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霊 means soul or spirit.
Sometimes 霊 can be a departed soul or ghost. 霊 is actually a Japanese variant of the Chinese character 靈 (and would be recognized in Chinese).
I titled this as Rai because 霊 was romanized as Rai and represented a fictional superhero that appeared in books published by Valiant Comics.
In Japanese, this can be the given name Rei or Tama. It can also be the Japanese surname Mitama or Tamazaki.
身心霊 means “body mind spirit” in Japanese.
This refers to your physical, mental, and spiritual presence.
This can also be translated as “body heart spirit” as 心 can mean mind or heart.
Note that this is a "word list" and not a proper phrase (with a subject, verb, and object) nor a typical title in Japanese. So it's not too commonly seen in Japan. However, the term 身心霊整合性医療 that refers to holistic medicine is gaining popularity.
靈氣 is the title of a healing practice now found globally but with origins in Japan.
Special note: Outside of the context of the healing practice of Reiki, this means “aura” or “spiritual essence that surrounds all living things.” A Japanese person unfamiliar with the practice will take the “aura” meaning.
Reiki is a technique for stress reduction and relaxation that also heals. It can be compared to massage but is based on the idea that an unseen “life force energy” flows through us and is what causes us to be alive. If your life force energy is low, you'll be more likely to get sick or feel stressed. If your life force energy is abundant and flowing well, you become more capable of being happy and healthy.
There is a lot of information available if you want to Google this term - my job is to offer the calligraphy while you can decide if it is right for you.
Note: We are showing the ancient (traditional) form of the Reiki Kanji. I have seen Reiki written with the slightly simplified version and this more classic form. If you want the form of Reiki with the two strokes in the shape of an X on the second character and the modern first character, simply click on the Kanji characters to the right.
Note: 靈氣 is also a Chinese word, but in Chinese, these characters create a word that refers to a smart person or someone with high aspirations. It is not read as a healing method in Chinese.
In Korean Hanja, this can be read as a “mysterious atmosphere” by a Korean who is not familiar with the practice of Reiki (still has a cool meaning in Korean).
聖靈 is the title for the Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost as used by Jewish, Catholic, and Protestant (and other Christian) Chinese people.
And yes, Chinese Jews do exist, but there are not many of them.
The first character means Holy, Sacred, Saint, or Sage. The second means ghost, spirit, efficacious, or intelligence.
This is valid in Chinese characters and old Korean Hanja. This will be recognized in Japan but see the note below...
In modern Japan, they now use a variant/simplified Kanji of the second character of Holy Spirit. If you want this Japanese version, click on the Kanji to the right instead of the button above.
Jyorei or Johrei is a healing art that uses divine light to dissolve the spiritual impurities that are the source of all physical, emotional, and personal problems.
浄霊/浄靈 is a Japanese title that can refer to the purification of the spirit described above, but this is also the word for exorcism in Japanese.
Romanization variations include Jyorei, Johrei, Jourei and Jore. Regardless of romanization, the actual pronunciation is like "Joe Ray."
身心靈 is probably the best way to express the idea of “Body, Mind, and Spirit” in Chinese and old Korean Hanja. We are actually using the word “heart” here because, for thousands of years, the heart was thought to be the place where your thoughts, feelings, and emotions came from. We do something similar in the west when we say “warm-hearted” or “I love you with all of my heart.” In this context, heart = mind in Asian language and culture.
The very literal translation of these three characters is “body, heart & spirit,” which could also be interpreted as “body, mind & soul.”
We have arranged these characters in this order because it simply “feels” like the proper order in the Chinese language. Word lists like this are not so common for calligraphy artwork, so we must be careful to put them in the most natural order. It should be noted that this is not a common title in Asia, nor is it considered an actual phrase (as it lacks a clear subject, verb, and object).
In Japanese Kanji, they use an alternate form of the character for soul or spirit. If you want this using the Japanese alternate, please click on the Kanji shown to the right instead of the button above.
Japanese disclaimer: This is not a natural phrase/list in Japanese. While not totally-natural in Chinese, this word list is best if your audience is Chinese.
Alternate Version
靈氣療法肇祖臼井甕男先生遺訓招福の秘法萬病の霊薬今日丈けは心配すな感謝して業を励げめ人に親切に is an alternate version of the precepts or tenets of Reiki by Usui Mikao.
It is impossible to be sure which version or versions were actually written by Usui Mikao. This is the less common of the three versions that you might see in the wild.
Here is a breakdown of the characters and a rough translation:
靈氣 療法 肇祖 臼井甕男。
Reiki therapy founder Mikao Usui
先生 遺訓。
Teacher's testament
招福の秘法, 萬病の霊薬。
Invite blessings of [the] secret method, 10,000 illnesses of spiritual medicine.
今日丈けは: 怒るな, 心配すな, 感謝して, 業をはげめ, 人に親切に。
At least for today: Do not be angry, do not worry, be grateful, work with diligence, [and] be kind to people.
Note: Because this selection contains some special Japanese Hiragana characters, it should be written by a Japanese calligrapher.
These are the precepts of Reiki that are attributed to Usui Mikao.
Here is a breakdown of the characters and a rough translation:
招福の秘法, 萬病の霊薬。
Invite blessings of [the] secret method, 10,000 illnesses of spiritual medicine.
今日丈けは: 怒るな, 心配すな, 感謝して, 業をはげめ, 人に親切に。
At least for today: Do not be angry, do not worry, be grateful, work with diligence, and be kind to people.
朝夕合掌して, 心に念じ, 口に唱へよ, 心身改善。
Morning [and] evening perform gassho (join hands), [with your] heart/mind in silent prayer, [with your] mouth chant, [thusly] mind [and] body [will] reform/improve.
臼井靈氣療法! -肇祖, 臼井甕男。
Usui Reiki Ryōhō! -Founder, Usui Mikao.
The middle portion of this is often titled, “The Five Principles of Reiki” and makes a nice calligraphy selection by itself. The Japanese text presented here can be considered the more verbose version.
Note: Because this selection contains some special Japanese Hiragana characters, it should be written by a Japanese calligrapher.
Below are some entries from our dictionary that may match your 霊 search...
Characters If shown, 2nd row is Simp. Chinese |
Pronunciation Romanization |
Simple Dictionary Definition |
霊 see styles |
líng ling2 ling rei / re れい |
More info & calligraphy: Rai / Reisoul; spirit; departed soul; ghost; (given name) Rei |
降霊 see styles |
kourei / kore こうれい |
More info & calligraphy: Kourei |
霊能力 see styles |
reinouryoku / renoryoku れいのうりょく |
More info & calligraphy: Psychic Power |
五霊 see styles |
goryou / goryo ごりょう |
(place-name) Goryō |
亡霊 see styles |
bourei / bore ぼうれい |
(1) departed spirit; soul of the dead; (2) ghost; apparition |
交霊 see styles |
kourei / kore こうれい |
communication with the dead |
全霊 see styles |
zenrei / zenre ぜんれい |
one's whole soul |
分霊 see styles |
bunrei / bunre ぶんれい |
division of a shrine's tutelary deity, in order to share it with another shrine; spirit divided in such a manner |
和霊 see styles |
warei / ware われい |
(place-name) Warei |
善霊 see styles |
zenrei / zenre ぜんれい |
spirit of goodness |
四霊 see styles |
shirei / shire しれい |
(rare) (See 麒麟・2,鳳凰,霊亀・1,応竜) the four auspicious beasts from Chinese mythology |
地霊 see styles |
chirei / chire ちれい |
spirit residing in the ground |
威霊 see styles |
irei / ire いれい |
(1) powerful spirit; (2) power of the emperor |
孝霊 see styles |
kourei / kore こうれい |
(surname) Kōrei |
寂霊 see styles |
jakurei / jakure じゃくれい |
(personal name) Jakurei |
山霊 see styles |
sanrei / sanre さんれい |
a mountain's guardian deity |
幽霊 see styles |
yuurei / yure ゆうれい |
ghost; specter; spectre; apparition; phantom |
御霊 see styles |
goryou / goryo ごりょう |
(honorific or respectful language) spirit of a deceased person; (place-name) Goryō |
心霊 see styles |
shinrei / shinre しんれい |
(noun - becomes adjective with の) (1) spirit (e.g. human spirit); soul; (2) spirit; ghost; ethereal being; (female given name) Kokoa |
忠霊 see styles |
chuurei / chure ちゅうれい |
the loyal dead |
怨霊 see styles |
onryou / onryo おんりょう |
revengeful ghost; apparition |
悪霊 see styles |
akuryou; akurei / akuryo; akure あくりょう; あくれい |
evil spirit |
慰霊 see styles |
irei / ire いれい |
consoling the spirits of the dead |
憑霊 see styles |
hyourei / hyore ひょうれい |
spirit possession |
日霊 see styles |
hirume ひるめ |
(archaism) Sun Goddess; Amaterasu Oomikami |
曜霊 see styles |
yourei / yore ようれい |
(rare) (literary term) the sun |
木霊 see styles |
kodama こだま |
(noun/participle) (1) (kana only) echo; (noun or participle which takes the aux. verb suru) (2) (kana only) to echo; to reverberate; (3) the spirit of a tree; tree spirit; (surname) Kodama |
本霊 see styles |
honrei / honre ほんれい |
(surname) Honrei |
死霊 see styles |
shiryou; shirei / shiryo; shire しりょう; しれい |
spirit of a dead person; ghost; departed soul |
法霊 see styles |
houryou / horyo ほうりょう |
(surname) Houryō |
The following table may be helpful for those studying Chinese or Japanese...
Title | Characters | Romaji (Romanized Japanese) | Various forms of Romanized Chinese | |
Rai Rei | 霊 | rei / re | líng / ling2 / ling | |
Kourei | 降霊 | kourei / korei | ||
Body Mind Spirit | 身心霊 | mi shin rei mishinrei | ||
Psychic Power | 霊能力 | reinouryoku reinoryoku | ||
Shorei-Ryu | 昭霊流 | shou rei ryuu shoureiryuu sho rei ryu | ||
Spiritual Warrior | 霊戦士 | rei sen shi reisenshi | ||
Reiki | 靈氣 灵气 霊気 | reiki | líng qì / ling2 qi4 / ling qi / lingqi | ling ch`i / lingchi / ling chi |
Holy Spirit Holy Ghost | 聖靈 / 聖霊 圣灵 | sei rei / seirei | shèng líng sheng4 ling2 sheng ling shengling | |
Hakurei Reimu | 博麗霊夢 | haku rei rei mu hakureireimu | ||
Johrei Jyorei | 浄霊 / 浄靈 浄霊 / 浄灵 | jourei / jorei | ||
Mind Body Spirit | 身心靈 / 身心霊 身心灵 | mi shin rei mishinrei | shēn xīn líng shen1 xin1 ling2 shen xin ling shenxinling | shen hsin ling shenhsinling |
Reiki Precepts by Usui Mikao (Alternate) | 靈氣療法肇祖臼井甕男先生遺訓招福の秘法萬病の霊薬今日丈けは怒るな心配すな感謝して業を励げめ人に親切に | reiki ryouhou chouso usui mikao sensei ikun shoufuku no hihou yorozu byou no reiyaku kyou take ke wa oko ru na shinpai suna kansha shite gou o hagemu ge me hito ni shinsetsu ni reiki ryoho choso usui mikao sensei ikun shofuku no hiho yorozu byo no reiyaku kyo take ke wa oko ru na shinpai suna kansha shite go o hagemu ge me hito ni shinsetsu ni | ||
Reiki Precepts by Usui Mikao | 招福の秘法萬病の霊薬今日丈けは怒るな心配すな感謝して業をはげめ人に親切に朝夕合掌して心に念じ口に唱へよ心身改善臼井靈氣療法肇祖臼井甕男 | shou fuku no hihou man byou no rei yaku kyou da ke wa oko ru na shin pai su na kan sha shi te gyou wo ha ke me hito ni shin setsu ni asayuu gasshou shite kokoro ni nenji kuchi ni tonae yo shin shin kaizen usui rei ki ryou hou cho so usu i mika o sho fuku no hiho man byo no rei yaku kyo da ke wa oko ru na shin pai su na kan sha shi te gyo wo ha ke me hito ni shin setsu ni asayu gasho shite kokoro ni nenji kuchi ni tonae yo shin shin kaizen usui rei ki ryo ho cho so usu i mika o | ||
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. |
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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.