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Personalize your custom “Life Force” project by clicking the button next to your favorite “Life Force” title below...
1. Life Force
2. Life Energy / Spiritual Energy
3. Vitality
4. Mujo no Kaze / Wind of Impermanence
6. Reiki
This Chinese, Korean and Japanese word means “life force” or simply “life.”
The first character means “life” or “birth.” The second means “life” or “fate.” Together they create the meaning of “life force,” though some will translate this as “existence” and sometimes “vitality.”
Chi Energy: Essence of Life / Energy Flow
This 氣 energy flow is a fundamental concept of traditional Asian culture.
氣 is romanized as “Qi” or “Chi” in Chinese, “Gi” in Korean, and “Ki” in Japanese.
Chi is believed to be part of everything that exists, as in “life force” or “spiritual energy.” It is most often translated as “energy flow” or literally as “air” or “breath.” Some people will simply translate this as “spirit,” but you must consider the kind of spirit we're talking about. I think this is weighted more toward energy than spirit.
The character itself is a representation of steam (or breath) rising from rice. To clarify, the character for rice looks like this:
Steam was apparently seen as visual evidence of the release of “life energy” when this concept was first developed. The Qi / Chi / Ki character is still used in compound words to mean steam or vapor.
The etymology of this character is a bit complicated. It's suggested that the first form of this character from bronze script (about 2500 years ago) looked like these samples:
However, it was easy to confuse this with the character for the number three. So the rice radical was added by 221 B.C. (the exact time of this change is debated). This first version with the rice radical looks like this:
The idea of Qi / Chi / Ki is really a philosophical concept. It's often used to refer to the “flow” of metaphysical energy that sustains living beings. Yet there is much debate that has continued for thousands of years as to whether Qi / Chi / Ki is pure energy or consists partially or fully of matter.
You can also see the character for Qi / Chi / Ki in common compound words such as Tai Chi / Tai Qi, Aikido, Reiki, and Qi Gong / Chi Kung.
In the modern Japanese Kanji, the rice radical has been changed into two strokes that form an X.
The original and traditional Chinese form is still understood in Japanese, but we can also offer that modern Kanji form in our custom calligraphy. If you want this Japanese Kanji, please click on the character to the right instead of the “Select and Customize” button above.
More language notes: This is pronounced like “chee” in Mandarin Chinese, and like “key” in Japanese.
This is also the same way to write this in Korean Hanja where it is Romanized as “gi” and pronounced like “gee” but with a real G-sound, not a J-sound.
Though Vietnamese no longer use Chinese characters in their daily language, this character is still widely known in Vietnam.
生命力 can mean “vitality” or “libido.”
The first two characters mean “life” or “life force.” The last character is a common word that means “strength.” So together, you get the meaning of “life strength” which is the essence of vitality.
Some will also translate this word as “good health.”
See Also: Health
無常の風 is an old Japanese proverb that means the wind of impermanence or the wind of change in Japanese.
This can refer to the force that ends life, like the wind scattering a flower's petals. Life is yet another impermanent existence that is fragile, blown out like a candle.
The first two characters mean uncertainty, transiency, impermanence, mutability, variable, and/or changeable.
In some Buddhist contexts, 無常 can be analogous to a spirit departing at death (with a suggestion of the impermanence of life).
The last two characters mean “of wind” or a possessive like “wind of...” but Japanese grammar will have the wind come last in the phrase.
魂の伴侶 is a Japanese-only title for soulmates.
魂 means soul, spirit, immortal soul (the part of you that lives beyond your physical body), or the conscious mind. In the Buddhist context, this is vijñāna or viññāṇa (consciousness, life force, or mind).
の is a possessive article that connects everything here.
伴侶 means mates, companions, partners, and spouses.
靈氣 is the title of a healing practice now found globally but with origins in Japan.
Special note: Outside of the context of the healing practice of Reiki, this means “aura” or “spiritual essence that surrounds all living things.” A Japanese person unfamiliar with the practice will take the “aura” meaning.
Reiki is a technique for stress reduction and relaxation that also heals. It can be compared to massage but is based on the idea that an unseen “life force energy” flows through us and is what causes us to be alive. If your life force energy is low, you'll be more likely to get sick or feel stressed. If your life force energy is abundant and flowing well, you become more capable of being happy and healthy.
There is a lot of information available if you want to Google this term - my job is to offer the calligraphy while you can decide if it is right for you.
Note: We are showing the ancient (traditional) form of the Reiki Kanji. I have seen Reiki written with the slightly simplified version and this more classic form. If you want the form of Reiki with the two strokes in the shape of an X on the second character and the modern first character, simply click on the Kanji characters to the right.
Note: 靈氣 is also a Chinese word, but in Chinese, these characters create a word that refers to a smart person or someone with high aspirations. It is not read as a healing method in Chinese.
In Korean Hanja, this can be read as a “mysterious atmosphere” by a Korean who is not familiar with the practice of Reiki (still has a cool meaning in Korean).
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Below are some entries from our dictionary that may match your life force search...
Characters If shown, 2nd row is Simp. Chinese |
Pronunciation Romanization |
Simple Dictionary Definition |
生命 see styles |
shēng mìng sheng1 ming4 sheng ming seimei / seme せいめい |
More info & calligraphy: Life Force(1) life; existence; (n,n-suf) (2) (See 役者生命) (one's) working life; career; (3) (occ. read いのち) life force; lifeblood; soul; essence |
生命力 see styles |
shēng mìng lì sheng1 ming4 li4 sheng ming li seimeiryoku / semeryoku せいめいりょく |
More info & calligraphy: Vitalityvitality; (one's) life force |
炁 see styles |
qì qi4 ch`i chi |
(Daoism) Qi; vital force; life force (variant of 氣|气[qi4]) |
勢い see styles |
ikioi いきおい |
(adv,n) (1) force; vigor; vigour; energy; spirit; life; (2) influence; authority; power; might; (3) impetus; momentum; course (of events); (adverbial noun) (4) naturally; necessarily; (surname) Ikioi |
命根 see styles |
mìng gēn ming4 gen1 ming ken meikon / mekon めいこん |
lifeblood; the thing that one cherishes most in life; (coll.) family jewels (male genitals) life A root, or basis for life, or reincarnation, the nexus of Hīnayāna between two life-periods, accepted by Mahāyāna as nominal but not real. |
神気 see styles |
shinki しんき |
(1) qi; mysterious life force that makes up everything; (2) spirits; mind; (3) divine atmosphere; mysterious presence; (surname) Kamiki |
気血水 see styles |
kikessui きけっすい |
life force, blood, and colourless bodily fluids (three elements that constitute an organism according to traditional Chinese medicine) |
生大刀 see styles |
ikutachi いくたち |
(archaism) sword brimming over with life force |
浩然の気 see styles |
kouzennoki / kozennoki こうぜんのき |
(exp,n) (1) (from Mencius) universal life force; source of animation for all things; (exp,n) (2) free spirit; mindset unencumbered with worldly concerns |
凡夫十重妄 see styles |
fán fū shí zhòng wàng fan2 fu1 shi2 zhong4 wang4 fan fu shih chung wang bonbu jū jūmō |
The serious misfortunes of the sinful man in whom the Ālaya-vijñāna, the fundamental intelligence, or life force, of everyman, is still unenlightened; they are compared to ten progressive stages of a dream in which a rich man sees himself become poor and in prison. |
Variations: |
ikioi(p); ikiyoi(ik) いきおい(P); いきよい(ik) |
(1) force; vigor; vigour; energy; spirit; life; (2) influence; authority; power; might; (3) impetus; momentum; course (of events); (adverb) (4) naturally; necessarily |
The following table may be helpful for those studying Chinese or Japanese...
Title | Characters | Romaji (Romanized Japanese) | Various forms of Romanized Chinese | |
Life Force | 生命 | seimei / inochi | shēng mìng sheng1 ming4 sheng ming shengming | |
Life Energy Spiritual Energy | 氣 气 / 気 | ki | qì / qi4 / qi | ch`i / chi |
Vitality | 生命力 | seimeiryoku | shēng mìng lì sheng1 ming4 li4 sheng ming li shengmingli | |
Mujo no Kaze Wind of Impermanence | 無常の風 | mu jou no kaze mujounokaze mu jo no kaze | ||
Spiritual Soul Mates | 魂の伴侶 | tamashii no han ryo tamashiinohanryo tamashi no han ryo | ||
Reiki | 靈氣 灵气 霊気 | reiki | líng qì / ling2 qi4 / ling qi / lingqi | ling ch`i / lingchi / ling chi |
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. |
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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.
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.
Some people may refer to this entry as Life Force Kanji, Life Force Characters, Life Force in Mandarin Chinese, Life Force Characters, Life Force in Chinese Writing, Life Force in Japanese Writing, Life Force in Asian Writing, Life Force Ideograms, Chinese Life Force symbols, Life Force Hieroglyphics, Life Force Glyphs, Life Force in Chinese Letters, Life Force Hanzi, Life Force in Japanese Kanji, Life Force Pictograms, Life Force in the Chinese Written-Language, or Life Force in the Japanese Written-Language.
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