神靈 简体 神灵

shén líng

Numinous acuity

Also rendered: Divinely inspired (Common, and theologically loaded)

Reviewed · 2026-09

At a glance

Pinyin
shén líng
Simplified
神灵
Literal
Spirit-like responsiveness; acuity that seems to answer before it is asked.
Shuowen
《說文解字》:神,天神,引出萬物者也。

At a glance

The inborn perceptiveness the chapter ascribes to the infant Huangdi. Read as ‘divine’, it turns a description of temperament into a claim about gods — which the sentence does not make. What is being described is an unusually quick child.

The opening line of the whole Suwen is a character sketch, not a theology: born with 神靈, speaking while still an infant, quick as a child, earnest as he grew. The four phrases describe one temperament from four angles.

Translating 神靈 as “divine” is the common shortcut, and it costs the reader the sentence. Nothing in the line claims parentage or worship; the claim is that he was unusually perceptive from birth.

Senses in the classical corpus

1
Inborn perceptiveness 神靈
Acuity present from birth, before teaching
生而神靈 — Suwen 1
2
Responsiveness
What answers quickly — of a person, a drug, an omen
— — —

Occurrences in the classics

Passages where the term does real work, with the original, pinyin and English on the same line.

Display
1 passages
Huangdi Neijing · Suwen Suwen 1 · On Innate Vitality in Antiquity Read in context →
昔在黃帝,生而神靈,弱而能言 昔在黄帝,生而神灵,弱而能言
xī zài huáng dì, shēng ér shén líng, ruò ér néng yán
Of old there was the Yellow Emperor: born with a numinous acuity, speaking while still in infancy.
Opening line of the Suwen; the four following phrases complete the sketch.

Compounds built on this term

shén
spirit
The first element; alertness, not a deity
líng
numinous
The second; responsiveness that seems to answer

How it has been translated

Every rendering below is a decision about which reader is being addressed. There is no neutral option.

This sitenuminous acuityTries to keep the perceptual sense and drop the theological one.Common Englishdivine, godlikeReadily understood; imports a claim the line does not make.

Entry status

Reviewed by [reviewer] 待署名

2026-09

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Reading path

This term belongs to Foundations — the five core concepts, in the order the Suwen introduces them.