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Enso - Japanese Zen Circle

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en sou

〇 is the famous Enso symbol, which you will see widely used by Japanese Zen Buddhists.

In a twist, I am starting to see Enso used more and more by Chinese Buddhists.

Here is the typical appearance of Enso artwork by Japanese calligrapher Kougetsu.

Enso is not a Japanese Kanji character. It falls more into the category of a symbol. There is some debate, but many consider Enso to be a religious symbol.

Some call this “The Circle of Enlightenment.” Others call it the “Infinity Circle.” If you actually took the meanings of the two Kanji (円相) that make up the word “En-so,” you could read it as “Mutual Circle” or “Circle of Togetherness.” I think the Enso symbol can simply mean different things to different people. Therefore, you should let it have the meaning that you perceive.

The appearance of your Enso will be determined by the artist's personal style, feeling, mood, etc.

Zero

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líng

rei / zero

령

零 is the number zero in Chinese, Japanese Kanji, and old Korean Hanja.

零 is a strange selection for a wall scroll, so it's here mostly for reference. I guess it's OK if zero is important to you.

Note: In modern Japan and China, they will often just write a circle to represent zero in lieu of this character.

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Below are some entries from our dictionary that may match your 〇 search...

Characters If shown, 2nd row is Simp. Chinese	Pronunciation Romanization	Simple Dictionary Definition
〇 see styles	líng ling2 ling maru まる	More info & calligraphy: Enso - Japanese Zen Circle zero (1) circle (sometimes used for zero); (2) 'correct' (when marking); (3) symbol used as a placeholder (either because a number of other words could be used in that position, or because of censorship); (4) period; full stop; (5) maru mark; semivoiced sound; p-sound
〇× see styles	marubatsu まるばつ	circle and cross; right and wrong (answers); true-false
〇〇 see styles	marumaru まるまる	(1) symbol used as a placeholder (either because a number of other words could be used in that position, or because of censorship); (prefix noun) (2) certain; unnamed; undisclosed; unidentified
Variations: ○ 〇 see styles	maru まる	(1) (sometimes used for zero) (See 丸・まる・1) circle; (2) (when marking a test, homework, etc.) (See 二重丸) "correct"; "good"; (unc) (3) (placeholder used to censor individual characters or indicate a space to be filled in) (See 〇〇・1) *; _; (4) (See 句点) period; full stop; (5) (See 半濁点) handakuten (diacritic)
Ｇ１０ see styles	jiiten / jiten ジーテン	Group of Ten; G-10
１０年代 see styles	juunendai / junendai じゅうねんだい	the '10s; the tens
２０年代 see styles	nijuunendai / nijunendai にじゅうねんだい	the '20s; the twenties
３０年代 see styles	sanjuunendai / sanjunendai さんじゅうねんだい	the '30s; the thirties
４０年代 see styles	yonjuunendai / yonjunendai よんじゅうねんだい	the '40s; the forties
502膠 502胶 see styles	wǔ líng èr jiāo wu3 ling2 er4 jiao1 wu ling erh chiao	cyanoacrylate glue
５０年代 see styles	gojuunendai / gojunendai ごじゅうねんだい	the '50s; the fifties
６０年代 see styles	rokujuunendai / rokujunendai ろくじゅうねんだい	the '60s; the sixties
７０年代 see styles	nanajuunendai / nanajunendai ななじゅうねんだい	the '70s; the seventies
８０年代 see styles	hachijuunendai / hachijunendai はちじゅうねんだい	the '80s; the eighties
９０年代 see styles	kyuujuunendai / kyujunendai きゅうじゅうねんだい	the '90s; the nineties
一一〇番 see styles	hyakutooban ひゃくとおばん	(noun/participle) police emergency tel. no. (in Japan)
北１０線 see styles	kitajissen きたじっせん	(place-name) Kitajissen
Variations: 〇× ○× see styles	marubatsu まるばつ	circle and cross; right and wrong (answers); true-false
〇×テスト see styles	marubatsutesuto まるばつテスト	true-false test; yes-no test
Variations: 〇〇 ○○ see styles	marumaru まるまる	(1) symbol used as a placeholder (either because a number of other words could be used in that position, or because of censorship); (prefix noun) (2) certain; unnamed; undisclosed; unidentified
０９０金融 see styles	zerokyuuzerokinyuu / zerokyuzerokinyu ゼロキューゼロきんゆう	loan sharks operating from a cellphone (i.e. without a fixed phone number); 090 financing
スター８０ see styles	sutaaeitii / sutaeti スターエイティー	(work) Star 80 (film); (wk) Star 80 (film)
トップ１０ see styles	topputen トップテン	(adj-no,n) top ten
プラマイ０ see styles	puramaizero プラマイゼロ	(abbreviation) (kana only) (See プラスマイナスゼロ) no loss or gain; coming out even
南１０線西 see styles	minamijissennishi みなみじっせんにし	(place-name) Minamijissennishi
南２０線西 see styles	minaminijissennishi みなみにじっせんにし	(place-name) Minaminijissennishi
東１０号北 see styles	higashijuugoukita / higashijugokita ひがしじゅうごうきた	(place-name) Higashijuugoukita
東１０号南 see styles	higashijuugouminami / higashijugominami ひがしじゅうごうみなみ	(place-name) Higashijuugouminami
東１０線北 see styles	higashijissenkita ひがしじっせんきた	(place-name) Higashijissenkita
東１０線南 see styles	higashijissenminami ひがしじっせんみなみ	(place-name) Higashijissenminami

Click here for more 〇 results from our dictionary

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

Title	Characters	Romaji (Romanized Japanese)	Various forms of Romanized Chinese
Enso - Japanese Zen Circle	〇	en sou / ensou / en so
Zero	零零 / 〇	rei / zero	líng / ling2 / ling
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.