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祈禱 is a second way to write “prayer.”
It is a little more formal than “dao gao” but the general meaning is the same.
This Chinese/Japanese/Korean word can be translated as “to pray,” “to say one's prayers,” or simply “prayer.” Like the other common term for prayer, this term generally applies only to western religions that pray to the God of Abraham (Christians, Jews, and Muslims).
念佛 is used primarily in Japanese, where it is romanized as nenbutsu.
The meaning is to pray to Buddha, chant the name of Buddha, or repeat the name of Buddha. This can be an audible or inaudible chant.
關公 is a Chinese title, Guan Gong, that means Lord Guan (The warrior saint of ancient China).
While his real name was Guan Yu / 關羽, he is commonly known by the title of Guan Gong (關公).
Some Chinese soldiers still pray to Guan Gong for protection. They would especially do this before going into battle. Statues of Guan Gong are seen throughout China.
真主 is how Chinese Muslims refer to God (it literally means “True Master”).
Oddly, in China, two different names for God have emerged. Even though Muslims, Christians, and Jews all worship the same God of Abraham.
In Arabic, the word Allah is just the Arabic way to say, God. Arab Christians pray to Allah, just like Arab Muslims. Somehow in China, the title of God diverged.
If you are curious, there are millions of Muslims throughout China but especially in the northwest portion of China known as Xinjiang. Here you will find descendants of Turkmen, Persian, Arab, and other ethnicities. Some are mixed with Han-Chinese blood; others appear to be pure Turkmen. Many have fair complexions, green eyes, and light hair but all are citizens of China. A visit to Xinjiang will shift your paradigm and blow away all of your stereotypes about what it means to be Chinese.
Below are some entries from our dictionary that may match your Pray First search...
| Characters If shown, 2nd row is Simp. Chinese |
Pronunciation Romanization |
Simple Dictionary Definition |
念佛 see styles |
niàn fó nian4 fo2 nien fo nenbutsu |
More info & calligraphy: Mantra to Buddha / NembutsuTo repeat the name of a Buddha, audibly or inaudibly. |
祈禱 祈祷 see styles |
qí dǎo qi2 dao3 ch`i tao chi tao kitō |
More info & calligraphy: Prayer / Praying祈念; 祈請 To pray, beg, implore, invite. |
禱告 祷告 see styles |
dǎo gào dao3 gao4 tao kao |
More info & calligraphy: Prayer |
乞 see styles |
qǐ qi3 ch`i chi tadashi ただし |
to beg (given name) Tadashi To beg. |
求 see styles |
qiú qiu2 ch`iu chiu motome もとめ |
to seek; to look for; to request; to demand; to beseech (surname, female given name) Motome To seek, beseech, pray.; v. Seven Strokes. |
祈 see styles |
qí qi2 ch`i chi motomu もとむ |
to implore; to pray; to request (given name) Motomu yācñā. Pray; prayer is spoken of as absent from Hīnayāna, and only known in Mahāyāna, especially in the esoteric sect. |
祝 see styles |
zhù zhu4 chu yoshi よし |
to pray for; to wish (sb bon voyage, happy birthday etc); person who invokes the spirits during sacrificial ceremonies (1) {Shinto} (See 宮司,禰宜・1,神主・2) junior Shinto priest; (2) (polite language) (rare) {Shinto} Shinto priest; generic title for a member of the Shinto priesthood; (surname) Yoshi To invoke, either to bless or curse. |
禂 see styles |
dǎo dao3 tao |
to pray; prayer |
禨 see styles |
jī ji1 chi |
omen; pray |
禱 祷 see styles |
dǎo dao3 tao |
prayer; pray; supplication See: 祷 |
禳 see styles |
ráng rang2 jang jō |
sacrifice for avoiding calamity To pray to avert. |
蘄 蕲 see styles |
qí qi2 ch`i chi |
(herb); implore; pray; place name |
代禱 代祷 see styles |
dài dǎo dai4 dao3 tai tao |
to pray on behalf of sb |
參詣 参诣 see styles |
sān yì san1 yi4 san i sankei |
To approach the gods or Buddhas in worship. |
呪う see styles |
majinau まじなう |
(Godan verb with "u" ending) (1) (kana only) to pray that one avoids disaster or illness; (Godan verb with "u" ending) (2) (kana only) to pray for harm or death to come upon someone; to curse; (Godan verb with "u" ending) (3) (kana only) (See まじない) to charm; to conjure; to cast a spell (on someone); (Godan verb with "u" ending) (4) (archaism) to treat illness (with a prayer) |
年神 see styles |
toshigami としがみ |
(1) kami celebrated at the beginning of New Year (usu. to pray for a good harvest); (2) goddess of (lucky) directions; (surname) Toshigami |
拝跪 see styles |
haiki はいき |
(n,vs,vi) kneeling down (to pray); going down on one's knees |
敬神 see styles |
jìng shén jing4 shen2 ching shen keishin / keshin けいしん |
to respect a deity; to pray to a God (noun - becomes adjective with の) piety; reverence |
様に see styles |
youni / yoni ように |
(expression) (1) (kana only) like; as; (expression) (2) (kana only) so that; in order that; so as to; in order to; (expression) (3) (kana only) (at sentence end) be sure to; (expression) (4) (kana only) (at sentence end after the -masu form of a verb) I hope (that); I pray (that); may |
歳神 see styles |
toshigami としがみ |
(1) kami celebrated at the beginning of New Year (usu. to pray for a good harvest); (2) goddess of (lucky) directions |
求子 see styles |
qiú zǐ qiu2 zi3 ch`iu tzu chiu tzu motoko もとこ |
(of a childless couple) to pray for a son; to try to have a child (female given name) Motoko |
湯立 see styles |
yudate ゆだて |
(irregular okurigana usage) Shinto ritual in which a shaman or priest soaks bamboo grass in boiling water and sprinkles the water on worshippers (originally a form of divination, later a purification ceremony, now primarily used to pray for good health); (place-name) Yudate |
田遊 see styles |
taasobi / tasobi たあそび |
(Shinto) ritual performance (usually around New Year) to pray for a successful rice harvest in the coming year |
祀る see styles |
matsuru まつる |
(transitive verb) (1) to deify; to enshrine; (2) to pray; to worship |
祈る see styles |
inoru いのる |
(transitive verb) to pray; to wish |
祈念 see styles |
qí niàn qi2 nian4 ch`i nien chi nien kinen きねん |
(noun, transitive verb) prayer to pray |
祈求 see styles |
qí qiú qi2 qiu2 ch`i ch`iu chi chiu |
to pray for; to appeal |
祈福 see styles |
qí fú qi2 fu2 ch`i fu chi fu kifuku |
to pray for blessings prayer for good fortune |
祈請 祈请 see styles |
qí qǐng qi2 qing3 ch`i ch`ing chi ching kisei / kise きせい |
(noun/participle) entreaty; prayer to pray, esp. for the avoidance of calamities |
祈雨 see styles |
qí yǔ qi2 yu3 ch`i yü chi yü kiu きう |
(See 雨乞い) praying for rain To pray for rain. |
The following table may be helpful for those studying Chinese or Japanese...
| Title | Characters | Romaji (Romanized Japanese) | Various forms of Romanized Chinese | |
| Prayer Praying | 祈禱 祈祷 | kitou / kito | qǐ dǎo / qi3 dao3 / qi dao / qidao | ch`i tao / chitao / chi tao |
| Prayer | 禱告 祷告 | dǎo gào / dao3 gao4 / dao gao / daogao | tao kao / taokao | |
| Mantra to Buddha Nembutsu | 念佛 | nenbutsu | niàn fó / nian4 fo2 / nian fo / nianfo | nien fo / nienfo |
| Warrior Saint Saint of War | 武聖 武圣 | wǔ shèng / wu3 sheng4 / wu sheng / wusheng | ||
| Guan Gong Warrior Saint | 關公 关公 | guān gōng guan1 gong1 guan gong guangong | kuan kung kuankung |
|
| Allah God of Islam | 真主 | zhēn zhǔ / zhen1 zhu3 / zhen zhu / zhenzhu | chen chu / chenchu | |
| 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.
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