Chinese phrase for tattoo

[mihaip]

Hello

I already have a tattoo that says nirvana. It looks like in the attached picture. I would like to know, if you would be so kind to help me, if the translation is correct, what type of characters are they, and if you could, help me translate this phrase because the tattoo is going to be continued.

" I am your faith, your nirvana, your essence"

This is what I got with google translate but I have no idea if its right or not, The nirvana part doesnt really look similar.

http://translate.google.com/translate_t#en|zh-TW|i%20am%20your%20faith%2C%20your%20nirvana%2C%20your%20essence%0A

Thank you in advance and very much appreciated.

[Hofmann]

if the translation is correct,

It is correct.

what type of characters are they

They are both phono-semantic compounds. The word 涅槃 (Middle Chinese: net buan) is a Chinese transliteration of निर्वाण (Nirvāṇa).

help me translate this phrase

The Google translation sucks. I'm not very familiar with Buddhism, so my translation might also suck. 吾乃汝之信乃汝之涅槃乃汝之質

[mihaip]

much obliged Hofmann.

I would like to know .... and hope I'm not making a fool of myself, if this phrase

"吾乃汝之涅槃" would mean "i am your nirvana" . Apparently there isnt enougn skin realestate for everything so I'm taking a budget cut and looking for options that end in nirvana.

Thanks in advance

[renzhe]

That's the direct translation, yes, but the style is quite classical. It feels more like "I am thy Nirvana".

In any case, none of us are experts on Buddhism and don't really know the real meaning of the phrase you're trying to tattoo. A literal translation doesn't always convey what you're trying to say. If it's a Buddhist concept, you should look for original Buddhist texts containing the phrase.

So, while it is a direct translation, it might even look ridiculous to a Buddhist, I don't know.

[Horse]

Oh dear.......

[mihaip]

Thank you.

It's not really a Buddhist phrase per se. And that is the general idea that I'm trying to convey. And if that phrase is translated by either "I am your Nirvana" or "I am thy Nirvana" I am sattisfied

Again I would like to thank you for your effort and input. And if you think that another translation might be more suited would love to hear it.

Thank you.

[imron]

It's not really a Buddhist phrase per se.

Which highlights why you shouldn't get a tattoo done in a language you don't understand as there are often many different subtleties in the way a word will be used. What you have tattooed is the buddhist word for Nirvana.

[anonymoose]

A literal translation doesn't always convey what you're trying to say.

It doesn't make much sense in English anyway, so it's not surprising if it doesn't make sense in Chinese either.

[mihaip]

Again thanks for the input. I dint' realize the poin of the topic was for you to agree or like what I choose to put on my own skin. And people who choose not to help should refrain from questioning the reason of people who they never met or have nothing in common with. This tattoo is a very personal tattoo, it's not a quote or a phrase or anything and just so you know the phrase I've given you in english is already a translation from my own native language. And I would like to thank again the people who took the time in actually helping me.

[imron]

Although it might not seem that way, the people being critical are trying to help you, by preventing you from permanently inking something on your body that doesn't make sense, or doesn't mean what you think it means (and what you have tattooed currently means Nirvana in the Buddhist sense of the word). After all, you don't want to end up just another person with a bad Chinese tattoo (see here).

[renzhe]

This tattoo is a very personal tattoo, it's not a quote or a phrase or anything

This is the problem. If people don't understand the meaning, how can they translate it?

You might end up tattooing something that you don't understand which was translated by people who don't understand it either.

The fact of the matter is that 99% of all Chinese-characters tattoos are either wrong or very embarrassing or both.

[Hofmann]

It's not really a Buddhist phrase per se.

Well, too bad. It is. If someone had "Shiva" tattooed on them, it's a Hindu term even though they might not want to interpret it that way.

I dint' realize the poin of the topic was for you to agree or like what I choose to put on my own skin. And people who choose not to help should refrain from questioning the reason of people who they never met or have nothing in common with.

These people were trying to make sure you don't get a stupid tattoo. That counts as helping in my book. They say that the phrase you want to translate needs further explanation. For example the English word "essence" has many definitions, which may translate to many different things in Chinese. Is it 質? Is it 氣? Is it 神? Is it 體? No one can know without your explanation.

[mihaip]

Yes, I do understand that Chinese has subtle differences and nuances. I also realize that a large percentage of Chinese tattoos are wrong or embarrassing. Not speaking Chinese myself made me come here and ask for translations in order to prevent something like that happening to me. The point is I had a tattoo done (that I know, and I knew then too, that means Nirvana(Buddhist))and now I wanted to extend it. I have it on my lower back and in the first place I thought a longer phrase could fit. After trying it out I realized there is not enough skin to fit it all. So I was forced to limit it to a smaller sentence, that must end in NIRVANA(and still prove the point I was interested in). And I asked you guys if that Chinese translation means "I am your Nirvana' just to experiment with the number of letters, the size of the letters on my skin etc.

That's why I did not think of certain comments as helpful, because those were just jumping to concussions.

I again thank you for taking the time to answer and now I hope I made myself understood.

I am still in search of the perfect wording. Right now the most interesting one is "Looking for Nirvana", but in order to decide I need to have that translated again and try it out on the skin again, so I would be thankful if you could translate that also for me.

Thanks in advance(again).

[anonymoose]

Right now the most interesting one is "Looking for Nirvana", but in order to decide I need to have that translated again and try it out on the skin again, so I would be thankful if you could translate that also for me.

寻找涅槃

However, according to www.nciku.com, 涅槃 is used to refer to (a monk's) death. Whilst "Looking for Nirvana" might sound nice in English (if you don't think about what in means), I'd be very hesitant about getting something that could be interpreted as "Looking for death" tattooed in Chinese on me.

[Hofmann]

Let's not mix character sets, especially on one's skin.

"Looking for Nirvana"

尋涅槃

[gato]

However, according to www.nciku.com, 涅槃 is used to refer to (a monk's) death

I think it just means that "nirvana" is sometimes used by Buddhists as a euphemism for death, like "heaven" might be used as a euphemism for death in the West (e.g. "your grandma has gone to heaven."). That doesn't mean "in search of heaven" would equal "in search of death."

[anonymoose]

Let's not mix character sets, especially on one's skin.

Who's mixing character sets? The only characters we're stuck with are 涅槃 which are the same in simplified and traditional.

I think it just means that "nirvana" is sometimes used by Buddhists as a euphemism for death, like "heaven" might be used as a euphemism for death in the West (e.g. "your grandma has gone to heaven."). That doesn't mean "in search of heaven" would equal "in search of death."

Yes, of course it's a euphemism, but if you look at the example sentence given (这位得道高僧于今晚子时涅槃了), 涅槃 is clearly used as a verb directly substituting 去世, unlike the sentence "your grandma has gone to heaven", which as a whole is deliberately worded in a roundabout way to avoid directly saying "died". I'm not saying that 寻找涅槃 would inevitably be interpreted as "looking for death", but just that it is a possibility, and given that many Chinese people are superstitious, I suspect they'd look at it in the same light as giving an old person a clock, or having 四 tattooed all over your body - 不吉利.

[gato]

I'm not saying that 寻找涅槃 would inevitably be interpreted as "looking for death", but just that it is a possibility, and given that many Chinese people are superstitious, I suspect they'd look at it in the same light as giving an old person a clock, or having 四 tattooed all over your body - 不吉利.

Actually, I suspect that most Chinese won't know what 涅槃 is. Try asking your Chinese co-workers, for example....

From what I've read, there are more Christians in China now than Buddhists.

[anonymoose]

Actually, I suspect that most Chinese won't know what 涅槃 is.

Well, that may well be true, but that's a different issue...

[Hofmann]

涅盘 in Simplified.