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Nan
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Wu
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Nam
na kineskom
The character
pronounced Nam by Nichiren Buddhists is composed of two main Chinese characters.
Nan on top and Wu on the bottom.Nanwu has no meaning in Chinese. It is
a sound construct used by early Chinese Buddhists to imitate the sound
of the Sanskrit word "namas." Namas
is interpreted as "devotion". Well, not exactly. An old meaning of namas
is "yoke." If you try to go from yoke to devotion you may get lost.
Here's the
connection: Before mechanized times, people used beasts to aid them in
their work. Buffaloes or oxen were yoked together to pull heavy carts.
If one of these carts converged on a small village, a watchful person might
yell out "Namas!" meaning "yoke," indicating a large cart was coming. Large
carts carried riches, food, medicine, honored people, etc. Buddhists used
this term to mean, "hearken," "become aware," "pay close attention," and
"show respect" when a teaching of the Buddha was to be recited or preached.
Western scholars commonly translate "Namas" as "Hail!" Because the hearer
turned his total attention to what was being preached, the word came to
mean "Devotion."
Nan
Nan (the
top Chinese character used in Nam) is composed of three parts -- Shih,
Chiung and, Jen.
Shih
Most of
the time Shih (Jp. Ju) is the number 10. It is a cross. As an element of
Nan it is the five cardinal points. They are north, east, west, south and
center. The center being the most important because one's center determines
the other four cardinal points
Chiung
Chiung is
a bottomless box, an open space, freedom, a pasture, retirement. In Nan
it is a frontier.
Jen
Jen is a
compound. It looks like the yen symbol. It is an upside down person (an
offense) plus a second horizontal line. The second line indicates a repetition
of offenses, or simply a repetition. In Nan it means a repetition of vegetation
- a jungle. Shih,
Chiung and jen combine to form a descriptive compound that is the jungle
frontier south of China. By itself it means "South".
Wu
The bottom
half of Nam is the Chinese character "wu". (Pronounced "oh")
Wu
looks like a checkerboard with four dots under it. It is an image of men
felling a forest, (the semi-circle at the top-left is the radical for cutting).
It means vanishing, defect, want, or negation - a clearing. Follow the
images: A
person is surrounded in all directions by jungle vines; (his offenses.)
They cling, trip, tear at his flesh, and block the light, making progress
difficult. He is lost, turned around, and going deeper into the jungle.
This is the Nan of Nanwu. Wu
is the clearing. |
