禅 (chán): dhyana (Sanskrit), Zen, meditation (Buddhism)
禅 (chán) is a Chinese character meaning “dhyana (sanskrit).” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 礻 (structural) and 单 (structural). It ranks #2146 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 禅 to pray 礻 alone 单; 单 also provides the pronunciation. Its radical form 礻 (spirit) appears in many related characters such as 票 (piào, ticket), 视 (shì, (literary, or bound form) to look at), 示 (shì, to show).
Definitions
- dhyana (Sanskrit)
- Zen
- meditation (Buddhism)
Etymology & Origin
ideographicTo pray 礻 alone 单; 单 also provides the pronunciation
Decomposition: ⿰礻单 (layout: left-right)
Stroke Order
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Words & Compounds
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 口头禅noun | kǒu tóu chán | Zen saying repeated as cant |
| 禅宗noun | chán zōng | Zen Buddhism |
| 禅师noun | chán shī | honorific title for a Buddhist monk |
| 坐禅verb | zuò chán | to sit in meditation |
| 禅房noun | chán fáng | a room in a Buddhist monastery |
| 禅修verb | chán xiū | to practice Zen (esp. meditation) |
| 班禅额尔德尼noun | bān chán é ěr dé ní | Panchen Erdeni or Panchen Lama |
| 禅门五宗 | chán mén wǔ zōng | the five schools of Chan Buddhism |
| 禅城区 | chán chéng qū | Chancheng, a district of Foshan City 佛山市, Guangdong |
| 禅机noun | chán jī | Buddhist allegorical word or gesture |
| 打禅 | dǎ chán | to meditate (of Buddhist) |
| 禅位verb | shàn wèi | to abdicate (as king) |
| 受禅verb | shòu shàn | to accept abdication |
| 禅让verb | shàn ràng | to abdicate |
| 禅院noun | chán yuàn | Buddhist hall |
禅 appears in 27 compound words: 52 as the first character, 37 as the last, and 11 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.
Strongest Collocations
Characters that most frequently co-occur with 禅 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (2)
Example Sentences
禅字虽然难写，但意思很有趣。
chán zì suī rán nán xiě , dàn yì sī hěn yǒu qù .
The character for "Zen" may be difficult to write, but its meaning is quite intriguing.
至今，福州西禅寺内，仍有宋代荔枝古树昂扬挺立，每到荔枝成熟季节便结出累累硕果。
zhì jīn , fú zhōu xī chán sì nèi , réng yǒu sòng dài 荔 zhī gǔ shù áng yáng tǐng lì , měi dào 荔 zhī chéng shú jì jié biàn jié chū lěi lěi shuò guǒ .
To this day, ancient lychee trees from the Song Dynasty still stand tall within Fuzhou’s Xichan Temple, bearing bountiful fruit every lychee season.
同时禅定过程中倒计时也有 Q 弹且伴有振动的动画。
tóng shí chán dìng guò chéng zhōng dǎo jì shí yě yǒu Q dàn qiě bàn yǒu zhèn dòng de dòng huà .
In addition, the countdown during meditation features a bouncy animation accompanied by vibrations.
在运城盐湖区寺北村，90后文保员赵波是千年古塔——泛舟禅师塔的专属守护者。
zài yùn chéng yán hú qū sì běi cūn , 9 0 hòu wén bǎo yuán zhào bō shì qiān nián gǔ tǎ — — fàn zhōu chán shī tǎ de zhuān shǔ shǒu hù zhě .
In Sibei Village, Yanhu District, Yuncheng, Zhao Bo, a cultural heritage preservation officer born in the 1990s, is the dedicated guardian of the millennia-old pagoda—the Pagoda of Master Fanzhou.
向国灿表示，未来，当地还要串联芦山禅寺、鲞架山遗址，让古老文明持续焕发新生。
xiàng guó càn biǎo shì , wèi lái , dāng dì hái yāo chuàn lián lú shān chán sì , 鲞 jià shān yí zhǐ , ràng gǔ lǎo wén míng chí xù huàn fā xīn shēng .
Xiang Guocan said that in the future, the local area plans to link Lushan Chan Temple with the Xingjia Mountain Ruins to ensure that this ancient civilization continues to be revitalized.
Character Family
Frequently Asked Questions
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