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Subject: Re: 魂 and 霊
From: TAKASUGI Shinji (tssf.airnet.ne.jp)
Date: Thu, 14 Jun 2001 15:37:10 GMT
References: 1

> What's the difference between 魂 and 霊?
> Do they both mean soul?

Few Japanese are Christian, so the definition of soul may be different. Basically, 魂 (tamashii) means soul and 霊 (rei) means ghosts.

As far as I know, 魂 is used only for human beings, and it vanishes or goes to afterworld when a person dies. The concept of 魂 depends on an individual's belief, of course.

I don't think religious people often use the word 霊, but superstitious people sometimes use it. Some Japanese people say you have a 魂 but they don't say you have a 霊. They might say you will become a 霊.

霊 has a lot of compound words, unlike 魂.

幽霊 (yûrei) : a ghost
亡霊 (bôrei) : the ghost of a dead person
聖霊 (seirei) : Holy Ghost of Christianity
守護霊 (shugorei) : a good ancestral spirit who protects you from evil spirits
地縛霊 (jibakurei) : an evil spirit bound at a place
憑依霊 (hyôirei) : an evil spirit that overrides a person's mind
and so on.


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