Classica Sinica Medica

魄

pò

The po · corporeal soul

Also rendered: the po (Transliteration; standard in the literature on Chinese soul theory) · the corporeal soul (The standard gloss) · the animal soul (Older missionary usage; misleading)

Physiology

Reviewed · 2026-09

At a glance

Pinyin
pò
Simplified
魄
Literal
魄 the po — the soul that belongs to the body and goes down with it, paired everywhere with 魂 the hun, the soul that wanders. 《說文》 glosses it briefly: 陰神也.
Shuowen
《說文解字》：魄，陰神也（段注：陽言氣、陰言神；魄之為言迫也，迫著於人者也）。「魂」，說文：陽氣也。

In brief

The soul that is tied to the body, and in this chapter the thing left behind when the yang is gone: 其魄獨居 — its po dwells alone. The phrase says, without saying it, that the patient is as good as dead: the yang has left and only the corporeal soul remains, keeping the body company by itself. The same word gives 魄門, the gate of the po, in chapter 11.

Senses in the classical corpus

1
The corporeal soul 魄
《說文》：陰神也；與「魂」（陽氣）對舉
其魄獨居 — Suwen 14
2
Left alone when the yang is exhausted 其魄獨居
王冰以陽氣竭盡、陰魄獨留；孤精於內，氣耗於外
津液充郭，其魄獨居 — Suwen 14
3
The same word in 魄門 魄門
第十一篇「魄門亦為五藏使」；指肛門，為魄之所出入
（第十一篇） — Suwen 11

Occurrences in the classics

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

Display
2 passages
素問·湯液醪醴論 Suwen 14 · 湯液醪醴論 Read in context →
帝曰：其有不從毫毛而生，五藏陽以竭也。津液充郭，其魄獨居，孤精於内，氣耗於外，形不可與衣相保，此四極急而動中。是氣拒於内，而形施於外。治之柰何？ 帝曰：其有不从毫毛而生，五藏阳以竭也。津液充郭，其魄独居，孤精于内，气耗于外，形不可与衣相保，此四极急而动中。是气拒于内，而形施于外。治之奈何？
dì yuē: qí yǒu bù cóng háo máo ér shēng, wǔ zàng yáng yǐ jié yě. jīn yè chōng guō, qí pò dú jū, gū jīng yú nèi, qì hào yú wài, xíng bù kě yǔ yī xiāng bǎo, cǐ sì jí jí ér dòng zhōng. shì qì jù yú nèi, ér xíng shī yú wài. zhì zhī nài hé?
The Emperor asks: there is also illness that does not arise from the body hair — the yang of the five storing organs has been exhausted. Fluids fill the frame, the corporeal soul dwells alone, the essence is orphaned within and the qi spent without, the body can no longer keep company with its clothes, and the four extremities are tight and stir the centre. The qi is refused within and the body altered without. How is this treated?
本篇「其魄獨居」：王冰以五藏之陽已竭，陰魄獨留於內，故「孤精於內，氣耗於外」，為水氣病之重候。《說文》：「魄，陰神也。」與第十一篇「魄門亦為五藏使」之「魄」同源。
素問·宣明五氣 Suwen 23 · 宣明五氣 Read in context →
五藏所藏：心藏神，肺藏魄，肝藏魂，脾藏意，腎藏志。是謂五藏所藏。 五藏所藏：心藏神，肺藏魄，肝藏魂，脾藏意，肾藏志。是谓五藏所藏。
Wǔ zàng suǒ cáng: xīn cáng shén, fèi cáng pò, gān cáng hún, pí cáng yì, shèn cáng zhì. shì wèi wǔ zàng suǒ cáng.
What the five viscera store: the heart stores spirit, the lung the po, the liver the hun, the spleen thought, the kidney the will. This is what the five viscera store.
「肺藏魄」：本篇之魄，與魂相對而分屬肺肝：魂屬陽而肝藏之，魄屬陰而肺藏之，《說文》「魂，陽气也；魄，陰神也」，即本此分。與第十一篇「魄門亦為五藏使」者同條而義別：第十一篇以魄門為傳化之門而為五藏所使，本篇則直以魄為肺之所藏，與神、魂、意、志同列——一就其在下之門而言，一就其在上之臟而言，而其為魄則一。

Compounds built on this term

魄
pò
the po, the corporeal soul
說文：陰神也
魂
hún
the hun, the wandering soul
說文：陽氣也；與魄對舉
魄門
pò mén
the gate of the po
第十一篇：肛門之稱
陰神
yīn shén
the yin spirit
說文釋「魄」之語

How it has been translated

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

Common Englishthe corporeal soulCorrect, and the standard gloss in discussions of 魂 and 魄.
This sitethe poThe word is not a description of a soul, it is the name of one of two, and it is paired with 魂 everywhere it appears. Corporeal soul is right in sense, but a reader who meets 魄門 in chapter 11 will not connect it to a phrase like corporeal soul; the transliteration lets the two entries find each other, which is what a glossary is for.

Entry status

Review pending — who reviews this?

2026-09

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