Radical 0 7申Shēn, lightning

Radical 0 7申Shēn, lightning

“Be careful ! There is going to some lightning !“

 

The pictographic character申Shēn depicts, lighting coming down out of the sky, towards the earth. The shape is like the letter S.

 申Shēn the same character has also the meaning “ to extend ” by adding 人 Rén person on the left we get the ideogram伸Shēn, with which we form the words:

 l 伸長Shēncháng to stretch

l 伸展Shēnzhǎn to relax
 

Many years ago the ancient Chinese did not know how to count time and did not even know how old they were. In order to understand the concept of time, they created a new method. Using Yin and Yang and five elementi, they divided the sky into 10 units, and the earth into 12 units. This traditional system of marking the years was based on these two forms: 十天干 Shí tiāngān 10  Celestial stems and  十二地支 Shí'èr dìzhī 12 Terrestrial Branches. The name of each year is the result of a Celestial Stem and a Terrestrial Branch. For example,  2016 is called丙申bǐng Shēn請輸入文字、網址，您也可翻譯文件。,which 請輸入文字、網址，您也可翻譯文件。

申Shēn is the 7th Terrestrial Branch, which in nature is represented by a bolt of lightning . This is because Yang energy at his strongest in the 7th month of the Chinese calendar, equivalent to the 8^th month in the western calendar, and it must be released. This means that this will be a year of progress for mankind.

Immagine originates from http://chinese-linguipedia.org/clk/index.php

 

Derivative 1. 神 Shén, spirit

"Magnificent! Look at the lights which illuminate the sky! "

  On the left part of pictogram there are three lights which illuminate the sky and on the right is the bolt of lightning. This is represented by the character神 shén.

  The Chinese character 神 shén refers to the gods or a divinity and can also indicate a divine, spiritual, magic o wonderful quality.

  The concept of神 Shén is fundamental part of a traditional Chinese medicine. Shén is considered one of the three treasures of life : 精 Jing essence, 氣Qi life force and 神 Shén , generally translated as spirit. “Shén” is the thing that elevates the conscience of humans above that of other creatures.

  The first appearance the character  “Shén” is in an ancient Chinese medico text - Huangdi Neijing (黃帝內經) o Classic of Internal Medicine of the Yellow Emperor . The text reads 心主神明Xīn zhǔ shén míng litterally translated as the heart resides in the spirit, or often translated as the mind is guided by the spirit. The role of Shén and its relationship with our body is like a monarca o a king , the most important role in the kingdom. 形恃神以立 神恃形以存 the body depends on the sprit to live,the spirit needs the body to exist, based on this , we need to cultivate spirit and body using the many exercises which have been created. One of the best known is太極拳Taiji Quan. (太Tai, 大也 great, supreme, 極 Ji, 端也 始也 estreme, beginning )
 

  In Taiji Quan o any style of氣功Qi Gong, which means working on developing energy, concentration is fundamental, in Chinese we say 集中精神Jízhōng jīngshén concentrate.

  Concentration is a way of gathering energy, closing out the confused mind and anxiousness ... the enemy in our daily life. In this way we can generate internal energy, and rediscover harmony between us and nature.

 Translated by Neil Berry