CONCEPTS OF ENERGY AND OF SPIRIT IN SHAOLIN WAHNAM
We practice triple-cultivation in Shaolin Wahnam. That means we cultivate our physical body, our energy and our spirit.
Question
I would like to understand better the union between energy and spirit.
We cultivate energy and spirit but the concepts may be very different to other disciplines.
What is understood, or what is the concept of "spirit" in Shaolin Wahnam? What is understood, or what is the concept of "energy" in Shaolin Wahnam?
Juan Antonio
Answer
Energy and spirit are different, though at times they may be used interchangeably. For example, according to science everything is energy, which is universal and undifferentiated. However, sometimes this universal and undifferentiated spread of energy may be regarded as consciousness, which is spirit.
This universal and undifferentiated spread of energy in science is regarded as God the Holy Spirit in Christianity and Islam. God the Holy Spirit is infinite and eternal. There is nothing else but God.
It is called by a few different terms in Buddhism, like the spiritual body of the Buddha, Tathagata, or Suchness, and Emptiness. In Taoism it is called Tao or the Great Void. In Hinduism it is Brahman. All these terms are infinite and eternal.
In Shaolin Wahnam we practice triple-cultivation, which means we differentiate between the physical body, energy and spirit. In Chinese, they are “jin”, “qi” and “shen”.
Sometimes we refer to spirit as mind. This is influenced by Buddhist culture as much of Shaolin culture is Buddhist.
It must be emphasized that the word “Buddhist’ carries no religions implications. There were many Taoists, Confucians, Christians, Muslims, Hindus, and people of any religion as well as people of no religion at all the three Shaolin monasteries. Similarly in Shaolin Wahnam, anyone of any religion or no religion can join our school as long as he (or she) is deserving. Shaolin Wahnam is non-religious.
“Jin”, or the physical body, is the visible aspect. “Qi”, or energy, is invisible and works the body. “Shen”, or spirit, is also invisible, and is the real person. It is “shen”, or spirit, that possesses a body, not a body that possesses a spirit. “Jin” and “qi”, or the physical body and energy, are changing all the time, but “shen” remains the same.
When we breathe out, for example, we dispose millions of used cells. We exchange energy all the time with the environment. But our spirit remain the same. Our spirit develops, and when the time is right, we merge with the Universal Spirit, described in different terms by different religions and cultures.
Although we may cultivate our body, energy and spirit differently, they are integrated. This can be seen in everyday life. When a person is sick, his physical body is weak, his energy is low, and is spirit is feeble. When he becomes well, his body is strong, his energy high and his spirit robust.
Hence, there is a clear relation between energy and spirit.
There is a clear relation between energy and spirit
The questions and answers are reproduced from the thread Questions to Grandmaster on Wudang Kungfu/Taijiquan & Zhang San Feng in the Shaolin Wahnam Discussion Forum.
LINKS