特

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special

On-Yomi: トク

Elements:

special, cow, Buddhist temple, soil, dirt, ground, glue

Heisig story:

Despite the strong phonetic similarity, there will be no problem keeping the key word special distinct from the character we met earlier for specialty (Frame 47), since the latter has immediate connotations lacking in this kanji. Anyway, we shall let the key word of this frame refer to something in a special class all its own - like the sacred cows of India that wander freely without fear of being butchered and ground into hamburger. Even though the practice is originally a Hindu one, and in any case no longer followed among the majority of Japanese Buddhist monks, the Buddha's refusal to take the life of any sentient being makes it only fitting that the cows should be placed on the sacred grounds of a Buddhist temple in this kanji.

Koohii stories:

1) [sethimayne] 25-10-2007(200): Think of not special people, but special animals. The sacred Hindu cows are special - they can wander around the temple without fear of becoming roast beef.

2) [dwhitman] 5-10-2007(45): The Church Lady is traveling through Japan and notices with distaste a sacred cow relieving itself inside a Buddhist Temple. "Well, isn't that special".

3) [ashman63] 31-3-2008(31): Cows at a Buddhist temple are special - they are holy cows! Sadly a few days later I find the same cows' meat on special at the supermarket. Holy Cow, what have we done!?

4) [Dualta] 22-4-2008(21): Cows are special when left in temples.

5) [thegreatkaizo] 22-7-2008(16): Mixing up Hinduism and Buddhism, the cow ended up as today's special at the Buddhist temple.

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