元神

Chinese

		primary; first; fundamental primary; first; fundamental; dollar; (dynasty)	God; unusual; mysterious God; unusual; mysterious; soul; spirit; divine essence; lively; spiritual being
simp. and trad. (元神)		元	神

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): yuánshén

  (Zhuyin): ㄩㄢˊ ㄕㄣˊ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): jyun⁴ san⁴

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: yuánshén
    • Zhuyin: ㄩㄢˊ ㄕㄣˊ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: yuánshén
    • Wade–Giles: yüan²-shên²
    • Yale: ywán-shén
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: yuanshern
    • Palladius: юаньшэнь (juanʹšɛnʹ)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /ɥɛn³⁵ ʂən³⁵/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
    • Jyutping: jyun⁴ san⁴
    • Yale: yùhn sàhn
    • Cantonese Pinyin: jyn⁴ san⁴
    • Guangdong Romanization: yun⁴ sen⁴
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /jyːn²¹ sɐn²¹/

Noun

元神

1. (archaic) primordial deity
2. (Taoism) soul

   • 然作者雖儒生，此書則實出於遊戲，亦非語道，故全書僅偶見五行生克之常談，尤未學佛，故末回至有荒唐無稽之經目，特緣混同之教，流行來久，故其著作，乃亦釋迦與老君同流，真性與元神雜出，使三教之徒，皆得隨宜附會而已。 [Literary Chinese, trad.]
     然作者虽儒生，此书则实出于游戏，亦非语道，故全书仅偶见五行生克之常谈，尤未学佛，故末回至有荒唐无稽之经目，特缘混同之教，流行来久，故其著作，乃亦释迦与老君同流，真性与元神杂出，使三教之徒，皆得随宜附会而已。 [Literary Chinese, simp.]

     From: 1924, Lu Xun, A Brief History of Chinese Fiction（《中國小說史略》）, translated by Yang Xianyi & Gladys Yang

     Rán zuòzhě suī rúshēng, cǐ shū zé shí chūyú yóuxì, yì fēi yǔ dào, gù quánshū jǐn ǒu jiàn wǔxíng shēng kè zhī chángtán, yóu wèi xué fó, gù mòhuí zhì yǒu huāngtángwújī zhī jīngmù, tè yuán hùntóng zhī jiào, liúxíng lái jiǔ, gù qí zhùzuò, nǎi yì Shìjiā yǔ Lǎojūn tóng liú, zhēnxìng yǔ yuánshén zá chū, shǐ sānjiào zhī tú, jiē dé suí yí fùhuì éryǐ. [Pinyin]

     Actually, although Wu Cheng’en was a Confucian scholar, he wrote this book for entertainment. Its theme was not Taoist either, for the whole novel contains a few casual references only to the five elements; and the author was clearly no Buddhist, for the last chapter has some fantastic and utterly fanciful names of Buddhist sutras. Since there had long been talk about the common origin of the three religions, it was natural that a literary work should present readers with both Buddha and Lao Tzu, Buddhist concepts as well as Taoist, and that Buddhists, Taoists or Confucians alike should recognise their own philosophical views there.

3. (literary) spirit; vigour