satori

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English

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WOTD – 3 November 2024

Pronunciation

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The Japanese term for satori.

Etymology 1

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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”).[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,[2] based on the Japanese term.

Noun

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satori (usually uncountable, plural satoris)

  1. (uncountable, Zen Buddhism) A sudden inexpressible feeling of spiritual enlightenment or understanding, the result of meditation and study.
    • 1727, Engelbertus Kæmpfer [i.e., Engelbert Kaempfer], “Of the Temples and Clergy of this City”, in J. G. Scheuchzer [i.e., Johann Caspar Scheuchzer], transl., The History of Japan, […], volume I, London: […] [F]or the translator, →OCLC, book IV (Of Nagasacki, […]), page 308:
      [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.
    • 1727, Engelbertus Kæmpfer [i.e., Engelbert Kaempfer], “[The Appendix […].] I. The Natural History of the Japanese Tea; with an Accurate Description of that Plant, Its Culture, Growth, Preparation, and Uses.”, in J. G. Scheuchzer [i.e., Johann Caspar Scheuchzer], transl., The History of Japan, […], volume II, London: […] [F]or the translator, →OCLC, § 2, page 3:
      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.
    • 1962, Philip K[indred] Dick, chapter 3, in The Man in the High Castle, 1st Mariner Books edition, New York, N.Y.: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, published 2011, →ISBN, page 31:
      "Slim your hips the Zen way," Juliana said. "Lose pounds through painless satori. I'm sorry, Miss Davis. I'm woolgathering."
    • 1968, Tom Wolfe, chapter VIII, in The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, New York, N.Y.: Farrar Straus and Giroux, →OCLC, page 102:
      It was as if [Neal] Cassady […] was in a state of satori, as totally into this very moment, Now, as a being can get.
    • 1999, Scott Shaw, “Mushin”, in Samurai Zen, Boston, Mass.: Weiser Books, →ISBN, page 142:
      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.
    • 2004, Kōshō Uchiyama, “The World of Intensive Practice”, in Daitsu Tom [Thomas] Wright, Jisho Warner, Shohaku Okumura, transl., Opening the Hand of Thought: Foundations of Zen Buddhist Practice, Somerville, Mass.: Wisdom Publications, →ISBN, page 68:
      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.
  2. (uncountable, figurative) Enlightenment, epiphany.
  4. (countable, biochemistry) A mutant gene of Drosophila, a genus of fruit flies, that causes homosexual behaviour in males (specifically, courtship directed to other males).
    Synonym: (abbreviation) sat
    • 1996 September, Hiroki Ito, Daisuke Yamamoto [et al.], “Sexual Orientation in Drosophila is Altered by the Satori Mutation in the Sex-determination Gene Fruitless that Encodes a Zinc Finger Protein with a BTB Domain”, in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America‎[2], volume 93, number 18, Washington, D.C.: National Academy of Sciences, →DOI, →ISSN, →JSTOR, →OCLC, →PMID, archived from the original on 2024-09-30, page 9687, column 1:
      We have isolated a new Drosophila mutant, satori (sat), the males of which do not court or copulate with female flies. […] We have screened about 2000 fly lines with single P-element insertions for altered sexual behavior, yielding a mutant named satori (sat; nirvana in Japanese), the males of which do not court or copulate with females. Instead, sat males exhibit homosexual courtship.
    • 1996 October, Daisuke Yamamoto, Hiroki Ito, Kazuko Fujitani, “Genetic Dissection of Sexual Orientation: Behavioral, Cellular, and Molecular Approaches in Drosophila melanogaster”, in Neuroscience Research: The Official Journal of the Japan Neuroscience Society, volume 26, number 2, Amsterdam: Elsevier Science, →DOI, →ISSN, →OCLC, abstract, page 95:
      [T]he primary site of action of the fru gene should be in the neural cells. satori,[sic] one of the P-insertion alleles of fru which we isolated, carried the lacZ gene of E. coli as a reporter, and β-galactosidase expression was found in a subset of brain cells including those in the antennal lobe in the satori mutant.
    • 1998, George P. Rédei, “HOMOSEXUAL”, in Genetics Manual: Current Theory, Concepts, Terms, Singapore; River Edge, N.J.: World Scientific, published 1999, →ISBN, page 484:
      In Drosophila the satori (sat) mutants of males do not court or copulate with females but have sexual interest in males.
Alternative forms
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Derived terms
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Translations
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See also
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Etymology 2

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An illustration of a satori (etymology 2, noun sense 1; left) by Masasumi Ryūkansaijin from «狂歌百物語» (Kyōka Hyaku Monogatari, 1853), a book of poetry about yokai (supernatural monsters).

Borrowed from Japanese 覚 (satori), from Middle Chinese 覺 (kaewk, “to become aware, awaken to, dawn on”) (modern Mandarin 覺／觉 (jué); referring to the creature’s mind-reading ability).[3]

Noun

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satori (plural satoris)

  2. (Japanese mythology) 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).
    • 2010, Zilia Papp, “Art History Meets Gegegeno Kitaro”, in Anime and Its Roots in Early Japanese Monster Art, Folkstone, Kent: Global Oriental, →ISBN, page 112:
      The Satori appears in [Toriyama] Sekien's Konjyaku Gazu Zoku Hyakki as a hairy, ape-like, mountain-dwelling creature that can read people's minds […].
    • 2023, Masami Kinoshita, “Super Scary Yokai”, in The Japanese Yokai Handbook: A Guide to the Spookiest Ghosts, Demons, Monsters and Evil Creatures from Japanese Folklore, Tokyo: Tuttle Publishing, →ISBN, page 29:
      Satori is a ghost that can read people's thoughts and haunts the mountains. The hairy Satori appears in an Edo-period book titled Konjaku Gazu Zoku Hyakki. According to the book, Satori can read people's minds, but will not harm them. Even if a frightened person plans to kill him or her, Satori reads his or her mind and simply runs away before he or she can do any harm.
    • 2023, Kenji Murakami, “Yokai Countermeasures and Weaknesses”, in Zack Davisson, transl., Strange Japanese Yokai: A Guide to the Weird and Wonderful Monsters, Demons and Spirits, North Clarendon, Vt.: Tuttle Publishing, →ISBN, page 89:
      This is most likely a type of Yokai called a Satori. They have the ability to read people's minds. And like with Satori, the only way to get rid of them is with a sudden, unexpected attack. […] The ability to read minds is dangerous, but it doesn't give the ability to predict sudden actions.
Translations
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References

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  1. ^ “satori, n.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, July 2023; “satori, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
  2. ^ Daisuke Yamamoto (2016 March 30) “Nature vs. Nurture in Drosophila Courtship [abstract of a lecture]”, in Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology‎[1]: “Approximately 25 years ago, I discovered a clue to tackling this problem by isolating a Drosophila mutant that I named satori, males of which preferentially courted males rather than females without copulating (Yamamoto et al., 1991).”
  3. ^ Toriyama Sekien (2016) “覚: Satori (Perceiver)”, in [anonymous], transl., Japandemonium Illustrated: The Yokai Encyclopedias of Toriyama Sekien, Mineola, N.Y.: Dover Publications, published 2017, →ISBN, page 92: “Satori is written with a character meaning ‘enlightenment,’ presumably a reference to its ability to read minds.”

Further reading

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Anagrams

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Indonesian

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Indonesian Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia id

Etymology

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Borrowed from Japanese 悟(さと)り (satori, “understanding, enlightment”).

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /sa.to.ri/
  • Hyphenation: sa‧to‧ri

Noun

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satori (first-person possessive satoriku, second-person possessive satorimu, third-person possessive satorinya)

  1. Free from discrimination.

Japanese

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Romanization

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satori

  1. Rōmaji transcription of さとり

Latin

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Noun

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satōrī

  1. dative singular of sator
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