Zen

See also: zen, zeń, zèn, zěn, zen-, žen, and źeń

English

Alternative forms

• zen

Etymology

From Japanese 禅(ぜん) (zen), from Middle Chinese 禪 (MC dzyen), an abbreviation of 禪那 (MC dzyen na), from Sanskrit ध्यान (dhyāna, “a type of meditation”). Akin to dhyana.

Pronunciation

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

Zen (uncountable)

1. (religion) A denomination of Buddhism elaborated in Japan.
2. (religion) Profound meditation within that denomination of Buddhism.
3. (informal) A philosophy of calm, reminiscent of that of the Buddhist denomination.

Usage notes

Usually capitalized in all senses, almost always when talking about the denomination proper (compare Catholicism), usually but less often when referring to a looser sense of the philosophy or calm: “That’s very zen.” versus “She studies Zen Buddhism.”

Related terms

• Zen garden
• Zenji

Translations

denomination of Buddhism

• Arabic: زَن m (zan), زِن m (zin), زِن m (zen)
• Armenian: ձեն (hy) (jen)
• Bashkir: Дзэн (Dzen)
• Burmese: ဇင်ဗုဒ္ဓဘာသာ (jangbuddha.bhasa)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 禪／禅 (zh), 禅 (zh) (chán), 禪宗／禅宗 (zh) (chánzōng), 禅宗 (zh) (chánzōng)

  Min Nan: 禪／禅 (zh-min-nan) (siân), 禪宗／禅宗 (siân-chong)

• Finnish: zenbuddhalaisuus (fi), zenbuddhismi
• French: zen (fr) m
• Georgian: ძენი (ʒeni)
• German: Zen (de) m
• Greek: Ζεν (Zen)
• Hebrew: זן (he)
• Hindi: ज़ेन (zen), झेन (jhen)
• Irish: Búdachas Zen m, Zen m
• Japanese: 禅 (ja) (ぜん, zen), 禅宗 (zenshū)
• Kazakh: Дзен (Dzen)
• Korean: 선 (ko) (seon) (禪 (ko)), 선종 (ko) (seonjong)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Lao: ເຊັນ (sen)
• Malayalam: സെൻ (seṉ)
• Marathi: जेन (zena)
• Persian: ذن (fa)
• Portuguese: zen (pt) m
• Punjabi: ਜ਼ੇਨ (zen)
• Russian: дзэн (ru) m (dzɛn), дзен (ru) m (dzen)
• Sanskrit: ध्यान (sa) m (dhyāna)
• Sinhalese: සෙන් (sen)
• Spanish: budismo zen m
• Telugu: జెన్ (jen)
• Thai: เซน (seen)
• Tibetan: ཟེན (zen)
• Urdu: زین (zen)
• Vietnamese: thiền (vi) (禪 (vi))
• Western Panjabi: زین
• Yiddish: זען (zen)

philosophy

• Arabic: زن m
• Armenian: ձեն (hy) (jen)
• Bashkir: Дзэн (Dzen)
• Burmese: ဇင်ဗုဒ္ဓဘာသာ (jangbuddha.bhasa)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 禪／禅 (zh), 禅 (zh) (chán)

• Finnish: zen (fi)
• French: zen (fr) m
• Georgian: ძენი (ʒeni)
• German: Zen (de) m
• Greek: Ζεν (Zen)
• Hebrew: זן (he)
• Hindi: झेन (jhen), ज़ेन (zen)
• Japanese: 禅 (ja) (ぜん, zen)
• Kazakh: Дзен (Dzen)
• Korean: 선 (ko) (seon) (禪 (ko))
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Lao: ເຊັນ (sen)
• Malayalam: സെൻ (seṉ)
• Marathi: जेन (zena)
• Persian: ذن (fa)
• Portuguese: zen (pt) m
• Punjabi: ਜ਼ੇਨ (zen)
• Russian: дзэн (ru) m (dzɛn), дзен (ru) m (dzen)
• Sinhalese: සෙන් (sen)
• Telugu: జెన్ (jen)
• Thai: เซน (seen)
• Tibetan: ཟེན (zen)
• Urdu: زین (zen)
• Vietnamese: thiền (vi) (禪 (vi))
• Western Panjabi: زین
• Yiddish: זען (zen)

Adjective

Zen (comparative more Zen, superlative most Zen)

1. (colloquial) Extremely relaxed and collected.

Anagrams

• Enz, NZE

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German

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

Zen m

1. (Buddhism) zen (denomination of Buddhism)

Further reading

• “Zen” in Duden online

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Irish

Proper noun

Zen m

1. (Buddhism) Zen

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Japanese

Romanization

Zen

1. Rōmaji transcription of ぜん