Fenshen

Fenshen
Huashen wuwu tu (化身五五圖, Illustration of Transforming the Body Multiplied by Five), 1615 Xingming guizhi (Principles of Balanced Cultivation of Inner Nature and Vital Force)
Chinese name
Chinese	分身
Literal meaning	divide body
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin fēnshēn Wade–Giles fen-shen Middle Chinese Middle Chinese pjun syin Old Chinese Baxter–Sagart (2014) pə[n] n̥i[ŋ]
Korean name
Hangul	분신
Hanja	分身
Transcriptions Revised Romanization bunsin McCune–Reischauer punsin
Japanese name
Kanji	分身
Hiragana	ぶんしん
Transcriptions Revised Hepburn bunshin

Fenshen 分身 (lit. "divide the body") or fenxing 分形 ("divide the physical form") was a legendary Daoist and fangshi Master of Esoterica technique for multilocation, that is, transforming or multiplying one's body into two or more identical versions. A famous story about fenshen concerns general Cao Cao ordering the execution of the alchemist Zuo Ci, who when taken into prison playfully divided himself into multiple Master Zuos, thus bamboozling the guards and escaping death.