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The name Zen Understanding in Chinese / Japanese...

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Personalize your custom “Zen Understanding” project by clicking the button next to your favorite “Zen Understanding” title below...


  1. 1. Right Understanding / Right Perspective / Right View / Perfect View

  2. Appreciation of Truth by Meditation

  3. Awareness

  4. Compassion

  5. Crisis equals Danger plus Opportunity?

  6. Desire

  7. Four Noble Truths: Suffering

  8. Good Good Study, Day Day Up

  9. A Life of Serenity Yields Understanding

10. Achieve Inner Peace; Find Deep Understanding

11. Inspiration

12. Know Your Enemy, Know Yourself, and You Cannot Lose

13. Knowledge from Experience

14. Idea / Thought / Meaning

15. All Tenets of the Noble Eightfold Path

16. Power of Understanding and Wisdom

17. Reality

18. Zen Understanding

19. Seeking Wisdom

20. Realization and Knowledge

21. Enlightened Truth


1. Right Understanding / Right Perspective / Right View / Perfect View

Samyag Dristhi / Samyag Drsti / Samma Ditthi

 zhèng jiàn
 sei ken
1. Right Understanding / Right Perspective / Right View / Perfect View Scroll

正見 is one of the Noble Eightfold Paths of Buddhism. Right View, along with the Right Thought, constitutes the path to Wisdom.

To get to the correct view of the world, you must first understand and follow Four Noble Truths.


Note: This term is exclusively used by devout Buddhists. It is not a common term, and is remains an unknown concept to most Japanese and Chinese people.


See Also:  Buddhism | Enlightenment | Noble Eightfold Path

Appreciation of Truth by Meditation

 xīn yìn
 shin nin
Appreciation of Truth by Meditation Scroll

心印 is a Buddhist concept that simply stated is “appreciation of truth by meditation.”

It's a deep subject, but my understanding is that you can find truth through meditation, and once you've found the truth, you can learn to appreciate it more through further meditation. This title is not commonly used outside of the Buddhist community (your Asian friends may or may not understand it). The literal translation would be something like “the mind seal,” I've seen this term translated this way from Japanese Buddhist poetry. But apparently, the seal that is stamped deep in your mind is the truth. You just have to meditate to find it.

Soothill defines it this way: Mental impression, intuitive certainty; the mind is the Buddha-mind in all, which can seal or assure the truth; the term indicates the intuitive method of the Chan (Zen) school, which was independent of the spoken or written word.


Reference: Soothill-Hodous Dictionary of Chinese Buddhism


See Also:  Zen

 jué / jiào
 gaku / satoru
 
Awareness Scroll

覺 can mean to feel; to figure out; thinking; awake; aware; bodhi; knowing; understanding; enlightenment; illumination; apprehend; perceive; realize.

覺 is a character that is impossible to define in a single word.

This term is often associated with Buddhism where it's understood to be: Illumination, enlightenment, or awakening in regard to the real in contrast to the seeming. However, it can also refer to enlightenment in regard to morality and evil.


Notes:

In Japanese, this can be the personal name Satoru.

In certain context, and only when pronounced as "jiao" in Chinese, it can refer to a nap, sleep or the state of sleeping. However, as a single character on a wall scroll, everyone will read this with the awareness or enlightenment context.

By no means is this the only way to write enlightenment. In fact, you should only choose this character if you are looking more for a word meaning awareness.


See Also:  Enlightenment | Wisdom | Knowledge

 tóng qíng
 dou jou
Compassion Scroll

These two characters mean compassion and sympathy in Chinese, Japanese, and Korean, which makes this word universal.

Compassion is caring and understanding someone is hurt or troubled (even if you don't know them). It is wanting to help, even if all you can do is listen and say kind words. You forgive mistakes. You are a friend when someone needs a friend.


See Also:  Caring | Kindness

Crisis equals Danger plus Opportunity?

 wēi jī
 kiki
Crisis equals Danger plus Opportunity? Scroll

危機 means crisis in Chinese and Japanese.

Separately, the first character here does mean “danger” or “to endanger,” and the second character can mean “opportunity.”

However, I want to debunk a myth that was propagated by some westerners who did not have a clear understanding of Asian languages...

While often, Chinese/Japanese/Korean compound words (words of two or more characters) are the sum of their parts, this is not always the case. The compound is often understood with a completely different meaning than the two characters individually.

Many have said that the Chinese/Japanese/Korean word for Crisis is made up of the characters for “danger” and “opportunity.” 危機 is true when phrased this way.
However, it's not absolutely correct to say that “danger + opportunity = crisis” in Asian cultures.

English example:
If I tell you that...
Bovine creature + Guy behind the plate in baseball = Locomotive train protection cowcatcher
...you would think I was mad. But consider that “cow + catcher = cowcatcher,” which is the device that used to be found on steam engines to protect them if they hit an animal on the tracks. When we hear the word “cowcatcher,” we don't separate the words into their individual meanings (necessarily).
The same is true with the word for crisis in Chinese/Japanese/Korean. While you can separate the characters, few Asian people would automatically do so in their minds.

The final answer:
It is a half-truth to say, “danger plus opportunity equals crisis” in Chinese/Japanese/Korean. Use this statement and concept with caution.

Also, the second character can mean “secret” or “machine,” depending on context so I guess you have to say “a dangerous machine = crisis” or “danger + a secret = crisis.” Both of these are only slightly more ridiculous than the first premise.

PS: 危機 is probably not a great word for a scroll unless you have a special use for it.

 kě wàng
Desire Scroll

This Chinese word can mean desirous, wishful, or desire.

The first character means to thirst for [something] or to be thirsty. The second character means to hope for, to expect, to gaze (into the distance), or to look for something. The combined meaning of these two characters changes a bit, but I think it's nice to know the individual meanings to give you a better understanding of where a word comes from.

Korean definitions of this word include craving, longing, and thirst for knowledge.

Four Noble Truths: Suffering

Dukkha

 kǔ dì
 kutai
Four Noble Truths: Suffering Scroll

苦諦 relays that part of life in this universe is suffering.

All living things experience some form of suffering, according to Buddhist teaching. This title is about accepting and understanding that the world is full of suffering.


This term is exclusively used by devout Buddhists. It is not a common term, and is remains an unknown concept to most Chinese, Japanese and Korean people.


See Also:  Buddhism | Enlightenment

Good Good Study, Day Day Up

 hǎo hǎo xué xí tiān tiān xiàng shàng
Good Good Study, Day Day Up Scroll

好好學習天天向上 is a famous proverb by Chairman Mao Zedong that sounds really strange when directly translated into English.

I include it in our database of phrases to illustrate how different the construction and grammar can be between Chinese and English. The direct translation is “Good Good Study, Day Day Up.” In Chinese, a repeated character/word can often serve to reinforce the idea (like saying “very” or suggesting “a lot of”). So “good good” really means “a lot of good.” While “day day” can be better translated as “day in day out.” The idea of “up” has a meaning in China of “rising above” or “improving.”

After understanding all of this, we come up with a slightly better translation of “With a lot of good study, day in and day out, we raise above.”

The more natural translation of this proverb would be something like, “study hard, and keep improving.”

A Life of Serenity Yields Understanding

 dàn bó yǐ míng zhì, níng jìng ér zhì yuǎn
A Life of Serenity Yields Understanding Scroll

淡泊以明志寧靜而致遠 is a kind of complex ten-character proverb composed by Zhuge Liang about 1800 years ago.

This is a Chinese proverb that means “Leading a simple life will yield a clear mind, and having inner peace will help you see far (into the world).”

What I have translated as “simple life” means NOT being materialistic and NOT competing in the rat race.

The last word means “far” but the deeper meaning is that you will surpass what you can currently see or understand. Perhaps even the idea of opening up vast knowledge and understanding of complex ideas.

The whole phrase has a theme that suggests if you are NOT an aggressive cut-throat person who fights his way to the top no matter how many people he crushes on the way, and instead seek inner peace, you will have a happier existence and be more likely to understand the meaning of life.


See Also:  Serenity

Achieve Inner Peace; Find Deep Understanding

 níng jìng ér zhì yuǎn
Achieve Inner Peace; Find Deep Understanding Scroll

寧靜而致遠 is five characters from a longer ten-character proverb composed by Zhuge Liang about 1800 years ago.

Zhuge Liang

诸葛亮 Zhuge Liang

The proverb means “Your inner peace/tranquility/serenity will help you see or reach far (into the world).”

The last word means “far” but the deeper meaning is that you will surpass what you can currently see or understand. Perhaps even opening up vast knowledge and understanding of complex ideas.

 líng gǎn
 reikan
Inspiration Scroll

靈感 is the Chinese word closest to hitting the mark for the English word inspiration.

In a more extended context, I have even seen this translated as “brain wave.”

The first character means alert, departed soul, efficacious, quick, effective, or intelligent.
The second character means to feel, to move, to touch, or to affect.
The combined meaning of these two characters changes a bit, but I think it's nice to know the individual meanings to give you a better understanding of where a word comes from.

You could describe this word as “the thought that pops into your head just before you patent the greatest widget ever invented that everyone in the world will want.”
At least, that's the idea.

This term can also mean “intelligent thought” if you translate it directly from each character. If you are looking for inspiration or need to be inspired, this is the word for you.


霊When the first character was absorbed into Japanese from Chinese, an alternate form became the standard in Japan. The Kanji shown to the right is the form currently used in Japan. This is still considered an alternate form in China to this day. it’s readable by both Chinese and Japanese people but if your audience is Japanese, I recommend the Kanji shown to the right - just click on that Kanji to order that version.

Know Your Enemy, Know Yourself, and You Cannot Lose

 zhí bǐ zhí jī bǎi zhàn bú dài
Know Your Enemy, Know Yourself, and You Cannot Lose Scroll

知彼知己百戰不殆 is from Sun Tzu's (Sunzi's) Art of War. It means that if you know and understand the enemy, you also know yourself, and thus with this complete understanding, you cannot lose.

This proverb is often somewhat directly translated as “Know the enemy and know yourself, and you can fight a hundred battles without defeat.”

It can also be translated as “If you know both yourself and your enemy, you can come out of hundreds of battles without danger,” or “Know your enemy, know yourself, and your victory will not be threatened.”

Knowledge from Experience

 tǐ huì
Knowledge from Experience Scroll

體會 is a Chinese word that basically means “knowledge [comes from] experience,” or “to learn through experience.”

This can also mean realizing or gaining understanding from your experiences.

Idea / Thought / Meaning

 yì
 kokoro
 
Idea / Thought / Meaning Scroll

意 is the Chinese, Japanese Kanji, and old Korean Hanja for an idea, intention, meaning, thought, wish, desire, intention, feelings, and thoughts.

In Buddhism, this is the last of the six means of perception (the others are sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch, and this one represents the mind). It does not literally mean “mind,” but rather something more like mental powers, intellect, intelligence, faculty of thought, or understanding in the Buddhist context.

All Tenets of the Noble Eightfold Path

 zhèng jiàn zhèng sī wéi zhèng yǔ zhèng yè zhèng mìng zhèng jīng jìn zhèng niàn zhèng dìng

 shouken shoushiyui shougo shougo shoumyou shoushoujin shounen shoujou
All Tenets of the Noble Eightfold Path Scroll

These are the eight tenets of the Buddhist Noble Eightfold Path written altogether.

Here's this list of tenets in English:
1. Right View / Right Understanding / Right Perspective / Perfect View
2. Right Resolve / Right Thought / Right Intention / Perfect Resolve
3. Right Speech / Right Talk / Perfect Speech
4. Right Action / Perfect Conduct
5. Right Living / Right Livelihood / Perfect Livelihood
6. Right Effort / Right Endeavor / Perfect Effort
7. Right Mindfulness / Right Memory / Perfect Mindfulness
8. Right Concentration / Perfect Concentration

Power of Understanding and Wisdom

 wù xìng
 gosei
Power of Understanding and Wisdom Scroll

悟性 means the power of understanding and insight in Chinese.

It is often associated with Neo-Confucianism. In that regard, it means to realize, perceive, or have the perception of man's true nature. It can also mean finding your soul, the soul of others, or the soul of the world. Some will translate this simply as the state of being “savvy.”

In Japanese, this is often translated as wisdom and understanding.

 xǐng wù
Reality Scroll

醒悟 is a Chinese word that expresses the idea of reality or coming to understand what is true and real.

The first character means to wake up, awaken, comprehend, introspect, or visit.

The second character means to comprehend or understand (be enlightened).

The meanings of Chinese words are not necessarily the sum of their parts. In this case, at best, you can derive that the characters express “understanding what is real” or “knowing what is real.” Any Chinese person will perceive this word in a similar way to how we use “reality” in English.


省Note: The first character can also be written in a different form as shown to the right. Same meaning in Chinese, either way it’s written.

Zen Understanding

 cān chán
Zen Understanding Scroll

參禪 is a title that speaks of reaching an understanding (of Zen or the world). It also means “to practice meditation.” The two concepts lead you to the idea that meditation leads to understanding. 參禪 is pretty deep, so you can do your research or decide what this means for you.

This can also be defined in a more complex way as “thoroughly penetrating with meditative insight.”

Seeking Wisdom

 chiomigaku
Seeking Wisdom Scroll

智を磨く is an old obscure Japanese phrase that means to refine, cultivate, or improve one's wisdom.

This is the mantra of one who is a seeker of wisdom. They will always want to polish, shine, refine, improve, and expand their knowledge and understanding.


Note: Because this selection contains some special Japanese Hiragana characters, it should be written by a Japanese calligrapher.

Realization and Knowledge

 zhī
 chi
 
Realization and Knowledge Scroll

知 means realization or true knowing.

This can also translate as to know, to be aware, wisdom, or higher knowledge.

From older Buddhist ideas, this can represent विद्या (Vidyā or Vidya) or ज्ञान (Jñāna or Jnana) and even the combination Sanskrit word विज्ञान (Vijñāna or Vijnana) which can translate as wisdom arising from perception or knowing.

However, 知 should be distinguished as true knowing versus having a relative understanding or 會.

Enlightened Truth

 shèng yì dì
 shou gi tai
Enlightened Truth Scroll

This Buddhist term means the superior truth or enlightened truth.

勝義諦 is a realm of understanding that is far beyond worldly truth.

Some will also define this as the ultimate truth.




This in-stock artwork might be what you are looking for, and ships right away...


The following table may be helpful for those studying Chinese or Japanese...

Title CharactersRomaji (Romanized Japanese)Various forms of Romanized Chinese
1. Right Understanding
Right Perspective
Right View
Perfect View
正見
正见
sei ken / seikenzhèng jiàn
zheng4 jian4
zheng jian
zhengjian
cheng chien
chengchien
Appreciation of Truth by Meditation心印shin nin / shinninxīn yìn / xin1 yin4 / xin yin / xinyinhsin yin / hsinyin
Awareness
gaku / satorujué / jiào
jue2 / jiao4
jue / jiao
jue/jiao
chüeh chiao
chüehchiao
Compassion同情dou jou / doujou / do jotóng qíng
tong2 qing2
tong qing
tongqing
t`ung ch`ing
tungching
tung ching
Crisis equals Danger plus Opportunity?危機
危机
kikiwēi jī / wei1 ji1 / wei ji / weijiwei chi / weichi
Desire渴望kě wàng / ke3 wang4 / ke wang / kewangk`o wang / kowang / ko wang
Four Noble Truths: Suffering苦諦
苦谛
kutaikǔ dì / ku3 di4 / ku di / kudik`u ti / kuti / ku ti
Good Good Study, Day Day Up好好學習天天向上
好好学习天天向上
hǎo hǎo xué xí tiān tiān xiàng shàng
hao3 hao3 xue2 xi2 tian1 tian1 xiang4 shang4
hao hao xue xi tian tian xiang shang
hao hao hsüeh hsi t`ien t`ien hsiang shang
hao hao hsüeh hsi tien tien hsiang shang
A Life of Serenity Yields Understanding淡泊以明志寧靜而致遠
淡泊以明志宁静而致远
dàn bó yǐ míng zhì, níng jìng ér zhì yuǎn
dan4 bo2 yi3 ming2 zhi4, ning2 jing4 er2 zhi4 yuan3
dan bo yi ming zhi, ning jing er zhi yuan
tan po i ming chih, ning ching erh chih yüan
Achieve Inner Peace; Find Deep Understanding寧靜而致遠
宁静而致远
níng jìng ér zhì yuǎn
ning2 jing4 er2 zhi4 yuan3
ning jing er zhi yuan
ningjingerzhiyuan
ning ching erh chih yüan
ningchingerhchihyüan
Inspiration靈感
灵感
reikanlíng gǎn / ling2 gan3 / ling gan / lingganling kan / lingkan
Know Your Enemy, Know Yourself, and You Cannot Lose知彼知己百戰不殆
知彼知己百战不殆
zhí bǐ zhí jī bǎi zhàn bú dài
zhi2 bi3 zhi2 ji1 bai3 zhan4 bu2 dai4
zhi bi zhi ji bai zhan bu dai
zhibizhijibaizhanbudai
chih pi chih chi pai chan pu tai
Knowledge from Experience體會
体会
tǐ huì / ti3 hui4 / ti hui / tihuit`i hui / tihui / ti hui
Idea
Thought
Meaning
kokoroyì / yi4 / yii
All Tenets of the Noble Eightfold Path正見正思唯正語正業正命正精進正念正定
正见正思唯正语正业正命正精进正念正定
shouken shoushiyui shougo shougo shoumyou shoushoujin shounen shoujou
shoken shoshiyui shogo shogo shomyo shoshojin shonen shojo
zhèng jiàn zhèng sī wéi zhèng yǔ zhèng yè zhèng mìng zhèng jīng jìn zhèng niàn zhèng dìng
zheng4 jian4 zheng4 si1 wei2 zheng4 yu3 zheng4 ye4 zheng4 ming4 zheng4 jing1 jin4 zheng4 nian4 zheng4 ding4
zheng jian zheng si wei zheng yu zheng ye zheng ming zheng jing jin zheng nian zheng ding
cheng chien cheng ssu wei cheng yü cheng yeh cheng ming cheng ching chin cheng nien cheng ting
Power of Understanding and Wisdom悟性goseiwù xìng / wu4 xing4 / wu xing / wuxingwu hsing / wuhsing
Reality醒悟 / 省悟
醒悟
xǐng wù / xing3 wu4 / xing wu / xingwuhsing wu / hsingwu
Zen Understanding參禪
参禅
cān chán / can1 chan2 / can chan / canchants`an ch`an / tsanchan / tsan chan
Seeking Wisdom智を磨くchiomigaku
Realization and Knowledgechizhī / zhi1 / zhichih
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
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.


Dictionary

Lookup Zen Understanding in my Japanese & Chinese Dictionary


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A nice Chinese calligraphy wall scroll

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.

A professional Chinese Calligrapher

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.

Trying to learn Chinese calligrapher - a futile effort

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.

A high-ranked Chinese master calligrapher that I met in Zhongwei

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 Zen Understanding Kanji, Zen Understanding Characters, Zen Understanding in Mandarin Chinese, Zen Understanding Characters, Zen Understanding in Chinese Writing, Zen Understanding in Japanese Writing, Zen Understanding in Asian Writing, Zen Understanding Ideograms, Chinese Zen Understanding symbols, Zen Understanding Hieroglyphics, Zen Understanding Glyphs, Zen Understanding in Chinese Letters, Zen Understanding Hanzi, Zen Understanding in Japanese Kanji, Zen Understanding Pictograms, Zen Understanding in the Chinese Written-Language, or Zen Understanding in the Japanese Written-Language.

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