禪

See also: 禅

Translingual

Traditional	禪
Shinjitai	禅
Simplified	禅

Han character

禪 (radical 113 示+12, 17 strokes, cangjie input 戈火口口十 (IFRRJ), four-corner 3625₆, composition ⿰礻單)

Descendants

• 禅 – note difference in simplified Chinese 禅 and Japanese shinjitai 禅.

References

• KangXi: page 846, character 36
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 24835
• Dae Jaweon: page 1267, character 26
• Hanyu Da Zidian: volume 4, page 2408, character 10
• Unihan data for U+79AA

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Chinese

trad.		禪
simp.		禅

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 禪
Large seal script	Small seal script

Characters in the same phonetic series (單) (Zhengzhang, 2003)
	Old Chinese
嚲	*taːlʔ
癉	*taːlʔ, *taːls, *taːn, *daːn
奲	*taːlʔ, *tʰjaːlʔ
驒	*daːl, *daːn, *teːn
鼉	*daːl
磾	*teːl
鷤	*deːl, *deːls, *daːn
觶	*tjal, *tjals
單	*taːn, *djan, *djanʔ, *djans
鄲	*taːn
殫	*taːn
簞	*taːn
匰	*taːn
襌	*taːn
啴	*tʰaːn
彈	*daːn, *daːns
貚	*daːn, *deːn
撣	*daːn, *daːnʔ, *daːns, *djan, *taːnʔ
潬	*daːnʔ
僤	*daːnʔ, *daːns, *djan
憚	*daːns
樿	*tjanʔ
燀	*tjanʔ, *tʰjan, *tʰjanʔ
戰	*tjans
闡	*tʰjanʔ
繟	*tʰjanʔ
幝	*tʰjanʔ
嘽	*tʰjanʔ
灛	*tʰjanʔ
蟬	*djan
禪	*djan, *djans
嬋	*djan
墠	*djanʔ
鱓	*djanʔ
蕇	*teːnʔ

Phono-semantic compound (形聲, OC *djan, *djans): semantic 示 + phonetic 單 ‎(OC *taːn, *djan, *djanʔ, *djans).

Etymology 1

Short for 禪那, which is a phonetic borrowing from Sanskrit ध्यान ‎(dhyāna, “dhyana”).

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): chán (chan²)

  (Zhuyin): ㄔㄢˊ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): sim⁴, sin⁴
• Wu (Wiktionary): zoe (T3)

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese, Beijing)⁺
    • Pinyin: chán
    • Zhuyin: ㄔㄢˊ
    • Wade-Giles: ch'an²
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: chanr
    • IPA ^(key): /ʈ͡ʂʰa̠n³⁵/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou)⁺
    • Jyutping: sim⁴, sin⁴
    • Yale: sìhm, sìhn
    • Cantonese Pinyin: sim⁴, sin⁴
    • IPA ^(key): /siːm²¹/, /siːn²¹/
    • Note: sim4 - from dissimilation of initial and coda. Compare 蟬.
• Wu
  • (Shanghainese)
    • Wiktionary: zoe (T3)
    • IPA ^(key): /z̻ø²³/

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• Middle Chinese: /d͡ʑiᴇn/▼

Rime
Character	禪
Reading #	1/2
Initial (聲)	常 (25)
Final (韻)	仙 (77)
Tone (調)	Level (Ø)
Openness (開合)	Open
Division (等)	III
Fanqie	市連切
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/d͡ʑiᴇn/
Pan Wuyun	/d͡ʑiɛn/
Shao Rongfen	/d͡ʑjæn/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/d͡ʑian/
Li Rong	/ʑiɛn/
Wang Li	/ʑĭɛn/
Bernard Karlgren	/ʑi̯ɛn/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	chán

• Old Chinese▼

  (Zhengzhang): /*djan/

Zhengzhang system (2003)
Character	禪
Reading #	1/2
No.	2031
Phonetic component	單
Rime group	元
Rime subdivision	1
Corresponding MC rime	鋋
Old Chinese	/*djan/

Definitions

禪

1. (Buddhism) dhyana; deep meditation; contemplation
2. Buddhist doctrine; Buddhist teachings
3. relating to Buddhism; Buddhist; thoughtful; philosophical

Compounds

Derived terms from 禪

• 一味禪／一味禅
• 參禪／参禅 (cānchán)
• 口頭禪／口头禅 (kǒutóuchán)
• 四禪八定／四禅八定
• 坐禪／坐禅 (zuòchán)
• 安禪／安禅
• 悟禪／悟禅
• 打禪／打禅
• 打禪七／打禅七
• 枯禪／枯禅
• 牛頭禪／牛头禅
• 班禪／班禅 (bānchán)
• 班禪喇嘛／班禅喇嘛 (bānchán lǎma)
• 看話禪／看话禅
• 禪七／禅七

• 禪味／禅味
• 禪和子／禅和子
• 禪堂／禅堂
• 禪學／禅学
• 禪宗／禅宗
• 禪宗七祖／禅宗七祖
• 禪定／禅定 (chándìng)
• 禪客／禅客
• 禪室／禅室
• 禪寂／禅寂
• 禪寺／禅寺
• 禪師／禅师
• 禪床／禅床
• 禪心／禅心
• 禪悅／禅悦

• 禪房／禅房
• 禪數／禅数
• 禪杖／禅杖 (chánzhàng)
• 禪林／禅林
• 禪椅／禅椅
• 禪機／禅机
• 禪號／禅号
• 禪詩／禅诗
• 禪那／禅那 (chánnuó)
• 禪門五宗／禅门五宗
• 禪關／禅关
• 野狐禪／野狐禅 (yěhúchán)
• 面壁坐禪／面壁坐禅
• 默照禪／默照禅

Etymology 2

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): shàn (shan⁴)

  (Zhuyin): ㄕㄢˋ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): sin⁶
• Wu (Wiktionary): zoe (T3)

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese, Beijing)⁺
    • Pinyin: shàn
    • Zhuyin: ㄕㄢˋ
    • Wade-Giles: shan⁴
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: shann
    • IPA ^(key): /ʂa̠n⁵¹/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou)⁺
    • Jyutping: sin⁶
    • Yale: sihn
    • Cantonese Pinyin: sin⁶
    • IPA ^(key): /siːn²²/
• Wu
  • (Shanghainese)
    • Wiktionary: zoe (T3)
    • IPA ^(key): /z̻ø²³/

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• Middle Chinese: /d͡ʑiᴇn^H/▼

Rime
Character	禪
Reading #	2/2
Initial (聲)	常 (25)
Final (韻)	仙 (77)
Tone (調)	Departing (H)
Openness (開合)	Open
Division (等)	III
Fanqie	時戰切
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/d͡ʑiᴇnH/
Pan Wuyun	/d͡ʑiɛnH/
Shao Rongfen	/d͡ʑjænH/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/d͡ʑianH/
Li Rong	/ʑiɛnH/
Wang Li	/ʑĭɛnH/
Bernard Karlgren	/ʑi̯ɛnH/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	shàn

• Old Chinese▼

  (Baxter-Sagart): /*[d]ar-s/

  (Zhengzhang): /*djans/

Baxter-Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character	禪
Reading #	1/1
Modern Beijing (Pinyin)	shàn
Middle Chinese	‹ dzyenH ›
Old Chinese	/*[d]ar-s/
English	hand over to another
Notes for Old Chinese notations in the Baxter-Sagart system: * Parentheses "()" indicate uncertain presence; * Square brackets "[]" indicate uncertain identity, e.g. *[t] as coda may in fact be *-t or *-p; * Angle brackets "<>" indicate infix; * Hyphen "-" indicates morpheme boundary; * Period "." indicates syllable boundary.

Zhengzhang system (2003)
Character	禪
Reading #	2/2
No.	2036
Phonetic component	單
Rime group	元
Rime subdivision	1
Corresponding MC rime	繕
Old Chinese	/*djans/

Definitions

禪

1. to worship (nature)
2. to abdicate
3. to hand over
4. to inherit

Compounds

Derived terms from 禪

• 受禪／受禅 (shòushàn)
• 封禪／封禅 (fēngshàn)

• 禪位／禅位 (shànwèi)

• 禪讓／禅让 (shànràng)

References

• (Cantonese) Multi-function Chinese Character Database (漢語多功能字庫)

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Japanese

Kanji

禪

(“Jinmeiyō” kanji used for names, kyūjitai kanji, shinjitai form 禅)

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

Readings

• On: ぜん (zen), せん (sen)
• Kun: ゆずる (yuzuru), しずか (shizuka)

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Korean

Hanja

禪 • ‎(seon) (hangeul 선, revised seon, McCune-Reischauer sŏn, Yale sen)

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

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Vietnamese

Han character

禪 (thiền, thiện, xèng)

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.