Odabutsu (お陀仏 - Dying/Becoming Useless)

Yesterday, I introduced you to the Japanese term おしゃかになる (oshaka ni naru), which means to become useless.

Actually, there is a similar term, お陀仏 (odabutsu).

"Odabutsu" means that someone dies or something becomes useless.

お (o) is a polite prefix and 陀仏 (dabutsu) is short for 阿弥陀仏 (Amidabutsu), means Amida Buddha.

In Buddhism, adherents chant a prayer 南無阿弥陀仏 (namu amidabutsu), when someone died.

This changed to "odabutsu," and now it can be not only used when someone dies but also when something becomes useless.

(Ahhh, I definitely wrote this essay on March 15th, but I couldn't publish it properly... I'm so sad.)

お陀仏

昨日は「おしゃかになる」という言葉を紹介しました。

実はよく似た言葉に「お陀仏」があります。

「お陀仏」は、人が死ぬことや、物がダメになることを意味します。

「お」は丁寧の接頭辞、「陀仏」は「阿弥陀仏」を略したものです。

仏教では、人が死んだとき「南無阿弥陀仏」と念仏を唱えます。

これが「お陀仏」となり、人が死ぬことだけでなく物事がダメになることにも使われるようになったというわけです。

• In Buddhism, adherents chant a prayer 南無阿弥陀仏 (namu amidabutsu), when someone died.
• In Buddhism, adherents (or: devotees) chant a prayer 南無阿弥陀仏 (namu amidabutsu), when someone died.

• (Ahhh, I definitely wrote this essay on March 15th, but I couldn't publish it properly...
• (Ahhh, I definitely wrote this essay on March 15th, but couldn't publish it properly...

>Ahhh, I definitely wrote this essay on March 15th, but couldn't publish it properly...

I know how you feel. It's really frustrating to see a blank space in your calendar when you write everyday.