形神

Mandarin · pinyin xíng shén

Meanings

  1. body and soul
  2. physical and spiritual
  3. material form and internal spirit
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Characters in this entry

形
xíng · form, shape, appearance
神
shén · spirit, god, supernatural being
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

2–2 · xing2 shen2

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Follow a written form into the eight pinned witnesses: Analects, Mencius, Laozi, Zhuangzi, Xunzi, Han Feizi, Sunzi and the Mao Shijing. A match is a place to investigate; it does not prove that a modern dictionary sense fits the passage.

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