森羅万象 shinrabanshō All of Creation

森羅 is ranged without number, as trees stand in a forest: 森 (shin) is the mass of trees and 羅 (ra) here is a net or a row. 万象 is the ten thousand forms, every shape a thing can take: 万 (ban) is ten thousand and 象 (shō) here is a form or appearance.

Today it is a plain Japanese word for the universe. Novelists have used it for all things, and a prime minister once said he was in charge of shinra banshō, everything there is.

All of Creation is how the dictionaries render it. It fits, because creation in English has long meant the world itself as much as the making of it.

森羅万象 is composed of the kanji 森 (read shin) meaning "forest; woods", 羅 (read ra) meaning "ranged in rows; spread out", 万 (read ban) meaning "ten thousand; 10,000", and 象 (read shō) meaning "form; phenomenon; appearance".

The phrase comes from the Chinese Buddhist canon, where among the texts CBETA dates it is first in a Tiantai commentary of the late sixth century, before the Chan masters used it in both orders; in Japanese, the first use the national dictionary gives is Dōgen's, in a chapter of the 正法眼蔵 dated 1243.

We want you to be as happy with the meaning as you are with Master Takase's art. To learn more, visit Philology of 森羅万象.

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