. The World
7. Ascend
9. Great Wisdom
10. Five Precepts
11. Heaven and Earth
天界力士 means “warrior of the heavenly realm” in Chinese, old Korean Hanja, and Japanese Kanji.
This is also known as Narayana in Buddhism.
轉世 is the Buddhist idea of reincarnation or transmigration.
Other definitions of this term: “Attainer of Nirvana from within the desire realm,” “A practitioner who enters directly into Nirvana from the desire realm, without traversing the form and formless realms. One of the 27 kinds of Hinayana sages,” or simply, “to return again to this life.”
轉世 is also a Japanese title, but the first Kanji was slightly simplified after WWII. Just let us know if you want the modern Japanese version when you order.
幻想 is illusions or fantasy in Chinese, Japanese Kanji, and old Korean Hanja.
This can also refer to delusion or daydreaming. It sort of means a dream or idea that cannot be true or real ( at least not in this realm).
世界 is the Chinese, Japanese Kanji, and old Korean Hanja for the world.
Beyond the world, this can refer to society, the universe, space, a sphere, or a circle.
In Buddhism, this would mean the realm governed by one Buddha.
上昇 means to rise up, to go up, or to ascend in Chinese, Japanese Kanji, and old Korean Hanja.
If you are rising, ascending, or climbing, this is the word for you.
In the older Buddhist context, this means to ascend, with the implication that the destination is the heavenly realm.
花柳界 literally means “Flower Willow World/Kingdom.”
In Japanese, this means “The Realm of the Geisha” or “World of the Geisha.” I suppose there is a presumption that the Geisha is surrounded by flowers in their residence. In Chinese and Korean, this pretty much has colloquially come to mean “The Red Light District” or to refer to pimps, prostitutes, and johns as a group.
Prajñā
般若 means great wisdom or wondrous knowledge.
In the Buddhist context, this is prajna or prajñā, to know, to understand, to have the wisdom required to attain enlightenment.
Since this is a wisdom that transcends the realm of logic, the pure, absolute wisdom beyond the reach of words and concepts, it is not obtained through learning but is realized for the first time through a religious experience.
五戒 is the title or name for the five precepts of Buddhism.
These are prohibitions against killing, theft, sexual misconduct, lying, and intoxication.
Also phrased as commandments against murder, stealing, adultery, false speech, and consuming intoxicating liquors.
These five precepts or “pañca-veramaṇī” apply to the Buddhist laity as well as monks and nuns. The observance of these five ensures rebirth in the human realm.
天地 is “Heaven and Earth” in Chinese, Japanese Kanji, and old Korean Hanja.
This title is used in many different contexts. It can be a general term but is also used by Buddhists and in other religions.
This can also be used to refer to all of nature, the universe, the top and bottom, the realm of life, or the sphere of existence.
身土不二 (Shindofuni) is originally a Buddhist concept or proverb referring to the inseparability of body-mind and geographical circumstances.
This reads, “Body [and] earth [are] not two.”
Other translations or matching ideas include:
Body and land are one.
Body and earth can not be separated.
Body earth sensory curation.
You are what you eat.
Indivisibility of the body and the land (because the body is made from food and food is made from the land).
Going further, this speaks of our human bodies and the land from which we get our food being closely connected. This phrase is often used when talking about natural and organic vegetables coming directly from the farm to provide the healthiest foods in Japan.
Character notes: 身(shin) in this context does not just mean your physical body but a concept including both body and mind.
土 (do) refers to the soil, earth, clay, land, or in some cases, locality. It's not the proper name of Earth, the planet. However, it can refer to the land or realm we live in.
Japanese note: This has been used in Japan, on and off, since 1907 as a slogan for a governmental healthy eating campaign (usually pronounced as shindofuji instead of the original shindofuni in this context). It may have been hijacked from Buddhism for this propaganda purpose, but at least this is “healthy propaganda.”
Korean note: The phrase 身土不二 was in use by 1610 A.D. in Korea, where it can be found in an early medical journal.
In modern South Korea, it's written in Hangul as 신토불이. Korea used Chinese characters (same source as Japanese Kanji) as their only written standard form of the language until about a hundred years ago. Therefore, many Koreans will recognize this as a native phrase and concept.
See Also: Strength and Love in Unity
The following table may be helpful for those studying Chinese or Japanese...
Title | Characters | Romaji (Romanized Japanese) | Various forms of Romanized Chinese | |
The Buddha Realm Buddhahood | 佛境 | bukkyou / bukyo | fó jìng / fo2 jing4 / fo jing / fojing | fo ching / foching |
Warrior of the Heavenly Realm | 天界力士 | ten kai riki shi tenkairikishi | tiān jiè lì shì tian1 jie4 li4 shi4 tian jie li shi tianjielishi | t`ien chieh li shih tienchiehlishih tien chieh li shih |
Reincarnation (Buddhism) | 轉世 转世 | ten sei / tensei | zhuǎn shì zhuan3 shi4 zhuan shi zhuanshi | chuan shih chuanshih |
Enlightened Truth | 勝義諦 胜义谛 | shou gi tai shougitai sho gi tai | shèng yì dì sheng4 yi4 di4 sheng yi di shengyidi | sheng i ti shengiti |
Fantasy Illusion | 幻想 | gensou / genso | huàn xiǎng huan4 xiang3 huan xiang huanxiang | huan hsiang huanhsiang |
The World | 世界 | sei kai / seikai | shì jiè / shi4 jie4 / shi jie / shijie | shih chieh / shihchieh |
Ascend | 上昇 上升 | joushou / josho | shàng shēng shang4 sheng1 shang sheng shangsheng | |
The Geisha’s World | 花柳界 | karyuukai / karyukai | huā liǔ jiè hua1 liu3 jie4 hua liu jie hualiujie | hua liu chieh hualiuchieh |
Great Wisdom | 般若 | hannya | bō rě / bo1 re3 / bo re / bore | po je / poje |
Five Precepts | 五戒 | go kai / gokai | wǔ jiè / wu3 jie4 / wu jie / wujie | wu chieh / wuchieh |
Heaven and Earth | 天地 | tenchi | tiān dì / tian1 di4 / tian di / tiandi | t`ien ti / tienti / tien ti |
Body and Earth in Unity | 身土不二 | shindofuni / shindofuji | ||
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 Realm Kanji, Realm Characters, Realm in Mandarin Chinese, Realm Characters, Realm in Chinese Writing, Realm in Japanese Writing, Realm in Asian Writing, Realm Ideograms, Chinese Realm symbols, Realm Hieroglyphics, Realm Glyphs, Realm in Chinese Letters, Realm Hanzi, Realm in Japanese Kanji, Realm Pictograms, Realm in the Chinese Written-Language, or Realm in the Japanese Written-Language.