This Chinese character is written using the semi-cursive script style of Chinese calligraphy called “Xíngshū” [行书], also referred to as Running Script. These characters are not usually as ‘artistic’ as the Cǎoshū [草书] cursive script style of Chinese characters, and often resemble the common style, Lìshū [隶书] or clerical script, but sometimes it is still very hard to read these characters, particularly for someone who isn’t a native speaker/reader of the language.
This character is “Wú” and translates into English as “no” or nothing”, as in the phrase, 從無到有 – Cóng wú dào yǒu – Start from nothing or 無恥 – Wúchǐ – Shameless. (lit. No shame) the common or clerical script is, “無”.
This character is very important to eastern philosophy. IT is the root for the Daoist idea of Wu wei [無爲], meaning non-action, as well as the shared Buddhist and Daoist idea of Wuxin [無心] meaning “no mind”, a concept shared by many martial arts. In Japanese, this is called “Mushin”.
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