Wu

wu (J. satori; K. o 悟) is a Chinese term that is translated as “awakening,” “enlightenment,” etc. It one of the common Chinese translations for the Sanskrit term bodhi ("awakening"). This term is often seen in English through its indigenous Japanese pronunciation of satori.

The Princeton Dictionary states:

The precise content of this awakening differs according to the various schools of Buddhism. In the East Asian tradition, wu could typically involve a gradual awakening (jianwu), but it is more commonly associated with “sudden awakening” (dunwu), especially in the Chan zong (J. Zen; K. Sŏn). Sudden awakening refers to the view that the mind is inherently enlightened (cf. “buddha-nature,” or foxing) and thus does not need to be purified of its afflictions (kleśa) in order for that buddha-nature to be realized. Gradual awakening, by contrast, refers to the view that enlightenment is the result of a process of purifying the mind of its afflictions over a series of stages, which may take several lifetimes to complete.

The Chan scholars Guifeng Zongmi and Pojo Chinul followed the earlier taxonomy of the Huayan zong and distinguished between two types of awakening:

• jiewu - an initial sudden-understanding awakening
• zhengwu - a final realization awakening

Sources

• Buswell, Robert E.; Lopez, Donald S. (2014), The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, Princeton University