Buy an 公案 calligraphy wall scroll here!
In the Buddhist context, 公案 is a Zen question for meditation.
From the Buddhist dictionary, this is:
Problems set by Zen masters, upon which thought is concentrated as a means to attain inner unity and illumination.
The secular meaning of this word can mean a judge's desk, a complex legal case, a contentious issue, a dossier, a case record, public laws, regulations, or case law.
Below are some entries from our dictionary that may match your 公案 search...
Characters If shown, 2nd row is Simp. Chinese |
Pronunciation Romanization |
Simple Dictionary Definition |
公案 see styles |
gōng àn gong1 an4 kung an kouan / koan こうあん |
More info & calligraphy: Koan{Buddh} koan; kōan; Zen question for meditation (e.g. the sound of one hand clapping) J. kōan; 因緣 A dossier, or case-record; a cause; public laws, regulations; case-law. Problems set by Zen masters, upon which thought is concentrated as a means to attain inner unity and illumination. |
狄公案 see styles |
dí gōng àn di2 gong1 an4 ti kung an |
Dee Gong An (or Judge Dee's) Cases, 18th century fantasy featuring Tang dynasty politician Di Renjie 狄仁傑|狄仁杰[Di2 Ren2 jie2] as master sleuth, translated by R.H. van Gulik as Three Murder Cases Solved by Judge Dee |
見性公案 见性公案 see styles |
jiàn xìng gon gàn jian4 xing4 gon1 gan4 chien hsing gon kan kenshō kōan |
gong-an (kōan) of seeing the true nature |
大唐狄公案 see styles |
dà táng dí gōng àn da4 tang2 di2 gong1 an4 ta t`ang ti kung an ta tang ti kung an |
Three Murder Cases Solved by Judge Dee, 1949 novel by R.H. van Gulik, featuring Tang Dynasty politician Di Renjie 狄仁傑|狄仁杰[Di2 Ren2 jie2] as master sleuth |
The following table may be helpful for those studying Chinese or Japanese...
Title | Characters | Romaji (Romanized Japanese) | Various forms of Romanized Chinese | |
Koan | 公案 | kouan / koan | gōng àn / gong1 an4 / gong an / gongan | kung an / kungan |
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.