Merciless in Chinese / Japanese...

無情 is a terrible phrase for a calligraphy wall scroll. I'm not even sure any of my calligraphers will write this. It's just that many people have searched my website for “no mercy.”

This word means pitiless, ruthless, merciless, heartless, heartlessness, hardness, cruelty, or ruthless.

In the context of Buddhism, this is used to describe something or someone that is non-sentient (inhuman or without feeling).

水火無情 is a Chinese proverb that means “fire [and] water have-not mercy.”

This serves to remind us that the forces of nature are beyond human control.

Some may also translate this as “implacable fate.”

鬼 can mean ghost, ogre, demon, or “spirit of a deceased person,” in Chinese, Japanese Kanji, and old Korean Hanja.

In some context, it can also mean sly, crafty, ogre-like person (i.e. fierce, relentless, merciless, etc.)

This can also be the “ghost” constellation (one of the 28 mansions in Chinese folklore).

An extended list of meanings includes departed; dead; a disembodied spirit; dead person; evil being; hungry ghost.