法眼

Chinese

		law; method; way law; method; way; Buddhist teaching; Legalist; France (abbrev.)	eye
simp. and trad. (法眼)		法	眼

Etymology

"eye of the law"; etc.

Calque of Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit धर्मचक्षु m (dharmacakṣu, literally “dharma-eye”), which is cognate to Pali dhammacakkhu, or the us-stem equivalent ॰चक्षुस्. The Tibetan equivalent is ཆོས་ཀྱི་མིག (chos kyi mig) or ཆོས་ཀྱི་སྤྱན (chos kyi spyan).

"Buddhist teaching; etc"

Calque of Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit धर्मनेत्री f (dharmanetrī, “dharma-teaching; dharma-way; dharma-guide”), from Sanskrit नेत्र (netra, “guide; eye”) (see Ji, 1998v7). Corresponds to the Tibetan ཆོས་ཚུལ (chos tshul). The BHS compound may be understood as bahuvrihi: "[the wisdom विद्या f (vidyā), the perfection पारमिता f (pāramitā), etc.] that has the dharma as its guide/principle"

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): fǎyǎn

  (Zhuyin): ㄈㄚˇ ㄧㄢˇ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): faat³ ngaan⁵
• Eastern Min (BUC): huák-ngāng
• Southern Min (Hokkien, POJ): hoat-gán
• Wu (Shanghai, Wugniu): ⁷faq-nge

---

• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: fǎyǎn [Phonetic: fáyǎn]
    • Zhuyin: ㄈㄚˇ ㄧㄢˇ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: fǎyǎn
    • Wade–Giles: fa³-yen³
    • Yale: fǎ-yǎn
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: faayean
    • Palladius: фаянь (fajanʹ)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /fä²¹⁴⁻³⁵ jɛn²¹⁴⁻²¹⁽⁴⁾/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
    • Jyutping: faat³ ngaan⁵
    • Yale: faat ngáahn
    • Cantonese Pinyin: faat⁸ ngaan⁵
    • Guangdong Romanization: fad³ ngan⁵
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /faːt̚³ ŋaːn¹³/
• Eastern Min
  • (Fuzhou)
    • Bàng-uâ-cê: huák-ngāng
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /huaʔ²⁴⁻³⁵ ŋaŋ³³/
• Southern Min
  • (Hokkien)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: hoat-gán
    • Tâi-lô: huat-gán
    • Phofsit Daibuun: hoatgarn
    • IPA (Xiamen): /huat̚³²⁻⁴ ɡan⁵³/
    • IPA (Quanzhou): /huat̚⁵⁻²⁴ ɡan⁵⁵⁴/
    • IPA (Zhangzhou): /huat̚³²⁻⁵ ɡan⁵³/
    • IPA (Taipei): /huat̚³²⁻⁴ ɡan⁵³/
    • IPA (Kaohsiung): /huat̚³²⁻⁴ ɡan⁴¹/
• Wu
  • (Northern: Shanghai)
    • Wugniu: ⁷faq-nge
    • MiniDict: fah^入 nge
    • Wiktionary Romanisation (Shanghai): ⁴faq-nge
    • Sinological IPA (Shanghai): /faʔ³³ ŋe⁴⁴/

---

• Middle Chinese: pjop ngeanX

Rime
Character	法	眼
Reading #	1/1	1/1
Initial (聲)	幫 (1)	疑 (31)
Final (韻)	乏 (148)	山 (73)
Tone (調)	Checked (Ø)	Rising (X)
Openness (開合)	Closed	Open
Division (等)	III	II
Fanqie	方乏切	五限切
Baxter	pjop	ngeanX
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/pɨɐp̚/	/ŋˠɛnX/
Pan Wuyun	/piɐp̚/	/ŋᵚænX/
Shao Rongfen	/piɐp̚/	/ŋænX/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/puap̚/	/ŋəɨnX/
Li Rong	/piɐp̚/	/ŋɛnX/
Wang Li	/pĭwɐp̚/	/ŋænX/
Bernard Karlgren	/pi̯wɐp̚/	/ŋănX/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	fa	yǎn
Expected Cantonese Reflex	faat3	ngaan5

Noun

法眼

1. (Buddhism) "eye of the law" (either "mind which perceives both past and future" or "insight into the dharma")
2. (Buddhism) Buddhist teaching

   • 云何佛說此法眼，令諸弟子如佛學。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     云何佛说此法眼，令诸弟子如佛学。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: 1001, *Devaśāntika (天息災) aka. Faxian (法賢), trans. Ratnaguṇasaṃcayagāthā (《佛母寶德藏般若波羅蜜經》)

     Yúnhé Fó shuō cǐ fǎyǎn, lìng zhū dìzǐ rú Fó xué. [Pinyin]

     Why does the Buddha speak of this dharma-teaching? So that his pupils (may) learn and become like the Buddha.

3. (figurative) insight; astuteness; perspicacity; cognizance
4. (often humble or ironic) someone's appreciation, notice, or acknowledgement

Derived terms

• 法眼宗
• 法眼通

 

Descendants

Sino-Xenic (法眼):

• → Japanese: 法眼(ほうげん) (hōgen)
• → Korean: 법안(法眼) (beoban)

Japanese

Kanji in this term
法	眼
ほう Grade: 4	げん Grade: 5
on'yomi	goon

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ho̞ːɡẽ̞ɴ]

Noun

法(ほう)眼(げん) • (hōgen) 

1. (Buddhism, historical) high priest; the second-highest rank of Buddhist priest in the Japanese court
2. (Buddhism, archaic) a title of respect for Buddhist monks, artists, or samurai

Related terms

• 法橋(ほっきょう) (hokkyō, “third-highest priestly rank”)

References

• “法眼”, in 日本大百科全書：ニッポニカ (Nippon Dai Hyakka Zensho: Nipponica, “Encyclopedia Nipponica”)‎^[1] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, 1984