Custom Scroll Request

[onemeekmutha]

Hi,

My name is Jonathan and I would like to request a custom scroll. I would like the scroll to say:

Shin Ku Myo U

I read this phrase in the book "zen mind, beginner's mind" by D.T. Suzuki. According to Suzuki, the phrase means:

from true emptiness, the wondrous being appears

I don't know if this phrase is in the Chinese or Japanese language.

Can you please tell me if it is possible to get a custom scroll made with this phrase in the appropriate Chinese/Japanese kanji and if so, what size & style of scrolls do you offer and how much will it cost?

Thank you very much for your time.

:)
Jonathan

[Gary]

I went though my Japanese dictionary, but there are too many words that romanize as "shin-ku" and a lot of "myo-u" as well. Not many of them seem to match what you are asking for.

I do have this:
http://www.orientaloutpost.com/shufa.ph ... e+beginner

The second character "shin" means heart or mind, so that much I am sure of with your phrase.

I realize you probably don't know how to type Japanese, but if you can post an image of the original Kanji characters, that would help greatly.

Japanese is a second language for me, and martial arts titles like this are outside of common speech, so they're also outside of my vocabulary.

Here's some shinku entries:
http://www.orientaloutpost.com/dictionary.php?q=shinku

Some myo-u:
http://www.orientaloutpost.com/dictionary.php?q=myou

This dictionary has over 400,000 Japanese words, idioms, names, and short phrases. But it doesn't have everything.

-Gary.

[onemeekmutha]

Hey Gary,

Thank you for helping me out with this. I really appreciate it.

I don't know if this helps to find the correct kanji, but I found the passage in the book that speaks directly about the phrase:

This naturalness is very difficult to explain. But if you can
just sit and experience the actuality of nothingness in your
practice, there is no need to explain. If it comes out of nothingness,
whatever you do is natural, and that is true activity.
You have the true joy of practice, the true joy of life in it.
Everyone comes out from nothingness moment after moment.
Moment after moment we have true joy of life. So we
say shin ku myo u, "from true emptiness, the wondrous being
appears." Shin is "true"; ku is "emptiness"; myo is "wondrous";
u is "being" : from true emptiness, wondrous being.

Thanks again for your help.

:)
Jonathan

[Gary]

This one was tough. It's only used in Buddhist context, so you can't just find it in any Japanese dictionary. Even then it's a somewhat obscure Japanese Buddhist phrase.

After nearly 2 hours of research, I've figured it out, and confirmed it:






Corrected Romaji

[Gary]

I've added a new entry for this concept on our calligraphy database:
http://www.orientaloutpost.com/shufa.ph ... 9%E6%9C%89

I have to add things like this when I spend so long researching and working on them.

[onemeekmutha]

Hi Gary,

Thank you very much for your help. It is much appreciated. As soon as I figure out the other details of customizing the scroll I will place my order. Thanks again!

:)
Jonathan

[richvick]

Can you please add the following for a custom wall scroll to match my tattoo:

Top Character - Balance/Peace
Middle Character - Calm/Tranquility
Bottom Character - Warrior

This would be like your peaceful warrior scroll using the 1st & fourth characters only with the kanjii for calm/tranquility in between.

[Gary]

I missed this so many years ago because it was off topic, and/or I thought the topic was closed.

Scroll to match your tattoo:
http://www.orientaloutpost.com/options. ... 4179+27494

Your tattoo needs a fourth character to make perfect sense. Otherwise, it's "Peaceful Martial."

With the added character, yours would be, "Warrior for Peace."
http://www.orientaloutpost.com/shufa.ph ... ul+warrior