Chinese

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to preserve; to maintain; to hold together
to preserve; to maintain; to hold together; dimension
 
that; those; which
trad. (維那)
simp. (维那)

Etymology

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Combined from native Chinese (“to maintain”) + an abbreviation of Sanskrit कर्मदान (karmadāna, duty-distributor).

Pronunciation

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Noun

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維那

  1. (archaic) A monastic official in charge of a prefecture during the Northern and Southern Dynasties
  2. (Buddhism) duty-distributor; a arranger of duties in command of a monastery

Japanese

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Kanji in this term

Grade: S

Grade: S
kan'on goon

Pronunciation

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Noun

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()() (ina

  1. (Buddhism) administrator of a temple, a priest who manages temple affairs or assigns duties to lower-ranking priests

Usage notes

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Along with 上座(じょうざ) (jōza, chief priest) who oversees doctrine for the sect, and 寺主(じしゅ) (jishu, temple priest) who oversees activities in the temple, 維那 is one of the three 三綱(さんこう) (sankō) in temples with this administrative structure.