Semantic Analysis

Salvation/liberation word-field

Sự cứu rỗi (salvation) sits in direct semantic competition with sự giải thoát (liberation from the cycle of rebirth), which occupies the same “ultimate deliverance” semantic slot in the reader’s existing Buddhist-shaped worldview. Unlike some target languages where the risk is an obscure alternative, giải thoát is a common, well-understood word, making this one of the most actively contested semantic fields in the glossary.

Resurrection/rebirth word-field

Sự sống lại (resurrection) sits near đầu thai and luân hồi (rebirth/reincarnation), words describing a related but doctrinally opposite event: rather than the same body raised once, permanently, rebirth describes a new existence entered repeatedly across a cycle. The distinction needs to be actively taught every time, not assumed from word choice alone.

Intercession/ancestor-petition word-field

Sự cầu thay (intercession) sits adjacent to, though not identical with, cầu xin tổ tiên (petitioning ancestors). No single alternate word fully avoids the structural resemblance, since intercession and ancestor petition are both instances of “asking someone else to act on your behalf toward a greater power or need.” The semantic work has to happen through context and explicit teaching, not through avoiding sự cầu thay itself.

Spirit/deity word-field

Đức Thánh Linh (Holy Spirit), thần linh (folk spirits generally), and các thánh (deified folk heroes) sit close together in the broader semantic space of “non-human or departed beings with power to help or harm.” Only the full honorific compound Đức Thánh Linh, never bare linh or thần, marks the divine, personal third Person of the Trinity.