禅

See also: 禪 and 褝

禅 U+7985, 禅 CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-7985 ← 禄 [U+7984] CJK Unified Ideographs 禆 → [U+7986]

Translingual

Traditional	禪
Simplified	禅
Japanese	禅
Korean	禪

Glyph origin

Simplified from 禪.

• Simplified from 禪 (示 → 礻 and 單 → 单) (2 strokes on top of phonetic) in simplified Chinese.
• Simplified from 禪 (示 → 礻 and 單 → 単) (3 strokes on top of phonetic) in Japanese shinjitai.

Han character

禅 (Kangxi radical 113, 示+8 in Chinese, 示+9 in Japanese, 12 strokes in Chinese, 13 strokes in Japanese, cangjie input 戈火金田十 (IFCWJ), composition ⿰礻単(J) or ⿰礻单(G))

References

• Kangxi Dictionary: not present, would follow page 844, character 17
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 24787
• Dae Jaweon: page 1265, character 8
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 4, page 2402, character 7
• Unihan data for U+7985

Chinese

For pronunciation and definitions of 禅 – see 禪 (“dhyana; deep meditation; contemplation; Buddhist doctrine; Buddhist teachings; etc.”). (This character is the simplified and variant form of 禪).

Notes: Simplified Chinese is mainly used in Mainland China, Malaysia, and Singapore. Traditional Chinese is mainly used in Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan.

Japanese

Shinjitai	禅
Kyūjitai	禪

Kanji

禅

(common “Jōyō” kanji, shinjitai kanji, kyūjitai form 禪)

1. Chinese emperor sacrifice ceremony
2. Chinese emperor abdicating the throne
3. meditative concentration
4. dhyana, Zen Buddhism

Readings

• Go-on: ぜん (zen, Jōyō)
• Kan-on: せん (sen)
• Kun: しずか (shizuka, 禅)^{←しづか (siduka, 禅, historical)}; ゆずる (yuzuru, 禅る)^{←ゆづる (yuduru, 禅る, historical)}
• Nanori: さとり (satori); ゆずり (yuzuri)^{←ゆづり (yuduri, historical)}

Compounds

Compounds

• 禅刹(ぜんさつ) (zensatsu)
• 禅師(ぜんじ) (zenji)
• 禅定(ぜんじょう) (zenjō)
• 禅譲(ぜんじょう) (zenjō)
• 禅杖(ぜんじょう) (zenjō)
• 禅僧(ぜんそう) (zensō)
• 禅道(ぜんどう) (zendō)
• 禅那(ぜんな) (zenna)
• 禅味(ぜんみ) (zenmi)
• 禅門(ぜんもん) (zenmon)
• 禅林(ぜんりん) (zenrin)
• 座禅(ざぜん), 坐禅(ざぜん) (zazen, “sitting meditation”)
• 参禅(さんぜん) (sanzen)
• 四禅(しぜん) (shizen)
• 修禅(しゅぜん) (shuzen)
• 受禅(じゅぜん) (juzen)
• 封禅(ほうぜん) (hōzen)

Etymology

Kanji in this term
禅
ぜん Grade: S
on’yomi

Alternative spelling
禪 (kyūjitai)

Shortened from 禅那 (zenna, “Zen meditation practice”), from Middle Chinese 禪那 (MC dzyen na), a transliteration of Sanskrit ध्यान (dhyāna, “profound meditation”). Compare Pali jhāna.

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) ぜ​ん [zéꜜǹ] (Atamadaka – [1])
• (Tokyo) ぜん [zèń] (Heiban – [0])
• IPA^(key): [d͡zẽ̞ɴ]

Noun

禅(ぜん) • (zen) 

1. (Buddhism) dhyana-samadhi: This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

   Synonyms: 禅定 (zenjō), 禅那 (zenna)

2. (Buddhism) the disciplines and doctrine of Zen Buddhism
3. Short for 座禅 (zazen): a sitting position in a Zen meditation

Derived terms

Derived terms

• 禅院(ぜんいん) (zen'in)
• 禅客(ぜんかく) (zenkaku), 禅客(ぜんがく) (zengaku)
• 禅宗(ぜんしゅう) (Zenshū)
• 禅寺(ぜんでら) (zendera)
• 禅問答(ぜんもんどう) (zenmondō)
• 蝦蟇禅(がまぜん) (gamazen)
• 吹禅(すいぜん) (suizen, “blowing meditation”)
• 生禅(なまぜん) (namazen)
• 野狐禅(やこぜん) (yakozen, “someone who has not fully attained enlightenment, but puts on airs and becomes self-important as if they have”)

Proper noun

禅(ぜん) • (Zen) 

1. (Buddhism) Short for 禅宗 (Zenshū): Zen Buddhism
2. a surname

Descendants

• → English: Zen
• → French: zen
• → German: Zen
• → Spanish: Zen
• → Thai: เซน (seen), เซ็น (sen)

Korean

Hanja

禅 • (seon) (hangeul 선, revised seon, McCune–Reischauer sŏn, Yale sen)

1. Zen