了了知 ryōryōchi Complete Understanding

Knowing clearly, clearly: a mind that sees what is in front of it as it is, with nothing left over and nothing clouding it. The phrase has been said in three ways, and the three characters hold all of them. The first is the complete, present knowing the sutras give the Buddha. The second is the plain knowing of a man who hears himself cursed, knows it, and does not answer. The third is the knowing Zen teachers point to, clear because there is nothing in it to be unclear about. Which of the three you see in the characters is yours.

Complete Understanding is our English for it. On its own 了 can mean to finish, but doubled it means clearly. Several of the designs write the second 了 as a repeat mark.

The three characters are an ordinary Buddhist phrase, in Chinese scripture from a translation of 179 and in a Tang poem of Hanshan's; the six-character Zen line they open, knowing clearly, seeing clearly, is found first with the Chinese master Mugaku Sogen, who used it twice, the second time to open the verse he gave the regent Hōjō Tokimune at his tonsure in 1284, on the day Tokimune died.

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

Each design is Master Japanese Calligrapher Eri Takase's hand-brushed calligraphy of the word or phrase on this page, delivered as a PDF you can print. Every PDF includes the line art, so a tattoo artist or a craftsperson can work from the outline as well as the brushed image.

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