MYV 382

ΜΨΩ=MYV / 3 = 三 = mitsu; 8 = 八 = yatsu; 2 = 二 = futatsu

Left Shoulder

Left shoulder: 「俺」- [ore] – boastful first-person pronoun (masculine)

Left Forearm Spiral

Left forearm (spiral): “Close your heart to every love but mine; hold no one in your arms but me.”

Left Arm

Left arm: 「空即是色」- [kuu soku ze shiki] – line from the Heart Sutra: “Emptiness is nothing more than body.”

Left Arm

Left arm: 「在然」- [zai zen] – to be oneself

Left Arm

Left arm: 「一生涯凡人也」- [isshougai bonzin (=bonnin) nari] – “All my life I’m just a man.”

Left Arm

Left arm: 4 – in Japanese numeral 4 reads like [shi], the same reading can also be 死 (death)

Left Wrist

Left wrist: 「凛」- [rin] – frigidity, low temperature, chill

Right Shoulder & Right Forearm

Right shoulder (left picture) and right forearm (right picture): 「我」- [ware] – first-person pronoun

Right Inner Arm

Right inner arm: “More haste, less speed.”

Right Shoulder

Right shoulder: 「天上天下唯雅独尊」- [Tenjou Tenka Yuiga Dokuson]
Buddha phrase, originally 「天上天下唯我独尊」, but miyavi has changed ‘我’ into ‘雅’, the same kanji as in his stage name and first name. It can be translated as “I am the one and only. In heaven and on earth.”

Right Arm

Right arm: 「色即是空」- [shiki soku ze kuu] – a line from The Heart Sutra “Body is nothing more than emptiness.”

Right Arm

Right arm: 9 – Maybe this tattoo represents the month of miyavi’s birth.

Right Arm

Right arm: “Dué le quartz”

Chest

Chest: “un-do”

Chest

Chest: 「不退転」- [futaiten] – determination, conviction

Stomach

Stomach: “Don’t hesitate & Go” – a line from miyavi’s song “POP is Dead”

And finally, the biggest and most important of all of miyavi’s tattoos:

Back

Buddhist Heart Sutra

This is the Buddhist Heart Sutra (or Heart of Perfect Wisdom Sutra)

「観自在菩薩行深般若波羅蜜多時、照見五蘊皆空、度一切苦厄。舎利子。色不異空、空不異色、色即是空、空即是色。受・想・行・識亦復如是。舎利子。是諸法空相、不生不滅、不垢不浄、不増不減。是故空中、無色、無受・想・行・識、無眼・耳・鼻・舌・身・意、無色・声・香・味・触・法。無眼界、乃至、無意識界。無無明、亦無無明尽、乃至、無老死、亦無老死尽。無苦・集・滅・道。無智亦無得。以無所得故、菩提薩埵、依般若波羅蜜多故、心無罣礙、無罣礙故、無有恐怖、遠離一切顛倒夢想、究竟涅槃。三世諸仏、依般若波羅蜜多故、得阿耨多羅三藐三菩提。故知、般若波羅蜜多、是大神呪、是大明呪、是無上呪、是無等等呪、能除一切苦、真実不虚。故説、般若波羅蜜多呪。
即説呪曰、羯諦羯諦波羅羯諦波羅僧羯諦菩提薩婆訶。般若心経」

“Avalokiteshvara, the Bodhisattva of Compassion, meditating deeply on Perfection of Wisdom, saw clearly that the five aspects of human existence are empty*, and so released himself from suffering. Answering the monk Sariputra, he said this:

Body is nothing more than emptiness, emptiness is nothing more than body.
The body is exactly empty, and emptiness is exactly body.
The other four aspects of human existence — feeling, thought, will, and consciousness — are likewise nothing more than emptiness, and emptiness nothing more than they.

All things are empty:
Nothing is born, nothing dies, nothing is pure, nothing is stained, nothing increases and nothing decreases.

So, in emptiness, there is no body, no feeling, no thought, no will, no consciousness.
There are no eyes, no ears, no nose, no tongue, no body, no mind.
There is no seeing, no hearing, no smelling, no tasting, no touching, no imagining.
There is nothing seen, nor heard, nor smelled, nor tasted, nor touched, nor imagined.

There is no ignorance, and no end to ignorance.
There is no old age and death, and no end to old age and death.
There is no suffering, no cause of suffering, no end to suffering, no path to follow.
There is no attainment of wisdom, and no wisdom to attain.

The Bodhisattvas rely on the Perfection of Wisdom, and so with no delusions, they feel no fear, and have Nirvana here and now.

All the Buddhas, past, present, and future, rely on the Perfection of Wisdom, and live in full enlightenment.

The Perfection of Wisdom is the greatest mantra.
It is the clearest mantra, the highest mantra, the mantra that removes all suffering.

This is truth that cannot be doubted.
Say it so:

Gaté,
gaté,
paragaté,
parasamgaté.
Bodhi!

Svaha!”[1]