現世|げんせgense[1]atamadaka (head-high)

1. noun, Buddhismthis world; this lifeusu. げんせ
2. nouncurrent epoch (i.e. the Holocene epoch)

• Synonymこの世このよNeutralThe everyday word for this world or this life, common in speech. 「現世」 more pointedly evokes the Buddhist frame of this life set against past and future lives.
• Synonym現つうつつWrittenLiterary and archaic: the living, waking world or the waking state, often in 「夢か現か」 set against dreams. 「現世」 is this life in the Buddhist three worlds.
• Related現下げんかWrittenWritten/formal prose for the present time or the current moment; purely temporal. It lacks the Buddhist three-worlds coloring of 「現世」.
• Related当世とうせいWrittenWritten: today's world or the ways of the day, as in 「当世風」. Unlike 「現世」, it has no Buddhist sense of this life.
• Related下界げかいWrittenWritten: the mortal world of humans, or the ground as seen from a height. It lacks 「現世」's Buddhist three-worlds framing.
• Related俗界ぞっかいWrittenThe secular, workaday world as opposed to the monastic life; written. Unlike 「現世」, it carries no Buddhist three-worlds sense.
• Related現今げんこんWrittenWritten/formal for the present day or nowadays; temporal only, without 「現世」's Buddhist sense of this life.
• Related当今とうこんWrittenWritten: nowadays, at present; can also mean the reigning Emperor. Unlike 「現世」, it has no Buddhist three-worlds coloring.
• Antonym来世らいせNeutralAntonym: the world after death, the next life. It stands to 「現世」 as the life to come against this life.
• Antonym他界たかいWrittenWritten: the other world, the realm of the dead, and by extension dying or passing away. It is contrasted with 「現世」.

For this life or this world in the Buddhist three-worlds scheme, use 「現世」, as in 「現世利益」. In everyday speech say 「この世」; for the secular world, 「俗界」; for the ways of the present day, 「当世」. The antonym is 「来世」.

Usage comparisons are AI-assisted and cross-checked by multiple models; for study reference only

1. 三さん世せいの一ひとつ。現在げんざいの世よ。この世よ。