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無念無想 (むねんむそう, munenmusou) Japanese meaning | Kotomora

無む念ねん無む想そう

む

ね

ん

む

そ

う

Meanings

1

free from worldly or worthless thoughts

yojijukugo (four-character idiom)›

A yojijukugo describing a state of mental emptiness or detachment from distracting, mundane, or unwholesome thoughts, often associated with Zen or meditative practice.

座ざ禅ぜんを組くんで無む念ねん無む想そうの境きょう地

ち

に

入はい

る

。

I sit in zazen and enter a state free from worldly thoughts.

Kanji

無nothingness, none, ain't
念wish, sense, idea
想idea, thought, conception

Related words

無む心しん
無心 also means 'innocence' or 'free from distracting thoughts', but is more common and can also mean 'begging' or 'asking for something' in other contexts. 無念無想 is more explicitly about a meditative state of no-thought.

Built from

無む念ねん+無む想そう

Etymology

A yojijukugo composed of 無念 (no thought, no worldly concern) and 無想 (no conception, no mental image). The exact historical derivation is uncertain; it is conventionally associated with Buddhist meditation terminology.