Classica Sinica Medica

真人

zhēn rén

Zhenren · the true person

Also rendered: the true person (Literal) · the perfected one (Common in Daoist studies) · the authentic human (Modern-philosophical; imports a sense of sincerity) · zhenren (Transliteration)

Cultivation

Reviewed · 2026-09

At a glance

Pinyin
zhēn rén
Simplified
真人
Literal
真 true, real — what a thing is when nothing has been taken away from it; 人 person. One who has not been diminished: the unreduced human being.
Shuowen
《說文解字》：真，僊人變形而登天也（段注：引申為真誠、真偽之真）；人，天地之性最貴者也。

In brief

The highest of the four grades of person set out in Suwen 1 — above the sage and the worthy — the one who grasps yin and yang, breathes the essence qi, stands alone and guards the spirit. This chapter uses the word differently and more modestly: it is what the physician becomes, not what he is born as. Leave the old, turn to the new, and then one attains to a true person. Wang Bing reads the sentence as advice about whom to study under: put away the men who reason backwards and go to those who understand, and you will get a man who truly and finely knows.

Senses in the classical corpus

1
The undiminished human being 真
《上古天真論》列真人、至人、聖人、賢人四等，真人為上
（第一篇之目） — Suwen 1
2
What the physician may attain 乃得真人
王冰：「……就新明悟之士，乃得至真精曉之人以全已也。」
去故就新，乃得真人 — Suwen 13
3
Reached by leaving the old 去故就新
王冰：「標本不得，工病失宜，則當去故逆理之人，就新明悟之士。」
去故就新，乃得真人 — Suwen 13
4
Not the same word as 真氣 真
真氣為一身之氣（見 id 153），真人為一等之人，二者同名而異實
（辨名） — —

Occurrences in the classics

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

Display
3 passages
素問·移精變氣論 Suwen 13 · 移精變氣論 Read in context →
去故就新，乃得真人。 去故就新，乃得真人。
qù gù jiù xīn, nǎi dé zhēn rén.
Leave the old and turn to the new, and then one attains to a true person.
王冰：「標本不得，工病失宜，則當去故，逆理之人；就新，明悟之士，乃得至真精曉之人以全已也。」本篇之「真人」是醫者可至之境，與第一篇四等之目同源而用法不同。
素問·六微㫖大論 Suwen 68 · 六微㫖大論 Read in context →
故曰無形無患，此之謂也。帝曰：善。有不生不化乎？歧伯曰：悉乎哉問也。與道合同，惟真人也。帝曰：善。 故曰无形无患，此之谓也。帝曰：善。有不生不化乎？歧伯曰：悉乎哉问也。与道合同，惟真人也。帝曰：善。
Gù yuē wú xíng wú huàn, cǐ zhī wèi yě. Dì yuē: shàn. Yǒu bù shēng bù huà hū? Qí bó yuē: xī hū zāi wèn yě. Yǔ dào hé tóng, wéi zhēn rén yě. Dì yuē: shàn.
Hence it is said: without form there is no affliction. This is what that means. Huang Di said: good. Is there one who neither generates nor transforms? Qi Bo said: how thorough the question is! To be one with the way — that is the true person alone. Huang Di said: good.
「與道合同，惟真人也」——**「真人」本篇1見，在全篇最末一問**；**帝問「有不生不化乎」，歧伯答以與道合同者惟真人，是本篇對生化之說的收束**；**此「真人」是第一篇四等之人中最上一等，與第十三篇「去故就新，乃得真人」指醫之所至者取義不同**；**「惟」讀 wéi，本篇1見**
素問·上古天真論 Suwen 1 · 上古天真論 Read in context →
黃帝曰：余聞上古有真人者，提挈天地，把握陰陽。呼吸精氣，獨立守神，肌肉若一。故能壽敝天地，无有終時，此其道生。 黄帝曰：余闻上古有真人者，提挈天地，把握阴阳。呼吸精气，独立守神，肌肉若一。故能寿敝天地，无有终时，此其道生。
Huáng Dì yuē: yú wén shàng gǔ yǒu zhēn rén zhě, tí qiè tiān dì, bǎ wò yīn yáng. hū xī jīng qì, dú lì shǒu shén, jī ròu ruò yī. gù néng shòu bì tiān dì, wú yǒu zhōng shí, cǐ qí dào shēng.
Huang Di said: I have heard that in high antiquity there were the zhenren · true persons. They took hold of heaven and earth and grasped yin and yang; they breathed the essence qi, stood alone and guarded the shen · spirit, and their flesh was as one. So their years could stand beside those of heaven and earth and had no time of ending — this was life born of the way.
「余聞上古有真人者」——真人讀 zhēn rén，四等人之第一；**「真人」本篇2見**

Compounds built on this term

真
zhēn
true, unreduced
說文：僊人變形而登天也
人
rén
person
說文：天地之性最貴者也
真氣
zhēn qì
true qi
別為一目，見 id 153，勿與本條相混
聖人
shèng rén
the sage
第一篇四等之三，別為一目，見 id 178
聖王
shèng wáng
the sage king
本篇「命曰聖王」，別為一目

How it has been translated

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

Common Englishthe perfected one, or zhenrenPerfected is the standard rendering in Daoist scholarship and is what most readers will recognise.
This sitethe true person真 is the word for what has not been adulterated or reduced, and the chapter's contrast is between a physician who has been diminished by bad habit and one who has not. Perfected implies a process of completion that the text does not describe; true keeps the sense of undiminished, and person keeps 人 rather than one, since the chapter is talking about a colleague you can go and find.

Entry status

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2026-09

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