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Hotoke
仏 is the single Japanese Kanji that can mean Buddha or Buddhism.
This Kanji was a shorthand way to write 佛 (Buddha) in Chinese (popular around the 13th century). Somehow, this became the version of this Chinese character that was absorbed into Japanese and thus became part of standard Kanji. Centuries later, this character is not recognized in China (except for those from China with a background in Chinese literature or language).
仏 is also a rare or derivative Korean Hanja form - but I doubt you will find any Korean that knows that.
(2 Kanji)
仏教 can mean Buddha or Buddhism in Japanese.
Depending on the context, this word can be used to refer to the religion and lifestyle of Buddhism or in some cases, the Buddha himself.
Note: Until the 5th century, Japan did not have a written language. At that time, Japan absorbed Chinese characters to form their written language (these characters are known as “Kanji” in Japanese). The first character of this Buddhism title was a shorthand way to write 佛 (Buddha) in Chinese (popular around the 13th century). Somehow, this became the version of this character that was absorbed into Japanese and thus became part of standard Kanji. Centuries later, this character is not recognized in China at all.
仏 is also a rare form of Buddha Korean Hanja - though seldom used even when the Korean Hanja writing system was more common 100 years ago.
南無阿弥陀仏 is the modern Japanese version of “Namu Amida Butsu” or “The Compassionate Amitabha Buddha.”
Some will translate this as “I sincerely believe in Amitabha; Lord have mercy on me.”
This phrase especially applies to Japanese Pure Land Buddhists.
There is a universal version using ancient characters (with more strokes) for the 4th and last characters. That version is also used in Chinese, Korean, and occasionally Vietnamese.
This is used to pay homage to Amitabha Buddha.
Below are some entries from our dictionary that may match your 仏 search...
Characters If shown, 2nd row is Simp. Chinese |
Pronunciation Romanization |
Simple Dictionary Definition |
仏 see styles |
fó fo2 fo butsu ぶつ |
More info & calligraphy: Buddha / Buddhism(1) (abbreviation) (See 仏陀・ぶっだ) Buddha; (2) (abbreviation) (See 仏教・ぶっきょう) Buddhism; (surname) Hotokesaki |
仏島 see styles |
hotokejima ほとけじま |
More info & calligraphy: Hotokeshima |
仏教 see styles |
bukkyou / bukkyo ぶっきょう |
More info & calligraphy: Buddhism |
仏領ギアナ see styles |
futsuryougiana / futsuryogiana ふつりょうギアナ |
More info & calligraphy: French Guiana |
南無阿弥陀仏 see styles |
namuamidabutsu なむあみだぶつ |
More info & calligraphy: Namu Amida Butsu |
一仏 see styles |
ichibutsu いちぶつ |
(surname) Ichibutsu |
七仏 see styles |
shichibutsu しちぶつ |
(abbreviation) (See 過去七仏) the seven previous incarnations of Buddha |
三仏 see styles |
sanbutsu さんぶつ |
(surname) Sanbutsu |
不仏 see styles |
fubutsu ふぶつ |
(surname) Fubutsu |
中仏 see styles |
chuufutsu / chufutsu ちゅうふつ |
(place-name) Chuufutsu |
久仏 see styles |
kyuubutsu / kyubutsu きゅうぶつ |
(surname) Kyūbutsu |
五仏 see styles |
gobutsu ごぶつ |
(place-name) Gobutsu |
京仏 see styles |
kyoubutsu / kyobutsu きょうぶつ |
(surname) Kyōbutsu |
仏下 see styles |
butsushita ぶつした |
(surname) Butsushita |
仏並 see styles |
butsunami ぶつなみ |
(place-name) Butsunami |
仏主 see styles |
hodosu ほどす |
(place-name) Hodosu |
仏事 see styles |
butsuji ぶつじ |
Buddhist memorial service |
仏井 see styles |
hotokei / hotoke ほとけい |
(surname) Hotokei |
仏京 see styles |
butsukyou / butsukyo ぶつきょう |
(surname) Butsukyō |
仏人 see styles |
futsujin ふつじん |
(See フランス人) French person |
仏伊 see styles |
futsui ふつい |
France and Italy; French-Italian |
仏会 see styles |
butsue ぶつえ |
Buddhist memorial service |
仏伝 see styles |
butsuden ぶつでん |
(place-name) Butsuden |
仏位 see styles |
butsui ぶつい |
{Buddh} buddha state (ultimate level of Buddhist enlightenment); buddhahood |
仏作 see styles |
hotokezukuru ほとけづくる |
(noun/participle) becoming haggard |
仏供 see styles |
bukku ぶっく |
offering to the Buddha (often rice); (place-name) Bukku |
仏像 see styles |
butsuzou / butsuzo ぶつぞう |
statue of Buddha; image of Buddha; Buddhist statue; Buddhist image; (place-name) Butsuzou |
仏僧 see styles |
bussou / busso ぶっそう |
Buddhist priest; (place-name) Bussou |
仏光 see styles |
bukkou / bukko ぶっこう |
(surname) Bukkou |
仏具 see styles |
butsugu; bugu ぶつぐ; ぶぐ |
Buddhist ritual implements (esp. altar fittings); (surname) Butsugu |
The following table may be helpful for those studying Chinese or Japanese...
Title | Characters | Romaji (Romanized Japanese) | Various forms of Romanized Chinese | |
Buddha Buddhism | 佛 仏 | hotoke / butsu | ||
Buddhism | 仏教 | bukkyou / bukyo | ||
Hotokeshima | 仏島 | hotoke shima hotokeshima | ||
The Eye of the Buddha | 佛眼 佛眼 / 仏眼 | butsugen / butsugen | wǔ yǎn / wu3 yan3 / wu yan / wuyan | wu yen / wuyen |
Kensho Jobutsu - Enlightenment - Path to Buddha | 見性成佛 見性成仏 | ken shou jou butsu kenshoujoubutsu ken sho jo butsu | ||
French Guiana | 仏領ギアナ | futsuryougiana futsuryogiana | ||
Namu Amida Butsu | 南無阿弥陀仏 | namu amida butsu namuamidabutsu | ||
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.