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Zazen
坐禪 describes the act of sitting in a state of deep meditation.
You'll notice that the second character is Chan/Zen (often used to title the meditative form of Buddhism).
In Korean Hanja, this means “religious meditation” (roughly the same as the Chinese definition).
Buddhists may define this as sitting in dhyāna, abstract meditation, fixed abstraction, or contemplation.
Japanese note: This will make sense in Japanese but the Kanji shown to the left are partially in ancient/traditional Japanese form. Japanese Buddhists may use 坐禪, 坐禅, 座禪, or 座禅. The most standard/modern Japanese form of this word is shown to the right. Click on the Kanji to the right (instead of the button above) if you want this specifically Japanese version.
Below are some entries from our dictionary that may match your 坐禪 search...
Characters If shown, 2nd row is Simp. Chinese |
Pronunciation Romanization |
Simple Dictionary Definition |
坐禪 坐禅 see styles |
zuò chán zuo4 chan2 tso ch`an tso chan zazen |
More info & calligraphy: Sit in MeditationTo sit in dhyāna, i.e. abstract meditation, fixed abstraction, contemplation; its introduction to China is attributed to Bodhidharma (though it came earlier), and its extension to Tiantai. |
坐禪儀 坐禅仪 see styles |
zuò chán yí zuo4 chan2 yi2 tso ch`an i tso chan i Zazengi |
Instructions for Zazen |
坐禪堂 坐禅堂 see styles |
zuò chán táng zuo4 chan2 tang2 tso ch`an t`ang tso chan tang zazen dō |
The monks' assembly room. |
三時坐禪 三时坐禅 see styles |
sān shí zuò chán san1 shi2 zuo4 chan2 san shih tso ch`an san shih tso chan sanji zazen |
The thrice a day meditation— about 10 a.m. and 4 and 8 p.m. |
坐禪人力 坐禅人力 see styles |
zuò chán rén lì zuo4 chan2 ren2 li4 tso ch`an jen li tso chan jen li zazennin riki |
the power of people's meditation |
坐禪法要 坐禅法要 see styles |
zuò chán fǎ yào zuo4 chan2 fa3 yao4 tso ch`an fa yao tso chan fa yao Zazen hōyō |
Essentials of Seated Meditation |
坐禪用心記 坐禅用心记 see styles |
zuò chán yòng xīn jì zuo4 chan2 yong4 xin1 ji4 tso ch`an yung hsin chi tso chan yung hsin chi Zazen yōjin ki |
Admonitions for Zazen |
普勸坐禪儀 普劝坐禅仪 see styles |
pǔ quàn zuò chán yí pu3 quan4 zuo4 chan2 yi2 p`u ch`üan tso ch`an i pu chüan tso chan i Fukan zazen gi |
Universal Promotion of the Principles of Meditation |
修習止觀坐禪法要 修习止观坐禅法要 see styles |
xiū xí zhǐ guān zuò chán fǎ yào xiu1 xi2 zhi3 guan1 zuo4 chan2 fa3 yao4 hsiu hsi chih kuan tso ch`an fa yao hsiu hsi chih kuan tso chan fa yao Shushū shikan zazen hōyō |
Essentials of Practicing Śamatha and Vipaśyanā Meditation |
The following table may be helpful for those studying Chinese or Japanese...
Title | Characters | Romaji (Romanized Japanese) | Various forms of Romanized Chinese | |
Sit in Meditation | 坐禪 坐禅 | za zen / zazen | zuò chán / zuo4 chan2 / zuo chan / zuochan | tso ch`an / tsochan / tso chan |
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.