satori
/səˈtɔɹi/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.11 in modern English
6
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
3
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A sudden inexpressible feeling of spiritual awakening or enlightenment, the result of meditation and study.
Uncountable
noun
A mutant gene of Drosophila, a genus of fruit flies, that causes homosexual behaviour in males (specifically, courtship directed to other males).
Countable
noun
A yokai (“supernatural monster”) having the form of a mind-reading monkey-like creature said to dwell in the mountains of the historical Japanese provinces of Hida and Mino (present-day Gifu Prefecture).
Example Sentences
- "[B]y his ſublime underſtanding and reputed great knovvledge in divine myſteries he obtain'd, and ſtill keeps, the name and repute of a Godo, that is, a perſon bleſs'd vvith a divine and moſt accute underſtanding, vvhom they ſuppoſe to be able to find out by his Satori, or Enthuſiaſtic Speculations, ſuch miſterious truths, as are far beyond the reach of common knovvledge."
- "He [Darma or Bodhidharma] lived only upon vegetables, and thought this to be the higheſt degree of Holineſs, to paſs days and nights in an uninterrupted Satori, that is, a contemplation of the Divine Being."
- ""Slim your hips the Zen way," Juliana said. "Lose pounds through painless satori. I'm sorry, Miss Davis. I'm woolgathering.""
- "It was as if [Neal] Cassady […] was in a state of satori, as totally into this very moment, Now, as a being can get."
- "Zen teaches that we are all already enlightened, some of us simply don't choose to realize it. If we choose to embrace Satori, then we are enlightened."
- "Satori and Zen seem to have such an intimate relationship in Japan that when somebody says "satori," everybody immediately associates it with Zen, and vice versa. […] For Shakyamuni, satori wasn't something peculiar only to himself. His was the satori of life inclusive of himself and all things. That is something that truly goes beyond the discrimination of our minds."
Etymology
Borrowed from Japanese 悟り (satori, “understanding; (Buddhism) enlightenment, satori”), from 悟る (satoru, “to perceive; to comprehend, understand; to come to enlightenment”), from Middle Chinese 悟 (nguH, “to become aware, apprehend, realize; to awaken”) (modern Mandarin 悟 (wù)), used to translate Pali bodhi (“supreme knowledge”) or its etymon Sanskrit बोधि (bodhi, “perfect knowledge or wisdom by which a person becomes a buddha or jina; enlightened or illuminated intellect of a Buddha or jina”). Etymology 1 sense 3 (“mutant gene of Drosophila that causes homosexual behaviour in males”) was coined by the Japanese scientist Daisuke Yamamoto in a 1991 paper, based on the Japanese term.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: 悟り, 悟, 覚, 覺
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /səˈtɔɹi/
- British English: /səˈtɔːɹi/