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Zen

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Zen is a type of Buddhism that focuses on awareness through the practice of meditation. (noun)

An example of Zen is a rock garden that is tended to meditate.

Zen is slang for feeling peaceful and relaxed. (adjective)

An example of zen as an adjective is to have a zen experience, how you feel during a day at the spa.

See Zen in Webster's New World College Dictionary

noun

a variety of Buddhism, now practiced esp. in Japan, Vietnam, and Korea, seeking to attain an intuitive illumination of mind and spirit through meditation, esp. on paradoxes
the teachings and discipline of this kind of Buddhism

adjective

designating or of Zen Buddhism

See Zen in American Heritage Dictionary 4

(zĕn)

noun

A school of Mahayana Buddhism that asserts that enlightenment can be attained through meditation, self-contemplation, and intuition rather than through faith and devotion and that is practiced mainly in China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam. Also called Zen Buddhism.

Word History: It is hard to believe that a word as Asian as Zen is ultimately an Indo-European word. Zen, which has been in English since 1727, is the Japanese pronunciation of Chinese chán, “quietude.” Chán comes from Pali jhānaṃ, from Sanskrit dhyānam, “meditation,” from the Sanskrit root dhyā-, dhī-, “to see, observe.” The Indo-European root behind the Sanskrit is *dheiə-, *dhyā-, “to see, look at.” This root also shows up in Greek, where *dhyā- developed into sā-, as in Common Greek *sāma, “sign, distinguishing mark.” This became sēma in Attic Greek, the source of English semantic.

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