“For receiving and mirroring the feelings of intimacy, there is nothing that surpasses the ceremonial image.”

夫镜接近情,莫踰儀像
“For receiving and mirroring the feelings of intimacy,
there is nothing that surpasses the ceremonial image.”

fú it (hsk2)
jìng to mirror (hsk4, as )
jiē to receive (hsk3)
jìn near, intimate (hsk2)
qíng feelings, emotions (hsk2)
mò none; there is nothing that (hsk6)
yú exceed (not in hsk)
儀像 yí-xiàng ceremonial image ( is hsk6 as 仪; is hsk3)

This phrase is from the preface to “Records of Signs from the Unseen World” (冥祥記) by Wang Yan 王琰 (ca 5th century AD). I found it in a truly wonderful book: “Signs from the Unseen Realm: Buddhist Miracle Tales from Early Medieval China: A translation and study by Robert Ford Campany”: https://uhpress.hawaii.edu/title/signs-from-the-unseen-realm-buddhist-miracle-tales-from-early-medieval-china/

冥祥記
Record of Mysterious Wonders, aka, Signs from the Unseen Realm
míng dark, the underworld (not in hsk)
xiáng auspicious, propitious (hsk6)
jì record (hsk3)

The phrase 幽異, translated by Campany as “Anomalies from the Unseen World”, also found in the same preface. 幽 (yōu) means “dim, dark, deep, remote”, and it is part of the hsk4 vocabulary. 異 (yì) means “different, uncommon, strange”, and it is part of the hsk6 vocabulary in the simplified form 异.

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