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Tensho in Chinese / Japanese...

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Zen / Chan / Meditation

...as in Zen Buddhism

 chán
 zen
 
Zen / Chan / Meditation Scroll

First, let's correct something: The Japanese romanization for this character, “Zen” has penetrated the English language. In English, it's almost always incorrectly used for phrases like “That's so zen.” Nobody says, “That's so meditation” - right? As the title of a sect, this would be like saying, “That's so Baptist!"

禪 by itself just means “meditation.” In that context, it should not be confined to use by any one religion or sect.

Regardless of the dictionary definition, more often than not, this character is associated with Buddhism. And here is one of the main reasons:
Zen is used as the title of a branch of Mahayana Buddhism, which strongly emphasizes meditation practice.
However, it should be noted that Buddhism came from India, and “Chan Buddhism” evolved and developed in medieval China. The Chinese character “Chan” was eventually pronounced as “Zen” in Japanese. Chan Buddhists in China have much in common with Zen Buddhists in Japan.

More about the history of Zen Buddhism here.

Please also note that the Japanese Kanji character for Zen has evolved a little in Japan, and the two boxes (kou) that you see at the top of the right side of the character have been replaced by three dots with tails. Japanese Zen Kanji The original character would still be generally understood and recognized in Japanese (it's considered an ancient version in Japan) but if you want the specifically modern Japanese version, please click on the zen Kanji to the right. Technically, there is no difference between the Tensho and Reisho versions of Zen since they are ancient character styles that existed long before Japan had a written language.

Chinese Zen/Chan CharacterThere is also an alternate/shorthand/simplified Chinese version, which has two dots or tails above the right-side radical. This version is also popular for calligraphy in China. If you want this version, just click the character to the right.


Further notes: Zen is just one of seven sects of Buddhism practiced in Japan. The others are 律 Ritsu (or Risshū), 法相 Hossō, 論 Sanron 華嚴 Kegon, 天台 Tendai, and 眞言 Shingon.


Not the results for tensho that you were looking for?

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

Characters

If shown, 2nd row is Simp. Chinese

Pronunciation
Romanization
Simple Dictionary Definition

典攝


典摄

see styles
diǎn shè
    dian3 she4
tien she
 tenshō
to be in charge of

典詔


典诏

see styles
diǎn zhào
    dian3 zhao4
tien chao
 tenshō
scriptural teachings

天承

see styles
 tenshou / tensho
    てんしょう
(hist) Tenshō era (1131.1.29-1132.8.11)

天昭

see styles
 tenshou / tensho
    てんしょう
(given name) Tenshou

天枩

see styles
tiān sōng
    tian1 song1
t`ien sung
    tien sung
 Tenshō
Cheonsong

天正

see styles
 tenshou / tensho
    てんしょう
Tenshō era (1573.7.28-1592.12.8); (place-name, surname) Tenshou

天祥

see styles
 tenshou / tensho
    てんしょう
(given name) Tenshou

天章

see styles
 tenshou / tensho
    てんしょう
(given name) Tenshou

天笑

see styles
 tenshou / tensho
    てんしょう
(given name) Tenshou

天繒


天缯

see styles
tiān zēng
    tian1 zeng1
t`ien tseng
    tien tseng
 tenshō
divine silk fabrics

天翔

see styles
 tenshou / tensho
    てんしょう
(female given name) Tenshou

天處


天处

see styles
tiān chù
    tian1 chu4
t`ien ch`u
    tien chu
 tensho
a heaven

天象

see styles
tiān xiàng
    tian1 xiang4
t`ien hsiang
    tien hsiang
 tenshou / tensho
    てんしょう
meteorological or astronomical phenomenon (e.g. rainbow or eclipse)
weather; astronomical phenomena

展掌

see styles
 tenshou / tensho
    てんしょう
(personal name) Tenshou

添書

see styles
 tensho
    てんしょ
accompanying note or letter; postscript

点鐘

see styles
 tenshou / tensho
    てんしょう
ships' bell

篆書


篆书

see styles
zhuàn shū
    zhuan4 shu1
chuan shu
 tensho
    てんしょ
seal script (Chinese calligraphic style)
seal-engraving style (of writing Chinese characters); seal script

転所

see styles
 tensho
    てんしょ
(n,vs,vi) (1) change of location (address, nursery school, institute, etc.); moving; transfer; (n,vs,vi) (2) moving to a new post (of a judge)

転正

see styles
 tenshou / tensho
    てんしょう
(surname) Tenshou

転生

see styles
 tensei; tenshou / tense; tensho
    てんせい; てんしょう
(n,vs,vi) {Buddh} transmigration; reincarnation; metempsychosis

轉勝


转胜

see styles
zhuǎn shèng
    zhuan3 sheng4
chuan sheng
 tenshō
transform or change into something better

轉生


转生

see styles
zhuǎn shēng
    zhuan3 sheng1
chuan sheng
 tenshō
reincarnation (Buddhism)
transmigration

轉稍


转稍

see styles
zhuǎn shāo
    zhuan3 shao1
chuan shao
 tenshō
gradually

轉聲


转声

see styles
zhuǎn shēng
    zhuan3 sheng1
chuan sheng
 tenshō
declension

七轉聲


七转声

see styles
qī zhuǎn shēng
    qi1 zhuan3 sheng1
ch`i chuan sheng
    chi chuan sheng
 shichi tenshō
seven declensions

天正大判

see styles
 tenshouooban / tenshoooban
    てんしょうおおばん
(hist) tenshō ōban; oval gold coin struck by Toyotomi Hideyoshi in 1588

後後轉勝


后后转胜

see styles
hòu hòu zhuǎn shèng
    hou4 hou4 zhuan3 sheng4
hou hou chuan sheng
 gogo tenshō
continuous subsequent changes for the better

輪廻轉生


轮廻转生

see styles
lún huí zhuǎn shēng
    lun2 hui2 zhuan3 sheng1
lun hui chuan sheng
 rinne tenshō
transmigration

Variations:
テンショ
てんしょ

see styles
 tensho; tensho
    テンショ; てんしょ
{cards;hanaf} (See 天正カルタ) tensho (game originally played with a Tensho karuta)

Variations:
天正カルタ
天正かるた

see styles
 tenshoukaruta / tenshokaruta
    てんしょうカルタ
(hist) (See 天正) Tensho karuta; the first domestically produced Japanese deck of cards, closely based on Latin-suited decks brought over by the Portuguese

Click here for more tensho results from our dictionary

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

Title CharactersRomaji (Romanized Japanese)Various forms of Romanized Chinese
Zen
Chan
Meditation

zenchán / chan2 / chanch`an / 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.


Dictionary

Lookup Tensho in my Japanese & Chinese Dictionary


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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.


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

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