I Was Asked "What Does Shen Really Mean To You?"

I was asked, "Today, after many years of study and research, what really is your idea of Shen?”

Let us examine the character Shen:

The character on the left can be translated as omen.

The character on the right represents two hands that welcome a ray of light. By extension, we could say that the appearance of the light of Shen announces the arrival of a new life.

Ling Shu, chapter 8: "When the two Jing come together, they unite, giving rise to life, this is said to be Shen.”

Su Wen chapter 23: "The Shen dwells in the heart and is the basis of the psycho-emotional vitality of the individual."

At the moment of conception, in addition to the energy transmitted by the parents, something else takes rests, dwells, in the individual: this is the Shen. The term Shen in Western texts, is usually defined as the words Mind, Spirit, or Mind-Spirit. Shen, in a broad sense, is an extremely pure and immaterial level of energy, belonging to the Heavens, and is therefore the most Yang of the Three Treasures (Jing-Qi-Shen). 

This vibration is imprinted in the individual at the time of conception; it is the Heaven in Man, a fragment of the infinite in the finite.

"Shen is Yin-Yang that cannot be measured." Shen therefore, being Yin-Yang that cannot be measured represents on a human level the intangible aspects of the individual: psychological, emotional and spiritual. Shen also represents his awareness, meaning the ability to understand (and accept) things exactly for what they are, maintaining an attitude of calm and mental clarity.

The Da Cheng states, about the attitude to have while treating a person:

"In the mind of the practitioner, there must not be a desire, but only a receptive and accepting attitude, and only then does the mind-heart (Xin) becomes Shen" (p. 120).

But, ultimately, all of you ask me, "How do you define Shen?"

Shen is the light in the eyes, the smile of every morning, the joy of living, the positivity in life. The Buddhists call it 'compassion', the Daoists 'right action', the zen 'attention', Westerners 'empathy', I, Pino, call it 'being there'. Really be with the person, in the here and now of the moment. Then the mind opens to becoming, the movement glides, the energy flows freely, the boundaries blur, you and I become 'us' even in the knowledge of each other's individuality, and then the therapeutic encounter becomes creativity, vibrant dialogue, sharing. 

Who looks at you sees the composition of music, harmony and energy that surrounds and involves even the spectator and becomes an active part of this creation.

Then, and only then, can we truly grasp, beyond any intellectualism, the wonder of who we are, the potential that each of us contains within itself.

Because, as an old legend says, we are the fifth dream, the fifth path on the way to the fifth fulfillment, the fifth ecstasy. What is this "fulfillment", this 'ecstasy'? Humans walk the path of spirituality dreaming of becoming enlightened.

This is their dream.

And we are here on this planet, in this skin, in this millennium, exactly for this reason: to make our dream, the dream of all human beings, become a reality.