Great Generals of the Desert and the Spirits of Grasses and Trees Who Dwell in the Void of Water and Land

''Shen'' () is a Chinese word with senses of

deities A deity or god is a supernatural being considered to be sacred and worthy of worship due to having authority over some aspect of the universe and/or life. The ''Oxford Dictionary of English'' defines ''deity'' as a God (male deity), god or god ...

divinities Divinity (from Latin ) refers to the quality, presence, or nature of that which is divine—a term that, before the rise of monotheism, evoked a broad and dynamic field of sacred power. In the ancient world, divinity was not limited to a single ...

, or

spirits Spirit(s) commonly refers to: * Liquor, a distilled alcoholic drink * Spirit (animating force), the non-corporeal essence of living things * Spirit (supernatural entity), an incorporeal or immaterial being Spirit(s) may also refer to: Liquids ...

. The

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

equivalent is ''

kami are the Deity, deities, Divinity, divinities, Spirit (supernatural entity), spirits, mythological, spiritual, or natural phenomena that are venerated in the traditional Shinto religion of Japan. ''Kami'' can be elements of the landscape, forc ...

'', as in

Shintoism , also called Shintoism, is a religion originating in Japan. Classified as an East Asian religion by scholars of religion, it is often regarded by its practitioners as Japan's indigenous religion and as a nature religion. Scholars sometimes ...

. This single Chinese term expresses a range of similar, yet differing, meanings. The first meaning is a generic word for deities which are intimately involved in the affairs of the world, or spirits, such as dead ancestors. Spirits generate entities like rivers, mountains, thunder, and stars. A second meaning of ''shen'' refers to the human spirit or psyche that is seen in the body as luster or vigor and in the mind as vitality and enthusiasm; it is the basic power or agency within humans that accounts for life, and in order to further life to its fullest potential, the spirit (Shen) is transformed to actualize potential ( Jing 精 ). A third understanding of ''shen'' describes an entity as supernatural in the sense of inspiring awe or wonder because it combines categories usually kept separate, or it cannot be comprehended through normal concepts. In the traditional Chinese theory of sanbao, ''shen'' is associated with the ''yang'' side of ''yin'' and ''yang'' and Jing is yin in comparison (

Heaven Heaven, or the Heavens, is a common Religious cosmology, religious cosmological or supernatural place where beings such as deity, deities, angels, souls, saints, or Veneration of the dead, venerated ancestors are said to originate, be throne, ...

and Earth; Earth tied to ''jing'' in particular in traditional Chinese medicine). Heaven is the origin of the spiritual aspect of humanity and provides ongoing spiritual influences, and therefore, it is associated with the heart, while Earth is the origin of the physical aspect of humankind/nature and is traditionally related to our kidneys or lower ''

dantian Dantian is a concept in traditional Chinese medicine loosely translated as "elixir field", "sea of '' qi''", or simply "energy center." Dantian are the "''qi'' focus flow centers," important focal points for meditative and exercise techniques s ...

''. The ongoing harmonious interaction of Heaven and Earth creates '' qi'' in this case human and therefore is associated with the spleen, stomach and liver in the middle Jiao, which is essential to create balance and harmony of yin and yang, therefore maintaining a good standard of health and creating life. It is said in the classics that the human is the best creation of

and

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to Planetary habitability, harbor life. This is enabled by Earth being an ocean world, the only one in the Solar System sustaining liquid surface water. Almost all ...

. In

traditional Chinese medicine Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is an alternative medicine, alternative medical practice drawn from traditional medicine in China. A large share of its claims are pseudoscientific, with the majority of treatments having no robust evidence ...

Taoist Taoism or Daoism (, ) is a diverse philosophical and religious tradition indigenous to China, emphasizing harmony with the Tao ( zh, p=dào, w=tao4). With a range of meaning in Chinese philosophy, translations of Tao include 'way', 'road', ...

Buddhist Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

, and

Chinese folk religious Chinese folk religion comprises a range of traditional religious practices of Han Chinese, including the Chinese diaspora. This includes the veneration of ''Shen (Chinese folk religion), shen'' ('spirits') and Chinese ancestor worship, ances ...

tradition, the balance of ''yin'' and ''yang'' is important to provide external harmony and internal health within life, thereby preventing injury, illness, or harm to body, mind, spirit, or the environment.

Pronunciation

''Shén'' (in rising 2nd

tone Tone may refer to: Visual arts and color-related * Tone (color theory), a mix of tint and shade, in painting and color theory * Tone (color), the lightness or brightness (as well as darkness) of a color * Toning (coin), color change in coins * ...

) is the

Modern Standard Chinese Standard Chinese ( zh, s=现代标准汉语, t=現代標準漢語, p=Xiàndài biāozhǔn hànyǔ, l=modern standard Han speech) is a modern Standard language, standard form of Mandarin Chinese that was first codified during the Republic of ...

pronunciation of "god, deity; spirit, spiritual, supernatural; awareness, consciousness etc". Reconstructions of ''shén'' in

Middle Chinese Middle Chinese (formerly known as Ancient Chinese) or the Qieyun system (QYS) is the historical variety of Chinese language, Chinese recorded in the ''Qieyun'', a rime dictionary first published in 601 and followed by several revised and expande ...

(ca. 6th-10th centuries CE) include ''dź'jěn'' (

Bernhard Karlgren Klas Bernhard Johannes Karlgren (; 15 October 1889 – 20 October 1978) was a Swedish sinologist and linguist who pioneered the study of Chinese historical phonology using modern comparative methods. In the early 20th century, Karlgren conduct ...

, substituting ''j'' for his "yod medial"), ''źiɪn'' (Zhou Fagao), ''ʑin'' ( Edwin G. Pulleyblank, "Late Middle"), and ''zyin'' (William H. Baxter). Reconstructions of ''shén'' in

Old Chinese Old Chinese, also called Archaic Chinese in older works, is the oldest attested stage of Chinese language, Chinese, and the ancestor of all modern varieties of Chinese. The earliest examples of Chinese are divinatory inscriptions on oracle bones ...

(ca. 6th-3rd centuries BCE) include *''djěn'' (Karlgren), *''zdjien'' (Zhou), *''djin'' (

Li Fanggui Li Fang-Kuei (; 20 August 190221 August 1987) was a Chinese linguist known for his studies of the varieties of Chinese, his reconstructions of Old Chinese and Proto-Tai, and his documentation of Dene languages in North America. Biography Li F ...

), *''Ljin'' (Baxter), and *''m-lin'' (Axel Schuessler). Although the

etymological Etymology ( ) is the study of the origin and evolution of words—including their constituent units of sound and meaning—across time. In the 21st century a subfield within linguistics, etymology has become a more rigorously scientific study. ...

origin of ''shen'' is uncertain, Schuessler notes a possible

Sino-Tibetan Sino-Tibetan (also referred to as Trans-Himalayan) is a family of more than 400 languages, second only to Indo-European in number of native speakers. Around 1.4 billion people speak a Sino-Tibetan language. The vast majority of these are the 1.3 ...

etymology; compare Chepang ''gliŋh'' "spirit of humans". The Chinese ''shen'' "spirit; etc." is also present in other

East Asia East Asia is a geocultural region of Asia. It includes China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan, plus two special administrative regions of China, Hong Kong and Macau. The economies of Economy of China, China, Economy of Ja ...

n languages. The

Kanji are logographic Chinese characters, adapted from Chinese family of scripts, Chinese script, used in the writing of Japanese language, Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese and are ...

'' is pronounced ''shin'' () or ''jin'' () in ''

On'yomi , or the Sino-Japanese vocabulary, Sino-Japanese reading, is the reading of a kanji based on the historical Chinese pronunciation of the character. A single kanji might have multiple ''on'yomi'' pronunciations, reflecting the Chinese pronuncia ...

'' (Chinese reading), and ''

'' (), ''kō'' (), or ''tamashii'' () in ''

Kun'yomi is the way of reading kanji characters using the native Japanese word that matches the meaning of the Chinese character when it was introduced. This pronunciation is contrasted with ''on'yomi'', which is the reading based on the original Chi ...

'' (Japanese reading). The

Korean Korean may refer to: People and culture * Koreans, people from the Korean peninsula or of Korean descent * Korean culture * Korean language **Korean alphabet, known as Hangul or Korean **Korean dialects **See also: North–South differences in t ...

Hanja Hanja (; ), alternatively spelled Hancha, are Chinese characters used to write the Korean language. After characters were introduced to Korea to write Literary Chinese, they were adapted to write Korean as early as the Gojoseon period. () ...

'' is pronounced ''sin'' (). The ''

Zihui The 1615 ''Zìhuì'' is a Chinese dictionary edited by the Ming Dynasty scholar Mei Yingzuo ( 梅膺祚). It is renowned for introducing two lexicographical innovations that continue to be used in the present day: the 214-radical system for in ...

'' dictionary notes that had a special pronunciation ''shēn'' (level 1st tone, instead of usual 2nd ''shén'') in the name Shen Shu , one of two "gods of the Eastern Sea", along with Yu Lu . In the

Vietnamese language Vietnamese () is an Austroasiatic languages, Austroasiatic language Speech, spoken primarily in Vietnam where it is the official language. It belongs to the Vietic languages, Vietic subgroup of the Austroasiatic language family. Vietnamese is s ...

, it is pronounced as ''thần''. Canonization scroll of Li Zhong jadeemperor

Semantics

''Shens

polysemous Polysemy ( or ; ) is the capacity for a sign (e.g. a symbol, morpheme, word, or phrase) to have multiple related meanings. For example, a word can have several word senses. Polysemy is distinct from '' monosemy'', where a word has a single meani ...

meanings developed diachronically over three millennia. The '' Hanyu dazidian'', an authoritative historical dictionary, distinguishes one meaning for ''shēn'' ("a deity ()) and eleven meanings for ''shén'' translated below: # Celestial god(s)/spirit(s) of stories/legends, namely, the creator of the myriad things in heaven and earth and the supreme being. () # Spirit; mind, mental faculties; consciousness. Like: concentrated attention; tire the mind; concentrate one's energy and attention. () # Expression, demeanor; consciousness, state of mind. () # Portrait, portraiture. () # Magical, supernatural, miraculous; mysterious, abstruse. Like: ability to divine the unknown, amazing foresight; highly skilled doctor; genius, masterpiece. () # Esteem, respect; valuable, precious. () # Rule, govern, administer. () # Cautious, careful, circumspect. () # Display, arrange, exhibit. () # Dialect. 1. Dignity, distinction. () 2. Entrancement, ecstasy. () 3. Clever, intelligent. () # Surname, family name. () This dictionary entry for ''shen'' lists early usage examples, and many of these 11 meanings were well attested prior to the

Han dynasty The Han dynasty was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China (202 BC9 AD, 25–220 AD) established by Liu Bang and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–206 BC ...

Chinese classic texts The Chinese classics or canonical texts are the works of Chinese literature authored prior to the establishment of the imperial Qin dynasty in 221 BC. Prominent examples include the Four Books and Five Classics in the Neo-Confucian tradi ...

use ''shen'' in meanings 1 "deity", 2 "spirit, mind; attention", 3 "expression; state of mind", 5 "supernatural", and meaning 6 "esteem". The earliest examples of meaning 4 "portrait" are in

Song dynasty The Song dynasty ( ) was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 960 to 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song, who usurped the throne of the Later Zhou dynasty and went on to conquer the rest of the Fiv ...

texts. Meanings 7-9 first occur in early

Chinese dictionaries There are two types of dictionaries regularly used in the Chinese language: list individual Chinese characters, and list words and phrases. Because tens of thousands of characters have been used in written Chinese, Chinese lexicographers have d ...

; the ''

Erya The ''Erya'' or ''Erh-ya'' is the first surviving Chinese dictionary. The sinologist Bernhard Karlgren concluded that "the major part of its glosses must reasonably date from the 3rd century BC." Title Chinese scholars interpret the firs ...

'' defines ''shen'' in meanings 7 "govern" and 8 "cautious" (and 6, which is attested elsewhere), and the ''

Guangya The (c. 230) ''Guangya'' (; "Expanded '' ra''") was an early 3rd-century CE Chinese dictionary, edited by Zhang Yi (張揖) during the Three Kingdoms period. It was later called the ''Boya'' (博雅; ''Bóyǎ''; ''Po-ya''; "Broadened ra") owing ...

'' defines meaning 9 "display". Meaning 10 gives three usages in Chinese dialects (technically "topolects", see Fangyan). Meaning 11 "a surname" is exemplified in

Shennong Shennong ( zh, c=神農, p=Shénnóng), variously translated as "Divine Farmer" or "Divine Husbandman", born , was a mythological Chinese ruler known as the first Yan Emperor who has become a deity in Chinese and Vietnamese folk religion. H ...

("Divine Farmer"), the

culture hero A culture hero is a mythological hero specific to some group (Culture, cultural, Ethnic group, ethnic, Religion, religious, etc.) who changes the world through invention or Discovery (observation), discovery. Although many culture heroes help with ...

and inventor of agriculture in

Chinese mythology Chinese mythology () is mythology that has been passed down in oral form or recorded in literature throughout the area now known as Greater China. Chinese mythology encompasses a diverse array of myths derived from regional and cultural tradit ...

. The Chinese language has many compounds of ''shen''. For instance, it is compounded with ''

tian Tian () is one of the oldest Chinese terms for heaven and a key concept in Chinese mythology, philosophy, and cosmology. During the Shang dynasty (17th―11th century BCE), the Chinese referred to their highest god as '' Shangdi'' or ''Di'' (, ...

'' "sky; heaven; nature; god" in ''tianshen'' "celestial spirits; heavenly gods; deities; (Buddhism)

deva Deva may refer to: Arts and entertainment Fictional characters * Deva, List of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd edition monsters, an ''Advanced Dungeons & Dragons'' 2nd edition monster * Deva, in the 2023 Indian film ''Salaar: Part 1 – Ceasefir ...

", with ''shan'' "mountain" in ''shanshen'' "mountain spirit", and ''hua'' "speech; talk; saying; story" in ''shenhua'' "mythology; myth; fairy tale". Several ''shen'' "spirit; god" compounds use names for other supernatural beings, for example, ''ling'' "spirit; soul" in ''shenling'' "gods; spirits, various deities", ''qi'' "earth spirit" in ''shenqi'' "celestial and terrestrial spirits", ''xian'' "

Xian (Taoism) A ''xian'' ( zh, s=仙, t=僊, p=xiān, w=hsien) is any manner of immortal or mythical being within the Taoist Pantheon (religion), pantheon or Chinese folklore. has often been translated into English as "immortal" or "wizard". Traditionall ...

, transcendent" in ''shenxian'' "spirits and immortals; divine immortal", ''guai'' "spirit; devil; monster" in ''shenguai'' "spirits and demons; gods and spirits", and ''gui'' "ghost, goblin; demon, devil" in ''guishen'' "ghosts and spirits; supernatural beings". The earliest discovered character form for shen suggests two components. The right side of the character gives the basic meaning and pronunciation, as well as providing a graphic representation of flashing lightning from the clouds. This visual displays ancient people’s belief that lightning was the manifestation of god.1 The left side displays a modified character shi which pertains to ritual ceremonies, worship, or prayer. This concept originally referred to stone table used for offering ceremonial sacrifices to the gods.

Wing-Tsit Chan Wing-tsit Chan (; 18 August 1901 – 12 August 1994) was a Chinese scholar and professor best known for his studies of Chinese philosophy and his translations of Chinese philosophical texts. Chan was born in China in 1901 and went to the United St ...

distinguishes four philosophical meanings of this ''guishen'': "spiritual beings", "ancestors", "gods and demons", and "positive and negative spiritual forces". The primary meaning of ''shen'' is translatable in English as god, gods, God; deity, deities, spirit, spiritual, spiritlike, spirits, Spirit, spiritual beings; celestial spirits; ancestral spirits, supernatural beings, etc. ''Shen'' is sometimes loosely translated as "soul", but Chinese

hun and po ''Hun'' and ''po'' are types of souls in Chinese philosophy and traditional religion. Within this ancient soul dualism tradition, every living human has both a spiritual, ethereal, yang soul which leaves the body after death, and also a c ...

distinguishes ''hun'' "spiritual soul" and ''po'' "physical soul". ''Shen'' can be used as a loanword. The ''

Oxford English Dictionary The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the principal historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP), a University of Oxford publishing house. The dictionary, which published its first editio ...

'' (2nd ed.) defines ''shen'' in these terms, "In Chinese philosophy: a god, person of supernatural power, or the spirit of a dead person." ''Shen'' can also refer to a living, "'spiritual' or 'spiritlike'" person or people when they accomplish things perceived to be

superhuman The term superhuman refers to humans, humanoids or other beings with abilities and other qualities that exceed those naturally found in humans. These qualities may be acquired through natural ability, self-actualization or technological aids. ...

, such as saving "people through the power of Virtue." In acupuncture, ''shen'' is a pure spiritual energy devoid of memory and personality traits, whereas ''hun'' is the spiritual energy associated with the personality and ''po'' the energy tied to the sustenance of the physical body. In this system, ''shen'' resides in the heart and departs first at death, ''hun'' resides in the liver and departs second, and ''po'' resides in the lungs and departs last. ''Shen'' plays a central role in Christian translational disputes over Chinese terms for God. Among the early Chinese "god; God" names, ''

shangdi Shangdi (), also called simply Di (), is the name of the Chinese Highest Deity or "Lord Above" in the Chinese theology, theology of the classical texts, especially deriving from Shang dynasty, Shang theology and finding an equivalent in the lat ...

'' or ''di'' was the Shang term, ''

'' was the Zhou term, and ''shen'' was a later usage (see Feng Yu-Lan. Modern terms for "God" include ''shangdi'', ''zhu'' , ''tianzhu'' (esp. Catholics), and ''shen'' (esp. Protestants).

Graphics

The character for ''shen'' exemplifies the most common class in

Chinese character classification Chinese characters are generally logographs, but can be further categorized based on the manner of their creation or derivation. Some characters may be analysed structurally as compounds created from smaller components, while some are not decom ...

: ''xíngshēngzì'' "pictophonetic compounds, semantic-phonetic compounds", which combine a

radical Radical (from Latin: ', root) may refer to: Politics and ideology Politics *Classical radicalism, the Radical Movement that began in late 18th century Britain and spread to continental Europe and Latin America in the 19th century *Radical politics ...

(or classifier) that roughly indicates meaning and a

phonetic Phonetics is a branch of linguistics that studies how humans produce and perceive sounds or, in the case of sign languages, the equivalent aspects of sign. Linguists who specialize in studying the physical properties of speech are phoneticians ...

that roughly indicates pronunciation. In this case, combines the "altar/worship radical" or and a phonetic of ''shēn'' "9th

Earthly Branch The Earthly Branches (also called the Terrestrial Branches or the 12-cycle) are a system of twelve ordered symbols used throughout East Asia. They are indigenous to China, and are themselves Chinese characters, corresponding to words with no co ...

; extend, stretch; prolong, repeat". Compare this phonetic element differentiated with the "person radical" in ''shen'' "stretch", the "silk radical" in ''shen'' "official's sash", the "mouth radical" in ''shen'' "chant, drone", the "stone radical" in ''shen'' "arsenic", the "earth radical" in ''kun'' "soil", and the "big radical" in ''yan'' "cover". (See the

List of Kangxi radicals A list is a set of discrete items of information collected and set forth in some format for utility, entertainment, or other purposes. A list may be memorialized in any number of ways, including existing only in the mind of the list-maker, but ...

.) Chinese ''shen'' "extend" was anciently a

phonetic loan character Chinese characters are generally logographs, but can be further categorized based on the manner of their creation or derivation. Some characters may be analysed structurally as compounds created from smaller components, while some are not decomp ...

for ''shen'' "spirit". The Mawangdui Silk Texts include two copies of the

Dao De Jing The ''Tao Te Ching'' () or ''Laozi'' is a Chinese classic text and foundational work of Taoism traditionally credited to the sage Laozi, though the text's authorship and date of composition and compilation are debated. The oldest excavated po ...

and the "A Text" writes ''shen'' interchangeably as and : "If one oversees all under heaven in accord with the Way, demons have no spirit. It is not that the demons have no spirit, but that their spirits do not harm people." (chap. 60). The ''

Shuowen Jiezi The ''Shuowen Jiezi'' is a Chinese dictionary compiled by Xu Shen , during the Eastern Han dynasty (25–220 CE). While prefigured by earlier reference works for Chinese characters like the ''Erya'' (), the ''Shuowen Jiezi'' contains the ...

'' defines ''shen'' as ''shen'' and says that in the 7th lunar month when ''yin'' forces increase, bodies ''shenshu'' "bind up". The earliest written forms of ''shen'' "spirit; god" occur in

Zhou dynasty The Zhou dynasty ( ) was a royal dynasty of China that existed for 789 years from until 256 BC, the longest span of any dynasty in Chinese history. During the Western Zhou period (771 BC), the royal house, surnamed Ji, had military ...

bronzeware script Chinese bronze inscriptions, also referred to as bronze script or bronzeware script, comprise Chinese writing made in several styles on ritual bronzes mainly during the Late Shang dynasty () and Western Zhou dynasty (771 BC). Types of bron ...

and

Qin dynasty The Qin dynasty ( ) was the first Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China. It is named for its progenitor state of Qin, a fief of the confederal Zhou dynasty (256 BC). Beginning in 230 BC, the Qin under King Ying Zheng enga ...

seal script Seal script or sigillary script () is a Chinese script styles, style of writing Chinese characters that was common throughout the latter half of the 1st millennium BC. It evolved organically out of bronze script during the Zhou dynasty (1 ...

characters (compare the variants shown on the "Chinese etymology" link below). Although has not been identified in

Shang dynasty The Shang dynasty (), also known as the Yin dynasty (), was a Chinese royal dynasty that ruled in the Yellow River valley during the second millennium BC, traditionally succeeding the Xia dynasty and followed by the Western Zhou d ...

oracle bone script Oracle bone script is the oldest attested form of written Chinese, dating to the late 2nd millennium BC. Inscriptions were made by carving characters into oracle bones, usually either the shoulder bones of oxen or the plastrons of turtl ...

records, the phonetic'' shen'' has. Paleographers interpret the Oracle script of as a

pictograph A pictogram (also pictogramme, pictograph, or simply picto) is a graphical symbol that conveys meaning through its visual resemblance to a physical object. Pictograms are used in systems of writing and visual communication. A pictography is a wri ...

of a "lightning bolt". This was graphically differentiated between ''dian'' "lightning; electricity" with the "cloud radical" and ''shen'' with the "worship radical", semantically suggesting both "lightning" and "spirits" coming down from the heavens.

References

External links

Seal and Bronze Characters
Chinese Etymology

Subhuti Dharmananda {{Qigong Names of God Taoist philosophy Qigong

Pronunciation

Semantics

Graphics

See also

References

Further reading

External links