Zen / Chan / Meditation

Chinese / Japanese Kanji / old Korean Hanja Calligraphy Painting

This is the character that is Romanized and pronounced "Zen" in Japanese. This character actually means "meditation" and is often associated with a practice (and sect) of "Meditation Buddhism" or "Zen Buddhism". This character and concept originally came from China, where this character is Romanized and pronounced "Chan".

The form written on this painting is one of a couple alternates used in China and Japan:
This form can be considered the traditional Chinese and ancient Japanese form. Here's some info about the other ways to write this character...

In modern Japan, it's often written with three dots above the radical on the right:
In China, this character was sometimes written in an alternate or "shorthand" form: This form is now the official Simplified Chinese version, but this form has existed for over a thousand years.

Want a Zen painting completely customized to your desires?
Link: Options for custom Zen and Chan-related Chinese/Japanese/Korean calligraphy are available here!

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This calligraphy was created by Li Dan-Qing of Beijing, China. Materials are xuan paper (known in the west incorrectly as "rice paper") mounted as a portrait with silk brocade border.