Zeir Anpin
The Small Face — torso / six middle sefirot
Zeir Anpin (זעיר אנפין, 'Small Face' or 'Impatient Face') — the central torso of Adam Kadmon, the partzuf that encompasses the six middle sefirot from Chesed through Yesod. Where Arikh Anpin is the patient extending face of pure mercy, Zeir Anpin is the differentiated face that holds the tension between mercy (Chesed, right) and severity (Gevurah, left), brought into balance at the heart-locus of Tiferet (תפארת, 'beauty / harmony'). The Idrot devote extensive material to the body-imagery of Zeir Anpin: the chest, the shoulders, the lungs, and the heart are described as the seat of the differentiated divine attributes. In Lurianic cosmology Zeir Anpin is the partzuf most directly involved in the human work of tikkun (restoration / repair): the human work-in-the-world is read as a contribution to the rectification of Zeir Anpin's broken and partially-restored configuration.
Point 2 of 5 in Adam Kadmon — Cosmic-Body Mapping (Lurianic)
Cross-tradition overlaps
No overlapping points are registered for this point.
Sources
Zohar — Idra Zuta Ha'azinu 287b–296b (primary_canonical)
“Zeir Anpin: his right and his left, the arm of mercy and the arm of judgement, are joined in his heart, where Tiferet sits in beauty between them.”
Chayyim Vital, Etz Chaim, Sha'ar Zeir Anpin (primary_canonical)
This gate treats Zeir Anpin as the partzuf of the six middot (Chesed through Yesod), including the differentiated right and left attributes reconciled in Tiferet. The locator is Sha'ar Zeir Anpin; chapter and paragraph divisions vary among printings of Etz Chaim.