vấn tâm
Definition
- Verb:
- To question one's own heart or conscience: To engage in deep, introspective reflection, examining one's own thoughts, motives, and feelings, often regarding a moral or ethical matter.
- To conduct a self-examination of conscience: To scrutinize one's own actions and intentions, typically to assess their rightness or wrongness.
Usage Examples
- Verb:
- Trước khi quyết định, anh ấy thường ngồi yên lặng để vấn tâm. (Before making a decision, he often sits quietly to question his own heart.)
- Sự việc đó khiến cô ấy vấn tâm suốt nhiều ngày. (That incident caused her to examine her conscience for many days.)
Advanced Usage
- The term is primarily used in formal, literary, or philosophical contexts to describe a profound and serious form of introspection. It implies a search for inner truth or moral clarity.
Variants and Related Words
- Tự vấn lương tâm: A more explicit phrase meaning "to interrogate one's own conscience."
- Sau lỗi lầm, anh ta đã tự vấn lương tâm một cách nghiêm khắc. (After the mistake, he rigorously interrogated his own conscience.)
Synonyms
- To introspect: To observe and examine one's own mental and emotional processes.
- To soul-search: To deeply reflect on one's feelings and motives, especially in relation to a moral dilemma.
- To examine one's conscience: To review one's actions and thoughts against a standard of morality.
Related Idioms
- While "vấn tâm" itself is not typically part of a common idiom, the concept is central to phrases like "đối diện với lương tâm mình" (to face one's own conscience), which expresses a similar idea of internal moral reckoning.