無常

• 読み: むじょう
• ローマ字: mujo
• 漢字の分解: 無 (mu) — without, nothingness | 常 (jo) — constancy, permanence
• 発音: /mɯ.dʑo.ɯ/

意味

Impermanence; the Buddhist principle that all phenomena are transient and subject to change.

One of the three marks of existence in Buddhism (三法印), 無常 (Sanskrit: anicca) is a foundational concept in Japanese aesthetics and literature, deeply informing the concept of もののあわれ (pathos of things). It permeates works such as the Heike Monogatari (祇園精舎の鐘の声、諸行無常の響きあり) and Kamo no Chomei's Hojoki. In everyday speech it expresses the melancholy of life's fleeting nature — the beauty found in transience.

例文

1. 平家物語の冒頭は、この世の諸行無常を鐘の音に例えて語り始める。
2. 長年勤めた会社が突然倒産し、世の無常をしみじみと感じた。
3. 花は散るから美しい。無常の中にこそ、日本の美意識の原点がある。

使い方ガイド

場面: Buddhism, literature, philosophy, daily reflection

トーン: reflective

起源と歴史

From Sanskrit anicca (impermanence), translated into Chinese as 無常 — 無 meaning 'without' and 常 meaning 'constancy, permanence'. The term entered Japanese through Buddhist scriptures from the 6th century and became central to Japanese literary sensibility.

文化的背景

時代: Heian–Present

世代: All ages

社会的背景: Universal