Japanese terms

busshō仏性

• Buddha-nature (Zen). The teaching that all beings have the potential, or the nature, of a buddha.

kenshō見性

• Kenshō (Zen). In Zen, “seeing one’s nature”: an awakening to one’s buddha-nature.

kōan公案

• Kōan (Rinzai Zen). A paradoxical case or saying from the Chan and Zen masters, used as the focus of meditation to break through ordinary thinking.

nembutsu念仏

• Nembutsu (Pure Land Buddhism). Mindfulness of the Buddha, above all the recitation of Amida’s name, the central practice of Pure Land Buddhism.

satori悟り

• Enlightenment (Zen). Awakening; in Buddhism, the end of ignorance and suffering.
• Kenshō (Zen). In Zen, “seeing one’s nature”: an awakening to one’s buddha-nature.

tariki他力

• Other-power (Pure Land Buddhism). Reliance on the saving power of the Buddha’s vow rather than one’s own efforts, in Pure Land Buddhism.

The whole glossary