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Samyak Smriti / Samyak Smrti / Samma Sati
正念 is one of the Noble Eightfold Paths of Buddhism. Right Mindfulness, along with Right Effort and Right Concentration, constitute the path to Concentration or Perfect Thought.
Right Mindfulness is about remaining focused on one's body, feelings, mind, and mental qualities. It's also about being ardent, aware, and mindful, and supposes that you've already put aside worldly desire and aversion.
Monk Bhikkhu Bodhi described this as “The mind is deliberately kept at the level of bare attention, a detached observation of what is happening within us and around us in the present moment.” When practicing right mindfulness, the mind is trained to remain in the present, open, quiet, and alert, contemplating the present event.
Another definition: Ongoing mindfulness of body, feelings, thinking, and objects of thought.
This term is exclusively used by devout Buddhists. It is not a common term, and is remains an unknown concept to most Japanese and Chinese people.
See Also: Buddhism | Enlightenment | Noble Eightfold Path
These are the eight tenets of the Buddhist Noble Eightfold Path written altogether.
Here's this list of tenets in English:
1. Right View / Right Understanding / Right Perspective / Perfect View
2. Right Resolve / Right Thought / Right Intention / Perfect Resolve
3. Right Speech / Right Talk / Perfect Speech
4. Right Action / Perfect Conduct
5. Right Living / Right Livelihood / Perfect Livelihood
6. Right Effort / Right Endeavor / Perfect Effort
7. Right Mindfulness / Right Memory / Perfect Mindfulness
8. Right Concentration / Perfect Concentration
念 is the simplest way to write “mindfulness” in Chinese, Japanese Kanji, and old Korean Hanja.
念 can be defined these ways: To read; to study (a degree course); to read aloud; to miss somebody (keeping them in your mind); idea; remembrance; sense; thought; feeling; desire; concern; attention; recollection; memory; to think on/about; reflect; repeat, intone; a moment.
Obviously, the context in which the character is used determines which definition or meaning is perceived. As a single character, it's open and perhaps ambiguous. Thus, it can be read with any or all of these meanings.
念 is used in a Buddhist context (often written as 正念 or “right mindfulness”) with similar meanings of thought and contemplation.
In Japanese, this character is sometimes used as the name “Nen.”
See Also: Buddhism | Enlightenment
Below are some entries from our dictionary that may match your right memory search...
| Characters If shown, 2nd row is Simp. Chinese |
Pronunciation Romanization |
Simple Dictionary Definition |
八正道 see styles |
bā zhèng dào ba1 zheng4 dao4 pa cheng tao hasshōdō はっしょうどう |
More info & calligraphy: The Noble Eightfold Path(Buddhist term) noble eightfold path (八正道分) Āryamārga. The eight right or correct ways, the "eightfold noble path" for the arhat to nirvāṇa; also styled 八道船, 八正門, 八由行, 八游行, 八聖道支, 八道行, 八直行, 八直道. The eight are: (1) 正見Samyag-dṛṣṭi, correct views in regard to the Four Axioms, and freedom from the common delusion. (2) 正思 Samyak-saṁkalpa, correct thought and purpose. (3) 正語 Samyag-vāc, correct speech, avoidance of false and idle talk. (4) 正業 Samyak-karmānta, correct deed, or conduct, getting rid of all improper action so as to dwell in purity. (5) 正命 Smnyag-ājīva, correct livelihood or occupation, avoiding the five immoral occupations. (6) 正精進 Samyag-vyāyāma, correct zeal, or energy in uninterrupted progress in the way of nirvāṇa. (7) 正念 Samyak-smṛti, correct remembrance, or memory, which retains the true and excludes the false. (8) 正定 Samyak-samadhi, correct meditation, absorption, or abstraction. The 正 means of course Buddhist orthodoxy, anything contrary to this being 邪 or heterodox, and wrong. |
The following table may be helpful for those studying Chinese or Japanese...
| Title | Characters | Romaji (Romanized Japanese) | Various forms of Romanized Chinese | |
| 7. Right Mindfulness Right Memory Perfect Mindfulness | 正念 | sei nen / seinen | zhèng niàn zheng4 nian4 zheng nian zhengnian | cheng nien chengnien |
| All Tenets of the Noble Eightfold Path | 正見正思唯正語正業正命正精進正念正定 正见正思唯正语正业正命正精进正念正定 | shouken shoushiyui shougo shougo shoumyou shoushoujin shounen shoujou shoken shoshiyui shogo shogo shomyo shoshojin shonen shojo | zhèng jiàn zhèng sī wéi zhèng yǔ zhèng yè zhèng mìng zhèng jīng jìn zhèng niàn zhèng dìng zheng4 jian4 zheng4 si1 wei2 zheng4 yu3 zheng4 ye4 zheng4 ming4 zheng4 jing1 jin4 zheng4 nian4 zheng4 ding4 zheng jian zheng si wei zheng yu zheng ye zheng ming zheng jing jin zheng nian zheng ding | cheng chien cheng ssu wei cheng yü cheng yeh cheng ming cheng ching chin cheng nien cheng ting |
| Mindfulness | 念 | nen | niàn / nian4 / nian | nien |
| 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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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.
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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 Right Memory Kanji, Right Memory Characters, Right Memory in Mandarin Chinese, Right Memory Characters, Right Memory in Chinese Writing, Right Memory in Japanese Writing, Right Memory in Asian Writing, Right Memory Ideograms, Chinese Right Memory symbols, Right Memory Hieroglyphics, Right Memory Glyphs, Right Memory in Chinese Letters, Right Memory Hanzi, Right Memory in Japanese Kanji, Right Memory Pictograms, Right Memory in the Chinese Written-Language, or Right Memory in the Japanese Written-Language.