also: げんせい · げんぜ
this world; this life; the present world
Buddhist term contrasting the present world with the afterlife or past/future existences. Usually read げんせ.
Holocene epoch; current geological epoch
Only with reading げんせい
Geological term; reading is げんせい. Also referred to as 完新世.
See also: 完新世
Buddhism teaches that one's deeds in this world affect the next life.
He wished to escape the suffering of this world.
The Holocene is a geological epoch that began about 10,000 years ago.
In Buddhism, people continually question the meaning of living in this present world.
He became a monk and renounced this world.
此の世 is the everyday, plain word for 'this world', while 現世 is the more formal Buddhist term for the same idea.
現世 is the general term for 'this present life' or 'the present world', while 下界 is specifically the Buddhist term contrasting the human world with heaven.
現世 is the standard Buddhist term for “this world/this life,” while 現在 carries the same meaning only in a less common, secondary sense.
worldly benefits from Buddhist practice
Standard kanji spelling for the Buddhist sense; also used for the geological sense with reading げんせい.
Geological term for the Holocene epoch; reading げんせい is restricted to this sense.
Rare reading for the Buddhist sense; げんせ is the usual reading.
From 現 (present, current) + 世 (world, generation). The Buddhist sense is older; the geological sense is a modern calque.