This is the glossary of Japanese Buddhism, including major terms the casual (or brand-new) reader might find useful in understanding articles on the subject. Words followed by an asterisk (*) are illustrated by an image in one of the photo galleries. Within definitions, words set in boldface are defined elsewhere in the glossary.
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- saisen-bako* (賽銭箱) – a box collecting the offerings (saisen) from worshipers, usually situated in front of an object of worship or a hall at temples and shrines.
- sai-dō (斎堂) – the refectory at a Zen temple or monastery.[2] See also jiki-dō.
- sandō* (参道)- the approach leading from a torii to a shrine. The term is also used sometimes at Buddhist temples too.
- sangō (山号) – the so-called "mountain name" of a temple, always ending in "mount" (山), read -zan (e.g. "Tōeizan Kan'ei-ji Endon'in") or -san. The other two are, in order, the jigō and the ingō. The use of the sangō came into fashion after the arrival of Zen Buddhism to Japan, therefore not all temples have one.
- san-in-jigō (山院寺号) – a temple's full name.
- sanmon* (三門 or 山門) – the gate in front of the butsuden.[1] The name is short for Sangedatsumon (三解脱門), lit. Gate of the three liberations.[1] Its three openings (kūmon (空門), musōmon (無相門) and muganmon (無願門)) symbolize the three gates to enlightenment.[1] Entering, one can free himself from three passions (貪 ton, or greed, 瞋 shin, or hatred, and 癡 chi, or "foolishness"). See also mon. Its size depends on the temple's rank. (See photos.)
- sanrō* (山廊) – small buildings at the ends of a two-storied Zen gate containing the stairs to the second story.
- satori (悟り) – lit. "understanding". Japanese term for Buddhist enlightenment.
- Segaki (施餓鬼, lit. "Feeding/Appeasing the Hungry Ghost") – A ritual of Japanese Buddhism, traditionally performed to stop the suffering of the Gaki (餓鬼, lit. "Hungry Ghosts"), Jikininki (食人鬼, lit. "Man-eating Ghost/Oni") and Muenbotoke (無縁仏, lit. "Without Buddha")—the spirit of a departed mortal human with no living connections amongst the living; the dead who have no living relatives—ghosts tormented by insatiable 'hunger'. Alternatively, the ritual may be performed so-as to force them to return to their portion of hell, or-else keeps the spirits of the dead from falling into the realm of the Gaki in the first place. The Segaki may be performed at any time, but it is traditionally performed as part of the yearly Ō-Bon Festival services in July to remember the dead and the Segaki ritual for offering alms to specifically Gaki &/or Muenbotoke, but not for the spirits of one's ancestor.
- seisatsu*(制札) – a signboard containing announcements and rules for worshipers.
- sekitō (石塔) – a stone pagoda (stupa).[2] See also tō
- Senbi Kannon (千臂観音) – See Senju Kannon.
- Senju Kannon (千手観音) – the thousand-armed Goddess of Mercy. As a symbol of her mercy, the deity has also a thousand eyes (not present in statues for practical reasons) and is consequently often called Senju Sengen Kanjizai Bosatsu (千手千眼観自在菩薩) or simply Senju Sengen Kannon (千手千眼観音, thousand-armed, thousand-eyed Kannon).[1]
- Shaka Nyorai – Japanese name of Shakyamuni, or Gautama Buddha.
- Shaka Sanzon (釈迦三尊) – the Shakyamuni Trinity, three statues representing Gautama Buddha "Shakyamuni" flanked by two other deities, which can be either Monju Bosatsu and Fugen Bosatsu or another pair.[2]
- shichidō garan* (七堂伽藍) – a double compound term literally meaning "seven halls" (七堂) and "(temple) buildings" (伽藍). What is counted in the group of seven buildings, or shichidō, can vary greatly from temple to temple and from school to school. In practice, shichidō garan can also mean simply a large complex.
- Nanto Rokushū and later non-Zen schools: The shichidō garan in this case includes a kon-dō, a tō, a kō-dō, a shōrō, a jiki-dō, a sōbō, and a kyōzō.[2]
- Zen schools: A Zen shichidō garan includes a butsuden or butsu-dō, a hattō, a ku'in, a sō-dō, a sanmon, a tōsu and a yokushitsu.[2]
- shimenawa* (標縄・注連縄・七五三縄) – lit. "enclosing rope". A length of braided rice straw rope used for ritual purification often found at temples too.
- shinbutsu bunri (神仏分離) – the forbidding by law of the syncretism of Shinto and Buddhism, and the effort to create a clear division between Shinto and Buddhism on one side, and Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines on the other.
- shinbutsu kakuri (神仏隔離) − the tendency in medieval and early modern Japan to keep particular kami separate from any form or manifestation of Buddhism.
- shinbutsu shūgō (神仏習合) – syncretism of Buddhism and local religious beliefs, the normal state of things before the shinbutsu bunri.
- Shinjin (信心) - true entrusting, shin (信) to mean truth, reality, sincerity; jin (心) means mind
- Shi Tennō* (四天王) – the Four Heavenly Kings are the statues of four protector gods (the Deva Kings).
- shoin (書院) – originally a study and a place for lectures on the sutra within a temple, later the term came to mean just a study.[2]
- shōrō (鐘楼)* – a temple's belfry, a building from which a bell is hung.
- Sixteen Arhats – See Jūroku Rakan.
- sōbō (僧坊)* – The monks' living quarters in a non-Zen garan
- sō-dō* (僧堂) – Lit. "monk hall". A building dedicated to the practice of Zazen.[2] It used to be dedicated to all kinds of activities, from eating to sleeping, centered on zazen.
- sōmon* (総門) – the gate at the entrance of a temple.[2] It precedes the bigger and more important sanmon. See also mon.
- sōrin* (相輪) – a spire reaching up from the center of the roof of some temple halls, tiered like a pagoda.
- sotoba* or sotōba (卒塔婆) – transliteration of the Sanskrit stupa.
- A pagoda. Tower with an odd number of tiers (three, five, seven nine, or thirteen). See also stupa.
- Strips of wood left behind tombs during annual ceremonies (tsuizen) symbolizing a stupa.[2] The upper part is segmented like a pagoda and carries Sanskrit inscriptions, sutras, and the kaimyō (posthumous name) of the deceased.
In present-day Japanese, sotoba usually has the latter meaning.
- stupa – in origin a vessel for Buddha's relics, later also a receptacle for scriptures and other relics. Its shape changed in the Far East under the influence of the Chinese watchtower to form tower-like structures like the buttō, the gorintō, the hōkyōintō, the sekitō, the tō, or the much simpler wooden stick-style sotoba.[1]
- sūtra – the sacred scriptures of Buddhism.