Pu (Taoism)

Pu
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese
Simplified Chinese
Literal meaningunworked wood
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu Pinyin
Wade–Gilesp'u
Yue: Cantonese
Yale Romanizationbuk6, pok3
Jyutpingbuk6, pok3
Southern Min
Hokkien POJphoh
Middle Chinese
Middle Chinesepʰåk
Vietnamese name
Vietnamese alphabetphác
Chữ Hán
Korean name
Hangul복, 박
Hanja
Transcriptions
Revised Romanizationbok, pak
McCune–Reischauerpok, pak
Japanese name
Kanji
Hiraganaぼく, ほお
Transcriptions
Revised Hepburnboku, hō

Pu is a Chinese word meaning "unworked wood; inherent quality; simple" that was an early Daoist metaphor for the natural state of humanity, and relates with the Daoist keyword ziran (literally "self so") "natural; spontaneous". The scholar Ge Hong (283–343 CE) immortalized pu in his pen name Baopuzi "Master who Embraces Simplicity" and eponymous book Baopuzi.