Many custom options...
And formats...
Hotoke in Chinese / Japanese...
Buy a Hotoke calligraphy wall scroll here!
Personalize your custom “Hotoke” project by clicking the button next to your favorite “Hotoke” title below...
Buddha / Buddhism
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.
Buddhism / Buddha
佛 is the essence of the Buddha or Buddhism.
Depending on the context, this word and character can be used to refer to the religion and lifestyle of Buddhism, or in some cases, the Buddha himself.
It is interesting to note that this word is separate from all others in the Chinese language. The sound of “fo” has only this meaning. 佛 is in contrast to many sounds in the Chinese language, which can have one of four tones, and more than 20 possible characters and meanings. This language anomaly shows how significantly Buddhism has affected China since ancient times.
More about Buddhism
佛 is also used with the same meaning in Korean Hanja.
It's used in the very religious context of Buddhism in Japan. It should be noted that there are two forms of this Kanji in use in Japan - this is the more formal/ancient version, but it's rarely seen outside of religious artwork and may not be recognized by all Japanese people.
It also acts as a suffix or first syllable for many Buddhist-related words in Chinese, Japanese, and Korean.
See our Buddhism & Zen page
See Also: Bodhisattva | Enlightenment
Not the results for hotoke that you were looking for?
Below are some entries from our dictionary that may match your hotoke search...
| Characters If shown, 2nd row is Simp. Chinese |
Pronunciation Romanization |
Simple Dictionary Definition |
佛 see styles |
fó fo2 fo hotoke ほとけ |
More info & calligraphy: Buddhism / Buddha(surname) Hotoke Buddha, from budh to "be aware of", "conceive", "observe", "wake"; also 佛陀; 浮圖; 浮陀; 浮頭; 浮塔; 勃陀; 勃馱; 沒馱; 母馱; 母陀; 部陀; 休屠. Buddha means "completely conscious, enlightened", and came to mean the enlightener. he Chinese translation is 覺 to perceive, aware, awake; and 智 gnosis, knowledge. There is an Eternal Buddha, see e.g. the Lotus Sutra, cap. 16, and multitudes of Buddhas, but the personality of a Supreme Buddha, an Ādi-Buddha, is not defined. Buddha is in and through all things, and some schools are definitely Pan-Buddhist in the pantheistic sense. In the triratna 三寳 commonly known as 三寳佛, while Śākyamuni Buddha is the first "person" of the Trinity, his Law the second, and the Order the third, all three by some are accounted as manifestations of the All-Buddha. As Śākyamuni, the title indicates him as the last of the line of Buddhas who have appeared in this world, Maitreya is to be the next. As such he is the one who has achieved enlightenment, having discovered the essential evil of existence (some say mundane existence, others all existence), and the way of deliverance from the constant round of reincarnations; this way is through the moral life into nirvana, by means of self-abnegation, the monastic life, and meditation. By this method a Buddha, or enlightened one, himself obtains Supreme Enlightenment, or Omniscience, and according to Māhāyanism leads all beings into the same enlightenment. He sees things not as they seem in their phenomenal but in their noumenal aspects, as they really are. The term is also applied to those who understand the chain of causality (twelve nidānas) and have attained enlightenment surpassing that of the arhat. Four types of the Buddha are referred to: (1) 三藏佛the Buddha of the Tripiṭaka who attained enlightenment on the bare ground under the bodhi-tree; (2) 通佛the Buddha on the deva robe under the bodhi-tree of the seven precious things; (3) 別佛the Buddha on the great precious Lotus throne under the Lotus realm bodhi-tree; and (4) 圓佛the Buddha on the throne of Space in the realm of eternal rest and glory where he is Vairocana. The Hīnayāna only admits the existence of one Buddha at a time; Mahāyāna claims the existence of many Buddhas at one and the same time, as many Buddhas as there are Buddha-universes, which are infinite in number. |
仏井 see styles |
hotokei / hotoke ほとけい |
(surname) Hotokei |
果頭佛 果头佛 see styles |
guǒ tóu fó guo3 tou2 fo2 kuo t`ou fo kuo tou fo kazu no hotoke |
peak result buddha |
白佛言 see styles |
bái fó yán bai2 fo2 yan2 pai fo yen hotoke ni mōshi temō saku |
...addressed the Buddha, saying... |
心外無佛 心外无佛 see styles |
xīn wài wú fó xin1 wai4 wu2 fo2 hsin wai wu fo shinge ni hotoke nashi |
outside of the mind there is noo Buddha |
佛以一音演說法 佛以一音演说法 see styles |
fó yǐ yī yīn yǎn shuō fǎ fo2 yi3 yi1 yin1 yan3 shuo1 fa3 fo i i yin yen shuo fa hotoke ha itton wo motte hō wo enzetsu su |
Buddha preaches the dharma with a single voice |
Variations: |
hotoke(p); hotoke(sk) ほとけ(P); ホトケ(sk) |
(1) Buddha; Shakyamuni; (2) Buddhist image; figure of Buddha; (3) (also written as ホトケ) the dead; dead person; departed soul; (4) merciful person |
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 Buddha | 佛 | hotoke | fó / fo2 / fo | |
| 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...
