禅心 -- ぜんこころ

[oliverf]

こんにちはみんなさん！！！

I found this calligraphy on the web and it says it mean "enlightened spirit".
I didnt find an exact meaning of these characters so I took each kanji's meaning and came up with a very odd result. Buddhism and mind/body/spirit.

My questions are:
1. What does these characters mean together and separately?
2. Why didn't they use 善instead for I think its closer to the meaning.
3. I also had a very hard time finding the exact kanji based from the calligraphy (the calligraphy characters are not the exact match of 禅心)... is it always like that - if I didn't know how it is read, I wont be able to figure out what the kanjis are.
4. I am also fascinated with calligraphy... is there any site that can help me study?

Thanks !!!

 

[undrentide]

The reason the kanji 禅 is used is because it is the kanji to indicate the particular philosophy of 禅 zen.
Zen - Wikipedia
心 means heart, spirit, mind, etc.

 

[oliverf]

Thanks Undertine!

Is there any rule in making noun an adjective?

The two characters are both nouns aren't they?
How would I know if the first describes the second or vise versa.

Can this also be translated as Zen being loving (as heart), or free (as a spirit), or wise (as mind)?

Thanks !

 

[undrentide]

Thanks Undertine!

Is there any rule in making noun an adjective?

The two characters are both nouns aren't they?
How would I know if the first describes the second or vise versa.

Can this also be translated as Zen being loving (as heart), or free (as a spirit), or wise (as mind)?

Thanks !

First of all, to me 窶狼ﾂ心 does not sound natural - if it is meant to be the mind that appreciate zen, we normally would write 窶狼窶堙個心 (spirit of zen).

There should be some rules for compound kanji (words consists of two kanji) but there is not just a simple rule that you can follow and coin words freely - if you are a beginner, I'd like to suggest to stick to the existing words. Each kanji has meaning but it could vary depending on the context, putting two kanji together does not always make a word that makes sense, and sometime it could convey something quite different what you have in mind.