How do you translate "spirituality" and "spiritual" into Chinese

[rezaf]

In all of my dictionaries "spirituality" is translated into "精神“。 Although I'm not a native speaker it just doesn't feel right and reminds me of words like ”精神病“， whereas as wikipedia says "spirituality" means: "Spirituality can refer to an ultimate or an alleged immaterial reality;[1] an inner path enabling a person to discover the essence of their being; or the 'deepest values and meanings by which people live.' "

I'm just wondering if we take the meaning above would ”精神“ be the right translation? Are there other options in the classics?

[skylee]

Consider 靈性.

[imron]

Rezaf, just get it tattooed in Persian instead

[Peter2010]

How about 心灵？

[rezaf]

Rezaf, just get it tattooed in Persian instead

It's a very tricky word. In Persian the obvious translation would be "roohani-at" (rooh means spirit) and it refers to being religious but we have another word "tarigh-at" which means"the path" and refers to searching for the inner-truth. I think in the spiritual world being religious and searching for the ultimate truth are two different things although they might have some common ground. Considering that Buddhism and Daoism have some characteristics that are close to what I am looking for, are there any words or expressions in them similar to what I have in my mind of spirituality?

PS. @imron I am very hairy. If I get it tattooed, don't think that it can be seen anywhere on my body

[brittani]

well you don't feel right when spirituality is conntected with 精神病， and i don't either...and i am a native speaker. so you are not alone....

[jbradfor]

I am very hairy. If I get it tattooed, don't think that it can be seen anywhere on my body

There are two places on the human body that don't have hair follicles. If you do go for it, please don't post a picture

[rezaf]

Correct me if I am wrong. In my beginner Chinese student mind 心灵，灵性and精神 all refer to intelligence or mentality from a psychological point of view not all that "searching for the inner truth" stuff. I searched for this word for 2 hours today with no success. I'm beginning to think Confucianism‘s pragmatism has been around for so long that such a word doesn't even exist in modern Mandarin. That's why I'm trying to read some Daoist classical scripts but even the explanation for those Daoist stuff is written from a pragmatic Confucianist point of view. :blink:

@jbradfor: That's why I'm saying no one will see it anyway.

[xiaocai]

There are two places on the human body that don't have hair follicles. If you do go for it, please don't post a picture

You mean like, palms?

[Kenny同志]

It’s extremely tricky. I don’t think there’s an appropriate Chinese word that is close in meaning with it, though it might be possible to translate it in certain contexts.

[rezaf]

Kenny you just ruined all of my hopes.

[anonymoose]

Just get one of these instead:

(From here)

[xiaocai]

That is great. I already feel very spiritual by just looking at the photo.

[rezaf]

[Kenny同志]

Kenny you just ruined all of my hopes.

Poor Rezaf. I didn’t mean to.

[honso]

I think 心灵上的 is the closest translation for it.