Buy an 布施 calligraphy wall scroll here!
布施 is the Buddhist practice of giving known as Dāna or दान from Pali and Sanskrit.
Depending on the context, this can be alms-giving, acts of charity, or offerings (usually money) to a priest for reading sutras or teachings.
Some will put Dāna in these two categories:
1. The pure or unsullied charity, which looks for no reward here but only in the hereafter.
2. The sullied almsgiving whose object is personal benefit.
The first kind is, of course, the kind that a liberated or enlightened person will pursue.
Others will put Dāna in these categories:
1. Worldly or material gifts.
2. Unworldly or spiritual gifts.
You can also separate Dāna into these three kinds:
1. 財布施 Goods such as money, food, or material items.
2. 法布施 Dharma, as an act to teach or bestow the Buddhist doctrine onto others.
3. 無畏布施 Courage, as an act of facing fear to save someone or when standing up for someone or standing up for righteousness.
The philosophies and categorization of Dāna will vary among various monks, temples, and sects of Buddhism.
Breaking down the characters separately:
布 (sometimes written 佈) means to spread out or announce, but also means cloth. In ancient times, cloth or robs were given to the Buddhist monks annually as a gift of alms - I need to do more research, but I believe there is a relationship here.
施 means to grant, to give, to bestow, to act, to carry out, and by itself can mean Dāna as a single character.
Dāna can also be expressed as 檀那 (pronounced “tán nà” in Mandarin and dan-na or だんな in Japanese). 檀那 is a transliteration of Dāna. However, it has colloquially come to mean some unsavory or unrelated things in Japanese. So, I think 布施 is better for calligraphy on your wall to remind you to practice Dāna daily (or whenever possible).
Below are some entries from our dictionary that may match your 布施 search...
Characters If shown, 2nd row is Simp. Chinese |
Pronunciation Romanization |
Simple Dictionary Definition |
布施 see styles |
bù shī bu4 shi1 pu shih fuho ふほ |
More info & calligraphy: Dana: Almsgiving and Generosity(n,vs,vi) (1) {Buddh} alms-giving; charity; (n,vs,vi) (2) {Buddh} offerings (usu. money) to a priest (for reading sutras, etc.); (surname) Fuho dāna 檀那; the sixth pāramitā, almsgiving, i. e. of goods, or the doctrine, with resultant benefits now and also hereafter in the forms of reincarnation, as neglect or refusal will produce the opposite consequences. The 二種布施 two kinds of dāna are the pure, or unsullied charity, which looks for no reward here but only hereafter; and the sullied almsgiving whose object is personal benefit. The three kinds of dāna are goods, the doctrine, and courage, or fearlessness. The four kinds are pens to write the sutras, ink, the sutras themselves, and preaching. The five kinds are giving to those who have come from a distance, those who are going to a distance, the sick, the hungry, those wise in the doctrine. The seven kinds are giving to visitors, travellers, the sick, their nurses, monasteries, endowments for the sustenance of monks or nuns, and clothing and food according to season. The eight kinds are giving to those who come for aid, giving for fear (of evil), return for kindness received, anticipating gifts in return, continuing the parental example of giving, giving in hope of rebirth in a particular heaven, in hope of an honoured name, for the adornment of the heart and life. 倶舍論 18. |
上布施 see styles |
kamibuse かみぶせ |
(place-name) Kamibuse |
下布施 see styles |
shimobuse しもぶせ |
(place-name) Shimobuse |
入布施 see styles |
iribuse いりぶせ |
(place-name) Iribuse |
前布施 see styles |
maefuse まえふせ |
(place-name) Maefuse |
北布施 see styles |
kitafuse きたふせ |
(place-name) Kitafuse |
十布施 see styles |
shí bù shī shi2 bu4 shi1 shih pu shih jū fuse |
ten kinds of giving |
多布施 see styles |
tafuse たふせ |
(place-name) Tafuse |
大布施 see styles |
oofuse おおふせ |
(place-name) Oofuse |
小布施 see styles |
kobuse こぶせ |
(surname) Kobuse |
山布施 see styles |
yamabuse やまぶせ |
(place-name) Yamabuse |
布施下 see styles |
fuseshita ふせした |
(place-name) Fuseshita |
布施健 see styles |
fusetakeshi ふせたけし |
(person) Fuse Takeshi (1912.3.21-1988.2.25) |
布施勝 see styles |
fusemasaru ふせまさる |
(person) Fuse Masaru |
布施博 see styles |
fusehiroshi ふせひろし |
(person) Fuse Hiroshi (1958.7.10-) |
布施坂 see styles |
fusezaka ふせざか |
(personal name) Fusezaka |
布施宿 see styles |
fusejuku ふせじゅく |
(place-name) Fusejuku |
布施屋 see styles |
hoshiya ほしや |
(place-name) Hoshiya |
布施山 see styles |
fuseyama ふせやま |
(place-name) Fuseyama |
布施川 see styles |
fusegawa ふせがわ |
(surname) Fusegawa |
布施新 see styles |
fuseshin ふせしん |
(place-name) Fuseshin |
布施明 see styles |
fuseakira ふせあきら |
(person) Fuse Akira (1947.12-) |
布施木 see styles |
fusegi ふせぎ |
(surname) Fusegi |
布施村 see styles |
fusemura ふせむら |
(place-name) Fusemura |
布施爪 see styles |
fusezume ふせづめ |
(place-name) Fusezume |
布施田 see styles |
fuseda ふせだ |
(place-name, surname) Fuseda |
布施町 see styles |
fusechou / fusecho ふせちょう |
(place-name) Fusechō |
布施畑 see styles |
fusehata ふせはた |
(place-name) Fusehata |
布施谷 see styles |
fuseya ふせや |
(surname) Fuseya |
布施野 see styles |
fuseno ふせの |
(surname) Fuseno |
The following table may be helpful for those studying Chinese or Japanese...
Title | Characters | Romaji (Romanized Japanese) | Various forms of Romanized Chinese | |
Dana: Almsgiving and Generosity | 布施 | fuse | bù shī / bu4 shi1 / bu shi / bushi | pu shih / pushih |
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.